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5 Prompting Mistakes That Almost Everyone Makes with Microsoft Copilot
And how to fix them without pulling your hair out.
🤖 Why Copilot Might Be Underwhelming (Hint:It's Not Copilot)
You’ve got Microsoft Copilot. You’ve opened Word, Outlook,or Teams.
You’ve typed something in.
And… the results? Meh.
If Copilot feels underwhelming, it’s probably not broken—it’s just misunderstood.
Most of the time, it’s not what you ask, it’s how you ask.
Let’s fix that.
❌ Mistake 1: Being Vague
Bad prompt:
“Summarise this.”
Why it misses:
Copilot has no idea what it’s summarising, who it’s for, or why it matters.
Better:
“Summarise this Teams chat into 3 bullet points for our internal weekly update.”
🗂️ Mistake 2: Leaving Out the Source
Bad prompt:
“What are the trends for last quarter?”
Why it misses:
Copilot can’t generate insight without knowing where to look.
Better:
“Based on the Excel file in this email thread, what are thetop sales trends by region for Q4?”
✍️ Mistake 3: Forgetting Format
Bad prompt:
“Write a summary.”
Why it misses:
Copilot won’t know if you want bullet points, a paragraph, or a polished draft.
Better:
“Write a short summary in plain English, using 3 bulletpoints and a friendly tone.”
🔄 Mistake 4: Asking for Too Much at Once
Bad prompt:
“Summarise this chat, write a blog post, and give me 10 slide titles.”
Why it misses:
Too many tasks at once. Copilot will get muddled or overly generic.
Better:
- “Summarise the chat in 3 bullet points.”
- “Now turn that into a blog post intro.”
- “Give me 10 slide titles based on that post.”
⛔ Mistake 5: Starting Mid-Thought
Bad prompt:
“Continue this.”
Why it misses:
Copilot can lose context—especially if you’ve switched topics or windows.
Better:
“New topic. I need help drafting a proposal for [Client] based on this outline.”
💡 TL;DR: Prompting Is a Skill, Not a Hack
It’s not about writing “magic words.” It’s about structure,clarity, and confidence.
