Mastering No-code and Workflow | Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot (or MS Copilot) is the top AI-powered tool designed to assist programmers and non-programmers by supporting them to write code with more other work functionalities in both low-code and no-code programming languages, which helps to boost their productivity and workflow. 

Microsoft Copilot is integrated with other Microsoft products, which also have advantage in data transferable capacity. So exactly, what is Microsoft Copilot and how to use it effectively? Learn the detailed guide as below!

What is Copilot?

Copilot is a conversational chat interface that supports you in specific scenarios, for examples, with front-end and normal daily uses requests, Copilot helps users to search for specific information, generate contents for emails, presentations or paragraphs; create summaries, provide improvement options and create images based on prompts

For backend services, the Copilot also helps developers to write many widely used computer languages, including JavaScript, C, and Python.

This actually sounds very similar with alternatives like ChatGPT, Google Gemini… as these AI-powered tools also have similar use cases, however in coding and development contexts.

This is only the programming language side of Copilot, as Microsoft has developed much more advanced functionalities for the Microsoft Copilot, as it also now supports low-code and no-code development! Therefore, for specific products like Microsoft, these alternatives do not have deep personalization like MS Copilot does!

Learn more: What Copilot is, with detailed guide on Github Copilot.

So, let’s dive in to see how MS Copilot works!

How Microsoft Copilot works

Microsoft Copilot Website

The Copilot website is very familiar with ChatGPT with multiple AI-powered plug-ins you could use, for example OpenTable and Kayak… Three plug-ins are able to be activated at the same time in one session.

When you first visit the Copilot website, you'll see some pre-written prompts. These are like helpful starting points to understand how to structure your prompts effectively.

By learning from these examples, you can unlock Microsoft Copilot full potentials and get the most relevant responses for your needs.

Microsoft Copilot with Notebook

Notebook is a new feature within Microsoft Copilot website, offering a different way to interact with the underlying generative AI models compared to the traditional chat interface, with breakdown as below:

• Side-by-Side View: By its name, you can access two parts. When typing prompts to the left side, you will see the AI's response to your prompts on the right side.

• Enhanced Prompting which means now you can write as long and detailed prompts as you can; then users can refine and iterate prompts over time to achieve the desired outcome from the AI.

• Greater Character Limit is supported, to ask more in the chat feature. This feature enables users to provide more context and instructions for the AI to generate answers and ideas, leading to potentially more complex and informative responses.

In conclusion, Notebook in MS copilot is a collaborative workspace where users can refine ideas with open spaces for suggestions from AI supports.

Please be aware that if the Notebook tab isn’t available in copilot.microsoft.com, it means that Notebook might be unavailable in your region or require some time to roll out to your account.

Microsoft Copilot sidebar in Windows

Similar to the Copilot website, but the Window copilot sidebar is a much more optimized interface for desktop users. Which means that using Coplit sidebar in Windows now, you can change the Windows settings to this support item, including switching to dark mode, setting the volume level, or turning on Do Not Disturb.

You can also ask the Copilot side bar to summarize text selected on your desktop, as then it will automatically open apps, but only after tapping a button in its chat box. The Copilot key is also available on keyboard shortcuts to summon AI.

Microsoft Copilot in Bing search and Bing Mobile App

Copilot supported-version for Bing users is now available, as with the Bing version, users can switch back and forth between the AI and regular search, by scrolling the mouse up and down to move between these two.

Microsoft Copilot sidebar in Edge web browser

Microsoft Edge offers an user-friendly interface for Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Designer, by the dedicated buttons in the sidebar, to easily switch between:

• Regular text interactions: Interact with Microsoft Copilot for code suggestions, content creation, or general tasks.

• Image creation with Microsoft Designer: Access the power of MS Designer to generate unique and relevant images for projects.

Microsoft Copilot Mobile For Android and iOS

Microsoft Copilot is now also supported the Android and IOS versions, which let you to choose between GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 AI models with a toggle option. 

Using MS Copilot with Microsoft Office Apps

A paid subscription unlocks Copilot's capabilities within top favorite Microsoft 365 apps, for example: Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Teams.

Please kindly note that the MS Teams is only available in a business plan.

MS Words with Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot power is the AI writing assistant, available in MS Words to support users to generate contents based on prompts, support in text formatting, convert paragraphs into tables, summarize documents, track change, make reports and by AI-powered insights, to answer questions about the pointed docs.

Image Source: Summary Documents - Lance Whitney/Microsoft

MS Excel with Microsoft Copilot

Kindly note that for your MS Excel files to work, they must be saved in the .xlsx or .xlsm, stored in OneDrive or Microsoft 365 SharePoint with AutoSave function enabled. The AI assistant automatically sorts the requests with prompts, to suit the cell requirement. 

Microsoft Copilot streamlines data analysis in MS Excel, as it helps you to clean and convert data into tables, create charts by suggesting options or letting you customize your request. This feature empowers you to explore data further with ease, by asking questions, generating pivot tables, and creating additional charts to unlock valuable insights.

MS PPT with Microsoft Copilot

Unleash your inner presenter with Microsoft Copilot for MS PowerPoint. Craft stunning presentations from scratch, revamp existing ones, or inject new ideas based on specific topics. Microsoft Copilot also helps users to summarize slides and answer brainstorming questions.

MS Onenote with Microsoft Copilot

Using Onenote with Microsoft Copilot to brainstorm better with more suggestions, capture ideas into notebooks, delve deeper with follow-up questions, and generate summaries to crystallize critical thinking.

MS Outlook with Microsoft Copilot

Uses of Microsoft Copilot towards Outlook is quite straightforward, to help users summarize received emails, draft new emails or to get multiple versions to improve their emails.

Microsoft Copilot Pricing

Is Copilot Free?

Microsoft Copilot is free to use on the web, Windows desktop, Edge browser, and also in the Copilot mobile apps. You only need to pay for MS Copilot when using it with Microsoft 365 apps. 

Is Copilot Available for all countries?

No, Microsoft Copilot is only available in select regions and works only in Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. Microsoft is constantly expanding its coverage, so stay tuned to their official updates for the latest information!

How Much Does Copilot Pro Cost?

Kindly note that the Microsoft Copilot is only available in Microsoft 365 apps, which costs $20 per month, with 1 month free for each account (one time).

Businesses with Microsoft 365 plans can access Copilot for $30/user/month, enabling it to access company data to leverage knowledge input, for more relevant responses to more complex prompts. The other three paid versions include Microsoft Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Service and Copilot Studio, with the cost up to $200 per month.

Copilot Technology

What is Microsoft Copilot Technology?

Microsoft uses Microsoft's Prometheus AI model to create their copilot features, taking advantage of generative AI tools from OpenAI, ChatGPT-4, ChatGPT-4o and DALL-E 3.

For a few of the advanced tools available in ChatGPT, you may have to pay for a ChatGPT Plus subscription, but with Microsoft Copilot, it’s free. 

Microsoft’s Prometheus AI model also relies on large web-scraping database from the Bing search engine, Microsoft Natural Language Processing, Text to Speech (TTS) for generating lifelike speech responses, Retrieval Augmentation Generation (RAG) to ground and add context and Azure cloud services.

Privacy and copyright Issues

Similar to ChatGPT and Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot uses anonymized conversations to train the AI model, which means whatever has been typed should be used to train later on. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to enter private data, unless you have an enterprise account

Reference and Image Source