What Copilot Notebooks are
Copilot Notebooks is a Microsoft 365 feature that gives you a persistent workspace for a topic, project, or workstream. You add notes, paste text, attach documents, and include links — and Copilot can then analyse, summarise, and now generate structured documents and presentations from that stored content.
Think of it as a research folder that Copilot can read and turn into something usable. The key difference from a regular Word doc or OneNote page is that Copilot has explicit awareness of the content and can act on it with structured outputs.
The PowerPoint generation feature from Copilot Notebooks started rolling out in May 2026 as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription. You need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (business or enterprise) to access it.
Step 1: Set up your Copilot Notebook
Open microsoft365.com and look for Copilot in the app launcher (the grid icon). Select Copilot and then look for Notebooks in the left sidebar. Click + New Notebook and give it a name that describes what you're building — for example "Q3 Strategy Presentation" or "Henderson Account Review June 2026".
Inside the notebook, you'll see a notes area and a section for references. Add your content here:
For meeting notes: paste them directly into the notes area, or copy from your Teams meeting summary if Copilot captured one automatically. Include the date and who attended.
For supporting documents: use the Add Reference function to link or upload relevant files — budget summaries, project status reports, a previous version of the presentation, any brief or background material.
You don't need to perfectly organise the content. Copilot reads what's there and constructs structure from it. Rough notes work.
Step 2: Generate the PowerPoint
Once your content is in the notebook, look for the Create or Generate button in the notebook toolbar — the exact label varies slightly by account version, but it's typically at the top of the notebook or in the Copilot chat panel within the notebook.
Select Generate Presentation (or ask in the chat: "Create a PowerPoint presentation from the content in this notebook"). Copilot will prompt you to choose a few options: the primary focus of the deck, the level of detail, the number of slides, and a design theme. Select the options that match your purpose and click Generate.
Copilot drafts the deck and opens it directly in PowerPoint. You'll get a structured presentation with slide titles, bullet points drawn from your notes, and a design applied. The content comes from your notebook — it won't fabricate things that aren't in your source material.
What a good set of notes to feed in looks like
The better the notes, the better the presentation. Here's a simple format that works well:
Notes that follow this rough format — clear sections, real names, specific numbers, agreed actions — give Copilot enough to build a coherent deck from.
What to check once it's generated
Copilot's generated deck will be structurally sound but may need these common adjustments: slide order (it sometimes puts context slides before the key message when you want it the other way around), slide count (it may generate more slides than you need — delete any that add length without adding value), and speaker notes (these are usually useful but check them — they sometimes pad with phrasing that isn't your voice).
Plan for 10–15 minutes of editing after generation. The goal is to get a 70–80% complete first draft, not a finished deck. You're still responsible for the final version.
Next time you have a meeting that results in a presentation you need to prepare, try capturing your notes in a Copilot Notebook during or immediately after the meeting — using the format above. Then generate the first draft of the deck from the notebook. Compare how long it takes versus building from a blank template. Most people find it saves 45–90 minutes on a typical 10-slide deck.