Lance Whitney / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Copilot can help you write, respond to, and summarize emails.
- I tried Copilot in classic Outlook, but didn’t find it worth keeping.
- You can disable Copilot in classic Outlook, but the process is kludgy.
I’ve been on the fence as far as my own use of generative AI. As a researcher, I do rely on ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and other bots to help me investigate challenging questions and problems. But as a writer, I avoid using AI to generate any content I should write myself. That includes not only articles and stories, but also emails and texts.
But with AI increasingly infiltrating the applications I use every day, the temptation is always there to take it for a spin. Here, though, I’m speaking specifically of Microsoft Outlook. I rely on the classic version of Outlook to send, receive, and manage my emails.
I have a Microsoft 365 Family subscription, which serves up Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher. Among these, I use Word, Excel, and Outlook each day. Last year, Microsoft added its Copilot AI to most of the programs in the suite, with a price increase, of course. And now Copilot is available in classic Outlook, as well as the new Outlook app.
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After checking out Copilot in all the other programs in the suite, I eventually disabled the AI entirely so it doesn’t even appear. This was especially the case in Word, which otherwise flashes an annoying message on each new document, inviting you to describe what you’d like to write or draft with Copilot.
With Copilot for Outlook also staring me in the face each time I try to start or respond to an email, I decided to give it a shot. Here’s what happened.
When you start a new email, a notice in the body tells you to press Alt+I to draft with Copilot. Triggering that key combination displays a prompt in which you can describe the type of email you want to generate.
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To see how this fared, I wrote the following description: “Write a cover letter applying for a job as a freelance technology reporter. Mention my experience writing for ZDNET, CNET, TechRepublic, and PCMag. Also mention that I wrote a column for TechNet Magazine.” I then clicked the Generate button to tell Copilot to create the draft.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
To deal with the draft, I could keep it as is, discard it, or regenerate it to try again. Of greater value, I could also adjust the parameters to make it longer, shorter, more direct, more formal, or more casual. I could even turn it into a poem (hmm, a cover letter written as a poem). I tried each of these variations to see how they affected the email.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
Among all of them, the casual one worked best for this situation since it was friendlier and more personable than the other variations. But even this version would’ve required a fair amount of editing to personalize the email and make it sound like something I would write.
Also: You can search for files in Windows using Copilot now – here’s how
The draft was helpful in that it did provide guidance on how to include certain aspects of my background. But ultimately writing the entire email myself from the get-go would’ve proved easier and more satisfying.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
I also tested Copilot to see how it would respond to an email. Here, I opened an email from my inbox and clicked Reply. Again, a notice popped up telling me to press Alt+I. Doing so asked me to describe the type of email I wanted. For this one, I replied to an email from the organizers of a Doctor Who convention in the UK. Here, I asked about the photo op policies.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
After describing what I wanted, I clicked Generate. In response, the draft appeared. The same choices were available as when creating a new email — Keep, Discard, or Generate. I could also request a specific revision to make it longer, shorter, more formal, more direct, more casual, or poetic. Here, I chose the poetic version just to make it sound a bit quirky and nerdy, appropriate for the subject. In this case, the poem that Copilot generated was clever and creative, so it fit the mood.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
Next, I tried summarizing an email. For this, I opened an email from Microsoft with information on the latest features for Windows insiders. After I clicked the Summarize button, Copilot generated and displayed a summary of the email with the key details. I was then able to copy and rate it with a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Also: How to remove Copilot from your Microsoft 365 plan – before you have to pay for it
Though the summary was useful, I found it much too brief. I wished that some of the points had been fleshed out further. At the very least, I’d like to see Microsoft offer an option to generate a longer summary, which I expressed in my reason for giving it a thumbs down.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
Though Copilot in Outlook can be of some value, I ultimately didn’t find it worth the effort, at least for me. To avoid seeing Copilot each time I used Outlook, I decided to disable the AI. Well, that’s easier said than done. Word, Excel, and the other programs in the suite include an option to disable Copilot. But there is no such choice in classic Outlook.
Instead, you have to disable it in one of the other versions of Outlook, such as the new Windows app, Outlook on the web, Outlook for iOS, Outlook for Android, or Outlook for the Mac. Your change then syncs with classic Outlook. Yep, the process is kludgy, but doable.
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Here, I disabled it through the new Outlook app for Windows as that was the most accessible. To do that in Windows 10 or 11, head to the Start menu and click Outlook. In the new Outlook app, click the Copilot button in the upper right and select Settings. At the Settings window, turn off the switch for Copilot. If you have more than one email account that supports Copilot, click the dropdown menu at the top, switch to each account, and turn off the switch. When done, click Save.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
After disabling Copilot in any of the other Outlook apps, allow time for the change to sync. Open classic Outlook. The Copilot button should no longer appear, while the Draft with Copilot option won’t pop up in a new email or a reply.
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Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNET
