Microsoft Copilot Overview: What It Is and How to Use It
You're working in Word or browsing in Edge and you notice a small Copilot icon in the corner. Most people ignore it. They shouldn't.
Microsoft Copilot is different from every other AI tool we've covered. It doesn't ask you to open a new website or download a separate app. It lives inside the programs you already use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Edge. That's why Microsoft calls it an AI companion, not an app.
After reading this, you'll know which Copilot is free, which costs money, and how to try it in under 30 seconds.
Two Copilots, Not One
Copilot isn't one thing. It's two products with the same name and very different price tags.
The free Copilot lives in the Edge browser sidebar, at copilot.microsoft.com, and in the Windows taskbar. Anyone with a free Microsoft account can use it. It's powered by GPT-4 (and GPT-5 for testing) and can answer questions, summarize webpages, help you write, and even generate images. Think of it like Google's free search: useful, but it doesn't know anything about your work files.
The paid Copilot — officially called Microsoft 365 Copilot — sits inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. It reads your emails, your documents, your meeting notes. It costs extra on top of a Microsoft 365 subscription, typically around $30 per user per month for businesses, or as Copilot Pro for individuals at about $20 per month.
Think of it like Google vs Google Workspace. One answers general questions from the web. The other knows your files, your calendar, your team's work.
Would you rather an AI assistant that knows the internet, or one that knows your inbox and your documents? Both have a place.
Here's the tricky part — Microsoft keeps blurring the line between them. Starting in 2026, free Copilot is slowly getting some in-app features in Office programs, but it still can't access your company data like emails and files. That data access is what the paid version buys you.
Copilot in Edge
Open Microsoft Edge. See a Copilot icon in the top-right corner? Click it. A sidebar slides open.
That's the free version of Copilot, and it has superpowers most people don't know about:
- Summarize this page — Click a button and Copilot gives you the key points of whatever you're reading. No more scrolling through 2,000 words.
- Ask questions about what you're viewing — "What does this article say about AI pricing?" It reads the page and answers from the page content, not just from general knowledge.
- Draft emails and documents — Without switching apps, you can tell Copilot to write an email, create an outline, or brainstorm ideas.
- Copilot Vision — A newer feature where you can literally talk to Copilot about the page you're looking at, like having someone sitting next to you and discussing the article.
The first time you use it, Copilot asks permission to read the pages you're on. You can say no — it still answers general questions without page access. But the "read the page" feature is the most useful one.
The best part: you don't need to sign up for anything beyond a free Microsoft account. It works right now, today, at no cost.
How many times this week did you read a long article and wish someone had a summary ready for you? Copilot in Edge does exactly that.
Inside Your Office Apps
Here's where the paid version earns its money.
Imagine opening a Word document and the AI is already there — not in a separate browser tab, but built into the document itself. A sidebar on the right. A button at the top. It can read what you've written, suggest changes, and draft new sections based on your notes.
That's what Microsoft 365 Copilot does across all Office apps:
| App | What Copilot Does |
|---|---|
| Word | "Help me write" generates drafts. "Rewrite this" improves your prose. Summarize long documents in seconds. |
| Outlook | Summarize a 50-email thread in three bullet points. Draft replies. "When did I last hear from this person?" |
| Teams | After a meeting, Copilot produces a summary with key decisions and action items. |
| PowerPoint | Turn a Word document or a few bullet points into a full presentation with layouts and speaker notes. |
| Excel | "Show me trends" generates formulas, pivot tables, and charts from your data. No formula knowledge needed. |
Unlike Google's Gemini, which runs in browsers and web apps, Copilot is built into desktop programs. It feels native. You never leave your document.
Think about how much time you spend switching between your document and an AI chat window. What if the AI never asked you to switch?
The key difference from free Copilot: the paid version reads your organizational data. It pulls from your emails, your SharePoint files, your team's shared documents. It builds answers from your company's actual work, not just the public internet. That's why it costs money and why businesses find it worth the investment.
Try This Now
- Open Microsoft Edge (or download it free if you don't have it)
- Click the Copilot icon in the top-right corner
- Open any article or webpage
- Type: "Summarize this page"
No new app. No sign-up. No credit card. The AI reads the page in front of you and gives you a summary in seconds.
Now that you've met Copilot, the next question is what it can actually do inside Word, Excel, and the rest of Office — and whether the paid version is worth the cost. We'll answer both of those right next.