How to Use Microsoft Copilot: The Beginner's Guide (Free First, Prompts That Work, and the Paid Line)

CodexFuse Team · 2026-10-28T03:09:01.425Z · 16 min read

Learn how to use Microsoft Copilot free: open it on web, Windows, or phone, write prompts that work, and know when the paid line is worth it.

Learning how to use Microsoft Copilot takes about ten minutes, and most of that is deciding where to open it. Copilot is Microsoft's free AI chat assistant: you type or speak a question, and it answers with text, images, or a summary of the page in front of you. It lives on the web at copilot.com, as an app on Windows 11 and Mac, on your phone, and inside the Microsoft Edge browser. This guide is a hands-on Microsoft Copilot tutorial for the free version: it walks through the whole first week — opening it, signing in, writing prompts that get useful answers, and knowing exactly where the free version ends and the paid plans begin. If you already use another chatbot, the flow will feel familiar: our guide to use ChatGPT covers the same chat-and-follow-up pattern, and Copilot works the same way.

How do I use Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is a free AI chat assistant from Microsoft that answers questions, drafts and rewrites text, summarizes pages and files, and creates images from a text description. To use it, open Copilot, sign in with a free Microsoft account, type your question, and refine the answer with follow-up messages in the same chat.

1. Open Copilot. Go to copilot.com in any browser, press the Copilot key or Windows key + C on a Windows 11 PC, or open the Microsoft Copilot app on your phone.
2. Sign in. Use a free Microsoft account. On the web and mobile you can also sign in with an Apple ID or Google account; the Windows app needs a Microsoft account.
3. Type your first question. Click the message box, type a plain question such as "Explain how a heat pump works in five bullet points," and press Enter.
4. Refine with follow-ups. If the answer is too long, too formal, or off target, reply in the same chat: "Make it shorter" or "Explain it like I am a beginner."
5. Check anything important. Copilot cites sources for web answers. Open the cited page before you trust a number, a price, or a health or money claim.

That is the whole loop. Everything else in this guide is about doing each step well: picking the right way in, writing prompts that work the first time, and staying on the free side of the line unless you genuinely need the paid features.

What is Microsoft Copilot, and which Copilot is this?

Three different Microsoft products share the Copilot name, and mixing them up is the single most common beginner mistake. This guide is about the free chat assistant. The other two are different products with different prices.

Free Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot are separate products, and the free version is not a trial of the paid one. If someone tells you Copilot costs $30 a month, they are talking about the business product. If someone tells you it writes code, they are talking about GitHub Copilot, the coding assistant. Keep the three apart and the pricing confusion disappears.

Where can I open Copilot?

Copilot works in five places, and the right one depends on the device in your hand. All five give you the same chat; the differences are convenience and a few device-specific tricks.

On Windows 11, if the app is missing, install it free from the Microsoft Store. The Copilot Windows 11 app is the fastest way in if you use a PC every day. The Copilot key can open either the full app or a smaller quick view; choose which one in the app under Account, then Settings, then Copilot Keyboard Shortcuts. On supported pen devices you can also set the pen button to open Copilot from Settings, then Bluetooth and devices, then Pen and Windows Ink.

One Windows-only trick is worth knowing early. Copilot can look at your screen: click the + button in the message box, choose Take a Screenshot, mark the area you want, and ask your question about it. There is also a Desktop Share mode — the glasses icon in the Copilot window — that lets Copilot see your screen and answer questions about what is on it. Both are opt-in: nothing is shared until you choose to share it, and you can stop at any time.

Do I need a Microsoft account, and is Microsoft Copilot free?

Yes, Microsoft Copilot is free for general use, and the free version covers chat, voice, vision, and image creation. You may be able to try a quick question without signing in, but signing in is worth doing: only signed-in users get conversation history, which Microsoft keeps for the last 18 months, plus image creation, longer conversations, and voice interactions. The Windows app requires a Microsoft account to sign in at all. On the web and on mobile, you can also sign in with an Apple ID or Google account.

The paid plans do not unlock a different assistant. They offer higher usage limits than the free tier, priority access when demand is high, and Copilot inside the Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft's paid plans only advertise "higher usage than free" — no fixed number of messages or images is published for the free tier, so treat any specific limit you see quoted online as a snapshot, not a promise.

Prices are from ByteTony's Microsoft Copilot guide, verified in September 2026, and prices and usage limits can change — check Microsoft's official pricing page before subscribing. Microsoft also offers a one-month trial on eligible Microsoft 365 plans. The practical rule is simple: start free, and only consider paying when you hit a limit in real work or you want Copilot inside Word and Excel. If you want to compare the free chatbot landscape first, our guide to use Google Gemini covers the other free assistant most people weigh against Copilot.

