How to turn Microsoft Copilot into an automated personal assistant with Scheduled Prompts

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: New blog articles in Microsoft Community Hub.

Imagine this: You’re juggling multiple projects, meetings, and deadlines, trying to fit in work between meetings and randomized daily requests. This can be overwhelming, right? That is where the "Scheduled prompts" feature in Microsoft Copilot comes to the rescue. This handy tool allows you to automate Copilot prompts to run at specific times or intervals, ensuring that you stay on top of the many action items coming in from all directions. 

By scheduling your prompts, you can keep your productivity on point, just like having your very own personal assistant. Whether you're managing a team or just trying to organize your own tasks, this feature makes sure nothing slips through the cracks. 

So, think about having a tool that not only helps you remember your brilliant ideas but also ensures that all your important tasks are taken care of. That’s the value of scheduling prompts in Copilot. Let's dive in and see how it can transform your workflow. 

Here are some scenarios where the "Scheduled prompts" feature would be particularly useful: 

1. Project Updates: Set up prompts to remind you of upcoming deadlines or to get regular project updates.  
2. Meeting Reminders: Schedule prompts to remind you about upcoming meetings so you can prepare ahead of time. 
3. Daily Stand-ups: Automate those daily stand-up prompts to get updates from team chats. It makes tracking progress and tackling blockers a breeze. 

Prefer to run prompts on-demand? You can also choose to save prompts to your prompt library and run them with the click of a button whenever you choose to. 

Here’s How

Schedule a Prompt 

Alright, let’s get that prompt scheduled! Here’s how you do it: 

1

Hop into the scheduling tool: Head over to the scheduling section in your Copilot interface.

2

Pro Tip: Add specific instructions to get a good result every time. 

Prompt: "Provide a list of all of my action items by order of priority. List any due dates found. Remove any items that do not specifically mention me by name. Include any stakeholder names, milestone dates, and next steps."

Start a new prompt: Hit that “New Prompt” button to kick things off. 

Here is the prompt that I found useful. I discovered that by adding additional qualifiers I was able to get a accurate and meaningful result. 

3

Pro Tip: You can schedule your prompt to go out up to five times. This especially works great for monthly reminders or short-term scheduling. This especially works great for monthly reminders or short-term scheduling.

Pick a time: Choose the date and time you want your prompt to go out. 

4

Note: Once you have scheduled your prompts you can always go back in to save, edit, or delete later

Review and save: Give everything a once-over to make sure it’s all good. When you’re ready, click “Save and activate” and you’re set! 

Save prompts using bookmarks 

Pro Tip: Create a short name for your saved prompts to find them easily for frequent use. 

Next you can bookmark your favorite prompts to use again and again. 

 

Here’s How

• Click on the prompt you have already entered into Copilot
• Click the bookmark icon above the prompt
• A pop up will appear where you can name and review your prompt, then save.
  

Find, edit, and reuse your saved prompts

To find and edit your bookmarked prompts click on “View prompts” just above the chat box in the upper right corner. 

 From this screen you can access popular prompts in Copilot Lab, as well as your own saved prompts by clicking Saved. 

 Click on the prompt card you would like to use again in Copilot

Your prompt will be added to the chat box where you can edit your prompt or simply hit send as is. It’s that easy!   

Delete a scheduled prompt 

Simply click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner of BizChat, then select "Scheduled Prompts” from the drop-down menu. 

Hover over the saved prompt to see the trash can to hit delete 

Advanced feature: Edit a scheduled prompt using Power Automate: 

Click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner again of Copilot BizChat, then select "Scheduled prompts" from the dropdown menu 

To find and edit a scheduled prompt, click on the Power Automate icon in the top right-hand corner.  

Click on the prompt  you want to edit

 Click edit to access your original prompt  

 Here you can edit your prompt, run it, change owner and more.

Want to explore a little further? Checkout Microsoft Automate 

And that’s it! You’re all set to send out your prompts at just the right time to turn Copilot into a personal assistant. Learn more about Copilot Scheduled Prompts