Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word (2025)

Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders! My name is Angie Miller and I’m a Product Manager on the Word team. I’m excited to share with you an improvement to Draft with Copilot in Word for Windows, Mac, and the web that makes it easier to draft and refine text in a selected part of a document.

Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word

As a document creator, you know how challenging it is to consistently produce engaging, high-quality content. You must research, write, edit, format, and proofread your work while keeping your audience and purpose in mind. You might also need to generate new content from existing sources, update your content to suit different contexts, organize your content more clearly, and/or transform your content into different formats or languages.

To support these goals, it’s often easier to reference or build on existing content. That’s why we’ve added the ability to Draft with Copilot in Word based on selected text in your document.

You can use this feature to:

  • Refine or rewrite existing copy.
  • Explain or expand on the selected content in more detail.
  • Enhance the content with statistics or other additional information.

How it works

1. Open an existing Word document you want to update.

2. Highlight the portion of your document that you want to refine.

3. Click the Copilot icon that appears beside the highlighted text and select Make changes.

Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word (1)

4. In the Draft with Copilot text box, type a prompt that describes the changes you want to make, then select the Generate button.

Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word (2)

5. After Copilot has generated the new content, you can choose to keep it, discard it, or regenerate a different version. You can also click the pencil icon to revise your prompt.

Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word (3)

Scenarios to try

  • Convert selected text to a different format. Try highlighting a bulleted list and converting it into a paragraph (as shown in the preceding images). You can also add instructions about any content changes that need to be made in the process. Copilot will transform your text accordingly.
  • Translate selected text into another language. You can highlight a portion of text and ask Copilot to translate it into a different language. For example, try prompting Copilot with, “Please translate this section into French.”
  • Update selected content to suit different contexts. Have Copilot help you change specific content to match different audiences, regions, or purposes. For example, try asking Copilot to “update this content for a United States audience,” and notice that it changes the currency, word spellings, and cultural references to be country appropriate.
  • Organize selected text more clearly. You can also have Copilot help you better organize content by adding headings, bullet points, or paragraph breaks. For instance, in your prompt you can ask Copilot to “take the text in this selected table and turn it into sections of content with headers.” Copilot will use natural language processing and document-structure analysis to organize your content logically and coherent, as shown here.

Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word (4)

Coming soon

You can expect continued enhancements to this feature over the coming months, including:

  • The ability to more quickly and directly replace the original selected content with the new output.
  • The ability to attach and reference additional content from other files (as is already possible using Draft with Copilot with a blank document or new line).

We are also exploring additional functionality, such as preserving the formatting of the originally selected content or directing Copilot to apply formatting to newly generated content.

As other content formats, object types, and capabilities become available in Copilot, they will be supported with the ability to Draft with Copilot on selected content as well.

Requirements

To use this feature, you must have a Copilot license. (Get more details on licenses for consumers and for businesses.)

Availability

This feature is currently rolling out to users of Word for the web and to Current Channel users running:

  • Windows: Version 2405 (Build 17628.20110) or later
  • Mac: Version 16.86 (Build 24060916) or later

Dont have it yet? It’s probably us, not you.

Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly. We highlight features that you may not have because they’re slowly releasing to larger numbers of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements to further improve them based on your feedback. Though this is rare, we also reserve the option to pull a feature entirely out of the product, even if you, as an Insider, have had the opportunity to try it.

Feedback

We’d love to know your thoughts about your experience using Draft with Copilot in Word! Please submit feedback through the Draft with Copilot interface by using the thumbs up or thumbs down icon.

Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word (2025)

FAQs

Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word? ›

Rewrite text

Select the text you want Copilot to rewrite. Copilot icon. From the left margin Copilot menu, select Auto-rewrite. Copilot will show you rewritten options to choose from.

Can Microsoft Copilot rewrite text? ›

Rewrite text

Select the text you want Copilot to rewrite. Copilot icon. From the left margin Copilot menu, select Auto-rewrite. Copilot will show you rewritten options to choose from.

