A banner of the blog series title, "Work Smarter - Copilot Productivity Tips"
No matter if you're an inbox-zero enthusiast or someone who lets emails pile up, one thing is certain: managing emails can be time-consuming and draining. Whether it's personal or work-related, we all face the challenge of a busy inbox. Let Copilot in Outlook assist you in organizing your emails, enhancing your communication, and freeing up your time for what truly matters.
As part of a new weekly series that provides Copilot productivity tips, today our team at Microsoft will share with you three specific ways to use Copilot in Outlook. We launched this blog so you can start every week with more ways to save time at work.
Read along for Copilot tips in Outlook!
Tip 1: Organize my inbox
A quick way to tame that wild inbox is to create systems and categories. This not only allows me to tackle emails one category at a time but lets me prioritize which group I should respond to first.
In Outlook, navigate to the upper right corner and select the Copilot icon. From there will drop down four prompts, select the second one, “Organize my inbox.”
An image of suggested prompts from Copilot in Outlook when you open Copilot from the Copilot icon.
The prompt will now appear in the prompt box for you to fill in the details. For example, I want to make sure I catch up with anything that came in directly from my manager. I could ask Copilot to “Create an inbox rule to categorize all emails from Angela Byers as blue.”
An image of the prompt in Copilot for Outlook.
From there, Outlook will bring up the rules box to confirm your directive.
I used to find creating rules a bit of a chore but that has since changed. I now have different rules to categorize emails by subject and by sender, and it's helped me ensure I never miss an important email. The color coding is also visually *chef's kiss*. Rinse and repeat for that email inbox of your dreams!
Tip 2: Catch up
Have one of those days where your email is busting at the seams? Use this productivity tip to get a summary of your emails from Copilot. Navigate to the upper right corner and click the Copilot icon.
Once the Copilot chat has opened, key in this prompt: “Catch me up on emails from the past day. Organize and summarize by topic.”
(I can't show you a screenshot of my inbox or the results, but just give it a try and let me know in the comments what you think).
Tip 3: Draft with Copilot
Now that your inbox is color coded and you’re received a download of your recent messages, it’s time to save some time actually drafting emails. Copilot helps me get more efficient by taking what I hope to convey in the prompt and writing a first draft for me.
In Outlook, you can start a new email (either a fresh email or hitting reply to an existing thread) navigate to the middle of the menu ribbon and select the Copilot logo, from there a drop-down menu will appear, select Draft with Copilot.
An image of Draft with Copilot option in the Copilot dropdown menu on the toolbar of a new email
Having Copilot work out a first draft saves me an underrated amount of time. I find decision-making much quicker when I have something to react to than when I have to draft something myself.
We hope you can apply these tips throughout the week to tame your Outlook inbox! Stay tuned for more productivity tips next Monday to learn additional ways to unlock more value with Copilot for Microsoft 365!
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