Copilot for Email in Outlook
Novice · Everyday Tools track · ~35 min hands-on + quiz
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Use Copilot Chat inside Outlook to catch up on long threads, pull out action items, draft replies, and check your tone before you send.
What you’ll be able to do
- Know which Copilot features you have in Outlook at Drexel, and which you don’t
- Summarize a long thread and pull out decisions, open questions, and action items
- Draft a reply and adjust its tone and length before sending
- Get feedback on a sensitive message, and recognize the emails you should write yourself
Overview
Email is where most staff and faculty time goes, and it is where Copilot is most useful day to day. Because Copilot Chat runs inside Drexel’s Microsoft 365, it is approved for High Risk Data when you are signed in with your Drexel account. That makes it the right AI tool for real email, where ChatGPT Edu or a personal tool would mean copying messages out of Outlook.
Which Copilot you have matters. Microsoft sells two versions, and they look similar in Outlook. Everyone at Drexel has Copilot Chat. Drexel does not currently provide the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license, so the right-hand column below is not available at Drexel. It’s shown so you know which buttons to ignore when you read Microsoft’s help pages.
| Copilot Chat (everyone at Drexel) | Microsoft 365 Copilot (paid license, not available at Drexel) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who has it | All faculty, staff, and students signed in with a Drexel account | No one at Drexel |
| Works with the email you have open | Yes, through the Copilot pane | Yes |
| Summarize button at the top of an email thread | Yes | Yes |
| “Draft with Copilot” in a new message or reply | No — type your request in the Copilot pane | Yes |
| Tone and clarity feedback on your draft (“Coaching”) | No — ask for feedback in the Copilot pane | Built into the compose window |
| Questions across your whole inbox and calendar (“What do I owe people this week?”) | No | Yes |
Microsoft changes these features and their placement often. If a button in this page isn’t there for you, open the Copilot pane (the Copilot icon in the Outlook toolbar) and type the prompt instead. As a last resort, paste the text into Copilot Chat in the browser signed in with your Drexel account. Every activity below works that way.
The rule for email: Copilot drafts, you send. Never let AI send on your behalf. Read every draft for names, dates, commitments, and tone before it goes out.
Practice activities
All activities use the synthetic committee thread from Core 2: Workshop2_Demo_EmailThread.docx. You can also use a real, routine thread of your own. Skip threads about personnel, student conduct or grades, or health information for practice.
Activity 1 · Novice — Find Copilot in Outlook
Time ~5 min · Tools Outlook (new Outlook, Outlook on the web, or the desktop app)
Goal. Find the Copilot features you have before you start.
Steps.
- Open Outlook and sign in with your Drexel account.
- Open any email thread. You should see a Summarize (or Summary by Copilot) bar at the top. Everyone with a Drexel account has this.
- Look for the Copilot icon in the toolbar and open the Copilot pane. This is where you type requests.
- Start a new email. You won’t see Draft with Copilot or Coaching by Copilot in the message window. Those need the paid license, which Drexel doesn’t provide. You’ll use the Copilot pane instead.
Expected result. You can find the Summarize bar and the Copilot pane, and you know to use the pane for Activities 3 and 4.
Common pitfalls. If you see no Copilot at all, check that you are signed in with your Drexel account, not a personal Microsoft account. If it still doesn’t appear, use Copilot Chat in the browser and contact the IT help desk.
Activity 2 · Novice — Summarize a thread and pull out action items
Time ~10 min · Tools Copilot in Outlook (Summarize button and Copilot pane)
Goal. Catch up on a long thread in one minute, without missing what you owe people.
Setup. Open the demo thread file, or forward the text to yourself so it sits in your inbox as one email. With a real thread, open it in Outlook.
Steps.
With the thread open, click Summarize at the top. For a more structured result, open the Copilot pane and type:
Summarize this email thread. List every decision made and every open question.
Then ask:
List the action items as a table: owner, task, due date.
Read the original thread and check the summary against it.
Expected result. Two decisions (move EPI 570 to fall pending registrar confirmation; add the data-viz module with format to be decided), two action items due July 20 (James: syllabus draft; Priya: module options), and a Friday noon objection deadline.
Check your work. Is the accreditation crosswalk listed correctly? It is a task added to the September agenda, not a decision. Did Copilot turn “pending registrar confirmation” into a final decision? Thread summaries tend to drop qualifiers like that.
Common pitfalls. Summaries flatten who said what. If attribution matters, ask: “Who proposed each change, and who agreed?”
Activity 3 · Novice — Draft a reply and adjust the tone
Time ~10 min · Tools Copilot pane in Outlook
Goal. Get a usable reply in one or two passes, in your voice.
Steps.
Click Reply. Then open the Copilot pane and type:
Draft a reply from James confirming I’ll have the syllabus draft to Maria by July 20. Mention that I’ll also update the accreditation crosswalk once the registrar confirms. Two or three sentences, friendly and concise.
Adjust it. In the pane, ask: “Make it more formal” or “Cut it to two sentences.”
Paste the draft into your reply. Do not send it yet. Read it once for names, dates, and anything you would not actually commit to.
Expected result. A short, accurate reply you would send with minor edits.
Check your work. Did it add a promise you didn’t ask for, such as “I’ll circulate it to the whole committee”? Drafts often add polite extras that become commitments.
Common pitfalls. Copilot’s default tone runs warm and wordy. If every reply starts “I hope this message finds you well,” add “No greeting line, get to the point” to your instructions.
Stretch (optional). Write a short note describing how you write email (greeting, length, sign-off, words you never use). Paste it at the start of your prompt next time and compare the result.
Activity 4 · Novice — Check the tone of a difficult message
Time ~10 min · Tools Copilot pane in Outlook
Goal. Use AI as a second reader for a message where tone matters, while keeping the words your own.
Setup. Write this made-up draft in a new email (do not send it):
Priya, the module options were due July 20 and I still don’t have them. The registrar needs our decision and this is now holding up the whole committee. Please send them today.
Steps.
Copy the draft into the Copilot pane and type:
Give me feedback on the tone and clarity of this email to a colleague who missed a deadline. Don’t rewrite it. Tell me how it is likely to be read and suggest two specific changes.
Read the feedback. Make the changes you agree with yourself.
Compare: ask Copilot to rewrite the whole message, and decide which version sounds more like you.
Expected result. Feedback that the draft reads as blunt and suggests acknowledging her workload or offering help, while keeping the deadline clear.
Check your work. Did the rewrite soften the message so much that the deadline disappeared? The goal is clear and respectful, not vague.
Common pitfalls. For messages about performance, conflict, condolences, or anything personal, use Copilot for feedback, not for the words. People can often tell when a sensitive message was written by AI, and it can damage trust.
When to write it yourself
Copilot is useful for routine email: scheduling, reminders, updates, summaries, and first drafts. Write these yourself, or use Copilot only for feedback:
- Personnel matters, performance concerns, and anything HR-related
- Student grades, conduct, accommodations, or personal circumstances
- Condolences, apologies, and messages where the relationship matters more than efficiency
- Anything that makes a commitment on behalf of the department or school
For any email, you own what it says. Check names, dates, numbers, and commitments before you send.
Check your readiness
Answer these, then check — your score suggests whether to dive in or skim the activities first.
Useful resources
- Copilot Chat in the browser — sign in with your Drexel account.
- Drexel IT: Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing changes — what works without the paid license, which Drexel does not provide.
- Drexel AI Tools page — approved tools and data classifications.
- Core 2: Workflow Enhancement — summarizing and drafting with Copilot Chat and ChatGPT Edu, with the same demo email thread.
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