How to Use AI in Microsoft Word: A Practical Copilot Guide

To use AI in Microsoft Word, open a document and use Copilot, Microsoft’s built-in assistant: click the Copilot icon in the left margin (or press Alt + i) to draft text, select existing text to rewrite it, or open the Copilot pane from the Home tab to summarize the document and ask questions about it. You need a Microsoft 365 plan that includes Copilot, and what you can do depends on whether you use a home or a work account.

Below is how each feature works, which plans include what as of October 2026, and how to switch Copilot off if you’d rather not use it.

What you need before you start

Copilot is not a separate download. It shows up inside Word once your account is entitled to it. According to Microsoft’s Welcome to Copilot in Word page, Copilot may be unavailable if it isn’t included in your subscription or if your organization has turned it off.

A few caveats on that table:

• When Microsoft first bundled Copilot into Personal and Family plans, TechRadar reported a US price increase of $3 and a limit of 60 AI credits per month, with one Word summary costing one credit. When Microsoft launched Premium, Thurrott reported that Personal and Family would get higher limits on select Copilot features. Microsoft has changed these limits more than once, so check your account page for the current numbers.
• Prices vary by country and change over time. Don’t rely on the launch prices above.
• If you’re on a work or school account, your IT admin controls which Copilot features you see.

Once you’re on an eligible plan, make sure Word is up to date and signed in with that same account. Most “missing Copilot” problems come down to an outdated app or the wrong account.

How to draft new text with Copilot

Drafting is the most obvious way to use AI in Word, and it works in a blank document or partway through an existing one.

1. Open a new blank document, or click on an empty line in an existing document.
2. Click the Copilot icon in the left margin, or press Alt + i (Office Watch notes it has to be a lowercase “i”).
3. In the Draft with Copilot box, describe what you want, for example: “Write a one-page proposal for moving our team meetings to a fortnightly schedule, with a short pros and cons list.”
4. To base the draft on an existing file, reference it in the prompt. Microsoft says Copilot can draft from a prompt, an outline, notes or a referenced file. The file-referencing option has been more limited on some home accounts.
5. Review the result and choose to keep it, discard it, or refine it with a follow-up instruction such as “make it shorter” or “use a more formal tone.”

Tips for better drafts

• Give context. Say who the audience is, how long the text should be and what tone you want.
• Paste in an outline. Copilot is better at following your structure than inventing one.
• Iterate. Ask for small changes in follow-up prompts instead of rewriting your first prompt from scratch.

How to rewrite or edit existing text

Copilot can rework a sentence, a paragraph or a whole section without retyping it.

1. Select the text you want to change.
2. Click the Copilot icon that appears next to the selection, or use Copilot from the toolbar that pops up.
3. Pick a preset such as Rewrite, or type what you want, for example “make this more concise” or “turn this into bullet points.”
4. Review the suggestion. Microsoft’s rewrite guide lists Replace, Insert below and Regenerate as the options after a rewrite.

You can also ask Copilot to turn selected text into a table, which is handy for comparisons or lists of dates and owners.

How to summarize a document and ask questions about it

For long documents you didn’t write, the Copilot pane is often more useful than drafting.

1. Open the document and select Copilot on the Home tab to open the pane on the side.
2. Ask for a summary, or ask a specific question such as “What are the deadlines mentioned in this document?” or “Which sections talk about budget?”
3. Follow up in the same pane to dig into a section.

Microsoft’s Insider team wrote that Copilot summaries can handle documents up to 3,000 pages, with Brief, Standard and Detailed length options. Depending on your plan and settings, Word may also show a summary at the top of a document when you open it.

One thing to know: Microsoft’s own help pages and third-party tutorials describe the entry points a little differently (mini toolbar, margin icon, Home tab), and the layout differs between Windows, Mac, web and mobile. If a button isn’t where this guide says, look for the Copilot logo in those other places.

Agent Mode: letting Copilot make multi-step edits

Agent Mode is a newer way to use AI in Word. Instead of producing one piece of text, Copilot can carry out a longer task, such as restructuring a document, applying formatting or pulling in material from other sources, and it works through the steps while you watch and approve.

What’s confirmed so far:

• Microsoft announced Agent Mode at Ignite 2025 and made it generally available in Word for Microsoft 365 Copilot (work) and Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers.
• In April 2026, Computerworld reported that this agent experience had become the default for those subscribers.
• Agent Mode works on files saved to OneDrive, OneDrive for Business or SharePoint. If your file only lives on your computer, Copilot asks you to move it to the cloud first.
• With a work Copilot license, Agent Mode can pull in relevant files, emails and meetings as sources.

What’s less clear: some reports say Personal and Family subscribers also have Agent Mode, and Microsoft’s message center entry MC1187671 described bringing Agent Mode to work users who have only Copilot Chat, with a rollout planned for early 2026. A later update to that entry said there was no new information on availability. As of October 2026, check whether you see it in your own Word before counting on it.

Using Copilot in Word on mobile and the web

Copilot is also in Word for the web and in the Word mobile apps, and Microsoft has a separate support page for the mobile version. Features don’t always arrive on every platform at the same time. For example, Microsoft has noted that the file-referencing option in Draft with Copilot was limited to Word for the web for some home accounts. If a feature is missing in one version of Word, check another.

How to turn Copilot off in Word

If you’d rather write without AI, or the margin icons get in your way, you can disable Copilot. According to SlashGear’s walkthrough of Microsoft’s guidance:

On Windows

1. Go to File > Options > Copilot.
2. Clear the Enable Copilot checkbox.
3. Select OK, then close and restart Word.

On Mac

1. Go to Word > Preferences.
2. Under Authoring and Proofing Tools, select Copilot.
3. Clear the checkbox and restart Word.

The setting only applies to that app on that device, so repeat it on each computer. The checkbox needs a recent Word build (reported as version 2412 on Windows and 16.93 on Mac). If you don’t see it, update Word. As a last resort you can turn off connected experiences in your privacy settings, but that also disables other features such as text predictions.

Getting good results without getting burned

Copilot is fast, but it is not a fact checker. A few habits help:

• Check every fact it inserts. Names, figures, dates and quotes are where AI drafts go wrong most often.
• Keep sensitive documents in mind. On work accounts, your organization’s policies decide what Copilot can access. On personal accounts, read Microsoft’s privacy information before using Copilot on confidential material.
• Use it for the boring parts. First drafts, summaries, reformatting and tone changes are where it saves the most time. Your judgment and your final edit still matter.
• Expect change. Plans, limits and button locations have changed several times since Copilot launched in Word, and they will likely change again. Check Microsoft’s support pages if something here no longer matches what you see.