How do I write prompts that actually work?

A prompt is simply the instruction you type. Microsoft Copilot prompts work best when the prompt says what you want, who it is for, and what shape the answer should take. A useful beginner prompt has four parts: task, context, format, and tone.

• Task: the job itself — write, explain, summarize, compare, plan.
• Context: the facts Copilot needs — who it is for, the situation, any limits.
• Format: the shape of the answer — bullet points, a table, an email, a numbered list.
• Tone: the voice — friendly, professional, simple words, formal.

The difference between a vague prompt and a four-part prompt is the difference between a generic answer and a usable one. The table below shows the same request written both ways, so you can copy the pattern.

Two habits make the formula work. First, keep the conversation going instead of starting over: after each answer, ask a follow-up in the same chat — "make it shorter," "give me three title options," "explain the second point with an example." The follow-ups are where Copilot becomes genuinely useful. Second, ask Copilot to separate verified facts from uncertain ones when the answer matters: "Do not invent prices or statistics" is a restriction worth adding to any research prompt. For a deeper look at the same skill in another assistant, our guide to use Perplexity AI shows how the prompt formula changes when the job is research rather than writing.

Copilot may also offer modes when you open it — names such as Quick Response, Think Deeper, Smart, Study and Learn, and Search. Availability varies by whether you are signed in. Think Deeper is the slower, more careful reasoning mode; Smart is the everyday default. You do not need to master the modes to start; pick Smart, and switch to Think Deeper only when a question needs careful reasoning.

What can I do with Copilot in my first week?

Start with one real task, not a demo. The seven jobs below are the ones beginners actually type into Copilot every day, and each one teaches a different strength of the assistant.

1. Decode a confusing error message. Paste the exact message and ask: "Explain this error in simple words and tell me how to fix it, step by step." This trick alone makes Copilot worth keeping.
2. Find any Windows setting instantly. Ask "How do I turn on dark mode in Windows 11?" or "Where do I change my default printer?" You get the exact clicks in order, with no menu-hunting.
3. Draft and polish your writing. Paste a rough email and say: "Rewrite this to sound professional but friendly." Job applications, complaint letters, messages to your boss — rewritten in seconds.
4. Get the gist of long articles. Paste a long article and say: "Give me the 5 main points in plain, simple language." In Edge, Copilot can summarize the page in front of you without any pasting.
5. Plan something messy. Exams, trips, schedules — describe the mess and let Copilot organize it, then tweak it by chatting: "Make day 2 lighter."
6. Make pictures from words. Once signed in, type: "Draw a cozy reading nook with a cat asleep on the cushion." Image creation is free, subject to usage and capacity limits, and generation can take a couple of minutes. You can also upload your own photo and ask Copilot to edit it — for example, "remove the people in the background" — but only upload images you own or have the rights to use.
7. Ask the little questions. Currency conversions, quick comparisons, unit conversions — the things you would normally search for and scroll past three ads to find. Copilot just answers, in plain words, with current information.

Two more abilities round out the first week. Voice: click or tap the microphone icon in the message box, allow the microphone, and talk to Copilot like a person — you can interrupt whenever you want. On Windows 11 you can also turn on the optional "Hey, Copilot" wake word for hands-free chats, and a text transcript is saved afterward. Files: click the + icon in the message box, choose Add images or files, and ask Copilot to summarize a PDF, describe a photo, or pull numbers from a spreadsheet. Supported files include PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, TXT, CSV, JSON, and MD documents, plus PNG and JPEG images. Microsoft says you can upload up to 20 files per conversation with a 50MB file limit, and uploaded files are deleted automatically after no more than 18 months.

How do I use Copilot in Microsoft Edge?

Microsoft Copilot in Edge is the same assistant with one extra power: it can read the page you are looking at. Sign in to Edge with your personal Microsoft account, open the web page, PDF, or video you want help with, and click the Copilot icon in the upper-right corner of Edge. Then type a question or pick a suggested prompt, or select Create a Summary for a quick overview of the page.

That page-awareness is what makes Edge the best place to research with Copilot. Ask it to compare two products on the page, pull the price and the warranty terms into a table, or explain a paragraph you did not understand — without copying anything anywhere. If you would rather Copilot did not read the page, open the More menu, go to Copilot and AI, and turn off Allow Copilot to read context clues on the web.

What should I never put into Copilot?

Three rules keep you safe, and they apply to every AI chatbot, not just Copilot. First, never paste passwords, ID numbers, bank details, or confidential client information into a chat. Second, verify before trusting: Copilot can still give incorrect information, so open the cited sources and check important claims before you publish, send, or act on them — especially for health, money, and legal answers. Third, remember that a response with sources still needs checking against the original sources; a citation is a pointer, not proof.

