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This evaluation first appeared in subject 355 of PC Pro.
Copilot has three major makes use of in Word: making a draft for both a complete doc or for sections of it, primarily based on a immediate of as much as 2,000 characters; rewriting chosen textual content in line with a immediate; and answering questions on a doc’s content material, together with summarizing it.
Whenever you create a brand new doc in Phrase, you’ll see how a lot Microsoft needs you to draft utilizing Copilot: it’s the very first thing you see. And any time you make a brand new paragraph, the Copilot icon exhibits up within the left margin, letting you enter a immediate to put in writing a brand new part. If you choose textual content, the icon exhibits up with an choice to rewrite the choice. There’s additionally a Copilot icon within the Residence toolbar, which opens a sidebar so you’ll be able to ask questions concerning the open doc, summarize it, or write further elements.
The output high quality of any massive language mannequin is determined by the immediate you present. When you aren’t particular or clear sufficient, Copilot Professional will produce boring texts that don’t match your voice. It’s essential to give ample particulars and context for it to grasp your goal and elegance, in addition to details about the preferences of the viewers, all of which might be difficult in a immediate restricted to 2,000 characters.
Often, it’s imprecise, drifts off-topic, or solely ignores express directions – for instance, about phrase counts or information you’ve got instructed it to incorporate. It’s essential to examine and edit the texts that Copilot Professional writes to ensure they’re proper to your objective and viewers.
Copilot has its personal little linguistic ticks, which you’ll most likely should be express about in prompts. It completely adores bullet-pointed lists, and can embrace them each time until you inform it to not. Equally, and sure reflecting the net content material on which it’s educated, it loves to incorporate “hints and suggestions” sections in just about each sort of content material.
Rewriting can also be erratic. Though its grammar is impeccable (albeit with a penchant for the Oxford comma and American spellings), Copilot gained’t catch and repair all the issues in your paragraphs; suppose coherence, construction and move. It’s no alternative for a devoted device akin to Grammarly or LanguageTool. I even discovered that Copilot added in issues that Microsoft Editor thought have been errors.
Copilot can nonetheless be helpful in Phrase should you use it for what it’s good at. For instance, as an alternative of constructing it write an entire doc, ask it to create a top level view so that you can work. This delivers stable outcomes, and if nothing else avoids the clean sheet of paper subject.
I additionally discovered it helpful to maintain the sidebar open when engaged on an extended piece; in a single case, I wanted to make it possible for each chapter included a name to motion on the finish, and that’s one thing Copilot is nice at. It’s additionally helpful for these moments whenever you need to get ideas for one thing, whether or not that’s as trivial as in search of an antonym or as advanced as “give me 5 typical Russian male first names, well-liked within the Nineteen Fifties”.
Contemplating that that is Microsoft’s first stab at Copilot for Phrase, it’s a formidable piece of labor.