How to Use Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

When you’re on a site like YouTube in Microsoft Edge, you’ll see the Copilot icon in the top-right corner.

1. Open the video in Edge.
2. Click the Copilot icon in the browser toolbar.
3. If Copilot detects a video, select the option to generate video highlights or a summary.

Copilot will create a summary and a list of key points or timestamps. You can click a point and jump directly to that part of the video.

You can also ask questions like:

• “What are the main security recommendations in this video?”
• “Summarize the section about Microsoft 365 security features.”

For compliance and security teams, this is quietly powerful. You can skim long webinars on topics like cis benchmark microsoft 365 or identity protection and jump straight to the bits that matter for your m365 security assessment or policy updates.

This same contextual understanding works on regular web pages too:

1. Open any article—say a long CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark guide.
2. Click the Copilot icon.
3. Ask it to summarize, extract key steps, or rephrase in simpler language.

Example prompts:

• “Summarize the CIS benchmark microsoft 365 requirements for Exchange Online.”
• “Create a bullet-point checklist from this page for microsoft 365 audit preparation.”

You still need to validate everything yourself (especially for compliance), but this massively cuts down the time you spend scanning long documents.

To get started on mobile:

1. Open the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android).
2. Search for “Microsoft Copilot”.
3. Install the app and sign in with your Microsoft account.

Once signed in, you get a conversational interface similar to the web version, including image understanding.

Beyond fun things like identifying flowers (which actually works nicely), here are some more work-focused ways I’ve seen it used:

• Take a photo of a whiteboard from a meeting and ask: “Turn this into a bulleted meeting summary with action items.”
• Screenshot a complex Azure AD Conditional Access policy screen and ask: “Explain this configuration in simple terms.”
• Capture a section from a CIS microsoft 365 foundations PDF and ask: “Explain this requirement and list what we need to check in our tenant.”

It’s not a replacement for formal, automated compliance m365 tooling, but for quick interpretation and drafting notes, it’s surprisingly handy.

Here’s how to turn a long document—like a security policy or a cis benchmark microsoft 365 guide summary—into a slide deck:

1. Open PowerPoint and start from your branded template or theme.
2. Go to the Home tab.
3. Click the Copilot icon on the right.
4. Use the “Create a presentation from…” prompt.
5. Type a forward slash `/` to reference a file, then select your Word document from OneDrive.
6. Confirm that Copilot can replace existing slides (if you’re using this file as a template).

Copilot will:

• Generate slides using your design theme.
• Extract key points into bullet lists.
• Often add relevant imagery.
• Insert speaker notes summarizing the underlying content.

For compliance and security teams, you can take something like a detailed microsoft 365 compliance policy and produce a training deck for non-technical stakeholders in minutes.

To get cleaner, more accurate decks from serious documents like a m365 compliance checklist or a security audit plan:

• Structure your Word document with headings (H1, H2, H3) before using Copilot.
• Add short summaries at the start of each section—Copilot tends to use those nicely.
• After generation, review the slides for:
• Accuracy of technical terms
• Confidential information that should be removed
• Over-simplification of critical controls

Copilot is fantastic at speed, but you still own the final message—especially when talking about cis benchmark microsoft 365 requirements or evidence for an upcoming audit.

From the Copilot desktop experience (launched from the Windows taskbar) you can:

1. Open Copilot.
2. In the prompt box, type `/` to see available entities: people, files, meetings, emails.
3. Select the category, then choose the specific item you want to reference.

Examples:

• `/file` then select a policy Word doc: “Summarize the key security requirements in this file.”
• `/meeting` then select an upcoming security review: “List the attendees and propose an agenda focused on microsoft 365 compliance and m365 security assessment.”

This slash-based referencing is very useful when you’re juggling a lot of documents and meetings for a m365 security audit:

• Ask: “From this file, extract all configuration-related tasks that we need to validate before our microsoft 365 security audit.”
• Point Copilot at a past meeting transcript: “Summarize all decisions related to CIS controls and configuration changes.”

Again, this doesn’t replace a formal cis benchmark microsoft 365 guide or automated checks, but it dramatically reduces the time you spend digging for info across email, files, and calendar.

If you’ve ever fumbled through Outlook’s rules UI, this part will probably feel like magic.

1. In Outlook, open an email that should trigger a rule (e.g., from your manager or a security notification mailbox).
2. Click the Copilot icon in the top-right.
3. In the prompt area, type something like:

• “Create an inbox rule to flag in red and pin to the top all emails from ‘Security Alerts’.”

4. Copilot will open the rule dialog pre-filled with conditions and actions.
5. Review carefully (conditions, categories, pinning) and then save.

This is actually very useful for separating high-priority security/compliance messages from noisy distribution lists.

For tricky or high-impact messages—like announcing new microsoft 365 compliance requirements or upcoming audits—you can use Coaching by Copilot:

1. Draft your email as you normally would.
2. Click the Copilot icon in Outlook.
3. Choose “Coaching by Copilot” instead of “Draft with Copilot”.
4. Copilot will analyze:

• Tone (too aggressive, too soft, too informal, etc.)
• Clarity
• Suggestions to improve professionalism and empathy

You still decide what to change, but it’s a nice safety net before sending an email about, say, stricter controls from the cis microsoft 365 foundations benchmark or mandatory security training.

