Use Copilot in Outlook and Teams for email and meetings

What do you need before you start?

Gather the items below before you open the chat. You already have most of them.

• Outlook or Teams, signed in with your work account
• One real thread, or one meeting you missed
• Your company's rule for AI, if they have one
• Five quiet minutes to read what Copilot wrote

The free chat at copilot.microsoft.com can still help you draft from bullets you type yourself. It does not open your inbox or your meetings. If the in-app button is missing, use Reply to work emails or Turn meeting notes into action items.

How do you check the company rule before you click?

Copilot in Outlook and Teams runs in your work account. Microsoft tells people who cannot open it to ask their IT admin. That is also the person who can tell you what you are allowed to summarize.

Do not paste a work thread into a personal ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini account to get around a missing button. If your company says to use its own tool, use that tool. If you are unsure, ask. Then come back.

How do you summarize one email thread?

Microsoft's help for summarizing a thread says to open the conversation and select Summary by Copilot, or Summarize, at the top. The summary shows at the top and may include numbered citations. Select a citation to open that message.

In new Outlook, the same help says you can select Summarize a file when the message has a PDF, PowerPoint, or Word attachment. Read that summary too. An attachment can change the ask.

The Outlook FAQ also mentions prioritizing email. Button names differ by app and version. If you do not see a control that sorts or prioritizes, do not hunt through menus. Summarize the threads that matter, and file the rest yourself.

Open at least one cited message. If the summary names a date, a dollar amount, or a yes that you cannot find, delete that line from your notes.

How do you draft the reply from your bullets?

Reply only after you know the point. Type three bullets on paper or in the prompt: what you are saying yes or no to, what you need, and any date.

Microsoft's drafting help describes two paths. In the message, use the Copilot box, Draft with Copilot, Help me write, or Help me reply, depending on what your Outlook shows. Or open Chat and ask it to draft. On Mac, Microsoft also documents a Copilot icon with Reply with Copilot, or Summarize and reply.

Reply to this thread.
My points, in my words:
- [yes, no, or the update]
- [what I need from them]
- [date or deadline, only if I typed one]

Use a calm tone. Keep it under 120 words.
Do not add facts, promises, or people I did not name.

Generate, then read it in the message. Change the tone or length only if those controls are on the screen. Keep the draft that sounds like you. You press Send.

If the icon is missing, stop. Microsoft says to check with your IT admin. Use the free reply guide instead of pasting the thread somewhere else.

How do you catch up on a missed Teams meeting?

Microsoft's recap steps say: from the meeting chat, select Recap, then Copilot, then View prompts, then Recap the meeting. Generate meeting notes is another prompt: meeting chat, Copilot, More prompts, Generate meeting notes, then Copy.

Catch up after the meeting requires a transcript if you want answers about what was said. Open Copilot from the meeting chat or the Recap tab and ask a direct question.

What was decided?
What is assigned to me, with my name on it?
What is still open?
If the transcript does not say it, write "not in the transcript."

Microsoft's note on those pages: verify the result, because AI-generated content can be wrong. Match every task to a line you can find. If your name is on a task you did not hear about, ask the organizer before you accept it.

The same catch-up page says intelligent recap can be part of Teams Premium or a Microsoft Copilot license. If Recap is missing, that is a license or admin setting, not a prompt you wrote badly. Take your own notes next time, or paste the notes you do have into the action-items guide.

What should you keep private?

Work mail and meeting transcripts stay inside your company's Microsoft account only if you leave them there. Do not forward a summary that includes someone else's personal details, a customer list, or a salary. If a message has a sensitivity label, leave the label on. Read your company's AI rule before you turn on transcription for a meeting you host. People in the meeting should know a transcript is being made.

What should you check before you use it?

Answer each line below. If one is still a no, do not use the result yet.

Director check: look before you use it

• Did you open one cited email or one transcript line? A summary you did not spot-check is not ready.
• Is every date and name one you found? If not, take it out.
• Did you send the reply yourself, after you edited it? Copilot does not get to press Send.
• Is the Copilot button inside Outlook or Teams? The free website is a different tool.

What is one extra tip?

When the in-app button is missing, reply from bullets in a free chat or turn notes you already have into action items. The same "button or not" rule is on Copilot in Excel and Copilot in Word and PowerPoint. For a long job, approve the plan before the draft: Ask for a plan before the work.