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Give Copilot what it needs to help you

Every time you start a new chat in Copilot, you are starting from scratch. Copilot does not remember your last conversation, your project files, or your preferences. It only knows what you tell it, right now, in this chat. This is what context means. Context is the background information you give Copilot so it can produce a useful response. The more relevant context you provide, the less you need to fix afterwards.
Think of it like briefing a new colleague. If you hand them a blank page and say “write me a summary,” they will ask, “A summary of what?” Context answers that question before it gets asked.
Manually adding context for every new chat takes effort. Copilot has two features that help you build context in, so you spend less time setting up and more time getting results. This page will show you how to:

Understand context

Know what Copilot needs from you to produce useful output

Use Notebooks

Build a curated knowledge base from your files

Use Pages

Keep conversational context as you iterate on a draft

Choose the right feature

Pick Notebooks or Pages based on your task

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Why context changes everything

Without context, Copilot relies on general knowledge. With context, it works from your specific documents, data, and situation. Here is the difference in practice:

Without context

“Write me a project update.”Copilot guesses the format, tone, and content. You spend time rewriting most of the output.

With context

“Based on the three status reports I uploaded, write a project update for our steering committee. Use a professional tone and keep it under 300 words.”Copilot pulls from your actual data and delivers something close to ready.
A prompt is only as good as the context behind it. The features below help you provide that context without repeating yourself.

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How context works in Copilot

Think of giving Copilot context the same way you would brief a team member on a task. A good brief tells them what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. The same structure applies to working with AI.

What

What task do you need done?“Summarise these three reports into a single briefing document.”

When

When or under what conditions should this happen?“Before my steering committee meeting on Friday.”

How

How should Copilot approach it?“Use bullet points, keep it under one page, highlight risks in bold.”
This structure keeps your prompts clear and gives Copilot enough to work with. The features below, Notebooks and Pages, help you provide the “what” automatically by attaching your files and keeping your conversation history intact.

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Where Copilot gets its context from

Copilot can pull context from several sources depending on where you are working. Understanding this helps you choose the right starting point for your task.
Copilot In Tools Pn

Copilot Chat

When you use the main Copilot Chat, it draws from the web and your Microsoft 365 data (emails, files, meetings, chats) depending on whether you toggle Work or Web mode. Use the ”/” key in the prompt box to reference specific files, emails, meetings, Teams chats, or Teams channels directly.

Copilot in Apps

When you open Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or OneNote, it automatically understands the content of the file or email you have open. This means your open document becomes the context, no uploading required.
Use the ”/” shortcut in the Copilot prompt box to search for and attach specific work sources like files, emails, meetings, Teams chats, and Teams channels. This is the quickest way to add targeted context to any prompt.

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Create a curated knowledge base with Notebooks

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The goal

Get fast, focused answers from a specific set of documents without having to copy-paste or re-upload files for every prompt.

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What is a Notebook?

A Notebook is a private workspace where you add up to 20 files. Copilot will only use those sources to answer your questions. The context is built in for the entire session, so every follow-up prompt stays grounded in your documents.

Summarise reports

Upload multiple project reports and ask Copilot to pull out key themes, risks, or action items across all of them at once.

Build onboarding guides

Add your internal policies, process documents, and team handbooks. Ask Copilot to create a new-starter guide from those sources.

Create Q&A resources

Upload policy files and ask Copilot to generate a list of frequently asked questions with answers drawn directly from the documents.

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How to create a Notebook

Copilot Notebook Pn
1

Navigate to Notebooks

Open Copilot and select “Notebooks” from the left-side panel.
2

Create a new notebook

Click the “New notebook” button in the top right corner.
3

Name it and add files

Give it a clear name that reflects the project or topic. Upload the relevant files (PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoints, spreadsheets) and click “Create”.
4

Start prompting

Type your questions in the prompt box. Copilot will only reference the files you attached, nothing else.
Notebooks now live inside OneNote and support sharing and co-authoring. If your team needs to collaborate on the same set of sources, you can share the notebook with colleagues.

