Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook: requirements and key features

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook helps users manage e-mail.

In this article, let's look together at which version of Outlook currently supports Copilot, what it takes to enable Copilot in Outlook, and what are the main features Copilot offers us to improve our communication and productivity in the daily use of our mailbox.

Which versions of Outlook include Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is currently available in the following versions of Outlook:

• Outlook on the Web, accessible with your browser via microsofot365.com
• Outlook client (for Windows and Mac), featured in the Office 365 package
• The new Outlook (for Windows and Mac), which you can enable from your Outlook client by clicking on the "Try the new Outlook" item visible in the upper right-hand corner

It is very important to remember, however, that to date, Outlook client supports very little Copilot functionality and it is definitely best to move to the new Outlook or Outlook web in order to have the full experience for using AI within your mailbox.

One must also consider that Microsoft 365 Copilot is available for:

• Corporate Outlook accounts
• Education Outlook accounts

If a Microsoft account is associated with a third-party provider, such as Gmail, Yahoo, or iCloud, it will not have access to Copilot's email features.

How to enable Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook

Enabling Copilot in Outlook is a simple process.

First, you need to make sure that you have a Microsoft 365 license that allows you to access Copilot. If the license is eligible, then you can purchase the specific license for Copilot.

If you have doubts about the eligibility of your licenses,
find all the information in the article dedicated to Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Once you have purchased the necessary licenses, it is important to make sure that your e-mail is on the Microsoft 365 cloud, otherwise Copilot will have no way to work.

As a final step, make sure you have the Office applications on your PC updated to the latest version (in technical terms, you can ask your administrator to have Office updated to the "Current channel" or "Monthly enterprise channel" version). If you have earlier versions, Copilot features will not be available.

Once these requirements are verified, Copilot will be immediately available within your e-mail in Outlook, without you having to do any further configuration.

Key features of Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook

Copilot offers important features for managing communication in Outlook, allowing professionals and businesses to save a considerable amount of time and energy. Indeed, users can rely on AI to speed up the writing of their emails, but not only that.

We present below the main features of Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook.

Draft with Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot gives the possibility to generate an email from your request in text form, via the "Draft with Copilot" command.

To compose the text, Copilot relies on the information provided in the prompt and the information that Microsoft's AI algorithm has inside it. It then becomes possible to create an email in no time, simply by writing something like, "Write an email to invite colleagues to the next townhall that will be on January 10, 2024."

Copilot then allows the draft to be edited not only by hand, but also with the "Regenerate" command and a bar in which a second directive (prompt) can be specified, again in conversational form. If with the first command the AI makes a new attempt at satisfying the prompt's directions, with the second it reworks the draft according to the directive you have given it. An example might be "Translate the email into English."

All drafts created by Copilot follow the user's preferences in terms of:

• Text length
• Tone of voice

You can specify whether to have shorter, medium, or longer draft generation and whether you want your drafts to use a direct, neutral, informal, formal, or even "poetic" tone. These options can be chosen before sending your prompt to Copilot by clicking on the icon with the two horizontal lines, and will remain valid for all future drafts or responses.

The only weakness of this feature: the Outlook calendar and other business data such as documents, presentations, etc. are not (yet) integrated.

Therefore, it is not possible to generate an email that contains information about the user's availability, commitments, and scheduled meetings, nor is it possible to generate emails that contain information taken from your work files. However, we believe that Microsoft will soon solve this problem.

Copilot Coaching

With the "Coaching" feature, Copilot can give advice on how to improve email writing.

The user can ask the AI to analyze the text based on:

• Tone of voice
• Reader sentiment
• Clarity

One can then get suggestions on how to make the email sound less aggressive or what details to add to avoid misunderstandings and clarify one's expectations.

A really useful piece of information is then given by the chapter related to reader expectation, whereby Copilot tells you how to improve the sentiment that the recipient of your email is likely to have once they read it.

Copilot's recap of conversations

The email recap is perhaps the best feature of Copilot in Outlook. It is the summary of emails that the user has exchanged and received, where they are highlighted:

• The key points of the conversation
• The questions that have not yet been answered
• The actions needed to fulfill the senders' requests

Copilot is able to summarize the content not only of a single email, but also of a thread or of separate emails but united by the same recipient and topic.

Copilot's quick responses

Microsoft 365 Copilot suggests prompts to generate a response email.

The user can then click on "Reply" to immediately view the AI prompts, based on the information from the received email. Interestingly, each of the prompts that are suggested by Copilot has a very high percentage of being able to be used for your response.

This is truly amazing. In doing so, it is possible to respond to a colleague with two clicks of a number, saving a truly remarkable amount of time in our day-by-day.

If, on the other hand, you want to ask Copilot to generate a response based on your own custom directive (prompt), you can click on the "Custom" option and enter the text you prefer.

The tone and length settings you have set through the "Copilot Draft" feature are also used for these generated responses.

To conclude, here is the summary table of Microsoft 365 Copilot features for managing mail in Microsoft Outlook:

FAQs about Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook

Which versions of Outlook include Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is currently available on Outlook Web, the Outlook client in Office 365 (but with limited functionality), and the new Outlook for both PC and Mac. It is also available for business Outlook accounts and in the Education sector.

How do I enable Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook?

To enable Copilot in Outlook, you need to ensure you have a Microsoft 365 license that allows access to Copilot. Then, you can purchase the specific license for Copilot. Once you have obtained the necessary licenses, you need to install or migrate your mailbox to Microsoft 365 (if you haven't already), as currently it is the only way to access the Microsoft 365 Copilot features for email. It is also important to have Office updated.

What are the features of Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook?

The main features of Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook include drafting email drafts, coaching to improve the quality of your email content, conversation summaries, and generating quick responses to your email messages.

How can I get support for adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot in my company?

You can get support for Copilot adoption by contacting intranet.ai. We offer customized services for migrating data to the Microsoft cloud, security and permission assessment, user training on using Copilot in their daily tasks, and developing extensions to enhance the tool's functionality. You can also join our practice community and ask any questions you have about using Copilot in your company.