Use Outlook Copilot to Draft Email Replies Without Leaving Your Inbox

What This Does

Outlook Copilot reads the email thread you're responding to and generates a contextual draft reply, inside Outlook, without copy-pasting anything into an external tool. If your company uses Microsoft 365, you may already have this available and not know it.

Before You Start

• You use Microsoft Outlook (web or desktop) for work email
• Your company has a Microsoft 365 subscription (Copilot in Outlook is available without a paid Copilot add-on)
• You're viewing an email you need to respond to

Steps

1. Open the email and hit Reply

Click on the email in your inbox and hit Reply. In the compose window, look for the Copilot icon, a small sparkle (✦), in the toolbar above the message body. This toolbar placement is the same in new Outlook, Outlook on the web, and classic desktop Outlook.

2. Click the Copilot icon and select "Draft"

Choose Draft from the Copilot menu (in classic Outlook and Outlook for Mac it reads Draft with Copilot). A prompt box appears in the message body.

3. Describe what you want the reply to say

Copilot shows a text box where you can enter instructions like:

• "Apologize for the delay and confirm their replacement is being processed"
• "Decline their request politely and explain the 30-day return policy"
• "Acknowledge the issue and let them know I'm escalating to the billing team"

Keep your instruction to one or two sentences. Copilot handles the full draft.

4. Click "Generate"

Copilot generates a complete draft using the context from the email thread. The draft appears in a preview panel.

5. Review, refine, and insert

Read the draft. If it's accurate, click "Keep it" and the draft moves to your reply field for final editing. If you want to adjust the tone or add something, type a follow-up instruction like "Make it shorter" or "Add that we'll follow up in 2 business days" and click "Regenerate."

Real Example

Scenario: A customer emailed three days ago about a billing error on their account. You've investigated and confirmed the error and need to apologize and confirm the credit.

You click Reply → the Copilot icon → "Draft" → type: "Apologize for the billing error, confirm we've applied a $45 credit to their account, and let them know it will appear within 3-5 business days."

Copilot generates: "Dear [Name], thank you for bringing this to our attention. I sincerely apologize for the billing error on your account. I'm pleased to confirm that a $45 credit has been applied and will be reflected on your account within 3-5 business days. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions."

What you do: Add the customer's name, verify the credit amount, and send.

Tips

• The richer the email thread context, the better Copilot's draft. It reads all prior messages in the thread
• Tone and length are adjusted after the draft is generated, not before: use the tone and length options on the generated draft (the Adjust button in classic Outlook) or type an instruction like "Make it more empathetic"
• Drafting only works on HTML-format messages in new Outlook and Outlook on the web; if you compose in plain text, switch via Settings > Mail > Compose
• If Copilot is not available in your Outlook, check with your IT team. It doesn't require a paid Copilot add-on, just a Microsoft 365 subscription

Tool interfaces change, if the Copilot button has moved, look for a sparkle icon (✦) or search "Copilot" in the Outlook help menu.