Your company bought Microsoft Copilot. You didn’t ask for it. IT announced it in an email, maybe ran a 30-minute training session, and now there’s a Copilot button sitting in every Microsoft app you use.
The question isn’t whether you should adopt it – your company already paid for it. The question is: Will you actually use it, or will it become another ignored feature in your already-cluttered toolbar?
I’ve been using Copilot for six months alongside ChatGPT and Claude. I use Microsoft apps all day – Outlook for email, Teams for meetings, Word for documentation, PowerPoint for presentations. Copilot lives inside all of them.
Here’s what I’ve learned: Microsoft Copilot for managers isn’t revolutionary, but it’s genuinely useful for specific management tasks. It’s not as powerful as ChatGPT or Claude for complex work, but it’s faster for quick tasks because you never leave the app you’re already in.
The biggest advantage? Zero context switching. The biggest disadvantage? It’s not as smart as the standalone AI tools you’re probably already using.
This isn’t a review telling you Copilot is amazing and you should buy it. You already have it. This is an honest assessment of what actually works for managers, what doesn’t, and when you should use Copilot versus ChatGPT or Claude.
Looking for a complete comparison of AI tools for management tasks? See our full guide to the best AI tools for managers.
If your company is pushing Copilot, here’s how to get real value from it without wasting time on features that don’t work.
Table of Contents
Who This Review Is For
This review is for managers who:
- Already have Microsoft Copilot (your company bought it)
- Use Microsoft 365 daily (Outlook, Teams, Word, PowerPoint)
- Want to know if it’s worth learning vs. ignoring
- Are already using ChatGPT or Claude and wondering how Copilot compares
If you don’t have Copilot yet, this review will help you decide if it’s worth requesting.
What Microsoft Copilot for Managers Actually Does
Microsoft Copilot isn’t one tool – it’s AI embedded across Microsoft 365 apps. Each app has different Copilot features, and the quality varies significantly.
Under the hood, Copilot is powered by OpenAI’s GPT models – the same AI technology behind ChatGPT. Microsoft licensed this technology and integrated it directly into their Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
Where Copilot shows up:
- Outlook: Email summaries, draft responses, meeting follow-ups, inbox catch-up
- Teams: Meeting transcriptions, meeting summaries, chat summaries, action item extraction
- Word: Document drafting, rewriting sections, summarizing long documents, tone adjustment
- PowerPoint: Slide generation from prompts, design suggestions, speaker notes
- Excel: Data analysis, formula suggestions, chart creation, insight generation
The key difference from ChatGPT/Claude: Copilot lives inside your Microsoft apps. You don’t copy and paste between tools. You’re writing an email in Outlook, you click Copilot, it drafts or summarizes right there.
ChatGPT and Claude are more powerful and flexible, but they require switching contexts – opening a new tab, copying content, pasting results back. For quick tasks, that friction matters.
The trade-off: Copilot is convenient but limited. ChatGPT and Claude are powerful but require context switching. The smart approach is knowing when to use which.
For managers, Copilot works best for three specific use cases: email management, meeting summaries, and quick document drafts. Everything else? You’re probably better off with ChatGPT or Claude.
What Works Well for Managers
Email Summarization in Outlook
The feature: Copilot can summarize long email threads or catch you up on your inbox after being away.
Why it’s useful: You return from vacation to 200 emails. Or you’re added to a thread that’s been going for three days. Instead of reading everything, Copilot gives you the summary in 10 seconds.
How to use it: Open a long email thread → Click Copilot icon → Select “Summarize” → Get bullet points of key information
Real example:
I was added mid-conversation to a 15-email thread about a vendor contract negotiation. Copilot summary:
- Vendor proposed $50K annual license
- Team negotiated down to $38K
- Legal approved terms
- Waiting on your sign-off to proceed
Time saved: 10 minutes of reading reduced to 30 seconds of scanning.
The limitation: Copilot sometimes misses nuance or context. For critical decisions, skim the actual thread. For routine updates, the summary is fine.
Meeting Summaries in Teams
The feature: Copilot transcribes and summarizes Teams meetings, extracts action items, and identifies key decisions.
Why it’s useful: You’re in back-to-back meetings all day. You can’t take detailed notes in every one. Copilot does it automatically.
