Copilot in Word: Summarizing Documents

Overview

Government professionals deal with lengthy documents every day — policy memos, regulatory guidance, contract proposals, interagency reports. Reading every page of every document is not realistic when you have multiple deliverables, meetings, and decisions competing for your time. Copilot in Word lets you summarize documents, extract key points, ask questions about content, and generate executive summaries — all from within the document itself.

This video shows you how to use Copilot’s summarization features to get the information you need from any Word document in minutes.

What You’ll Learn

• Summarization: How to get a structured summary of an entire document
• Key Points: How to extract specific themes, recommendations, and data
• Q&A: How to ask natural language questions about document content
• Executive Summaries: How to create formatted summaries for leadership

Script

Hook: Read less, know more

A thirty-page policy document lands in your inbox an hour before a meeting. You need to understand the key recommendations, the budget implications, and the timeline — but there is no time to read it cover to cover.

This is a daily reality for government professionals. Reports, proposals, regulatory guidance, and interagency correspondence pile up faster than anyone can read them.

Copilot in Word reads the document for you. It summarizes, extracts, and answers questions — so you walk into that meeting informed instead of guessing.

Summarizing entire documents

To summarize a document, open it in Word and click the Copilot icon in the Home tab to open the Copilot chat panel on the right side of your screen. You need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license for this feature, and it works in both Word for the desktop and Word for the web across GCC, GCC High, and DoD environments.

In the chat panel, type “Summarize this document.” Copilot reads the entire document and produces a structured summary that covers the main topics, key arguments, conclusions, and any recommendations. The summary is organized so you can scan it quickly and understand the document’s scope without reading every section.

For longer documents, Copilot breaks the summary into logical sections that mirror the document’s structure. You get the full picture in a fraction of the time.

Here is a government scenario. You receive a thirty-page program evaluation report before an oversight meeting. Instead of spending an hour reading it, you open it in Word, ask Copilot to summarize it, and in under a minute you have a clear overview of the findings, recommendations, and next steps. You walk into the meeting prepared.

Extracting key points and themes

Sometimes you do not need a full summary — you need specific information. Ask “What are the main recommendations?” and Copilot lists them. Ask “What risks are identified?” and you get a focused list. Ask “What compliance requirements are mentioned?” and Copilot searches every section and compiles the details.

You can drill deeper with follow-up questions. After Copilot lists recommendations, ask “Which relate to cybersecurity?” or “What is the estimated cost for recommendation three?” Copilot narrows its focus, giving you increasingly specific answers.

Here is a practical example. You are reviewing a regulatory compliance document. Ask Copilot, “List all requirements that apply to federal civilian agencies.” You get a targeted list in seconds rather than marking up the document manually.

Asking questions about document content

The Copilot chat panel works like a conversation with someone who has read the entire document. Ask “What does this document say about the implementation timeline?” and Copilot finds the relevant passages. Ask “Are there any budget figures mentioned?” and it identifies dollar amounts throughout. Ask “What agencies are referenced?” and Copilot compiles a list.

For government work, this is particularly valuable for contracts and legal documents. Ask “What are the termination clauses?” or “What deliverables are due in the first quarter?” and Copilot pulls the answer without you locating the sections manually.

Creating executive summaries

One of the most practical applications is generating executive summaries. Government leaders need concise, structured summaries — and Copilot creates them on demand.

Ask Copilot to “Create an executive summary of this document in five bullet points.” Or specify a narrative format: “Write a one-paragraph executive summary suitable for a senior leadership briefing.” You can also request specific lengths: “Summarize this document in two hundred words or less.”

Copilot produces a formatted summary that you can copy directly into an email, a briefing document, or a slide deck. If the first version is not quite right, refine it. “Make it more concise” or “Add the budget figures” or “Focus on the cybersecurity findings.”

Here is the scenario. You have reviewed three different documents for a program review. For each one, you ask Copilot to generate a three-sentence executive summary. You compile those summaries into a one-page brief for your director. What would have taken an hour of reading and writing takes fifteen minutes.

Close: Get to the point faster

Copilot in Word transforms how you work with long documents. You can summarize entire documents for a quick overview. You can extract specific themes, recommendations, and data points. You can ask natural language questions to find buried details. And you can create executive summaries in any format, ready to share.

Here is your next step. Open the longest document sitting in your queue right now. Open the Copilot chat panel and ask it to summarize the document. Then ask a specific question about something you need to know. See how fast you get to the information that matters.

Sources & References

• Welcome to Copilot in Word — Overview of all Copilot capabilities in Word including summarization
• Chat with Copilot about your Word document — Guide for using the Copilot chat panel to ask questions about document content
• Copilot adoption resources — Adoption guidance and government cloud availability