Draft Meeting Recaps and Follow-Ups With Microsoft Copilot

What This Does

For clients running Microsoft 365 instead of Google Workspace, meeting recaps and the follow-up email that comes after still need to happen without switching to a separate tool. Copilot inside Outlook summarizes an email thread and drafts a reply in the same window, so the recap-and-follow-up workflow works no matter which client's software stack you are dropped into.

Before You Start

• The client's Microsoft 365 subscription includes a Copilot license. This is a separate paid add-on, not something every Microsoft 365 plan includes automatically. Look for a Copilot icon in the Outlook toolbar. If it is not there, ask the client's IT contact or Microsoft 365 admin whether the add-on has been purchased
• You are using a recent version of Outlook (new Outlook, classic Outlook, or Outlook on the web); the exact icon placement differs slightly between them
• Messages composed in plain text do not support Draft with Copilot in new Outlook or the web version. Switch to HTML under Settings > Mail > Compose and reply if needed

Steps

1. Find the AI feature

For a recap, open the relevant email thread and look for "Summary by Copilot" (sometimes labeled "Summarize") at the top of the conversation. For a draft, start a new email, reply, or forward: in new Outlook, go to Home > New mail and select the Copilot icon in the toolbar; in classic Outlook, go to Home > New Email and select the same icon.

2. Tell it what you need

For a summary, there is nothing to type. Select "Summary by Copilot" and it scans the thread automatically. For a draft, choose "Draft" (new Outlook) or "Draft with Copilot" (classic Outlook) from the dropdown, then type a prompt describing what the follow-up should say, for example "draft a reply confirming next Tuesday's meeting time and asking them to send the signed contract beforehand." You can also click "Help me write" or "Help me reply" inside an open email to collaborate through chat instead.

3. Review and use the result

The summary appears at the top of the thread with numbered citations you can click to jump back to the source email, useful for confirming Copilot did not drop an important detail. Read a generated draft the same way you would a first-pass draft from a junior assistant: check names, dates, and any commitment before sending, then edit and send as normal.

Real Example

Scenario: A client on Microsoft 365 has four back-to-back calls in a day, and each one needs a short follow-up email confirming next steps before the VA moves to the next task.

What you type/do: After the call, open the client's relevant email thread, select Summary by Copilot to get the discussion recap, then start a new email and use Draft with Copilot: "Draft a follow-up confirming we will send the updated proposal by Friday and scheduling a check-in call for next week."

What you get: A recap of the thread's key points with citations back to specific messages, followed by a ready-to-edit draft email that names the Friday deadline and proposes a follow-up call, both without leaving Outlook.

Tips

• Treat Copilot's meeting-related summaries as a starting point, not a transcript. Outlook's own note is to check a recap before you use or share it, since a summary can miss context or make something sound simpler than it was
• If the client mainly needs full meeting recordings with transcripts and task counts rather than an email-thread summary, that lives in Teams' Recap tab, not inside Outlook itself
• Save a strong Draft with Copilot prompt as a personal note so you are not rewriting the same instructions for every routine follow-up

Client meeting content sometimes includes financial terms, contract details, or other confidential business discussion. Confirm with the client what is safe to summarize or draft through a Microsoft AI feature versus what should stay off any AI tool entirely, and never paste login credentials or account numbers into a Copilot prompt even inside the client's own Outlook account.

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.