How Microsoft Copilot in Outlook Streamlines Email Management
While keeping up with your email can feel like a full-time job, enabling Copilot in Outlook can help you simplify and streamline inbox management.
If not addressed promptly and constantly, email disorganization is an unfortunate reality. Important messages get buried, drafting responses takes time, and staying organized can feel daunting. However, Microsoft Copilot in Outlook can help simplify inbox management by prioritizing urgent emails, automating organization with rules and categories, and even improving email drafting with AI-powered suggestions.
Whether you're already using Copilot or considering how it could fit into your workflow, this blog will walk through practical ways to make your email management more efficient.
Managing Your Inbox with Prompts
A full inbox can be overwhelming, especially at the start of the day or week. Instead of sifting through every email, Microsoft Copilot in Outlook allows you to quickly identify what needs your attention using simple, customizable prompts.
Copilot is fully integrated into Outlook, accessible from the top-right corner. By opening the side panel, you can interact with Copilot and use built-in or custom prompts to organize your inbox efficiently. Here are some examples of effective prompts:
- Show me the most urgent emails from today.
- Do I have any action items in my unread emails today?
- What should be on my radar from emails last week?
- Summarize recent emails where I was mentioned.
- Look for emails about [a specific topic]
- Look for emails from [colleague]
Copilot will analyze your messages, highlighting those that require immediate action, those where you were mentioned, or others that pertain to the specific information. You can also refine prompts to focus on topics such as expenses, project updates, or emails where you are directly mentioned.
With just a few clicks, Copilot helps you cut through the clutter, prioritize key messages, and focus on what matters most—without wasting time scrolling through endless emails.
With Copilot's prompts, you can quickly surface important emails and cut through inbox clutter. But what if you want to prevent your inbox from becoming overwhelming in the first place? That’s where inbox rules come in.
Creating Inbox Rules
Instead of sorting through a full inbox, you can use Copilot to set up rules that automatically organize incoming emails. Whether you want messages from specific senders to go into designated folders or certain emails to be categorized by color for quick identification, Copilot makes it easy.
You can prompt Copilot to create an inbox rule, and it will generate a pre-filled rule with the conditions and actions already set. Some other sample prompts include:
- Create an inbox rule to categorize emails from [NAME or EMAIL] as read.
- Create an inbox rule to move emails from [NAME OR EMAIL] to folder [X]
- Create an inbox rule to move emails that contain [X] to folder [Y]
This saves you from navigating settings or manually creating rules from scratch. You can review, adjust, and save the rule in seconds.
Inbox rules help reduce clutter, but some emails still require your attention. When faced with lengthy threads, Copilot can quickly summarize key details so you can stay informed without reading every line.
Summarizing Emails
Long email threads can be time-consuming to read, especially when you're trying to declutter your inbox. Instead of scanning through every line, Copilot in Outlook can generate a concise summary, highlighting key points and action items.
With a single click on “Summary by Copilot,” Copilot extracts the most relevant details, allowing you to quickly grasp the conversation without missing important information. This feature helps you stay informed, respond efficiently, and manage your inbox easily—saving valuable time throughout your day.
Once you've summarized the key details, Copilot can also simplify the next steps, like drafting and perfecting a response or scheduling a meeting directly from the email.
Sending Meeting Invitations
Scheduling meetings can take time, but Copilot in Outlook streamlines the process. When you need to set up a meeting, click “Schedule with Copilot,” and it will analyze the content of the email to prefill key fields. Copilot automatically creates the meeting subject, adds attendees from the email, and even drafts the body of the invitation.
This feature also includes an agenda based on the email content and summarizes the conversation for the meeting participants, ensuring everyone is aligned. You save time by not having to manually type out details or remember key points from the email chain. Once the invitation is prefilled, you can edit and send it out quickly and efficiently.
To further enhance efficiency, Copilot also supports quick drafting of emails, streamlining the process from start to finish.
Drafting Emails with Copilot
Drafting emails can take time, but Copilot makes it easier with two helpful approaches. First, as you type, Copilot offers context-driven suggestions to help you complete your message quickly. Accepting these suggestions with a simple tab, lets you keep writing without interrupting your flow. The more you type, the more accurate and helpful the suggestions become, saving you time and effort.
Copilot can generate a full draft based on a simple prompt if you prefer to start from scratch. All you need to do is provide a brief direction, and Copilot will create a draft for you in seconds. You can customize it to your tone and needs, whether it's more formal, casual, or detailed. This flexibility allows you to craft emails faster and with greater ease.
Once you've drafted your email, you can fine-tune it with Copilot's coaching feature. This handy tool helps you perfect and personalize your emails, tweaking the tone, sentiment, and clarity to match your communication style perfectly.
Coaching by Copilot
Copilot's coaching feature allows you to refine your emails for tone, sentiment, and clarity. Once you've drafted your message, click on the "Coaching by Copilot" option, and Copilot will analyze your content. It offers suggestions to improve the tone—whether it's more formal or casual—adjust sentiment, and enhance clarity by recommending alternative phrasing.
You can choose to accept these suggestions or regenerate for more options. Once you're satisfied, you can apply the changes directly to your email. Whether you want to keep your original text or replace it completely, Copilot streamlines the editing process, saving you time and ensuring your message is professional and on-point. Prompt and Copilot will generate a draft within seconds. From there, you can customize the tone, length, or style to suit your needs.
Talk to the Stoneridge Experts for More Information on Copilot and AI
If you're looking to integrate Microsoft Copilot into your workflows and want to learn how it can streamline your email management, Stoneridge Software is here to help. Our team of experts can guide you through the process, ensuring you get the most out of Copilot's features. Whether you're just starting or looking for advanced strategies, talk to Stonridge experts for personalized support.
Contact us today for help taking your email productivity to the next level.
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