Getting Started with Copilot Chat

Overview

You don’t need a paid Copilot license to start using AI in Microsoft 365. Copilot Chat is included with your M365 account and available right now. It can answer questions, help brainstorm ideas, draft content, summarize uploaded files, and more—all within your organization’s security boundary.

This video shows you how to access Copilot Chat, navigate the interface, write your first prompts, and understand what it can and can’t do.

What You’ll Learn

• What It Is: Copilot Chat’s capabilities and who can use it
• Where to Find It: Access points and interface walkthrough
• First Prompts: How to write effective prompts from day one
• Capabilities: What Copilot Chat can and can’t do without a paid license

Script

Hook: Copilot Chat is already available to you

You don’t need a paid Copilot license to start using AI in Microsoft 365. Copilot Chat is included with your M365 account and available right now.

Whether you’re in GCC, GCC High, or DoD, you can start using Copilot Chat today to answer questions, brainstorm ideas, draft content, and get help with your daily work—all protected by your organization’s security controls.

In the next six minutes, you’ll learn how to access it, start your first conversation, and understand what it can do for you.

What Copilot Chat is and who can use it

Copilot Chat is a free AI chat experience available to all Microsoft 365 users. Think of it as a knowledgeable assistant that can help you think through problems, draft content, analyze information, and answer questions.

It’s important to understand the difference between free Copilot Chat and the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Free Copilot Chat gives you AI assistance with web grounding—meaning it can search the web to inform its responses—and basic file upload capability so you can share documents for analysis. Paid M365 Copilot adds deep integration with your organizational data—emails, files, chats, and meetings—plus priority access and advanced features embedded directly in Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

For government cloud availability, Copilot Chat is available in GCC, GCC High, and DoD environments. If you’re in GCC High, note that web grounding is off by default for compliance reasons—your admin may need to enable it depending on your organization’s security posture.

Regardless of whether you’re using the free or paid version, your interactions are protected by your organization’s security and compliance controls. Your data stays within your tenant boundary and is not used to train Microsoft’s AI models.

Accessing Copilot Chat: where to find it

The primary access point is microsoft365.com/copilot or copilot.microsoft.com. Sign in with your work or school account—the same account you use for Outlook and Teams.

When the interface loads, you’ll see several elements. In the top right corner, look for a green shield icon. This confirms that enterprise data protection is active—your conversations are secured within your organization’s boundary.

On the left panel, you’ll find agents and your recent conversations. In the center, you’ll see suggested prompts to help you get started—these are a great place to begin if you’re not sure what to try first. At the bottom is the message compose box where you type your prompts.

Copilot Chat is also available as a side-by-side experience within M365 apps. In Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook, you can open a Copilot panel alongside your work. This lets you get AI assistance without leaving the document or email you’re working on.

For mobile access, Copilot is available in the Microsoft 365 mobile app. This means you can use it on the go—during commutes, between meetings, or whenever you have a question that can’t wait until you’re back at your desk.

Your first conversation: writing effective prompts

Start with the suggested prompts on the home screen to explore what Copilot Chat can do. These are curated to demonstrate common capabilities and help you build intuition for how to interact with it.

When you’re ready to write your own prompts, follow three principles.

Be specific about what you need. Instead of “Help me with a meeting,” try “Help me draft an agenda for a 30-minute team meeting about our Q2 project milestones.” Specificity gets better results.

Provide context. Tell Copilot who you are, what you’re working on, and who the audience is. “I’m a program manager preparing a briefing for my director on our migration timeline. Help me outline the key points to cover.” The more context you provide, the more relevant the response.

Iterate and refine. Your first prompt rarely produces the perfect answer. Ask follow-up questions. Say “Make it more concise” or “Add a section about risks” or “Rewrite this in a more formal tone.” Copilot remembers the context of your conversation, so each follow-up builds on what came before.

You can also upload files for analysis—up to 10 megabytes per file and 2 gigabytes total per day. Upload a report and ask Copilot to summarize it. Share a spreadsheet and ask it to identify trends. Upload a policy document and ask it to extract the key requirements.

Keep in mind that each conversation supports up to 30 requests. When you reach the limit, start a new chat to continue working.

Understanding what Copilot Chat can and can’t do

Here’s what Copilot Chat can do for you today.

Answer questions grounded in web content—research topics, explain concepts, provide background information. Help you brainstorm ideas—generate alternatives, explore approaches, challenge your thinking. Draft content—emails, outlines, summaries, talking points, meeting agendas. Summarize information from uploaded files—reports, documents, spreadsheets. Take basic email actions like flagging, pinning, or archiving messages. Generate images when you need visual content.

Here’s what Copilot Chat cannot do without a paid Copilot license. It cannot automatically access your organization’s emails, documents, SharePoint sites, or Teams chats. If you want Copilot to summarize your unread emails or search across your organization’s files, that requires the paid M365 Copilot license. It cannot create or edit files directly in your tenant. It cannot schedule meetings or send emails on your behalf.

Be aware of service limits. Usage may be capped at around 10 sessions per 24 hours during peak demand. Performance depends on service capacity. These limits ensure fair access for everyone.

Close: start using it today

Here’s what to do next. Visit microsoft365.com/copilot and sign in with your work account. Try one of the suggested prompts to see how it works. Then experiment with your own work scenarios—draft an email, brainstorm a project approach, or summarize a document you’ve been meaning to read.

The best way to learn Copilot Chat is to use it. Start today.

Sources & References

• Get started with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat — Official getting started guide
• Microsoft 365 Copilot overview — Capabilities and interface walkthrough
• Microsoft 365 Copilot in GCC High — Government cloud availability
• Copilot adoption for GCC — GCC-specific adoption resources