Getting Started with Copilot — Silver Hills Bakery

Welcome

Meet Microsoft Copilot 👋

A short, self-paced tour of Copilot, the AI assistant built into the Microsoft 365 apps you already use every day. No tech background needed.

📚 14 short lessons🥖 Built for Silver Hills🖨️ Printable cheat sheet at the end

Copilot is an AI assistant that lives inside Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and its own Copilot app. It can summarize long email threads, catch you up on meetings you missed, draft documents, analyze spreadsheets, and find information across your work files. Think of it as a capable teammate who already knows where your work lives and is happy to take the first pass at almost anything.

What you'll be able to do by the end

Know where to find Copilot and which place to use for which job
Write requests that get great answers, and have Copilot ask you questions to nail it
Pick the right response mode so you get quality without waiting around
Use Copilot in Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
Hand bigger research jobs to agents, and keep related work together in Notebooks
Build your own agent, starting with a Prompt Coach for your team
Understand what Copilot can see, and keep company information safe

How to use this tutorial: Read a lesson, click Mark complete & next, and keep going. Marking lessons isn't mandatory, it just saves your place if you step away. Go at your own pace.

Lesson 1

Where to find Copilot

Copilot shows up in a few places. Same assistant, but where you open it changes what it focuses on.

💬 The Copilot appOpen m365copilot.com, or the Microsoft Copilot app on your computer. Also in Teams' left-hand bar. Best for questions that span your email, chats, meetings, and files.

📧 OutlookLook for the Copilot icon when reading or writing an email. Summarize threads and draft replies.

👥 TeamsUse Copilot in a meeting or chat to recap what was said, list action items, and catch up on what you missed.

📝 Word, Excel, PowerPointClick the Copilot button on the Home ribbon. It works with the file you have open.

Which one? Follow the arrows

A question about your work in general"What did Supply Chain decide about the flour supplier last week?"

→

💬 Copilot app

Working on one specific email, document, deck, or sheetDraft it, tidy it, summarize it, analyze it

→

📝 Copilot in that app

Catching up on a meeting or a busy chatRecap, decisions, who owns what

→

👥 Copilot in Teams

A deep, multi-source research jobPull together a thorough report with sources

→

🔎 Researcher agentLesson 7

Rule of thumb: Working on a file? Use Copilot inside that app. Asking about your work in general? Use the Copilot app.

Always sign in with your Silver Hills work account. That's what gives Copilot access to your work info and keeps your conversations protected under our Microsoft 365 security. Don't use a personal Microsoft account for work.

Lesson 2

How to ask for great results

What you get back depends a lot on how you ask. It's an easy skill to pick up.

The biggest tip: be specific. Give Copilot the context a new coworker would need. Microsoft suggests four parts. Only the goal is required, but adding the others makes a big difference.

1. Goal: what you want2. Context: why, and who it's for3. Source: which files, emails, or info to use4. Expectations: format, length, tone

✗ Vague

"Write something about our new bread."

✓ Specific

"Write a 100-word LinkedIn post announcing our new sprouted rye loaf (goal). It's for grocery buyers we already work with (context). Use the key points from the Sprouted Rye Launch Brief in my OneDrive (source). Warm, upbeat tone, and end with a question to invite comments (expectations)."

The one line to add to almost everything

Copilot can't read your mind, but it can pull what's in your head out with good questions. Get in the habit of adding this to your requests:

✓ Add this line

Ask me questions for clarification before you start, so you know exactly what I'm picturing.

Copilot will ask a few pointed questions, you answer, and the result comes back far closer to what you actually wanted.

Don't know how to phrase it at all? Let Copilot write the prompt

✓ Copy & paste

I want to [describe your goal, e.g. "make a one-page flyer for our farmers-market booth"]. Ask me questions one at a time until you have everything you need to do this really well, then write it.

A few more habits that pay off

Point to the source. Name the file, the person, or the meeting: "using the emails from Priya this week," "based on Tuesday's QA meeting."
Give examples. Paste a post you loved and say "match this style."
Ask for a format. "Give me a table," "bullet points," "three options."
Iterate. The first answer is a draft. Just reply "shorter," "more formal," "add a stat."
Say who it's for. "Explain for a store manager," "for a food scientist."