How to use Copilot in Microsoft Word? ›

Draft and add content with Copilot in Word
  1. Start a new blank document.
  2. In the Draft with Copilot box, type or paste your prompt. ...
  3. Select Generate, and Copilot will draft new content for you.
  4. Once Copilot generates content, select Keep it keep the content, Regenerate to regenerate a response,

How do you reference a file in draft with Copilot? ›

In the Draft with Copilot dialog, select Reference a file to choose up to 3 files that Copilot should look at when creating your new document. In the compose box, you can also enter "/" and the name of the file you'd like to reference, which will update the file options shown in the menu for selection.

Why can't I see Copilot in Word? ›

Make sure you're signed into your Microsoft 365 apps with an account that has a Copilot license. For home users... this means you should have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription, and Copilot Pro.

Can Copilot rephrase text? ›

Whether you're creating content for email, text messages, push notifications, or forms, using Copilot, you can easily rephrase messages, adjust the tone of voice, and shorten or lengthen copy, increasing productivity and delivering better results.

Can Copilot do formatting? ›

With Copilot for Microsoft 365, it's easy to highlight, sort, and filter your tables (or data in another supported format) to quickly call attention to what matters to you. With a single table, you can effortlessly: Sort and filter your data. Apply simple conditional formatting.

Where is the draft with Copilot box in Word? ›

To open the Copilot pane, select the Copilot option on the Word ribbon. D - Regenerate. If you're not satisfied with the current draft, select the Regenerate icon to have Copilot to create an entirely new version from scratch.

Is Microsoft Copilot available in Office 365? ›

Thousands of skills. All your data. Infinite possibilities for enterprise. Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available as an add-on to Microsoft 365.

How do I enable Copilot in Microsoft? ›

Here are the steps:
  1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center and go to Billing > Licenses.
  2. Select Copilot for Microsoft 365.
  3. In the product details page, assign licenses to users and manage their access to Copilot and other apps and services.
  4. To check if a user has been added, go to Users and then Active Users.
Dec 20, 2023

How do you reference a draft document? ›

Author(s) (Year). Title of manuscript. [Unpublished manuscript] or [Manuscript in preparation] or [Manuscript submitted for publication].

How do you use a Copilot? ›

Interact with Copilot

You can resize, move, and use Snap Assist with Copilot, just like you can with other Windows apps. You can use Alt + Tab to switch focus between Copilot and other open apps. If you need to close Copilot, just select the Close button at the top like you would for any other app.

How do you ask Copilot to write something? ›

In Word, you can ask Copilot to edit a paragraph for you by selecting the paragraph and choosing the Copilot icon to "Rewrite with Copilot." Or you can polish a PowerPoint slide with a prompt like, “Add an image of a target with arrows.”

How do I run Copilot in Word? ›

Step 1: First of all, look for the Co-Pilot button on the ribbon or toolbar at the top-right of the Word window. Step 2: Now, click on the button to start Co-Pilot in Word. Step 3: Once you have activated it, Co-Pilot will offer you assistance and suggestions as you require.

What is the controversy with Microsoft copilot? ›

Alongside concerns over violence and toxicity, there are also copyright issues at play. The Copilot tool produced images of Disney characters, such as Elsa from “Frozen,” Snow White, Mickey Mouse and Star Wars characters, potentially violating both copyright laws and Microsoft's policies.

Why is Copilot not showing up? ›

What if the Copilot toggle is missing from Windows 11 settings? If you can use Copilot using the keyboard shortcut but the icon is not appearing on your taskbar for some reason, like when using multiple monitors, you will have to manually create a Copilot icon.

How to enable rewrite with Copilot? ›

Rewrite and adjust your messages with Copilot in Microsoft Teams
  1. Write your message in the box at the bottom of the chat or channel.
  2. Select Copilot beneath the message box.
  3. Select Rewrite and/or Adjust. ...
  4. Adjust lets you choose from the menu options to change the length and style of your message.

Can Copilot generate text? ›

Copilot for text allows you to add text component with preview of AI-generated text ideas. You can change the output by revising the prompt, or by using one of the out-of-box adjustments to rewrite, change the tone or length of the generated text. Once done with preview, add the Copilot generated text to your page.

What can Copilot do Microsoft? ›

Copilot in Word will write, edit, summarize, give suggestions, and create right alongside you. Create first drafts, add content to existing documents, summarize text, and rewrite sections—or even entire documents—to make them more concise.

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