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Audio Overview within Notebooks

This feature creates a spoken summary of all the reference documents attached to your Notebook. It is useful when you need a quick briefing and do not have time to read through everything.
1

Open the audio overview

Inside a notebook with references attached, click the “Get audio overview” button next to the notebook title.
2

Choose your settings

Select your preferred format (Narration or Dialogue), style, and duration.
3

Generate and review

Click “Generate audio”. Listen to the preview, then choose “Keep it” or save to OneDrive from the three-dot menu.
The “Get audio overview” button is located on the main screen of a notebook, directly adjacent to the notebook title. This feature is only available when you have already attached reference documents.Create Audio Overview Pn
The panel offers options for format, style, and length. You can also provide specific instructions via prompts to adjust the output. Generate the initial audio without custom instructions first to set a baseline, then adjust from there.
The generated audio appears at the bottom right of the interface. You can play it directly from there.Preview Audio Overview Pn
Only one audio overview is allowed per notebook at a time. Use the “Keep it” button to save it to the project, or select “Save to OneDrive” from the three-dot menu. To regenerate, click “Customise” to return to the settings panel.

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Maintain conversational context with Pages

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The goal

Iterate on a first draft with follow-up prompts, without having to re-explain what you have already written.

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What is a Page?

A Page turns a chat response into a simple, editable document. The chat and the draft sit side-by-side, so follow-up prompts stay grounded in what is already on the Page. This means Copilot remembers the content you are building on as you refine it.

Draft and refine

Start with a rough output from chat, move it to a Page, then use follow-up prompts to adjust tone, add sections, or shorten the content.

Collaborate with others

Share the Page with team members for real-time editing. Unlike Notebooks, Pages are designed for collaboration.

Move to Word or PowerPoint

Once your draft is ready, open it in Word for final formatting. You can also ask Copilot Pages to create a PowerPoint presentation directly from the Page content.

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How to create a Page

There are two ways to create a Page:

From a chat response

Locate the pencil icon at the bottom of any chat response. Hover until “Edit in Pages” appears, then click to move the content into a new Page.Create A Page Pn

From the sidebar

Open the “All Pages” section in the Pages dropdown on the sidebar. Click the option in the upper-right corner to start a blank Page.Create A Page2 Pn

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The Pages interface

The interface displays two main sections: a chat panel on the left and your content Page on the right. Questions asked in the chat are grounded in the content shown on the Page. You can add any chat response to the Page by clicking the plus icon underneath it.
The Pages Interface Pn

Slash commands

Type ”/” or click the plus icon inside the Page to access formatting options, add content blocks, insert graphs, and more.Slash Function Pn

Polish in Word

When your draft is ready, click the icon in the upper right corner of the Page to open it in Word for final formatting and polishing.Polish In Word Pn

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Notebooks vs Pages: which one do I use?

Choosing the right feature depends on your task. Use the guide below to decide.

Copilot Notebooks

Use for: Long-term projects that require referencing many different sources to get focused answers.How it works: Acts as a container for your files (docs, PDFs, spreadsheets). All prompts are automatically grounded in this curated set of documents.Sharing: Now supports sharing and co-authoring via OneNote.Think of it as: Your project filing cabinet that Copilot can search through.

Copilot Pages

Use for: Quick, single outputs like drafting an email, writing a brief, or organising ideas from a chat before moving to Word.How it works: Turns a chat response into an editable document. Follow-up prompts reference the content on the Page.Sharing: Designed for real-time collaboration with colleagues.Think of it as: Your scratch pad that keeps Copilot in the loop as you refine.
Start with a Notebook when you need to ask many questions across a set of documents. Start with a Page when you need to build and polish a single output from a chat.

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What file types can I upload?

VariableDetails
Supported formatsPDF, TXT, Word (.docx), Excel (CSV, XLSX), Data files (JSON, HTML), Images (JPEG, PNG), PowerPoint (.pptx)
Not supportedGoogle Doc links, MP4 videos, MP3 audio files
File size limitsStandard files: 512 MB. Spreadsheets: 50 MB. Images: 20 MB
Enterprise featureEnterprise accounts can analyse images embedded within PDFs. Non-enterprise accounts cannot.
Limits and capabilities change regularly and may differ from what is stated above. Check your admin for the latest details relevant to your organisation.

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Quick checkpoint (you are done when…)

Understand context

You can explain why Copilot needs context to give useful answers

Use Notebooks

You created a Notebook and asked questions against your uploaded files

Use Pages

You moved a chat response to a Page and used follow-up prompts to refine it

Choose the right feature

You can explain when to use a Notebook vs a Page

Ready to practice?

Complete the mini challenge by building a Notebook or Page with your own work content