Microsoft also gives you real controls over your own data, and they are worth setting in your first week. To delete one chat, select the three dots next to a conversation and choose Delete — or right-click it in the Windows or Mac app. To delete everything, go to Manage your Copilot activity history in your Microsoft account and select Delete all activity history. To stop future training, open your profile icon, go to Privacy, and turn off Training on conversation activity and Training on voice conversations; this applies to future chats only. Under Memory you can turn off Personalization and memory or choose Delete all Memory, and you can simply ask Copilot what it remembers about you. Free users should also know the honest limit: when demand is high, paid users get priority access, and free users may face tighter limits. That is the real cost of free — not your data, but your place in the queue at busy times.

Microsoft Copilot vs ChatGPT: which one should I start with?

Copilot and ChatGPT are different products from different companies, and the choice comes down to where you already live. Copilot is Microsoft's assistant with its own features and deep integration with Windows, Edge, and Microsoft 365. ChatGPT is OpenAI's assistant. The underlying technology overlaps in places — Microsoft says Copilot's Think Deeper mode uses OpenAI reasoning models, and its Smart mode uses GPT-5 — but the products, the apps, and the pricing are separate.

There is no wrong first choice, and the prompt skills transfer: the four-part formula works identically in both. If you start with Copilot and later try ChatGPT, our beginner's guide to ChatGPT will feel familiar from the first screen — same loop, same follow-up habit, different logo. Start with the one that is already on your taskbar, use it for a real task every day for a week, and only then decide whether the paid line is worth crossing.

Sources

• QuickOnlineTips, "How to Use Copilot Free: Windows, Web, iPhone & Android Guide" (published October 22, 2026) — open paths on web, Windows 11, Mac, iPhone and Android; sign-in benefits and 18-month history; voice and "Hey, Copilot"; file uploads (20 files, 50MB); image creation; free vs Microsoft 365 Copilot comparison; privacy controls. https://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2026/10/how-to-use-copilot/
• ByteTony, "Microsoft Copilot for Beginners: How to Get Started" (updated September 2026) — free vs paid feature table and US prices ($9.99/month or $99.99/year Personal; $19.99/month or $199.99/year Premium); task + context + format + tone prompt formula; Think Deeper and Smart modes; free-user limits at busy times. https://bytetony.com/microsoft-copilot-for-beginners/
• Free AI Toolkit Guide, "How to Use Microsoft Copilot for Free in 2026" (published October 26, 2026) — free-first start steps; five practical uses; goal + context + format + restrictions prompt elements; free-version limitations. http://freeaitoolkitguide.blogspot.com/2026/10/how-to-use-microsoft-copilot-for-free.html
• ByteMarketo, "How to Use Microsoft Copilot Windows Beginners: A Simple Guide (2026)" — seven everyday beginner tasks, including error-message decoding and Windows-setting lookups. http://bytemarketo.blogspot.com/2026/10/microsoft-copilot-windows-beginners.html

Frequently asked questions

Is Microsoft Copilot free?

Yes. You can chat, use voice, share images, and create pictures with the free version. Microsoft's paid plans mainly offer higher usage limits than the free tier, plus Copilot inside the Microsoft 365 apps. Free access is subject to availability and usage limits, and some features may not be available in every region or account.

Do I need a Microsoft account to use Copilot?

The Windows app needs a Microsoft account. On the web and mobile apps, you can also sign in with an Apple ID or Google account. You need to sign in to save chat history, and Microsoft lists image creation and voice as sign-in features too. You may be able to try a quick question without an account, but signing in unlocks the full free experience.

How do I open Copilot on Windows 11?

Press the Copilot key or Windows key + C, or click the Copilot app on the taskbar or in the Start menu. If the app is missing, install it free from the Microsoft Store. The Copilot key can open either the full app or a smaller quick view; choose which one under Account, then Settings, then Copilot Keyboard Shortcuts.

Is Microsoft Copilot the same as GitHub Copilot?

No. Microsoft Copilot is the free chat assistant covered in this guide. GitHub Copilot is a separate paid coding assistant that suggests code inside your editor. Microsoft 365 Copilot is a third, separate product: the paid business assistant built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.

Can Copilot see my screen?

Only if you let it. Copilot on Windows can look at a screenshot you choose, and its Desktop Share mode (the glasses icon) can answer questions about what is on your screen. Both are opt-in: nothing is shared until you choose to share it, and you can stop sharing at any time. In Edge, you can also turn off Copilot's ability to read the page you are on.