What is Copilot Chat? A Guide to the AI-Powered Assistant

Copilot Chat works across Microsoft 365, giving you one place to ask questions, find information, and prepare for the day. Unlike Copilot features embedded in Word or Excel, Copilot Chat is where you can ask a question once and tap into emails, documents, chats, and more — in one place. It’s the starting point for working across your apps, whether you’re preparing for the day, hunting for a file, or pulling insights from meetings.

For many users, Copilot Chat serves as the entry point to working with AI in Microsoft 365 — a place where you can gain clarity, prepare for the day, and connect insights from multiple sources.

Here, we look at what Copilot Chat is, highlight its most valuable features, share tips to get the most from it, and answer a few of the most common questions about it.

What is Copilot Chat?

Copilot Chat is a conversational AI assistant built into Microsoft 365. You can interact with it much like you would with a colleague — by asking questions, assigning tasks, or requesting summaries. The difference is that Copilot Chat draws on data across Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, and other Microsoft apps, giving you a comprehensive view of your work.

Whether you’re catching up after vacation, preparing for a client meeting, or creating new content, Copilot Chat saves time by bringing the right information into one conversation.

Top 5 Features of Copilot Chat

When clients ask us what Copilot Chat can really do, these five features are the ones we point to first.

1. Ask cross-application questions

Copilot Chat can answer questions that span multiple apps. For example: “What decisions were made in last week’s design meeting, and how do they align with the latest project plan in OneDrive?” This ability to connect information across systems is what makes Copilot Chat so powerful.

2. Create new content using multiple sources

Need a first draft for a client update or internal memo? Copilot Chat can draw from documents, emails, and notes to generate content tailored to your request. You stay in control of the final version, but Copilot provides a head start by pulling from the information you already have.

3. Prepare for and manage your calendar

Start the day by asking Copilot Chat to “summarize today’s meetings and pull key points from related emails.” It can surface relevant files, highlight open questions, and even draft agendas, so you arrive prepared and organized.

4. Discover people and expertise

Copilot Chat helps you find the right person to answer a question or provide context. For example: “Who in our organization has worked on the Contoso account in the past year?” It can scan communications and shared files (within your permissions) to identify experts and collaborators.

5. Catch up after time away

If you’ve been out of the office, Copilot Chat can summarize key updates across email, Teams, and shared documents. Instead of combing through hundreds of messages, you get a focused briefing on what changed while you were gone.

Best Practices & Pro Tips for Copilot Chat

Tip 1: Think bigger than one app

The real value comes from prompts that connect data across Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive.

Tip 2: Use it as your morning briefing

Start each day by asking Copilot Chat what’s most important, based on your inbox, calendar, and active projects.

Tip 3: Reference specific files

For more precise results, name the exact document or file path in your prompt (e.g., “Summarize the document ‘Q4 Marketing Plan.docx.’”).

How to Get More Out of Copilot Chat

Copilot Chat ties together the Microsoft 365 suite, helping you work smarter across apps. From cross-application questions to content creation and meeting prep, it reduces the effort required to stay informed and connected.

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Explore more about Microsoft Copilot and how it connects across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and Copilot Chat.

Ready to see what Microsoft 365 Copilot can do in practice? Join one of our exclusive Copilot workshops and learn how to apply it directly to your team’s daily work.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

We often get questions from clients who are just beginning to explore Copilot Chat. Here are a few of the most common ones:

1) What’s the difference between Copilot Chat and the Copilot in Teams

Copilot in Teams is explicitly designed for meeting and chat scenarios. It helps recap live discussions, summarize chat threads, and track action items within Teams.

Copilot Chat, on the other hand, works across your Microsoft 365 environment. It can pull from Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Teams, and more. Depending on your license, it may also combine web data with your work context, giving you a single conversational assistant that ties multiple apps together.

2) Can Copilot Chat access data from non-Microsoft applications?

Not directly. Copilot Chat works within Microsoft 365. However, if non-Microsoft data is stored or integrated into your Microsoft 365 environment, Copilot Chat can reference it.

3) How does Copilot Chat respect data permissions and privacy?

Copilot follows the same security and compliance framework as Microsoft 365. It only surfaces content you already have permission to view, and it never changes or exposes the underlying access rules.