Copilot questions from the training room

Basics and data protection

Chat, Notebook, Researcher or my own agent: when do I use which?

Copilot Chat for anything spontaneous: rephrasing an email, answering a quick question, summarising a document. A Notebook when you work on one topic with a fixed set of sources over weeks. Researcher when a question needs thorough research across many sources. Analyst for numbers and tables. Your own agent as soon as you do the same task the same way again and again.

Good to know: you can use Chat and Notebooks without a Copilot licence, but then only with the web and files you upload yourself. You need the licence for Researcher and Analyst, and for Copilot to search your own mail, files and meetings.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Copilot Chat privacy and protections

Can Copilot see files I don't have access to?

No. Copilot sees exactly what you could open yourself. The real risk is elsewhere: many people have access to more than they realise, for example through SharePoint sites that are shared too widely. Nobody used to stumble on that. Copilot finds it in seconds. Cleaning up permissions is the most important step before any rollout.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Work IQ overview

How long is my chat history kept?

Until someone deletes it. You can delete single chats, or your whole history under "My Account" → "Data & Privacy" → "Copilot activity history". Your IT can use Microsoft Purview to delete chats automatically after a set time, or to keep them even if you delete them. Your IT can tell you how long that is in your company.

Sources: Delete your Copilot activity history · Purview retention for Copilot

Does a file I upload stay inside the company?

Yes, as long as you are signed in with your work account. The file sits in your OneDrive, is covered by enterprise data protection and is not used to train the AI models. Two exceptions worth knowing: if Copilot also searches the web, search terms go to Bing, and those queries leave the EU Data Boundary. And answers from Claude models are processed outside the EU Data Boundary.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Enterprise data protection

Which model is best, GPT or Claude?

I no longer give a fixed answer, because the choice has changed several times since the summer. Try both on your own task. In Switzerland, the EU and the UK, Claude models start switched off and IT has to enable them. If you don't see them, that's why.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Claude in Microsoft Online Services

Notebooks, files and attachments

Do sources in a Notebook stay up to date? And can I share Notebooks?

Linked files from OneDrive or SharePoint stay current. An uploaded file is a copy from the moment you uploaded it. And yes, Notebooks can now be shared. Whoever receives one still needs access to the linked files, or has to request it. Your own chats inside the Notebook stay private.

Source: Microsoft Support: Add references to your Notebook

Can Copilot in Outlook read email attachments?

Copilot in Outlook can summarise PDF, Word and PowerPoint attachments. Excel is officially not on that list. Encrypted or protected files don't work. When every number matters, upload the file to the chat directly instead of relying on the attachment.

Source: Microsoft Support: Summarise an email thread with Copilot

How big can an Excel file be for Analyst?

There is no official row limit. Up to 50 MB per file is possible. Analyst calculates with Python, so very large or complex files make it slow or make it give up. For large datasets you use every week, Power BI is the better tool. Analyst is for the quick analysis.

Source: Microsoft Support: File upload in Copilot

Should I create a presentation in Chat or in PowerPoint?

If it has to follow the corporate design: in PowerPoint. There Copilot works with your template and company images, if IT has set that up. Chat gets you a first draft faster, but you adjust the design yourself afterwards. Either way, you still have to read the result.

Source: Microsoft Support: Keep your presentation on-brand with Copilot

Meetings

Is the recording enough for Copilot, or does it need the transcript?

It needs the transcript. Copilot can't summarise from a recording alone. Without a transcript there is the "Only during the meeting" setting: Copilot helps you live, and everything is gone afterwards. If you want to ask questions after the meeting, transcription has to run from the start.

Source: Microsoft Support: Use Copilot in Teams meetings

Does Facilitator work when another company sends the invite?

No. Facilitator only runs in internal meetings, not in external meetings and not in chats. Only someone with a Copilot licence can start it. Everyone in the meeting can see the notes afterwards.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Facilitator in Teams

Does Interpreter really translate in real time?

Yes, spoken, with a short delay. Microsoft doesn't publish a fixed figure for it. Nine languages are supported, including German, French, Italian and English. Swiss German is not one of them. A licence includes 20 hours per person per month.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Interpreter in Teams

Copilot moves a meeting. How do the others find out?

Like any other change: they get a normal update to the invitation. They don't see that Copilot moved it. Only the organiser can turn this on, and only in the new Outlook.

Source: Microsoft Support: Automatically reschedule events

Agents

Agent Builder or Copilot Studio: what is the difference?

Agent Builder is for finding knowledge and creating content: it searches your sources, writes code, and creates charts, documents and images. It can't act: it sends no email and writes into no other system. For that, you copy the agent to Copilot Studio, which has actions, connections to other systems and sign-in.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Build agents with Agent Builder

Can an agent send the follow-up email after a meeting by itself?

It can write the draft, but not send it, as long as it is built in Agent Builder. Sending automatically needs Copilot Studio. My advice: even there, I would build in an approval step before anything goes out.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Build agents with Agent Builder

Can Copilot run a prompt automatically on a schedule, including with an agent?

Yes. With scheduled prompts, a prompt runs by itself at set times, for example an overview of your open items every Monday morning. This works with agents too: add the agent to Copilot Chat first, then schedule the prompt. You can schedule up to ten prompts, and it needs a Copilot licence. What doesn't work this way: starting an agent the moment something happens, for example when a particular email arrives. That needs Copilot Studio.

Source: Microsoft Support: Schedule your Copilot prompts

What happens to my agent when I leave the company?

It isn't deleted automatically, it just has no owner any more. IT can hand it over to your manager automatically, if that is set up in the admin center. Ask your IT about it before an important agent depends on one person.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Agent settings

Can Copilot reach Confluence, Jira, GitHub or Salesforce?

Yes, through Copilot connectors, which Microsoft offers for all four. IT has to set them up. After that, Copilot only sees what you are allowed to see there too. For other systems there are partner connectors, or you build your own connection.

Source: Microsoft Learn: Connector gallery

Does giving Copilot a role make it an expert?

No. "You are an experienced lawyer" changes tone, wording and perspective, but not knowledge. Expertise comes from good sources: the right document, the right policy, a Notebook with the right material. The role helps, the source decides.

Rules

Do I have to label emails written with AI?

Microsoft doesn't label them and doesn't require it. A normal business email that you read and sent yourself also falls outside the labelling duty in the EU AI Act, as things stand today. What counts is your internal policy. And whatever it says: whoever clicks Send is responsible.