How to use Microsoft Copilot in Word

Copilot will help you process documents faster and easier. Below are instructions on how to use Copilot in Microsoft Word.

Microsoft is the world’s leading technology corporation, famous for its Windows operating system and Microsoft 365 office suite. Copilot is an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant developed by Microsoft, helping users perform work faster, smarter and more effectively. When integrated into Microsoft Word, Copilot becomes a useful tool for drafting, editing and processing documents.

Copilot in Word can support writing content from short requests, building outlines, summarizing long documents and rewriting sentences in a professional style. The tool also helps check grammar, improve expression, adjust tone and turn initial ideas into complete drafts. Thanks to that, users save time, reduce manual operations and improve document quality.

For students, teachers, office workers and businesses, Copilot simplifies many routine tasks. However, users should still check the information, accuracy, and AI-generated content before using it.

In this article, let’s find out How to use Microsoft Copilot in Word to increase productivity, create manuscripts and summaries, or even provide writing inspiration.

How to use Microsoft Copilot in Word

Step 1: Download and install Copilot from the Microsoft Store or website, pricing varies by region and there is a free trial.

Step 2: Open Microsoft Word and everyone will see a prompt explaining how to get started using Copilot.

Step 3: Press simultaneously Alt and I to unbox the Copilot manuscript, then Provide commands or ask questions to help create the first draft. The more specific the statement, the closer the manuscript Copilot provides will be to the topic.

Step 4: Review your draft and choose Keep it to retain or Regenerate (circular arrows) to recreate another draft, or delete the draft with trash icon. Users can recreate the text as many times as they want.

How to use Copilot in Microsoft Word to edit and rewrite

AI-generated texts can be “usefully wrong”, so users will edit the text themselves accordingly. People can do it manually or have Copilot do some of the heavy lifting. Remember to always check any facts, figures or statistics yourself as Copilot does not check for accuracy.

Step 1: Highlight the text you want to edit.

Step 2: Click the small Copilot logo to the left of the text.

Step 3: Click Make changes and enter new editing prompts or instructions.

Step 4: Review the newly highlighted light blue text and choose whether to keep it or not.

Step 5: People can also convert information into tables using the same Copilot button and press Visualize as a table.

Chat with Copilot in Microsoft Word

Sometimes it’s helpful to have someone bounce ideas back and forth. When working on its own, Copilot can fill that gap. Learn how to use Microsoft Copilot in Word for conversation and inspiration below.

Step 1: Click Copilot icon in the upper right corner of the toolbar to open the chat box. Note: If you used the chat pane before, click Change topic to start a new conversation.

Step 2: Enter any questions about the document in the chat box and tap Enter.

Step 3: If a response error occurs, try a different question as Copilot does not always provide the requested information. And if Copilot crashes for more than 3-5 minutes, try restarting the Microsoft Word application.

How to use Copilot to find document references in Word

Searching for references or specific texts in Word documents becomes faster and more convenient thanks to Copilot. However, please note that to use this feature, users need to have the Microsoft 365 version of Word – the version with Copilot built-in. Older versions of Word will not support Copilot.

Step 1: Open the Word document where you want to find specific references or content.

Step 2: Click the button Copilot to open the Copilot chat window. Users can find this button in the ribbon toolbar, located in the tab Homeright corner.

Step 3: Click text input box to start chatting with Copilot and enter request yours.

When people want to find references, they can use commands like: “Show me all references to…” (Show all references to…), “Show me all parts of this text that talk about…” (Show me all the parts about…).

Step 4: Press send icon to send the request and wait a few seconds while Copilot processes it. Immediately after that, Copilot will scan the entire document and display the full list of references it found.

Step 5: Look through the list of results that Copilot displays. Then click arrow pointing down next to References at the bottom of Copilot’s message to open a more detailed numbered list.

Step 6: Click on any reference in the list to go directly to the corresponding text in the document.

Users can also click on the small numbers next to each reference in Copilot’s response to go directly to that piece of text.