COPILOT WEEKLY
Thu, November 5, 2026
6-minute read
3 QUICK WINS · 2 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW · 1 GUIDE
👋 Hello, Hello
Tired of telling Copilot the same thing every week? This issue fixes that, plus five quick wins you can try before lunch.
IN 5 MINUTES, BE THE ONE IN THE OFFICE WHO KNOWS COPILOT:
Get Word to show a source for every claim.
Walk into your next call with a one-page brief.
Make the image for your slide in one sentence.
Turn a boring table into a slide people can click.
Let Cowork chase your Planner tasks.
Explain your weekly report once, with Projects.
3 Quick wins
1. 📝 Get Word to show a source for every claim
Copilot can write the section for you, but your boss will ask where the numbers came from. So ask Copilot to give a source after every sentence. Then you can check them before anyone asks.
Open your document in Word and click Copilot.
Paste the prompt below with your topic.
Copilot adds a source link after each sentence. Click Sources to see everything it read.
Open the links and check them before you send.
The prompt: "Write a short section on [YOUR TOPIC] for [WHO WILL READ IT]. Search the web first, and add a source link after every claim. If you can't find a source for something, leave it out."
Every claim comes with its receipt.
2. 🔎 Walk into your next call with a one-page brief
Before a client call or vendor meeting, you dig through old emails, chats and the company's website. Cowork can do it in one go. It checks what your team already said about the company in Outlook, Teams and your files, adds what's new on the web, and puts it on one page with sources.
Open Copilot → Cowork.
Paste the prompt below.
Give it a few minutes. It's reading a lot, and you can watch each step in the chat.
Open the brief from the chat or your OneDrive, and click the sources on anything you'll say out loud.
The prompt: "I have a call with [COMPANY] on [DAY]. Check our emails, Teams chats and files about them, then search the web for recent news. Make a one-page brief with sources: what they do, what's new with them, what we've already talked about, and 3 questions I should ask."
Make it bigger: add "and put their key numbers in an Excel sheet" to get a spreadsheet next to the brief.
Ten minutes of prep, done before you've found the meeting link.
3. 🎨 Make the image for your slide in one sentence
Need an icon or a picture for a slide? Skip the stock photo sites. Cowork can make it for you.
Open Copilot → Cowork.
Ask for the image, like the prompt below.
If you didn't say enough, Cowork asks a question or two first, like which shape or style you want.
Not quite right? Ask for a change: "Make it blue" or "Try it as a wide banner."
The image is saved in the chat and in your OneDrive output folder, so it's ready to drop into your deck.
Copilot Cowork creates images for your decks - PracticalyAI
Stock photo hunting, over.
2 Things you didn't know you could do
1. 🖱️ Turn a boring table into a slide people can click
PowerPoint has a Copilot skill called Create interactive slides. Give it a table, an Excel file or a slide full of text, and it builds a slide with filters, totals and visuals that change when you click. Instead of one crowded slide, people click to see the part they care about.
Open your deck and the Copilot pane.
Select + → Choose skills → Create interactive slides.
Interactive Slides in Copilot PowerPoint - PracticalyAI
Your team stops reading the slide and starts using it.
2. 📋 Let Cowork chase your Planner tasks
Planner holds the plan. But someone still has to work out who’s late and send the nudge. Cowork can now read your Planner plan, so it tells you what’s overdue and who owns it, then drafts the reminder for you. Nothing goes out until you hit Send.
Open Copilot → Cowork
Paste the prompt below with your plan’s name.
Ask it to draft the reminders.
Read the drafts, then hit Send.
The prompt: “Open my Planner plan [PLAN NAME]. List the tasks due this week that aren’t done yet, with who owns each one. Draft a short, friendly reminder email to each owner. Show me the drafts before you send anything.”
Monday's chasing, done before your coffee.
1 Guide
A project is a space in Cowork for one job you do again and again, like your weekly report. You write the rules once, and everything you ask inside it follows them.
THE GUIDE IN 3 EASY STEPS:
Make it. In Cowork's left menu, click + next to Projects. Name it, like Weekly report, and select Create.
Add the rules. Open the project's ... menu → Edit instructions. Paste the example below, change the details and select Save.
Ask from inside it. Open the project and type your request there. That's how the rules get used.
Copy these instructions and change the details: "This report goes to the director every Friday. One page, three parts: wins, risks, next week. Short bullet points, plain words."
Good to know: only you can see your projects. You might not have them yet, since they're still rolling out.
Explain the job once. Every week after that, just ask.
🎤 Ask us anything. Show us what you built.
A Copilot question you can't crack, a prompt that won't land, a feature you keep seeing but don't quite get: reply to this email. Your questions decide what we cover next.
Built something with Copilot? A workflow, a prompt, an app your team actually uses? Reply and tell us. The whole point of this list is people sharing what they're shipping so everyone learns together.
Don't forget to rate today's post
That's your Copilot 3-2-1 for the week. Reply with the one job you'd turn into a project first.
Kushank and team
Copilot Samaritan · Copilot Weekly is a PracticalyAI newsletter · practicaly.ai/copilot
