Fernandezc4 AI, M365, OFFICE 365

HOW TO: KEEP USING COPILOT CHAT AFTER APRIL 15TH, 2026

A 5-Step Guide for Teachers, Students, and Small Teams

Who this is for: Anyone on Microsoft 365 who does NOT have a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license ($30/user/month) and is wondering what still works after Microsoft removed the free in-app Copilot experience from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote on April 15, 2026.

Before you start

You still have Copilot. It just lives in a different place. This guide sets you up in five quick steps so you can keep drafting, summarizing, and brainstorming with AI at no extra cost — without the buttons that disappeared from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

Step 1 — Open the Microsoft 365 Copilot app (your new AI front door)

Go to m365.cloud.microsoft and sign in with your work or school account. Look for the Copilot icon in the left rail of the app launcher, or go directly to copilot.cloud.microsoft.

Pin it: right-click the tab in your browser and “Pin tab.” Also pin it inside Microsoft Teams by right-clicking the Copilot app in the left rail.

✅ You now have Copilot Chat (Basic) — secure, work-data-protected AI chat. This is where most of your old prompts will still work.

Step 2 — Learn the paste-and-prompt workflow

You used to click Copilot inside a Word document. Now you do this:

  1. Highlight the paragraph, formula, or table you were going to ask about.
  2. Copy it (Ctrl+C).
  3. Switch to the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
  4. Paste and ask your question normally. Example: “Rewrite this for a 6th-grade reading level.”

Two extra clicks, same answer, zero dollars. It works just as well for Excel formulas, PowerPoint slide text, and OneNote notes.

Step 3 — Use the features that didn’t change

Copilot in Outlook is fully intact for free users. You can still: – Draft a reply: click Draft with Copilot in a new email. – Summarize a long thread: open the thread and click Summary by Copilot. – Catch up: ask Copilot “what did I miss this week?” in Copilot Chat and it grounds on your recent emails and meetings. – Ground on a highlighted passage: select text inside an email, and Copilot Chat will focus on just that.

For educators only: the free Teach module inside the M365 Copilot app is unaffected by April 15. Use it to: – Align a lesson to standards – Modify reading level while preserving meaning – Differentiate instructions for mixed classrooms – Turn content into a Fill-in-the-Blanks or Matching Game activity

Step 4 — Decide if you actually need to pay for a license

Before you spend $30/user/month, do a 20-minute audit:

  1. List your top 5 recurring weekly tasks (e.g., “weekly grade summary in Excel,” “draft parent emails in Outlook,” “build slide deck for Monday staff meeting”).
  2. For each, ask: “Did I truly need Copilot inside the app, or would paste-and-prompt work?”
  3. Count the honest “needed in-app” answers.
  4. 0–1 in-app needs: stay free. You’re fine.
  5. 2 in-app needs: probably still stay free. The paste-and-prompt tax is small.
  6. 3+ in-app needs: one targeted paid license likely pays for itself.

Step 5 — Build three reusable prompt “shortcuts” this week

Because Copilot Chat keeps your history, save yourself time by creating three go-to prompts you can paste and reuse:

  1. The explainer: “Explain this [formula / paragraph / slide] like I’m a smart 14-year-old. Then list two ways to make it clearer.”
  2. The rewriter: “Rewrite this for [audience]. Keep it under [X] words. Tone: [friendly / formal / direct].”
  3. The catch-up: “Summarize my inbox from the last 3 days. Group by project. Flag anything that needs a reply today.”

Save them in a OneNote page or a sticky note on your desktop. Over a week, that’s 20+ minutes saved.

Tips & gotchas

  • Don’t confuse the apps. The standalone consumer Microsoft Copilot app (from the Store) is different from the work Microsoft 365 Copilot app. For school and business data, always use the 365 version. You can dowload it here.
  • Image generation has a daily cap for free commercial Copilot Chat users. Microsoft hasn’t published the number. If you’re close to it, space out your requests.
  • Students — if your school has Microsoft 365 Education, the free Study and Learn Agent (preview) helps you learn without giving you the answer. Worth asking your teacher or a Microsoft team member about.

Call to action

Try Step 2 today. One task. Take the thing you would have asked Copilot inside Word this afternoon — a rewrite, a summary, a formula explanation — and do it through Copilot Chat instead.

Want a personalized answer to “should I buy a license?” Contact us here: https://365ncc.com/contact/ and lets set up an appointment to discuss.