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dblagent007's avatar
dblagent007
Brass Contributor
May 15, 2026

Copilot Changes in New Outlook

Copilot in the New Mail has recently changed to this (I have a $30/mo subscription to Copilot through a business account):

If I click on the little circle thing or press Alt+i it displays this with the text below already filled in:

I never start prompts to Copilot with "Help me write an email to" so I always have to manually delete this text to enter the actual prompt. Once I do that, Copilot opens the full-blown sidebar with a big discussion. And to top it off, Copilot in the sidebar does not follow the Copilot drafting instructions I saved in the Copilot settings in Outlook.

This is a regression compared to how Copilot used to work, which is shown in the screen below:

Granted I only ever used "Auto rewrite" in that drop down menu so you could shorten it some. However, this version is better because: (1) it does not open a large sidebar and expect me to enter into a big discussion, (2) there is no pre-existing text in the prompt box so I can press a hotkey and quickly dictate my prompt using the built-in dictation in Windows, (3) it will follow the drafting instructions I saved in the Copilot settings in Outlook, and (4) it shows the option to Auto rewrite the text.

I want Copilot to work the way it used to work and, especially, for Alt+i to open up the latter menu in all situations. I understand that some people might want to engage in a big discussion in the sidebar with Copilot, but don't make that the default.

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