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In this final instalment of ‘How to Get the Most Out of Microsoft Copilot’, I discuss my favourite feature of Copilot (PowerPoint) along with the integration that I think needs more work (Excel).
In case you missed them, you can read part 1 and part 2 below.
Part 1: How to Get The Most Out of Microsoft Copilot (Preparation)
Part 2: How to Get The Most Out of Microsoft Copilot (Outlook & Microsoft Teams)
The one that everyone’s been waiting for!
Copilot for PowerPoint has lots of great features and can help you quickly create presentations by suggesting layouts, designs and images based on your content and preferences. It can also generate captions, summaries and speaker notes for your slides.
To demonstrate this functionality, watch my first attempt using Copilot in PowerPoint.
https://share.vidyard.com/watch/zZWeiBuzEWT8P6sZTDegEV?
This is a great start, but to get really good results, you need to give as much instruction and guidance as possible. I’ve also since learnt that it’s possible to use branded templates, however, you must start with your branded template. To do this, you should load these into the file section in PowerPoint for you and your team to use, otherwise, it picks its own design.
The use of stock imagery is really helpful, when the images are relevant, particularly if you don’t have many images of your own to use.
If you do though, you can simply swap them over.
You’ll also want to check the presentation thoroughly to ensure it has interpreted your content correctly and put this in a sensible order and layout.
The key is being able to articulate what you want as well as asking the right questions when making updates. With this feature, practice pays dividends and when used correctly, I can see it saving bags of time for those people who use PowerPoint heavily.
For my final app review, we have Excel.
I believe that Copilot is still in preview mode for Excel, so it might be the reason I’m struggling to get to grips with how I can use this because it’s still evolving.
The first thing to note is that all of your data needs to be in tables, but there is a handy tool available that helps you do this.
I have some data about the average amount of calls answered and tickets closed over two years. I wanted to ask Copilot some questions to see when the busiest months were but despite putting the data into tables as requested, Copilot got confused halfway through, and wouldn’t let me proceed. I’m sure it’s a user error, but unlike with the other apps, it’s not intuitive enough to tell me what the problem is, and also feels a little ‘buggy’.
I haven’t been able to find a way to use Copilot for the data I have in Excel without making data up, which feels a bit pointless, I’ll need to wait to see how this develops over time and I’ll keep practicing!
I do understand that one of the big features is its integration with Power BI which will be very exciting for the Techies out there, although not so relevant to my day-to-day unfortunately.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series of blog posts from a non-techy point of view!
I’ve only really just scratched the surface of what Copilot can do and its endless possibilities, but I hope you feel inspired to have a go yourself and see how you can boost productivity in your own business.
Copilot is a really powerful tool that as time goes on, will become our best friend in the working day. Used correctly, artificial intelligence is not something to be afraid of but something to embrace as it can save time, make us more productive and allow us to become more creative.
Copilot is not a replacement for humans, but a partner that can enhance our skills and capabilities.
Ready to get started?
Contact our Friendly support team at support@systemagic.co.uk or call us on 01225 426800.