Lesson 3

Pick the right response mode

In the Copilot app there's a mode selector near the top of the chat. It controls how much "thinking" Copilot does before answering.

Response mode

✨

AutoCopilot picks the right approach for you

✓

⚡

Quick responseFastest answers for simple asks

🧠

Think deeperSlower, more careful reasoning

Illustration of the mode selector. The actual app may look slightly different.

Which mode? Follow the arrows

Not sure, or just getting on with your dayMost questions and drafts

→

✨ AutoThe default, leave it here

Simple and quickRewrite a sentence, a quick fact, fix the tone

→

⚡ Quick response

A tricky problemComparing options, planning, careful analysis, a weak first answer

→

🧠 Think deeper

A full research report across many sourcesMinutes of work, cited results

→

🔎 Researcher agent

Simple rule: Leave it on Auto. Switch to Think deeper only when an answer wasn't good enough on something that matters. It takes longer, so it's not worth it for quick asks.

Use the heavy tools on purpose. Agents like Researcher and Analyst take longer and may have monthly usage limits, so save them for jobs that really need them rather than everyday questions.

Lesson 4

Tame your inbox and meetings

This is where most people save the most time, starting on day one.

📧 In Outlook

Open a long email thread and choose Summarize (or click the Copilot icon). You get the key points in seconds.
Writing a reply? Choose Draft with Copilot, say what you want to say, and pick a tone and length.
Already wrote something? Use Coaching by Copilot to check tone and clarity before you send.

Try it

Draft a polite reply thanking them for the quote. Say we need delivery by the 15th and ask whether they can do 10% off for a 6-month commitment. Keep it under 100 words.

👥 In Teams

During a meeting, open Copilot and ask "What have I missed?" or "What questions are still unresolved?"
After a meeting, open the recap and ask for decisions and action items with owners.
In a busy chat, ask Copilot to summarize the last few days so you can catch up fast.

Try it

List the decisions made in this meeting and the action items, with who owns each one and any due dates mentioned. Put it in a table.

Meeting recaps need a transcript. Copilot in Teams works from the meeting transcript, so transcription needs to be turned on. Always let attendees know when a meeting is being transcribed.

You're still the sender. Copilot drafts, but nothing goes out until you hit Send. Read it first.

Lesson 5

Copilot in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Click the Copilot button on the Home ribbon. It works with the file you have open.

📝 Word: first drafts and rewrites

Start a blank document and describe what you need, or point it at an existing file to work from. Select a paragraph to rewrite, shorten, or change the tone.

Try it

Draft a one-page SOP for receiving flour deliveries at the Abbotsford facility. Include sections for inspection, temperature checks, paperwork, and who to call if something's wrong. Use numbered steps.

📊 Excel: understand your numbers

Ask questions about your data in plain English, get formula suggestions, and add charts. Works best when your data is formatted as a table (Ctrl + T).

Try it

Which five products had the biggest drop in sales compared with last month? Show it as a chart and explain any patterns you notice.

🎞️ PowerPoint: decks from rough notes

Create a presentation from a description or from a Word document, add a slide, or summarize a long deck someone sent you.

Try it

Create a 6-slide presentation from this Word document for our sales team meeting. Keep text short, one key message per slide, and add speaker notes.

Save your files in OneDrive or SharePoint. Copilot works best with files saved in the cloud, and that's also how it can find them when you refer to them in other apps.

Lesson 6

Ask across all your work

The Copilot app can search across your email, calendar, chats, meetings, and files, all at once.

This is the big difference from a regular web chatbot. Because you're signed in with your work account, Copilot can pull together information from many places to answer one question.

Things to try

Catch up

What are the most important emails and chats I've received since Friday? Flag anything that needs a reply from me.

Prep for a meeting

I have a meeting with [person] tomorrow. Summarize our recent emails, chats, and shared files so I'm up to speed, and suggest three questions to ask.

Find something

Find the latest version of our allergen labeling guidelines and summarize what changed from the previous version.

