If your company runs on Microsoft 365, Copilot can prepare your recurring briefings from your own work.
A Copilot scheduled prompt runs a prompt for you at the time you choose. Because it uses Microsoft 365 Copilot, it can draw on your email, meetings and chats, within your permissions.
Where to find scheduled prompts in Copilot
Open Copilot Chat with your work account and make sure Work IQ is turned on. Without it, the option to schedule a prompt does not appear.
What your plan includes
- License: scheduled prompts need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
- Where: supported Copilot Chat, Teams and Outlook experiences on the web and desktop, depending on your organization's settings.
- Agents and Teams: you can also schedule prompts to some Copilot agents, and Teams Workflows offers scheduled prompts too.
When scheduled prompts earn their place
- A daily meeting brief with how to prepare for each meeting.
- A summary of important email at the start or end of the day.
- Weekly project check-ins drawn from chats and documents.
- A weekly leadership update you then edit and send yourself.
How to schedule a prompt, step by step
Step 1: Run the prompt once. Enter the task you want Copilot to repeat. For work context, try:
Give me an overview of today's meetings, with who is attending, what each meeting is about and how I should prepare.
Step 2: Schedule it. Once Copilot responds, hover over your prompt, select the clock icon, then Schedule this prompt.
Step 3: Set the timing. Choose how often it runs, such as every Monday at 8 AM, add an end date if you want one, and turn on email notifications so you see each result. Then select Save.
Step 4: Read the results. Each run appears in your Chats, marked as a scheduled conversation. Review important information before you act on it.
Step 5: Manage your schedules. Open Settings and more, then Scheduled prompts. From there you can run a prompt now, edit its schedule, pause it or delete it.
A CODO prompt for a weekly intelligence brief
This prompt, built with our CODO framework, gives you a weekly brief on the topics that matter to your role. Replace the bracketed parts, run it once and check the sources before you let it repeat. In Copilot, leave out the last line, run the prompt once and schedule it with the clock icon.
Character: Act as a world-class intelligence assistant. Objective: I am the [role] at [company] in [industry]. Run a weekly web scan on [3 to 5 topics] so that I am the best-informed person in the room on these topics. Do: - Use only credible sources from the last 7 days. - Prioritize primary sources, such as official documents, reports and datasets. - Record the date, author and organization for every item. Don't: - Don't invent facts, figures or quotes. - Don't stretch the meaning of facts, numbers or quotes. - Don't favor novelty over relevance. Output: What matters this week, with up to 5 items. For each item, give the news in one plain sentence, then three bullets: - Why it matters: one sentence on the business impact. - Action to consider: one clear action I could take this week. - Source: date, author, organization and link. End with one sentence that sums up the main takeaways. Run it once now. When I confirm the format, run it every Monday at 9 AM.
Want to go further? These pages help you decide what to automate next:
- Build your AI executive daily briefing: set up a morning brief that pulls together what you need before your day starts.
- Build an AI-powered workload audit for automation: find the recurring work in your week that is worth handing to AI.
- AI works best when you understand your workflow: map a workflow before you automate any part of it.
What will your IT and legal teams ask?
- What can a scheduled prompt see? Only the email, meetings, chats and files the user can already open in Microsoft 365.
- Is our data protected? Copilot uses Microsoft's enterprise data protection, and your content is not used to train the underlying models.
- Can it send messages? A scheduled prompt writes a response for you to review. Keep it that way, and send anything yourself.
- Who controls availability? Admins, through licenses and Copilot settings for the organization.
Copilot or another tool?
Copilot is the natural choice when the brief depends on your Microsoft 365 work, such as your calendar or project chats.
For web research without a Copilot license, ChatGPT scheduled tasks work on every plan. On Google Workspace, use Gemini scheduled actions or Google Workspace Studio. Our overview of AI scheduled tasks compares all five options.
Key takeaways
- Turn on Work IQ to see the scheduling option.
- Run the prompt once, then schedule it with the clock icon.
- Keep email notifications on so you see every result.
- Manage schedules from Settings and more.
- Review before you act on what Copilot reports.
