What it does

Copilot in Word drafts, rewrites, summarises and answers questions about a document. You can start a draft from a prompt, or point it at existing files to pull content in as source material.

Key facts

• "Draft with Copilot" can reference up to a handful of files, plus links and content you name in the prompt.
• Rewrite works on selected text — tone, length, or a table conversion from prose.
• Summarise gives you a synopsis with clickable references back into the document.
• Works across desktop, web and mobile, though the newest tricks usually land on web and desktop first.

When to use / skip

Strong for first drafts, reworking clunky paragraphs, and getting the gist of a long document you didn't write. Skip it for anything where every fact must be exact and unedited — you're still the editor.

Configuration decisions

• Whether users can reference other files as draft sources (this rides on their existing file permissions).
• How you position it in training: assistant for drafts, not a signing authority.

Gotchas

• It'll confidently invent structure and detail that reads well and isn't true. Treat every draft as a draft.
• Referencing a big source document can quietly drop detail — it isn't reading every word the way a human would.
• Formatting from a generated draft can be inconsistent and needs a tidy-up pass.

Consultant notes

• The "draft from these files" pattern is the real productivity win — teach people to feed it good sources rather than write from a blank prompt.
• Set the expectation early that Copilot output is a starting point. The teams that treat it as finished copy are the ones that get burned.
• Template-heavy environments see less benefit than you'd hope; Copilot doesn't know your house document standards unless you tell it.

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Worth revisiting after the next release wave.