Weekly wrap

Summarize what I worked on this week based on my emails, meetings, and documents, in bullet points I can share with my manager.

Check the sources. When Copilot uses your files or emails, it shows numbered references you can click. Open them to confirm the answer and see the original.

Need the public web instead? Copilot can also search the web for public information. For anything about Silver Hills, it relies on your work data, so be specific about which you want.

Lesson 7

Agents: hand off the bigger jobs

Agents are specialist helpers inside the Copilot app. They take a few minutes, work through many steps, and come back with a finished result.

🔎 ResearcherBuilds a thorough, cited report by working through your work files, emails, and the web. Great for background research, competitor scans, or "pull together everything we know about X."

📈 AnalystWorks through data like a data analyst would: cleans it up, finds trends, and explains what it means. Great for spreadsheets of sales, inventory, or QA results.

How to open an agent

Open the Copilot app.
In the left-hand pane, find Agents, or choose All agents to browse the Agent Store.
Pick the agent, then describe what you need. Attach or name any files it should use.
Answer any follow-up questions it asks, then let it work and review the result.

Real examples you can hand off

Researcher

Research five competitors' sprouted-grain bread products in Canada. Compare price, claims, certifications, and packaging. Give me a summary table and cite your sources.

Analyst

Analyze the attached trial bake results. Which recipe changes made the biggest difference to loaf volume and crumb score? Explain it simply and include a chart.

Save agents for the big stuff. They take longer and may have monthly usage limits. For quick questions, a normal Copilot chat is faster.

Don't see an agent? What's available depends on what IT has enabled. If you need one that isn't there, email support@silverhillsbakery.com.

Lesson 8

Build your own agent

Researcher and Analyst are ready-made. You can also build your own agent for the jobs you repeat, with no coding.

What is an agent, really?

An agent is Copilot with a job description. You give it a name, standing instructions, and (optionally) the files or sites it should use. From then on, it behaves the same way every time, so you don't have to re-explain yourself.

📋 Follows your instructionsThe same rules, tone, and format every time, like a teammate who's been trained on how you work.

📚 Knows your materialPoint it at SharePoint sites, files, or web pages, and it answers from those.

💡 Starter promptsButtons people can click to get going, so teammates know what to ask.

👥 ShareableShare it with your team so everyone gets the same helper.

Two places to build

A helper that follows instructions and answers from your filesMost people, most of the time

→

🧩 Agent BuilderInside the Copilot app

An agent that takes actions in other systems, runs workflows, or needs advanced setupTalk to IT first

→

🛠️ Copilot Studiocopilotstudio.microsoft.com

Agent Builder is the simple builder inside the Copilot app, and it's where you'll start. Copilot Studio is Microsoft's full agent-building tool for more advanced agents: open Copilot Studio ↗. You can also move an agent you made in Agent Builder into Copilot Studio later from its More options (…) menu → Copy to Copilot Studio.

Copilot Studio may need extra licensing. Agent Builder is the place for everyday agents. If you think you need Copilot Studio, email support@silverhillsbakery.com first and we'll help you plan it.

🧑‍🍳 Tutorial: build a "Prompt Coach" agent

Let's build an agent that turns a rough idea into a great Copilot prompt, using everything from Lesson 2. It's a handy one to share with your team.

Open the Copilot app. In the left-hand pane, under Agents, select New agent.
You'll see a chat box for describing your agent. To fill in the fields yourself, select Skip to configure. That opens the Configure tab.
Fill in the fields by copying the text below.
Open the Try it tab and test the agent with a starter prompt or your own rough idea. Tweak the instructions until you like the results.
Select Create. Your agent is private to you at first.
To share it, select Share, add teammates, and choose Can chat. Or use Copy chat link to send it.

Name

Silver Hills Prompt Coach

Description

Turns a rough idea into a clear, ready-to-use Copilot prompt. Asks a few quick questions, then writes the prompt using goal, context, source, and expectations.