How to use it: During or after a Teams meeting → Click Copilot → Request meeting summary → Get organized recap with action items
Real example:
One-hour project status meeting. Copilot’s summary:
Key Decisions:
- Launch date moved to Q2
- Marketing owns the announcement
- Engineering needs two more weeks for testing
Action Items:
- Sarah: Update project timeline (by Friday)
- Mike: Draft announcement copy (by next Monday)
- Team: Review testing results (next Wednesday’s meeting)
Time saved: 15 minutes of note-writing and organizing reduced to reviewing a 2-minute summary.
The limitation: Copilot sometimes misattributes who said what or assigns action items to the wrong person. Always verify before sending the summary to your team.
Draft Email Responses
The feature: Copilot can draft email responses based on the context of the thread.
Why it’s useful (sometimes): For routine responses – acknowledging receipt, confirming meetings, providing status updates – Copilot gets you 80% there.
How to use it: Reading an email → Click Copilot → “Draft a reply” → Edit the draft → Send
Real example:
Someone asked about Q3 budget approval status. I clicked “Draft a reply,” Copilot wrote:
“Hi [Name],
The Q3 budget is currently in final review with finance. I expect approval by end of week and will update you as soon as it’s confirmed.
Let me know if you need anything else.
Thanks, [Your name]”
Perfect. Sent it as-is.
Time saved: 3-4 minutes per routine email.
The limitation: For anything requiring nuance, tone control, or strategic thinking, Copilot’s drafts are too generic. You’re better off using ChatGPT or Claude with specific prompts.
Document Summarization in Word
The feature: Copilot can summarize long Word documents into bullet points or short paragraphs.
Why it’s useful: Someone sends you a 20-page project proposal or requirements doc. You need the key points, not every detail.
How to use it: Open document → Click Copilot → “Summarize this document” → Get high-level overview
Time saved: 20 minutes of reading reduced to 2 minutes of scanning the summary, then diving into specific sections if needed.
The limitation: Copilot’s summaries are sometimes too high-level and miss important details. Use it for initial triage, not final decisions.
What Doesn’t Work Well
PowerPoint Slide Generation
The feature: Tell Copilot what you want, and it generates slides with content and design.
Why it doesn’t work: The slides Copilot creates look like every generic corporate presentation you’ve ever seen. Bland design, obvious bullet points, zero personality.
Real example:
I asked Copilot to create a presentation on “Q4 Product Roadmap.” It generated 8 slides with titles like “Overview,” “Key Initiatives,” “Timeline,” and “Next Steps.”
The content was so generic I had to rewrite every slide. The design was corporate template #47. The time I spent fixing it was longer than just building it myself.
Time saved: None. Time wasted: 20 minutes.
When you might use it: If you need a quick outline structure and plan to completely rewrite the content anyway, Copilot can give you a starting framework. But that’s it.
Excel Data Analysis
The feature: Copilot can analyze data, create charts, and suggest insights.
Why it’s limited: For basic tasks – “create a chart of monthly sales” – Copilot works fine. For anything requiring real analysis, it’s underwhelming compared to ChatGPT or Claude.
Real example:
I had quarterly performance data and asked Copilot to “identify trends and anomalies.” It created a basic line chart and said “Q3 shows growth.”
I asked ChatGPT the same question after copying the data. ChatGPT identified seasonal patterns, highlighted a concerning dip in one product line, and suggested three hypotheses for investigation.
The difference: Copilot gives you surface-level observations. ChatGPT gives you actual analysis.
When to use Copilot: Quick charts and basic summaries.
When to use ChatGPT: Anything requiring insight or deeper analysis.
Word Document Drafting
The feature: Ask Copilot to write a document from scratch – a project brief, a policy doc, a team announcement.
Why it’s inconsistent: Sometimes Copilot nails it. Usually, it gives you corporate boilerplate that needs significant rewriting.
Real example:
I asked Copilot to draft a team announcement about a new meeting policy.
Copilot’s version: “We are implementing a new meeting policy to improve efficiency and productivity. This policy will help us optimize our time and ensure meetings are valuable for all participants.”
That’s not how I communicate with my team. It’s stiff, formal, and sounds like HR wrote it.
I asked ChatGPT to draft the same announcement with “casual, direct tone for engineering team.”
ChatGPT’s version: “Starting next week, we’re changing how we run meetings. Too many meetings, too little value. Here’s what’s different: [clear bullet points]. Questions? Ask in Teams.”
