Intro:
Today, work information is scattered across emails, slides, and documents, making it hard to stay organized. Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks gives you a scoped AI workspace.Instead of the AI giving you general answers from the internet, it provides reliable summaries based strictly on the documents you provided. This makes it much easier to get up to speed, ensures the facts are accurate, and saves you the time of digging through different apps to find the context you need.
*Features *
what you get and why they help
- Scoped workspace: add up to 100 references (Word, PPTX, XLSX, PDF, OneNote pages, Copilot chats). Copilot answers are grounded only in these files.
- Intelligent file suggestions: Copilot can recommend other relevant files from your Microsoft 365 environment.
- Per-notebook custom instructions: define tone, audience, output format and constraints once for consistent outputs.
- AI chat inside the notebook: ask questions, request drafts, or generate action lists that reference your files.
- Audio overview: generate an AI podcast-style audio summary of the notebook for quick briefings and onboarding.
- Cloud-connected and secure: notebooks reference current file versions in Microsoft 365; you control what Copilot can access. Why these matter:
Consistency: per-notebook instructions ensure everyone gets the same style and expectations.
Speed: synthesize hours of reading into one-paragraph briefs or audio recaps.
Traceability: outputs point to the files where facts came from, making verification straightforward.
Example scenario:
Vendor management — RFQ / RFP / Licensing review
Notebook name: VendorEvaluation_ACME_RFP_2026
Goal: Rapidly assess vendor compliance, commercial terms, risks, and produce an executive recommendation + negotiation plan.
Setup (what to add)
Primary references:
RFQ.pdf (requirements, scoring criteria)
RFP_response_vendorA.docx
RFP_response_vendorB.docx
License_terms_vendorA.pdf
License_terms_vendorB.pdf
Pricing_matrix.xlsx
Internal_requirements.docx (security, legal, SLAs)
Meeting_notes.docx (stakeholder comments)
Add only the files relevant to the specific procurement (keeps the notebook scoped and the AI focused).
Role: You are a procurement analyst focused on vendor compliance and negotiation.
Audience: Procurement manager and legal counsel.
Tone: Precise, risk-aware, and actionable.
Output preferences:
- Executive summary: 3 sentences (decision + top 2 reasons).
- Compliance checklist: table of requirement -> vendorA/vendorB -> status (Compliant/Partial/Non-compliant) with reference file and page/section.
- Financial summary: high-level cost comparison and key pricing assumptions.
- Negotiation plan: 5 action items with suggested owner and target date.
Fact policy:
- Only use facts from the notebook references. For any claim not supported, respond: "Insufficient evidence — please add [file/section]."
- When summarizing license terms, quote key clauses and reference file and section.
Risk rules:
- Highlight contractual or compliance risks and indicate if legal review is required.
Example prompts to run in the notebook chat
a) “Produce a 3-sentence executive recommendation choosing Vendor A or B and list top two reasons (support each reason with a source file and section).”
b) “Create a compliance checklist comparing both vendors against Internal_requirements.docx and mark items Compliant/Partial/Non-compliant. Include file references for each status.”
c) “Summarize key licensing differences between vendorA and vendorB (support each difference with quote and file/section).”
d) “Generate a negotiation plan focusing on price, SLA penalties, and IP/license terms — 5 actions with owners and suggested dates.”
Quick tips & closing
- Start small: try Copilot Notebooks on a single real project (e.g., one campaign or client engagement).
- Use per-notebook custom instructions to reduce repeated prompts and keep outputs standardized.
- Always review AI outputs and link action items to owners for accountability.
- Use the audio overview for onboarding — it’s a surprisingly effective way to transfer contextual knowledge quickly.
Top comments (2)
Starting to use those more and more myself, too. Very handy and valuable.
Fighting "sprawl" more than I ever have before in Loop (which seems like the precursor offering to Copilot Notebooks). That's my only gripe - the different organizational approach.
I agree . but the idea is for small collaboration. These would be adding value with time bound tasks . I believe this is copilot version of NotebookLM is at very infancy.