Microsoft Copilot in Word is an AI writing assistant built directly into the Word interface. It can draft documents from a short description, summarise long documents into bullet points, rewrite sections in a different tone and expand notes into full paragraphs — all without leaving the page you are working on. If you have heard about it but are not sure whether you have access to it or how it actually works in practice, this guide covers everything you need to know.
Which Microsoft 365 Plans Include Copilot in Word?
This is the most important thing to check before anything else. Copilot in Word is not included in standard Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions. It requires a separate add-on or a specific business plan.
As of 2025, the main ways to get Copilot in Word are:
- Microsoft 365 Copilot — a business add-on that costs extra per user per month, on top of your existing Microsoft 365 Business subscription. This is the full-featured version used by most businesses.
- Microsoft 365 Personal and Family with Copilot — Microsoft has been rolling out some Copilot features to personal subscribers, but the availability and feature set varies by region and subscription tier. Check your account at microsoft365.com to see what is available to you.
- Copilot Pro — a premium personal subscription (separate from Microsoft 365) that adds Copilot features to the Microsoft 365 apps including Word, Excel and Outlook.
If you open Word and do not see a Copilot button in the ribbon, you either do not have a qualifying subscription or the feature has not been enabled on your account. Contact your IT administrator (for business users) or check your Microsoft account settings to confirm.
How to Access Copilot in Word
Once you have the right subscription, accessing Copilot is straightforward:
- Open any Word document.
- Click the Copilot button in the Home tab of the ribbon — it has the Copilot icon (a small multicoloured circle or spark).
- A Copilot panel opens on the right side of the screen with a text input box.
Alternatively, in a blank document, you may see a Copilot prompt appear inline when you click in the body of the page. This inline prompt lets you draft content without opening the side panel. Both methods lead to the same features.
What You Can Ask Copilot to Do
Copilot in Word handles a wide range of writing tasks. Here is what it can do and how to ask:
Draft a Document From a Prompt
Type a description of what you need and Copilot will write a draft. For example: “Draft a one-page letter to customers explaining that our support hours are changing from 9–5 to 8–6 starting next month.” Copilot will generate a formatted draft that you can then edit. The more specific your prompt, the better the output — include the purpose, audience and any key facts you want included.
Summarise an Existing Document
With a document already open, type “Summarise this document” or “Give me the key points from this document as bullet points.” Copilot reads the content and produces a summary in the side panel. This is useful when you have inherited a long report or need to brief someone quickly on a document’s contents.
Rewrite a Section
Select a paragraph or section of text, then open Copilot and ask it to rewrite it. You can ask for a more formal tone, a more concise version, simpler language for a non-technical audience, or a more persuasive framing. Copilot will offer one or more alternatives that you can accept, reject or use as a starting point.
Expand Notes Into Full Text
If you have written rough bullet points or brief notes, Copilot can turn them into complete paragraphs. Select the notes or paste them into the Copilot prompt and ask: “Turn these notes into a proper paragraph.” This is particularly useful when you know what you want to say but are struggling to write it up in full.
Change Tone
Ask Copilot to make a section “more professional”, “less formal”, “more concise” or “more friendly”. This is faster than rewriting manually and useful when adapting content for different audiences — for example, turning an internal technical summary into customer-facing language.
Prompting Tips for Better Results
Copilot produces better output when your prompts are specific. A vague instruction like “write something about our company” will generate generic content. A specific prompt like “Write a two-paragraph introduction for a business proposal to a medium-sized manufacturing company, explaining that we provide IT support services and have been operating since 2010” gives Copilot enough context to produce something useful.
Some practical prompting habits:
- State the purpose. Is this a customer email, a board report, a product description? Tell Copilot upfront.
- Specify the audience. “For a non-technical reader” or “for a senior management audience” changes the vocabulary and complexity of the output significantly.
- Give it facts. Copilot does not know your specific business details. Include the key facts in your prompt rather than expecting it to guess.
- Ask for a specific format. “As three bullet points”, “in two short paragraphs”, “as a numbered list” — format instructions improve the structure of the output.
- Iterate. If the first draft is not quite right, ask Copilot to adjust it: “Make this shorter” or “Add more detail about the pricing section.”
Limitations — What Copilot Does Not Do Well
Copilot is useful but not infallible. Understanding its limitations helps you use it sensibly:
- It can make things up. Copilot may generate plausible-sounding but incorrect facts, statistics or names. Always verify any factual claims before using them in a document that will be shared externally.
- It does not replace proofreading. The output often sounds fluent but can contain awkward phrasing, repetition or logical gaps. Read everything Copilot writes before accepting it.
- It does not know your business. Copilot has no access to your internal data, pricing, customer records or processes unless you provide that information in your prompt or through Microsoft 365’s connected data features (available on some enterprise plans).
- It does not guarantee originality. Copilot draws on a large language model trained on broad data. For content that will be published publicly, review it carefully.
Privacy Considerations for Business Documents
If you are using Copilot in Word for business documents, be aware that the text you enter into Copilot prompts is processed by Microsoft’s AI systems. Microsoft has stated that for enterprise Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers, data is not used to train the underlying AI models, and it is subject to the same compliance and data protection terms as the rest of Microsoft 365. However, you should check your organisation’s data handling policies before pasting sensitive information — such as client data, financial details or personal information — into a Copilot prompt.
For documents covered by confidentiality agreements or that contain regulated data, consult your IT administrator or data protection officer before using AI-assisted drafting tools.
