How to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat at Work Safely

The short version

If your company uses Microsoft 365, you probably already have Copilot Chat, and the key is to use it signed in with your work account. That’s what brings Microsoft’s enterprise data protection. With a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license, it can also work across your email, meetings, chats and files.

Step by step

1. Sign in with your work or school account. Microsoft lists these places: m365copilot.com (its preferred web address), the Microsoft Copilot app, Outlook, Teams and the Edge side pane.
2. Check your label under your name: Copilot Chat (Basic), Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic) or Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium). It tells you what you can use.
3. Give it material. Without a license, Copilot Chat works from the web plus what you provide: paste text, upload a file, or reference a supported file.
4. Use it in Outlook to ask about your inbox, calendar and meetings. Microsoft says Copilot Chat in Outlook can do this even without a Copilot license, for eligible users.
5. Pick a model, or leave it on Auto. Microsoft says Auto chooses between quick responses and Think deeper for harder questions.
6. Check the answer before it goes to a customer or your boss.

What you get with and without a license

Prompts to copy

In Outlook (Microsoft’s examples):

Summarize my emails from the last week related to Project Alpine.

When is my next 1:1 with my manager?

With an uploaded file:

Here's our current returns policy. Rewrite it in plain English for customers, under 200 words,
and list anything that's unclear or contradicts itself.

Research:

What changed in the federal overtime rules this year? Cite your sources, and tell me what I should confirm with HR.

Example

You upload: a 30-page vendor proposal.

You ask: “Compare this proposal’s prices, timeline and support terms with what we asked for in the attached RFP. Show gaps in a table.”

A good result: a table with three or four gaps, each pointing to the page. You verify the important ones before your meeting.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using a personal account for work. Enterprise data protection only applies when you sign in with your work account.
• Assuming it read everything. Without a license, it only knows what you gave it (and your Outlook content).
• Ignoring company policy. Some organizations restrict certain data in any AI tool.
• Forwarding answers unchecked. Verify facts and numbers first.

Good to know

Copilot respects your existing permissions: it doesn’t show you content you can’t already open. Your organization’s retention policies and sensitivity labels still apply. If your company is choosing licenses, see choose the right Copilot plan.

Related: use Copilot in Teams meetings and keep your data private in Copilot.