Instructions

You are the Prompt Coach for Silver Hills Bakery, an organic sprouted-grain bread company. Your job is to help coworkers turn a rough idea into a strong prompt they can paste into Microsoft Copilot. How to work: 1. Read the user's rough idea. If anything important is missing, ask up to 3 short clarifying questions, one at a time. Focus on: the goal, who it's for, which files, emails, or meetings Copilot should use, and the format, length, and tone they want. 2. Once you have enough, write the finished prompt using four parts: Goal, Context, Source, Expectations. Write it in plain, friendly language as one ready-to-paste block. 3. After the prompt, tell them where to use it (the Copilot app, or Copilot in Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) and suggest which response mode fits (Auto, Quick response, or Think deeper). 4. Offer one optional follow-up prompt they could use to refine the result. Rules: - Keep your questions short and easy to answer. Never ask more than 3. - If the idea is already clear, skip the questions and write the prompt. - Never ask for or include passwords or confidential personal information in a prompt. - If the request involves health, nutrition, or allergen claims, remind them to verify the facts before sharing. - Keep a warm, upbeat tone that fits the Silver Hills brand.

Starter prompts

Add each one as a starter prompt (a short title plus the message):

Title	Message
Email reply	Help me write a prompt to draft a reply to a supplier about a late delivery.
Meeting recap	Help me write a prompt to get action items from my last team meeting.
Spreadsheet	Help me write a prompt to find trends in a sales spreadsheet.
Improve my prompt	Here's a prompt I wrote. Make it better: [paste your prompt]

Knowledge and capabilities

Leave Knowledge empty: this agent works from what you tell it. Under Capabilities, you can leave Create documents, charts, and code and Create images turned off, since this agent just writes text.

Make it yours. The same steps work for any agent. Ideas: a Brand Voice Helper that knows our style guide (add it under Knowledge), an SOP Writer for the production floor, or a Policy Q&A agent that answers from an HR SharePoint site.

Agents follow the same sharing rules. An agent can only use files the person chatting with it can already open. Before sharing an agent, check its Knowledge files are shared with the right people. Sharing org-wide or submitting to the company catalog may need IT approval.

Lesson 9

Notebooks: keep related work together

A Notebook is a workspace in the Copilot app where you gather files, notes, and chats about one topic.

Instead of re-explaining the background in every chat, put the files in a Notebook. Copilot answers using only the material you've added, which keeps answers focused and consistent.

When to use one

An ongoing piece of work: "Spring Product Launch," "Weekly QA Reports," "New Recipe Trials"
Anything where you want Copilot to stick to a specific set of documents
Work you want to share with teammates so everyone gets answers from the same sources

📁 ReferencesFiles and pages Copilot should work from

📝 NotesYour own notes and context

💬 ChatsCopilot conversations that stay with the topic

👥 SharingInvite teammates to work from the same notebook

How to start one

In the Copilot app, open Notebooks from the left-hand pane and create a new one.
Give it a clear name and add your reference files.
Ask questions or have Copilot create a summary, draft, or plan from those files.

Heads up: Deleting a notebook is permanent. Keep the original files in OneDrive or SharePoint, not just in the notebook.

Lesson 10

Scheduled prompts: set it and forget it

Have Copilot run the same request on a schedule, like every morning or every Monday, and get the result delivered to you.

If you find yourself asking Copilot for the same thing regularly, set it up once and let it run.

How to set one up

In the Copilot app, write a prompt and send it as usual.
Hover over your prompt and look for the Schedule this prompt option (a clock icon).
Choose how often it should run and save. You'll get the results each time it runs.

Ideas by team

Team	Scheduled prompt
QA	"Every Monday at 7am, summarize last week's emails and chats about inspections and flag anything that failed."
Marketing	"Each morning, list anything new from our agency and any open approvals waiting on me."
Supply Chain	"Every Friday, summarize supplier emails this week and list any delivery delays or price changes."
Sales	"Every Friday, draft a recap of the week's account activity from my emails and meetings."
Everyone	"Every weekday at 8am, tell me what's on my calendar today and what I should prep for."

Can't find the option? Scheduled prompts may not be switched on for everyone yet. Email support@silverhillsbakery.com and we'll take a look.

