Microsoft Copilot Essentials by Microsoft Press

Course details

Do you know how to leverage Copilot across your go-to Microsoft 365 apps, like Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel? This course shows how you can use the integrated Copilot features to streamline communication processes, draft and refine documents, create impactful presentations, conduct data analysis efficiently, and more. Discover AI-driven techniques to help you ground data in Excel, structure compelling narratives in PowerPoint, and manage tasks in Teams and Outlook. Explore how Copilot can help support decision-making processes without replacing human judgment.

This course provides practical tools and examples, plus you can participate in scenario labs that illustrate real-world applications and discuss responsible AI usage to maintain credibility and trust. By the end of this course, you will be ready to use Copilot to both enhance your productivity and grow your professional skills.

Concepts

Introduction

Microsoft Copilot Essentials Professional Certificate - Introduction

Copilot Foundations

Learning objectives
What Copilot is (and isn t)
How LLMs support modern work
Data privacy, boundaries, and safe usage
Prompt structures that consistently work

Copilot for Communication - Outlook and Teams

Learning objectives
Email triage, rewriting, summarization
Meeting prep, meeting recaps, and action items
Teams chat summarization and message drafting
Practical Monday morning workflows

Copilot for Writing and Creativity - Word and PowerPoint

Learning objectives
Draft documents with context
Refine tone, structure, clarity
Turn briefs into presentations
Visual generation fundamentals

Copilot for Analysis - Excel and Edge

Learning objectives
Text-to-analysis prompts in Excel
Natural language queries
Exploratory analysis workflows
Use Copilot in Edge for research and synthesis

Scenario Labs

Learning objectives
Student scenario - Research and writing workflow
Career changer scenario - Portfolio and skills development
Corporate employee scenario - Project update and report creation
Early career scenario - Planning, summarizing, and interview preparation

Responsible Use, Next Steps, and Exam Readiness

Learning objectives
When not to use Copilot
AI hallucination guardrails
Ethical and organizational considerations
Key patterns for the final exam

Summary

Microsoft Copilot Essentials Professional Certificate - Summary