10 Hidden Microsoft 365 Copilot Tricks You're Missing Out On

"I use Copilot, but I only use it for typing text in Word."

For people like that, I have compiled 10 "usable" functions that I found through thorough research.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is currently implemented in over 90% of major global companies. While implementation is progressing, I get the impression that few people are fully utilizing its features.

I am not a heavy user of Copilot myself. That's exactly why I thoroughly researched official Microsoft documentation and release notes to extract "blind spots that regular users might not notice."

What you will get from this article:

❶ 10 features actually usable as of April 2026

❷ Target licenses for each (free or paid)

❸ Prompt examples you can copy and paste

Chapter 1: The Copilot situation changed from April 15, 2026

First, let me share one important fact.

On April 15, 2026, Microsoft made a major change.

In companies with more than 2,000 employees, users who do not have a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license can no longer use Copilot features within Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

In other words, we have entered an era where the available functions are clearly divided by "which license the company has."

Therefore, in this article, I will clearly state the target license for each function.

【Free Copilot Chat】 Features available at no extra charge for commercial Microsoft 365 users

【Paid Microsoft 365 Copilot】 Features requiring a $30/month paid add-on

【Insider Early Access】 Features still in the beta/preview stage

Note that all features in this article have been verified in official Microsoft release notes (Jan–Mar 2026 versions) and support documents. I prioritize primary sources of information.

Chapter 2: Copilot Chat Edition | 3 Features You'll Regret Not Knowing

❶ Use the slash "/" to instantly reference internal files, people, and meetings

Target: 【Paid Microsoft 365 Copilot】

If you type "/" in the Copilot Chat prompt input field, a dropdown list of recent files, people, and meeting candidates will appear.

This feature is clearly stated in official Microsoft support, but a surprising number of people don't know about it.

Prompt Example

"Based on the contents of /Weekly Sales Meeting, please create a draft agenda for next week."

During my 15 years at a startup, I used to start preparing weekly meeting materials by searching for related files. This feature makes me wonder what I was doing with all that time.

❷ Select a Copilot response and use "Ask Copilot" to dig deeper

Target: 【Free Copilot Chat】

When you highlight a specific part of a response returned by Copilot, an "Ask Copilot" button appears.

This allows you to focus and ask follow-up questions only on the parts you care about within a long response.

This is effective in scenes where "the overall response is too long, but I want to dive deeper into just one part."

❸ Highlight email text and use only that part as a reference source

Target: 【Free Copilot Chat】

When you use Copilot Chat while an email is open in Outlook, that email automatically becomes the reference source.

What is even less known is that if you highlight a specific part of the email body, the specification narrows the reference source to just that part.

Prompt Example

"Regarding the highlighted part, please organize three concerns and points to be confirmed."

You can use it for detailed tasks like "Create a reply draft focusing only on Mr. Sato's last comment, not the entire email."

Chapter 3: Excel Edition | 2 Features for Analysis Without Knowing Formulas

❹ Analysis from zero formula knowledge with Copilot in Excel with Python

Target: 【Paid Microsoft 365 Copilot】

Just by instructing Excel in plain Japanese to "analyze this data with Python," Copilot will automatically generate and execute Python code.

Importing libraries like pandas and matplotlib is also fully automated. You get results even if you can't read the code.

Prompt Example

"Please use Python to analyze the monthly trends of the sales data in columns A to F. Also, create a month-over-month graph and save it to a new sheet."

The more you feel that "Python seems difficult," the more this feature is worth trying. Just by giving instructions in Japanese, you can jump right into data analysis.

❺ COPILOT Function (High-profile feature currently in Insider Early Access)

Target: 【Insider Early Access】

This is a feature where you can write "=COPILOT("...", range)" directly in a cell to execute AI processing as a formula.

However, there is an important note.

As of April 2026, the COPILOT function is still in the early access stage for the Microsoft 365 Insiders Beta Channel and Frontier Program. The official date for General Availability (GA) has not yet been announced.

I recommend full-scale implementation for business after GA. Insider participants can try it right now.

Syntax Example

=COPILOT("Classify these customer reviews into positive, negative, or neutral", A2:A100)

This feature allows you to preview a future where natural language processing is completed within a spreadsheet. It's worth knowing for the upcoming official release.

Chapter 4: Word & PowerPoint Edition | 2 Features from Blank Page to Finished Manuscript

❻ Word Agent / PowerPoint Agent for finished manuscripts from scratch

Target: 【Paid Microsoft 365 Copilot】

These are agent features that officially launched in 2026. Word Agent was deployed in November 2025, Excel Agent in December 2025, and PowerPoint Agent in February 2026.

If you just tell it "Proposal for next term's sales strategy," it will return a high-quality draft including structure, body text, and style.

Prompt Example

"Please create a sales strategy proposal for the next term. The audience is 5 members of the management meeting, the purpose is approval of next term's measures, the structure should be current issues, 3 measures, KPIs, and schedule in that order, and the tone should be data-driven and concise."

The pain of starting a proposal from a blank page has been significantly reduced with the advent of Agent features.

❼ Unify all slide formatting in PowerPoint at once

Target: 【Paid Microsoft 365 Copilot】

Using the "Edit with Copilot" feature, you can unify the font, size, and bullet style of the entire presentation in one go.

This is a new feature that rolled out for the web version in March 2026, with Windows and Mac versions being deployed sequentially.

In presentations made by multiple people, you can solve problems like "fonts are inconsistent" or "bullet point formats differ by chapter" just by asking Copilot.

This feature lets you leave the final "polishing" work entirely to AI.

Chapter 5: Outlook & Mobile Edition | 3 Features to Win Back Time

❽ Set auto-reply on/off and duration just by chatting

Target: 【Free Copilot Chat】

You can set up auto-replies just by talking to Copilot Chat, without needing to open the settings screen.

Prompt Example

"Please turn on auto-reply from next Monday to Friday. Make the writing style similar to the auto-reply from my last business trip."

The effort of searching for "where was the auto-reply setting again" every time becomes zero.

❾ "Voice catch-up" in Outlook Mobile for email processing by ear only

Target: 【Free Copilot Chat】

This feature started being provided for iOS in January 2026 and Android in February 2026.

By opening Copilot on the Outlook mobile app home screen and tapping "voice catch-up," you can perform everything from summarizing unread emails to drafting replies, archiving, pinning, and flagging—all hands-free via voice.

You can proceed with email processing using only your ears while on a commuter train or moving. It's huge to be able to get to a "processed" state without using your hands.

❿ Meeting Video Recap

Target: 【Paid Microsoft 365 Copilot】

This feature started being provided in March 2026.

For meetings of 10 minutes or more where recording is enabled, it automatically generates a highlighted video with narration in addition to a text summary.

This feature meets the need for those who "don't have time to watch the meeting recording from start to finish but want to grasp the main points through video."

However, there is a note. As of April 2026, it only supports English. Japanese support is planned sequentially.

Chapter 6: 3 Steps You Can Take Today

For those who have read this far, I propose just three actions you can take today.

Step 1 → Try typing a slash "/" once in the Copilot Chat input field. A list of internal file candidates will appear. You can feel "Oh, there was a function like this" just with this.

Step 2 → While opening an unread email in Outlook, try talking to Copilot Chat: "Create a polite reply draft for this email." You can experience the feeling of copy-paste work becoming zero.

Step 3 → From my experience of writing text using AI more than 1,000 times, 80% of the output quality of AI is determined by how the prompt is written. Please try just one of the features introduced today.

The difference between "fully utilizing it" and "just having it" starts here.

It's a real waste to let features sleep when you have the license.

Thank you for reading to the end!

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