Lesson 11

What Copilot can see (and keeping it tidy)

Copilot can see exactly what you already have access to. Nothing more, nothing less.

Copilot doesn't get any special access. It respects the same permissions as SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Outlook. If you can open a file, Copilot can use it to answer your questions. If you can't, Copilot can't either.

Why that matters

Before Copilot, a file shared too widely often went unnoticed because nobody went looking for it. Now, anyone can ask Copilot a question and it may surface that file in the answer. That's why how we share files matters more than ever.

Good sharing habits

Share with specific people, not "Anyone with the link" or "Everyone in the organization," unless it's meant for everyone.
Put sensitive files in the right place. HR, payroll, and finance files belong in their restricted team sites, not your personal OneDrive shared with a link.
Use sensitivity labels when they're offered (for example, Confidential). Copilot respects them.
Clean up old shares. If you shared something with a big group and no longer need to, remove the access.

Saw something you shouldn't? If Copilot shows you information you don't think you're meant to see, like salaries or someone's HR file, don't share it. Tell IT right away at support@silverhillsbakery.com so we can fix the permissions.

Your data stays protected. When you're signed in with your work account, your prompts and Copilot's answers stay inside Silver Hills' Microsoft 365 environment, and they aren't used to train Microsoft's AI models.

Lesson 12

Good habits & staying safe

A few simple practices keep your work accurate, private, and trustworthy.

Verify what matters. Copilot is very capable but can be wrong. Double-check facts, figures, and anything customer-facing, especially health, nutrition, or allergen claims.
Click the references. When an answer cites a file or email, open it to make sure Copilot read it correctly.
Read before you send. Copilot drafts emails and documents, but you're the one sending them.
Use your work account only. Don't paste Silver Hills information into personal AI tools or consumer chatbots.
Mind sensitive data. Never paste passwords, and only share with Copilot what you're allowed to see and share.
Give feedback. Use the thumbs up/down on Copilot's answers. It helps improve results.

Remember: Copilot works best as a fast first draft and a tireless assistant. You stay the editor and decision-maker.

You made it 🎉

Quick-reference cheat sheet

Print this page (Ctrl/Cmd + P) or bookmark it to keep handy.

Want to…	Do this
Ask about your work in general	Copilot app (m365copilot.com, or Copilot in Teams)
Work on one email, doc, sheet, or deck	Click Copilot inside that app
Get better answers	Goal + context + source + expectations, and add "ask me questions for clarification"
Choose a mode	Auto = default · Quick response = simple · Think deeper = tricky problems
Catch up on email or meetings	Summarize in Outlook · Recap in Teams
Big research or data job	Agents → Researcher or Analyst
Build your own agent	Agents → New agent (Agent Builder) · advanced: Copilot Studio
Keep related work together	Create a Notebook
Repeat a request automatically	Schedule the prompt
Check an answer	Click the numbered references
Saw something you shouldn't?	Don't share it, tell IT

📌 Make your own cheat sheet with Copilot

Paste this into Copilot in Word, and it will build a one-page reference you can save to your OneDrive:

Copy & paste into Copilot in Word

Create a clean, friendly one-page "Copilot Cheat Sheet" for using Microsoft Copilot at work, in Silver Hills Bakery's warm style. Cover: when to use the Copilot app vs. Copilot inside Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; writing good prompts (goal, context, source, expectations, and add "ask me questions for clarification"); response modes (Auto by default, Think deeper for tricky problems); the Researcher and Analyst agents; building my own agent with Agent Builder (Agents → New agent); Notebooks; scheduled prompts; checking references; and good sharing habits because Copilot sees what I can see. Keep it skimmable with clear headings.

Three things to try today

Summarize your longest email thread in Outlook.
Ask the Copilot app: "What are the most important things I missed this week?"
Make your cheat sheet using the prompt above.

Need help? First, just ask Copilot. "How do I…" questions are exactly what it's good at. If you're still stuck, email IT at support@silverhillsbakery.com.

Finished? Mark this lesson complete to hit 100%. Nice work, you're ready to go. 🥖