Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s business version of those generative AI tools (think ChatGPT and DALL-E and the like) that can seemingly create something out of nothing — or close to it. Now, the next big Copilot feature is here. It’s called Draft with Copilot, and it has the potential to help some users save time and even improve their writing in ways that go beyond what we’ve seen before.
Here’s what you need to know about this new feature — what it is, where to access it, and what it can (and can’t) do.
Draft with Copilot Is Part of Microsoft Edge (or Is Coming Soon)
Let’s start with where to find this new capability: it’s right there in your browser. (Probably.)
First, you have to be using Microsoft Edge to benefit from this one. Sorry, Chrome aficionados!
Second, it’s a question of timing and permissions. Depending on when you’re reading this and how up to date your browser and OS is, you may already have access to Draft with Copilot. If not, you probably will soon.
Still Don’t See It?
If you know everything’s up to date and you still don’t have it, you might have some administrative setting toggled to block these kinds of tools, or you might not be on the right tier of Microsoft 365. Reach out to your helpdesk or IT service provider with questions.
What Draft with Copilot Does
Draft with Copilot uses large language model technology to generate content based on the information you give it. Yep, kind of like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. In fact, Copilot is powered by OpenAI tech, the same firm that built ChatGPT.
You provide Draft with Copilot some basic information, and it creates whatever you ask it to, more or less.
How Users Can Benefit from Draft with Copilot
Draft with Copilot isn’t human, and it doesn’t know all the stuff you know. So don’t expect it to replace you anytime soon! But for all sorts of typical, basic office work — standard email replies, meeting agendas, and so forth — it can do a pretty good job. At a minimum it’ll give you somewhere to start so you aren’t writing everything from scratch.
Users whose first language isn’t English and those with certain disabilities that make it hard to write or type can benefit in huge ways, too: Draft with Copilot may not have the sense of humor of a late night host or the prose chops of a professional business writer, but it does “speak” with accurate spelling and syntax.
How to Use Draft with Copilot
This one’s easy: when your cursor is in just about any text field in Copilot (that could be a form, an email, a document — you name it), right-click and look for “Draft with Copilot.”
Simple as that: click there and a Draft with Copilot window will pop up. You give it some basic information about what you need, and bam— you’ve got a shiny new piece of text that (probably, mostly) works for what you need.
A Word of Warning
These generative AI tools can sometimes be really, really impressive at first glance, and that’s part of the problem: it’s easy to trust them a little too much, or to think they understand more than they do.
Draft with Copilot may write things that aren’t true, things you wouldn’t ever say. It might miss out on certain social cues that would be obvious to you. And it doesn’t know all the nuances of your business like you do.
So while it can do a great job at churning out strong-sounding content almost instantly, just be sure to check its output thoroughly and adapt as necessary.
Got questions about integrating these tools into your work? Reach out anytime!