Ever record or type a note thinking you’ll “sort it out later” — and then never do? Word for iPhone/iPad now has “Use Copilot“, a way to convert a voice recording or text notes and turn them into neatly organized documents in a style of your choosing. It’s worth a look at this part of Microsoft’s Copilot craze.
In Word for iOS (iPhone/iPad) there’s a “Use Copilot” option. The unassuming name hides a feature that’s worth checking out. Notes can be dictated, typed or pasted and then Copilot can reformat them in different ways, including styles you setup yourself.
As regular Office Watch readers know, we’re hardly the biggest fans of Copilot in its current implementations. Most Copilot features in Office are either intrusive, incomplete or both so it’s a pleasure to say that this “Use Copilot” addition is well-thought through.
The Microsoft team responsible for “Use Copilot” deserves considerable praise and should be looked to as an example for other Copilot teams at Microsoft.
Use Copilot is better than Microsoft’s promises
Even more remarkable, Microsoft UNDERsells “Use Copilot” which has many more options than it first appears. This Microsoft promo image doesn’t do justice to “Use Copilot” in Word iOS.
How “Use Copilot” works
In Word for iPhone/iPad the “Use Copilot” feature appears like this:
Speech, type or paste
Microsoft is focusing on the ‘speak’ or dictation part of “Use Copilot” but it can accept both speech and typed text (including pasted text). The keyboard button is left of the big microphone button.
With the keyboard available, text can be pasted in. That includes text from OneNote, an email or even a whole transcription from previously recorded audio.
The top-left menu shows “Document”, pull down to see the other modes or styles available.
Choose a different format or style
“Use Copilot” is a lot more than simple ‘speech to text’ transcription. It converts what you say into whatever text style (Microsoft calls them ‘mode’) you choose.
“Mode” is an awfully bland name for this feature. “Style” or “Format” would be more accurate and understandable.
There are three in-built modes:
Document – an AI tidied version of what you say.
Notes – ideas in separate paragraphs.
Email – include greeting and sign-off
The Copilot prompt for each mode is visible, even the three in-built ones. Here’s the prompt for ‘Notes’.
Custom Styles / Modes
More interesting are the custom modes you can make. These tell Copilot what style or mode of writing to make from what you’ve said. We added some to test this out:
Bullet Points – “Summarize in bullet points with headings for major subjects”
Monologue – “Write as a monologue for an actor to perform”
Stand Up Comedy – “Write as a funny stand-up comedy routine”
Nice touches
The developers have given some thought to how paying customers will “Use Copilot” in the real world. There are nice touches which are there from the first public release, not added later.
- Dictation can be combined with typed or pasted text.
- That includes fixing any ‘speech to text’ errors.
- Microsoft’s fixation on the ‘speak’ part of “Use Copilot” undersells its usefulness.
- Dictation can be stopped then restarted whenever you like.
- Your words don’t have to be a single non-stop speech!
- The transcribed “speech to text” can be edited manually to correct mistakes.
- After dictating/typing your notes, try different modes (styles).
- Any of the results, including the transcription can be saved.
If you’d like to make use of the in-built or custom modes for existing text, just press the keyboard icon (bottom left) and paste the text in.
The BIG question
The core “Use Copilot” idea is for the user to enter some text then see how AI can adapt that in different ways, until the customer finds something that right (or nearly right) for their needs.
The ability to make your own styles or ‘modes’ is very welcome and breaks us out of the bland corporate stylings of default Copilot.
Which brings us to a BIG question:
Why isn’t this feature, or something very similar, in Word for Windows and Mac?
To say nothing of OneNote desktop and mobile apps?
Who gets it?
“Use Copilot” needs a Copilot license with Word for iOS v2.96 build 25041112 or later.
To start with in the following languages and locales:
| Language | Locale(s) |
|---|---|
| English | US, UK, AU, IN, CA |
| Spanish | ES, MX |
| French | CA, FR |
| Portuguese | BR |
| Chinese | CN |
More languages and locale will be rolled out … Microsoft says “soon”.
Copilot loses an AI writing competition
