Microsoft Copilot- All You Need to Know

The popularity and usefulness of Microsoft 365 as a business productivity suite is well known. The integration of AI to launch a new tool- Microsoft Copilot– has further taken this business suite to a whole new level in terms of functionality, productivity, and efficiency.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the latest AI-powered productivity layer injected with all your favorite apps in the Microsoft suite to help you get rid of the time-consuming, manual work of routine tasks that you do with these apps on a day-to-day basis.

In this post, we explore more about the Microsoft Copilot platform and how it can help you improve your business productivity.

What Is Microsoft Copilot?

Launched recently by Microsoft, Copilot is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that makes use of large language models (LLMs) to be able to understand natural language and accordingly generate detailed and quality text based on the input given. 

These large language models are trained on billions of words from multiple domains/sources and can learn from various kinds of text data as well.

The key aim of the tool is to enhance employee productivity using day-to-day applications such as Excel, Word, Team, Outlook, or PowerPoint.

Copilot by Microsoft has been developed in collaboration with GitHub and Open AI, with its GPT-4 language technology being integrated into it. 

Importance of Microsoft Copilot in Productivity 

Microsoft Copilot allows you to unlock productivity at many levels. 

For instance, it aids in 

• summarizing key discussion points in Teams, including where people are aligned or not aligned, 
• suggesting action items in real-time while a meeting is going on, 
• letting you summarize long email threads 
• quickly drafting suggested replies in Outlook.

Here are some of the other ways you can use Copilot to enhance employee productivity.

Unleash Your Creativity 

With Microsoft artificial intelligence-based Copilot in Word, you can simply jump-start the creative process as the tool gives you an initial draft to edit and iterate on. 

Likewise, with Copilot in Excel, you can better analyze trends and easily create professional-looking data visualizations within no time.

Improves PowerPoint Productivity 

Copilot allows PowerPoint users to turn their ideas into a well-designed presentation with quick and simple commands in natural language. 

The tool allows users to make optimal use of the PowerPoint app by doing things such as formatting slides, pulling relevant images, and more to assist them in making effective presentations.

Do More with Outlook and Teams

Copilot in Outlook allows users to easily synthesize and manage their inbox, thus helping them reduce time spent on tedious tasks and focus more on building communication. 

Business Chat 

Business Chat in Copilot works across different apps and business data to produce the information and the kind of insights you require from huge volumes of data, thus ensuring that the knowledge flows freely across the organization.

Features of Microsoft Copilot 

The key features of Microsoft Copilot are given below.

Ai-Based Code Suggestions 

Copilot makes use of OpenAI to suggest code and all the functions in real-time, simply from your editor. Since the tool is trained on a massive number of code lines, it is equipped to convert natural language prompts into important coding suggestions across various languages. 

This is also the reason why an increasing number of developers today use Copilot to code faster and build great software.

Intelligent Code Completion 

Copilot, at its core, is a powerful AI pair programmer that offers intelligent code completion suggestions as you code.

You can receive these suggestions from Copilot either by writing a natural language comment clearly describing what you want the code to do or by beginning to write the code you want to use.

Copilot here analyzes the context in the file you are editing along with all related files, followed by offering suggestions from within your text editor.

Natural Language Programming 

Another noteworthy feature of Copilot is that it is a special variant of an NLP model (GPT-3) that is specifically trained on freely available, open-source code. 

NLP, or natural language programming here, aims to train computers to read and write exactly like humans. Most NLP models are created for chatbots, virtual assistants, and more.

Benefits Of Microsoft Copilot 

The benefits of Microsoft AI technology-based Copilot are multiple, as it can help you with different types of writing formats (formal, casual, creative, informative ), etc., to help you improve efficiency manifolds. 

The advantages of the tool are explained in more detail below.

Time-Saving 

With Copilot, you do not need to spend much time on writing tasks that can be easily automated using the platform. 

It can do all the time-consuming, manual, and repetitive tasks while you focus on other important, strategic work.

Increased Accuracy and Efficiency 

Using Copilot, you can increase accuracy and efficiency as you get rid of issues such as grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, or other writing style issues. 

The tool helps you refine and elevate your writing by checking for accuracy, coherence, and clarity.

Enhanced Creativity 

With Copilot, you can eliminate the risk of repetitiveness and mundane writing in day-to-day tasks. 

The tool can help you enhance your writing by putting more creativity in the form of new/innovative ideas, catchy terms/ phrases, or alternative expressions.

How To Use Microsoft Copilot 

Here is how you can use Microsoft Copilot.

Integration with Visual Studio Code 

Currently, Copilot is available on Visual Studio Code. So if you have VS Code installed on your system, you can use it anywhere. 

The tool takes context from the code you are working on and accordingly suggests an entire line of code or function.

Once the developer types a function name or a comment in the editor, VS Code sends that data to the Copilot, thus synthesizing and suggesting the code implementation. 

Using Copilot in Different Programming Languages

You can also use Copilot in different programming languages by downloading an additional extension Copilot Labs. This gives you easy access to various new features. 

One of these features allows you to translate code into any language you choose. Here is how you can do that:

• Install Copilot Labs 
• Go to the VS Code editor and open a file where you want to translate some code
• Wait for the Copilot Labs icon to appear
• Here you have to highlight the chunk of code that you wish to translate
• Under the section Language Translation here, your highlighted code will appear 
• Choose the language you would like to translate your code into (such as Ruby, Python, CSS, Java, PHP, C#, Go, etc.)

To Wrap Up

When it comes to enhancing work productivity, Microsoft Copilot is truly your Copilot as it works alongside you in the everyday apps you use, such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Team, Outlook, and more. 

In this post, we have covered how you can use Microsoft Copilot to help you enhance your work productivity, unleash your creativity, and upskill your employees.

Contact us at TRN Digital to learn more about Microsoft Copilot and how it can help you improve productivity. We are a niche company with top-notch service quality and industry-leading solutions through a professionally qualified team of full-stack consultants.