Copilot gives UI students, faculty, and staff access to a generative AI-powered platform with enterprise data protection. Copilot does NOT have access to your Microsoft 365 data such as your email, OneDrive files, Teams data, etc. Although Copilot now remembers the history of what you have previously asked, allowing you to easily reuse prompts, it does not use any data that you submit to train the model that powers the tool. Copilot is currently available through a website and through the Microsoft Edge browser sidebar.
October 3, 2024: Microsoft announced the changes below this week and things are in flux for Copilot. Below is the initial information we have. We will continue to monitor any changes and will share them as they become known.
This support article outlines how to log into Copilot, how to access Copilot using the Microsoft Edge browser sidebar, and what features are available or not available.
To access Copilot through a web browser, navigate to https://copilot.microsoft.com
Note: When you first log into the new Copilot, you may be prompted with a series of windows that are different than the previous version of Copilot. Once you log in the first time, you should not see these again.
For live training on how to use Copilot, see dates available.
How to log into Copilot:
- Please note: Third-party cookies may need to be enabled to log into Copilot. Click here for instructions on how to enable third-party cookies.
- Click the icon in the top right corner with an image of a person. Next, choose “sign in”.
- Sign in with your university credentials. <HawkID>@uiowa.edu
- If you are prompted to choose a Copilot experience, choose “go to Copilot for work”.
- If you see a message that authentication is required, click "continue".
- You are now signed into Copilot. To verify you are signed in, you’ll see your profile picture or initials in a circle in the top right.
The new Copilot home page:
- Click “new chat” to start a new conversation with Copilot. It will not remember the context of the previous prompts when starting a new conversation.
- This shield indicates that you are logged in and have enterprise data protection. Copilot is safe for use with university data labeled internal or public.
- This info bubble also says that you are protected by enterprise data protection.
- This icon opens a panel that displays your Copilot chat history. You can click on any conversation to go back to it or continue the conversation.
Accessing Copilot through the Microsoft Edge browser sidebar
Click on the Copilot logo at the top right of the sidebar. This will open up the prompt window. Click "sign-in" right above the prompt input area. Login with your University of Iowa email address and then your HawkID and password.
Make sure that you see the protected badge at the top of the window to confirm that you are logged in. You are now ready to submit prompts to Copilot.
Features of Copilot
New features available in Copilot:
- Previous chats: Lets users access previous Copilot chats for reference or to continue the chat.
Microsoft anticipates these features will be available again sometime before the end of the year. Features that are not yet available:
- Image upload: Lets users take photos, or upload or copy and paste images into Copilot to use in a prompt.
- Data analysis: Copilot uses the Python programming language to help users perform complex data analysis such as coding, visualization, and math.
- Voice input and ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Read aloud: Lets users interact with Copilot by using the microphone or by listening to Copilot's responses.
- Rich web answers: Interactive response cards about current web-based data such as weather or stock prices.
- Export: Lets users export and save their chat conversation into a Word, PDF, or text document.
- Contextual prompt suggestions (Copilot in Edge): References open pages within Microsoft Edge as part of the prompt to help users create relevant prompts within Copilot.
- Page summarization (Copilot in Edge): Lets users summarize an open webpage or PDF in Edge.
- Rewrite (Copilot in Edge): Lets users edit typed text for tone, format, and length within an open page in Microsoft Edge. The previous policy settings for Rewrite will be removed until this feature is made available again. See Copilot in Edge.
Features that will no longer be available:
- Tone selector: Let users select one of a few preset tones for Copilot's response. Without tone selector, if a user wants Copilot to respond in a specific tone, they can specify the tone as part of their prompt.
- Notebook: Let users iterate and refine their prompts in multiple turns. Users can now iterate and refine their prompts over multiple turns in the chat box.
Compose (Copilot in Edge): Provided a template for users to draft content in different tones, formats, and lengths. Without this feature, users can edit text using Rewrite in Microsoft Edge.
- Copilot button (Microsoft Edge mobile application): The dedicated Copilot button in the Microsoft Edge mobile application. We recommend that users with Microsoft Entra accounts use the Microsoft 365 mobile application to access Copilot for work or education.