Unlock the full potential of Microsoft Copilot and improve Microsoft 365 work. This beginner course shows how to use Copilot Chat and Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for professional outputs.Throughout the course, you’ll explore:

Introduction to Microsoft Copilot for Beginners

What you'll learn
Configure Microsoft Copilot and use Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 apps to complete everyday work tasks.
Write structured prompts and refine Copilot outputs using role, task, context, format, examples, and follow-up prompts.
Create meeting recaps, action items, follow-up emails, project briefs, and task plans with Copilot.
Clean and analyze Excel data, build presentations and content, and fact-check Copilot outputs before publishing.
Details to know

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8 assignments
September 2026
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There are 8 modules in this course
This module introduces Microsoft Copilot and helps you get set up and comfortable using it for everyday work. You will learn what Copilot is and the different forms it can take, how to sign in and find your way around its interface, and what it can and cannot do across common Microsoft 365 apps. You will also run your first practical tasks, such as summarising a piece of text, drafting a short message, and refining a reply. These basics give you a confident footing for using an AI assistant in real work, whatever your role or prior experience.
What's included
5 videos2 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
5 videos•Total 16 minutes
- What Microsoft Copilot Is: Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Agents Explained•2 minutes
- Navigating the Copilot Interface: Chat, Conversations, Files, and Settings•7 minutes
- Using Microsoft Copilot in Office Apps: First Tasks in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint•2 minutes
- Office Agent: Automating Everyday Office Tasks and Communication with Copilot•2 minutes
- Copilot vs ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude: Which AI Assistant to Use for Which Work Task•2 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Copilot Setup Guide: Creating a Microsoft Account and Choosing Free Copilot, Copilot Pro, or Microsoft 365 Copilot•10 minutes
- Copilot Capability Map: What Copilot Can and Cannot Do in Each Microsoft 365 App•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
1 ungraded lab•Total 25 minutes
- Sign In and Complete Your First Tasks in Copilot Chat•25 minutes
This module focuses on writing clear, structured prompts that get more reliable and useful results from Copilot. You will learn a simple framework for building a prompt, how small controls such as constraints and examples shape the output, and how to improve an answer through short follow-up messages. You will also learn to judge the quality of a response against practical criteria, so you can tell when it is good enough and how to make it better. These skills make everyday work with an AI assistant faster and more predictable.
What's included
5 videos2 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
5 videos•Total 11 minutes
- Prompt Structure That Always Works: Role, Task, Context, and Format•2 minutes
- Rewriting a Vague Prompt in Copilot Chat: From One Line to Role, Task, Context, and Format•2 minutes
- Prompt Controls Without Code: Constraints, Examples, Output Formats, and Style•2 minutes
- Iterating with Follow-Up Prompts in Copilot: Fixing Format, Length, Tone, and Missing Details•2 minutes
- What Makes a Response 'Good'? Evaluation Criteria for AI Outputs•2 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Prompting Patterns Reference: Decomposition, Chaining, and Iterative Refinement in Copilot•10 minutes
- Advanced Prompting Frameworks at a Glance: ReAct, Tree of Thought, and Self-Ask in Copilot•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
1 ungraded lab•Total 20 minutes
- Turn a Vague Request into a Structured, Tested Copilot Prompt•20 minutes
This module shows how to turn raw meeting notes and long documents into clear, usable follow-ups with Copilot. You will learn what makes a recap worth acting on, how to pull out decisions and action items with owners and deadlines, and how to check an AI-drafted recap for missing details. You will also draft follow-up emails and adjust their tone for different readers, and see how Copilot can summarise meetings in Microsoft Teams. These skills help you close the loop after meetings quickly and reliably.
What's included
6 videos2 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
6 videos•Total 18 minutes
- Meeting Recaps That Get Acted On: Decisions, Owners, Deadlines, and Next Steps•3 minutes
- Meeting Recaps and Action Items with Copilot in Outlook•5 minutes
- Summarizing Long Documents and Extracting Key Decisions with Copilot•2 minutes
- Writing Effective Project Emails with Copilot in Outlook•6 minutes
- Using Copilot to Rewrite and Adjust Tone in Business Communication•2 minutes
- Creating Structured Task Lists from Unorganized Notes with Copilot•2 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Copilot in Teams Meetings: Intelligent Recap, Transcripts, and Catch-Up Summaries•10 minutes
- Meeting Recap Template and Action-Item Standards: Owner, Due Date, Status, and Escalation Rules•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
1 ungraded lab•Total 20 minutes
- Build a Recap, Action-Item List, and Email from Raw Notes in Copilot•20 minutes
This module covers using Copilot to research a topic quickly while checking its answers before you rely on them. You will learn why AI can produce confident but incorrect information, how to gather findings together with their sources, and how to verify claims by checking dates, authority, and agreement across sources. You will also learn what information is safe to share with Copilot, and how to record findings, sources, and your confidence in a short brief. These skills let you use AI’s speed for research without taking its accuracy on trust.
What's included
5 videos2 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
5 videos•Total 14 minutes
- Copilot Limitations and Failure Modes: Why AI Produces Wrong or Misleading Answers•2 minutes
- Real-Time Search and Data Collection with Copilot•2 minutes
- Running Market Research and Trend Analysis with Copilot•3 minutes
- Building a Competitive Analysis Matrix with Copilot•4 minutes
