Copilot unable to change word document content?

[Aussie_guy00000]

I just purchased the first license for my organisation and am trialing it after reviewing the Microsoft promo material. The promo material had it writing copy, formating and inserting images and all sorts of stuff.

I purchased a license mainly because we burn a lot of time in my company doing something I would thought would be simple for Copilot, fixing document styles and formatting. We write a lot of documents for clients using their templates and this often means we're merging content from our own internal records into client templates. So I was planning on using Copilot to fix styles after inserting content instead of a person spending hours making sure everything in perfect.

The very first document I try this on, I get the following message when I asked it to "Apply consistent styles and formatting to the entire document" (and this came up as pre-filled selection option after copying and pasting suggesting it's capable of this):

"As Microsoft 365 Copilot, my role is to assist you within the chat interface by providing information, guidance, and support. I'm here to help you with tasks such as summarizing documents, generating content, and answering questions based on the information available to me. However, I don't have the capability to directly edit or change documents. If you need assistance with formatting or editing your document, I can guide you through the steps or provide tips on how to achieve your desired outcome. Feel free to ask for any help you need with your document!"

What on earth?? Is this for real, it's the whole reason that I forked out for this overpriced chatbot.

Please tell me i've done something wrong with the configuration?

[#2]

I completely understand your frustration. For my own sake, I have often received error messages within CoPilot, and sometimes it makes sense, and other times it does not. Honestly, I still view CoPilot as a beta product, and I think that use cases like the one you mention here will become much better within 6-18 months.

I hope your trial gives you other use cases where the results are more satisfactory!

[#3]

Appreciate your reply, but I'm still none the wiser.

Is this an error message, or how indeed Copilot is intended to function??

[#4]

Yeah I bought copilot pro for both drafting some basic docs but also better integration with Office for exactly the reason you've pointed out, not wanting to waste time on mundane tasks. But it's basically useless. At both tasks. I'm using Claude now for drafts. And still wasting time with formatting.

[#5]

Yes, the features of Copilot formatting content within Microsoft Word are not there just yet.

I know it's not what you're hoping for, but here is the Roadmap for Copilot in Microsoft Word.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=Microsoft%20Copilot%20(Microsoft%20365...

[#6]

@JaredMatfess Thanks for posting that. I confess I haven't trawled through all the topics in the list, but a quick scan doesn't yield anything that looks like their addressing anything to do with document formatting. 

[#7]

@Aussie_guy00000, oh apologies. I should have included that you're correct. I'm not seeing anything on the roadmap from a content formatting perspective yet, either. I just wanted you to know that there is somewhat of a published roadmap for what to expect for Copilot. I agree that some of the intended use cases, like data formatting or transforming documents, are not there yet. I find myself getting a lot of value from using Copilot to ideate & brainstorm around a particular topic. The meeting summarization is also very helpful and saves time. The price point to value might still not be all the way there just yet, but I do find areas where it's helpful. I'm sorry your experience is lacking thus far, that's frustrating.