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Creating and Formatting Reports with Copilot in Word

A practical example of how to use Copilot in Word to summarise, refine, and analyse reports.

Beginner Copilot Word Use Case

Writing and formatting reports is something almost everyone has to do at work. Copilot in Word makes this process significantly faster by helping with drafting, summarising, refining, and analysing information without leaving your document. In this use case, we look at how Copilot can turn a long report into a structured summary, a formatted email, a set of bullet points, or even a table of insights.

Here are the three key points:

  1. Copilot helps create structured summaries and rewritten formats based on real documents.
  2. It can break down content quarter by quarter, bullet by bullet, or topic by topic.
  3. It can turn raw numbers into tables, analysis, and insights directly from the sidebar.
Using Copilot in Word to work with reports

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Creating the Initial Summary

We begin by opening Word and using Copilot to summarise a 2025 annual marketing report.
To start, we ask Copilot:

Write a brief summary of our 2025 annual marketing report highlighting key achievements and statistics.

Before generating the summary, we use Add content to upload the marketing report from our computer or OneDrive. After pressing Create, Copilot produces a clear overview of the full document.

The first summary included:

  • Total revenue of 50 million, representing 25 percent growth
  • 120,000 new customers acquired
  • 2.1 million website sessions
  • 50,000 marketing qualified leads
  • Social media audience reaching 1.2 million followers

However, this was too general. It lacked detail about how each quarter performed.

Requesting a More Detailed Breakdown

To improve the summary, we ask Copilot:

Please make it more detailed. Write about each quarter separately.

This time, Copilot generates a structured quarter by quarter breakdown, including campaigns, traffic increases, customer acquisition, engagement metrics, and conversion rates.

For example, Quarter 1 included:

  • Website traffic up 15 percent compared to Q4 of the previous year
  • 25,000 new customers gained
  • Social media following surpassing 900,000
  • 10,000 marketing qualified leads generated

This format reveals how performance evolved over the year and gives a clearer timeline.

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Creating a Bulleted Version

Next, we ask for a shorter, bulleted overview:

Create a short summary of this using bullet points.

Copilot produces a concise version of the report, highlighting only the most important data points. This is ideal for presentations, internal updates, or quick briefings.

If we want the bullet points placed directly into the document, it is better to use the inline Copilot button instead of the sidebar.

Turning the Summary into an Email

We can also ask Copilot to turn our summary into an email to share with colleagues.
For example:

Turn this into an email congratulating the team.

Copilot rewrites the text into a polished, ready to send message, making it easy to distribute updates from long reports.

Using the Sidebar for Data Analysis

In the second part of the use case, we explore how to transform report numbers into tables or insights without inserting anything immediately into the document.

For example, we ask:

Make this into a clean two column table with quarter and revenue as headings.

The sidebar reads the document and generates:

  • Q1: 11 million
  • Q2: 12 million
  • Q3: 14 million
  • Q4: 13 million
Generating tables from report data using Copilot sidebar

Asking for Deeper Analysis

We can also push Copilot further by asking for interpretation and reasoning:

What was the percentage increase in revenue from quarter one to quarter four, and is there a chance this increase will continue? Explain why yes and why not.

Copilot provides:

  • A calculation showing an 18.18 percent increase
  • A structured explanation of potential reasons for continued growth
  • A balanced section explaining why growth might not continue

Reasons it may continue include:

  • Strategic initiatives
  • Strong customer loyalty programmes
  • Market demand for tech products

Reasons it may not continue include:

  • Seasonal trends
  • Increased competition
  • Economic uncertainty

If needed, we can insert the full answer into the document for easier reading.

Asking Targeted Questions About the Report

The sidebar also works as a Q&A tool for your document.
We can ask:

Where can I see how much was spent this year?
What was the most expensive item in quarter two?

As long as the answer exists somewhere in the document, Copilot will find it and provide it.

This eliminates endless scrolling and lets you go straight to the information you need.

Summary

Copilot in Word does more than draft and summarise. It can:

  • Transform large reports into detailed or simplified summaries
  • Generate quarter by quarter insights
  • Convert content into bullet points or emails
  • Build tables from raw numbers
  • Analyse revenue trends and explain reasoning
  • Answer precise questions about your document

If you want to fully understand Copilot and use it effectively across Microsoft 365, explore our Microsoft 365 Copilot Essentials training programme:
https://www.flowhunt.io/services/ai-training/microsoft-365-copilot-essentials/

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Introduction Copilot in Word
Introduction Copilot in Word

Introduction Copilot in Word

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