In OneDrive:

1. Hover over a file (Word, PowerPoint, etc.).
2. Click the Copilot icon on the file card.
3. Choose an action:

• Summarize
• Create FAQ
• Ask a question

For example:

• “What are the key controls mentioned in this CIS microsoft 365 foundations checklist?”
• “List all action items for IT from this microsoft 365 audit preparation document.”

This lets you quickly understand long documents without opening them fully, which is useful when you’re triaging lots of files during an audit cycle.

The comparison feature is where it really starts to shine:

1. Go to OneDrive > My Files.
2. Select up to five files (Shift+click).
3. Click the Copilot button at the top.
4. Choose “Compare” instead of “Summarize”.

Copilot will generate a table extracting key fields side by side. While the video example used invoices, in a compliance context you could use this to:

• Compare multiple versions of a security policy.
• Compare different regional SOPs to check for gaps.
• Compare several tenant configuration exports (if saved as documents) to see what changed.

For serious configuration drift detection and cis benchmark microsoft 365 alignment, you’ll still want dedicated tooling, but for document-level comparisons this is an easy win.

To use Copilot effectively in Excel:

1. Click anywhere inside your data range.
2. Go to Insert > Table, or press Ctrl+T.
3. Confirm “My table has headers” if applicable.
4. Save the workbook to OneDrive or SharePoint (Copilot only works with cloud-saved files).

Once that’s done, click the Copilot icon on the Home tab to open the side pane.

You can now use plain language prompts like:

• “Add a new column with the country for each city.”
• “Add a column that counts how many times each country appears.”
• “Highlight rows where multi-factor authentication is disabled.” (if you’ve exported user settings)

Copilot will propose formulas and show a preview before applying changes. You can inspect the resulting formula to learn from it or tweak it.

For microsoft 365 compliance work, some realistic use cases:

• Take an export of user accounts and ask Copilot to:
• Identify accounts without MFA.
• Group users by department and summarize risk-related attributes.
• Take a list of SharePoint sites and:
• Flag sites with external sharing enabled.
• Count how many have anonymous links active.

This doesn’t give you a full automated m365 compliance assessment, but it helps you slice and understand exported data far quicker.

During a Teams meeting:

1. Click the Copilot icon in the meeting window.
2. Use the preset prompt like “What have I missed so far?” or type your own.
3. Review the concise recap of topics discussed.

You can then ask follow-ups such as:

• “List any decisions made so far.”
• “What action items are assigned to me?”

This is especially useful during governance or security review meetings where you can’t afford to miss decisions that impact your microsoft 365 compliance posture.

After or during a meeting, you can use Copilot-generated summaries as a first draft for:

• Change control records
• Meeting minutes for your m365 security audit evidence
• Follow-up tasks for implementing cis benchmark microsoft 365 recommendations

You should still validate and store these in your official systems (like your ticketing system or GRC tool), but having a structured recap saves a lot of manual note-taking.

In apps like PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, and Teams:

1. Click the Copilot icon.
2. Look for sample prompts near the bottom of the pane.
3. Often, there’s an option like “View more prompts” or “More ideas”.

You’ll see grouped prompts such as:

• Create (draft content)
• Understand (summaries, FAQs)
• Edit (improve, shorten, change tone)

Each Microsoft 365 app has its own tailored set, so it’s worth spending a few minutes exploring—especially in the apps you use most for microsoft 365 compliance documentation or reporting.

For even more ideas:

1. In the Copilot prompt pane, click something like “See all prompts” or “View More Prompts.”
2. This opens Copilot Lab.
3. Filter prompts by:

• App (Excel, Teams, Outlook, etc.)
• Task (summarize, analyze, create, explain)
• Job type (IT, security, operations, etc.)

You can adapt these prompts for:

• Drafting your m365 compliance checklist.
• Creating user-friendly explanations of CIS controls.
• Building communication plans for upcoming security changes.

In my experience, spending just 15–20 minutes in Copilot Lab massively improves how you think about prompts in your day-to-day work.

Copilot:

• Does not continuously scan your tenant configuration.
• Does not automatically track configuration drift.
• Does not produce formal, evidence-backed audit reports.
• Should not be treated as a system of record for compliance.

So while it can help you:

• Understand the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark.
• Draft policies and checklists.
• Prepare communication and training.

You still need automated compliance m365 tooling to:

• Continuously assess your Microsoft 365 settings.
• Map technical controls to frameworks like NIS2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST CSF.
• Provide audit-ready reports with real evidence.

If you’re serious about microsoft 365 compliance and cis certified microsoft 365 readiness, a tool like ConfigCobra fills the exact gap Copilot can’t cover.

ConfigCobra is an automated cloud compliance platform specifically for Microsoft 365 that can:

• Continuously check your tenant against the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark (129 controls).
• Support Level 1 (essential) and Level 2 (enhanced) CIS profiles.
• Run scheduled assessments (daily, weekly, monthly) so you always know your current compliance posture.
• Detect configuration drift in real time.
• Generate audit-ready PDF reports with evidence and remediation guidance.
• Map CIS controls to other frameworks (NIS2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO/IEC 27001, NIST CSF), which is huge if you’re juggling multiple standards.
• Support custom rule sets for specific needs (SOC 2, GDPR, and more).
• Provide role-based access so security, compliance, and IT teams can collaborate safely.

In other words, if Copilot helps you understand and communicate, ConfigCobra helps you measure and prove. The two together can significantly improve how you prepare for a microsoft 365 security audit and maintain ongoing compliance.

You can learn more and try it here: https://configcobra.com/compliance