Copilot for Microsoft 365: New features and updates for August
Check out the new ways that Copilot can help you work smarter and faster. We start this month with how Copilot in Excel can add formula columns to your tables. We look at how to jump start drafting or revising content in Word and how the Catch-up feature keeps you up to date with the information coming at you. Finally, in response to your requests, we show that you can process PDF files in PowerPoint and create content from multiple reference files.
Popular prompts
Set up conditional formatting
“Bold the top 10 values in /[Annual sales]”
Get key dates from meetings
“List the key dates mentioned in this meeting in a table”
Improve your Microsoft Copilot skills
Keep your team on track
Catch up on meetings
Try this with Copilot for Microsoft 365
Smartly add formula columns in Excel to better analyze and interpret business data
Got data, but you’re not sure what to do with it? Let Copilot help. You can ask Copilot in Excel to add a formula column based on a selected table in your spreadsheet. For example, if your table lists population and area of specified locations, just ask Copilot, “Calculate population density.” Just like that, Copilot will analyze your data and provide a new formula column showing population density.
Quickly ingest information from meetings or documents to reduce information overload
Catch-up is a new feature in Copilot that helps you stay on top of important updates and act on them. Go to the Catch up tab on the Copilot home page and you’ll see a set of cards, each with an update about a key meeting or document. You can use Catch-up in Microsoft Copilot and Copilot in Teams.
Easily draft and refine content based on your organizational documents
It’s often quicker to write new content if you can leverage existing content. With Copilot in Microsoft Word, you can create a draft based on text you’ve selected in your doc. You can ask Copilot to do any of the following with the selected text, list, or table:
- Revise or paraphrase existing content
- Explain your selected content in more detail
- Enhance your content with statistics and additional information
Whatever you select, Copilot provides a rich and interactive experience that makes it easier to create effective content.
Easily use information in customers’ PDF files to create a presentation
Copilot in PowerPoint can now query the contents of your PDF files. Whether you reference PDF files directly or when Copilot searches your files for information, it treats the content of your PDF files like any other file.
Ask Copilot, “Create a presentation using /[PDF].”
Generate summaries based on multiple emails, presentations, and Teams chats
Working on a project with a variety of supporting documents in PowerPoint, Word, and more? Get more information in less time by referencing multiple files and let Copilot take it from there.
Ask Copilot, “Summarize my emails, chats, and presentations from last week.” Or, “Create a to-do list from my 3 Teams meetings on July 3.”
Helpful resources
You can keep learning on our Copilot website, where you’ll find videos, how-tos, tips, and links to try it out. You can also discover how to communicate effectively with Copilot using prompts.
Transform your workflows with expert guidance about how to use Copilot for specific scenarios in the Microsoft Copilot Scenario Library.
If you want to see what you missed in past months, check out the updates history.
Take the power of AI on the go! Download the Microsoft Copilot mobile app and sign in with your work account today.
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