The problem: Copilot defaults to corporate-speak. ChatGPT and Claude let you control tone precisely.
When Copilot works for drafting: Formal documentation that’s supposed to sound corporate – policies, official announcements, external communication.
When ChatGPT/Claude works better: Anything requiring personality, specific tone, or nuanced communication.
Copilot vs ChatGPT/Claude: When to Use Which
The real question isn’t “Is Copilot good?” It’s “When should I use Copilot versus ChatGPT or Claude?”
Here’s the decision framework I use daily.
Use Copilot When:
You’re already in a Microsoft app and need something quick
Example: You’re reading an email and need a fast summary. Opening ChatGPT would take longer than just using Copilot.
The task is routine and low-stakes
Example: Drafting a meeting confirmation, summarizing a straightforward email thread, creating a basic chart in Excel.
You don’t want to copy/paste sensitive information outside your company’s environment
Example: Your company’s security policy restricts using external AI tools with confidential data. Copilot stays within Microsoft’s environment.
Speed matters more than quality
Example: You need a rough draft of something you’re going to heavily edit anyway. Copilot gets you started faster than a blank page.
Use ChatGPT/Claude When:
The task requires nuance or strategic thinking
Example: Writing a difficult email, crafting sensitive feedback, analyzing complex data.
You need specific tone control
Example: Adjusting how something sounds – more direct, less formal, more empathetic. ChatGPT and Claude handle tone much better than Copilot.
You want to iterate and refine
Example: You’re working on something important and want to try multiple versions or ask follow-up questions. ChatGPT and Claude are conversational; Copilot is transactional.
The content needs personality
Example: Team communication, presentations that need to feel human, anything where generic corporate-speak doesn’t work.
You need custom prompts or complex instructions
Example: “Rewrite this feedback to be constructive but direct, for a senior engineer who responds better to data than emotions, keep it under 200 words.” Copilot can’t handle that level of specificity.
The Combo Approach (What I Actually Do)
I use both, depending on the situation:
- Morning email triage: Copilot summarizes overnight threads while I’m in Outlook
- Writing important emails: ChatGPT or Claude for anything sensitive, strategic, or requiring specific tone
- Meeting summaries: Copilot captures notes automatically in Teams
- Quick document drafts: Copilot for the initial outline, then I edit heavily
- Data analysis: ChatGPT for anything beyond basic charts
Think of it this way: Copilot is the convenience store. ChatGPT and Claude are the full grocery store. Sometimes you just need milk and the convenience store is faster. Sometimes you’re cooking a real meal and need the full selection.
The Bottom Line
Your company already paid for Copilot. The question isn’t whether it’s worth buying – it’s whether it’s worth using.
The honest answer: Yes, but not for everything.
Copilot excels at three things: email management, meeting summaries, and quick document tasks. Use it for those. It saves real time with zero friction because you never leave the Microsoft apps you’re already using.
For everything else – strategic communication, nuanced feedback, complex analysis, anything requiring personality or specific tone – stick with ChatGPT or Claude. They’re more powerful and flexible.
The smart approach: Use both.
Copilot for speed and convenience. ChatGPT/Claude for quality and control. Don’t force yourself to use Copilot for tasks where it’s mediocre just because your company paid for it. Don’t ignore Copilot for tasks where it genuinely saves time.
If you’re new to Copilot, start here:
- Use it for email summarization for one week. See if it saves time.
- Let it capture meeting notes automatically in Teams.
- Try it for one routine document draft.
If those three use cases save you 30 minutes per week, keep using it. If they don’t, you’re not missing anything critical.
The reality: Copilot won’t transform how you work. It’s not revolutionary. But it’s legitimately useful for routine management tasks, and since you already have it, you might as well use it for what it’s actually good at.
Your company forced the adoption. You get to decide if it’s worth your time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Copilot better than ChatGPT for managers?
Depends on your workflow. If you live in Microsoft 365, Copilot’s integration is convenient. For standalone AI tasks, ChatGPT is more versatile.
Is Microsoft Copilot free?
There’s a free version with limited features. Copilot Pro is $20/month, and Copilot for Microsoft 365 is $30/user/month through your company.
Can I use Copilot for performance reviews?
Yes – it works directly in Word. But ChatGPT and Claude still offer more flexibility for complex review writing.