- Fact-Checking and Verification Techniques in the Age of AI•2 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Data Privacy and Confidentiality Rules: What You Can and Cannot Paste into Copilot•10 minutes
- Research Brief Template: Question, Findings, Sources, Confidence Rating, and Open Questions•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
1 ungraded lab•Total 20 minutes
- Build a Verified One-Page Brief on a Topic with Copilot•20 minutes
This module shows how to plan a project with Copilot, from a clear brief to a realistic task plan. You will learn what a good project brief contains, including a measurable objective, scope, deliverables, and success criteria, and how to turn it into a task plan with owners, dates, and dependencies. You will also learn to check an AI-generated plan against real-world limits it cannot know, and to model a timeline under best, expected, and worst cases. These skills help you move from an idea to a plan you can run and defend.
What's included
6 videos2 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
6 videos•Total 25 minutes
- What a Project Brief Must Contain: Objectives, Scope, Deliverables, and Success Criteria•2 minutes
- Turning Brainstorming Sessions into Structured Action Plans with Copilot•4 minutes
- Creating Project Briefs with Copilot•6 minutes
- Generating a Project Plan Using Copilot in Word•5 minutes
- Where AI Plans Go Wrong: Dependencies, Capacity, and the Judgment Copilot Cannot Replace•2 minutes
- Scenario-Based Forecasting with Copilot: Modeling Delays and Resource Changes•6 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Project Brief and Project Plan Templates: Section-by-Section Prompts for Copilot•10 minutes
- Turning a Plan into Tasks in Microsoft Planner and Loop with Copilot•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
1 ungraded lab•Total 20 minutes
- Produce a Project Brief and Task Plan with Owners and Deadlines in Copilot•20 minutes
This module covers using Copilot to clean, analyse, and visualise data. You will learn how to prepare a dataset so Copilot can work with it, how to clean and standardise messy information, and how to produce key statistics and charts from plain-language requests. You will also learn to interpret the results correctly, including reading averages and spread, telling correlation from causation, and judging whether an outlier is an error or a real signal, as well as when a task is better done by hand. These skills help you turn raw data into clear, trustworthy insights.
What's included
6 videos2 readings1 assignment
6 videos•Total 24 minutes
- When to Use Copilot in Excel and When Not To: Speed, Control, and Precision•2 minutes
- Prompting Copilot to Clean and Standardize Your Data in Excel•4 minutes
- Automating Complex Tasks in Excel: Pivoting, Parsing, and Derived Columns with Copilot•4 minutes
- Detecting Anomalies and Ensuring Data Quality with Copilot•4 minutes
- Ask Copilot for Descriptive Statistics: Mean, Median, Mode, and Spread•6 minutes
- Creating Visuals with Prompts in Excel: Charts from Natural Language•3 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Excel Table Readiness Checklist: Structuring Data So Copilot Can Analyze It•10 minutes
- Interpreting Copilot's Statistics: Averages, Spread, Correlation, and Outliers•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
This module shows how to turn a long report into clear, audience-ready documents and presentations with Copilot. You will learn how to choose the right format for a given reader, how to write an executive summary that leads with the main point, and how to structure a presentation so each slide makes one clear idea. You will also learn to review AI-generated documents and slides for accuracy and tone before you share them. These skills help you communicate the key points of your work quickly and credibly.
What's included
7 videos2 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
7 videos•Total 24 minutes
- Executive Summary, Status Report, or Presentation? What Each Audience Needs•2 minutes
- Analyzing Word Files with Copilot: Asking Questions About a Document•2 minutes
- Creating Executive Summaries with Copilot in Word and PowerPoint•4 minutes
- Auto-Generating Project Status Reports in Word with Copilot•5 minutes
- Presenting Findings for Strategic Decisions•2 minutes
- Creating Storyboards and Presentation Concepts in PowerPoint with Copilot•4 minutes
- Reviewing and Improving AI-Generated Documents: Accuracy, Clarity, and Professional Tone•5 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Executive Summary Structure: BLUF, the Pyramid Principle, and a One-Page Template•10 minutes
- Slide Design Rules for Copilot-Generated Decks: Layouts, Brand Templates, Designer, and Speaker Notes•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
1 ungraded lab•Total 20 minutes
- Produce an Executive Summary and a Six-Slide Deck from a Source Report•20 minutes
This module covers creating public-facing content with Copilot, from social posts to images and articles. You will learn what makes content connect with an audience, how to describe an image so Copilot produces what you want, and how to format posts for different platforms. You will also learn to write longer pieces, keep content in your own voice, and check it for accuracy, originality, and responsible use before publishing. These skills help you produce polished, on-brand content that is ready to share.
What's included
7 videos2 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
7 videos•Total 14 minutes
- What Makes AI-Generated Content Work: Audience, Hook, Value, and Call to Action•2 minutes
- The Art of Prompting for Image Generation: Describing Style, Composition, and Mood•2 minutes
- Generating Engaging Social Media Posts and Variations with Copilot•2 minutes
- Generating Images with Copilot : From a Prompt to a Finished Visual•2 minutes
- Writing Long-Form Articles with Copilot•2 minutes
- Conducting Keyword Research with Copilot for Discoverable Content•2 minutes
- Brand Voice, Originality, and Fact-Checking AI Content Before You Publish•2 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Content Formats and Platform Rules: Post Length, Hashtags, Alt Text, and Image Sizes•10 minutes
- Responsible Content Publishing: Originality, Disclosure, Image Rights, and Avoiding Misleading Claims•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Test Your Knowledge•10 minutes
1 ungraded lab•Total 20 minutes
- Create and Export a Social Post, Image, Caption, and Short Article with Copilot•20 minutes
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