What's new in Outlook

Copilot has been able to summarise a single Outlook thread for a while. The recent improvement is about context: you can now add emails and text from threads directly into your prompt in Copilot Chat, stacking several conversations into one question. That turns "summarise this thread" into something far more useful: "here are the six threads that blew up while I was away — tell me what I actually need to do."

You'll need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence through work. If the Copilot icon in Outlook only offers basic drafting help, your organisation may not have the full licence — the routine below still works with the single-thread summary feature, just thread by thread.

The 30-minute routine

Step 1: Triage by sender, not by order (5 minutes)

Don't read top-down. Sort by sender and flag threads from your manager, your direct reports, and your key clients or stakeholders. These are the only threads that get the full treatment. Most of the rest is cc-noise that resolved itself while you were on a beach.

Step 2: Stack the flagged threads into Copilot (10 minutes)

Open Copilot Chat in Outlook and add the flagged threads as context. Then run this prompt:

I've been on leave since [date] and have added the email threads that matter most. For each thread, give me: 1. STATUS — resolved, still open, or waiting on me 2. WHAT HAPPENED — two sentences maximum 3. MY ACTION — what I specifically need to do, if anything, and any stated deadline Then give me one combined list of my actions across all threads, ordered by urgency. If a deadline already passed while I was away, put it at the top and mark it [OVERDUE].

Step 3: Verify the top three (5 minutes)

Open the actual emails behind the three most urgent items and check Copilot's reading. Summaries occasionally miss a reversal buried late in a thread — the "actually, ignore my last email" problem. Verifying just the top three keeps this fast while protecting you where it counts.

Step 4: Draft the replies (10 minutes)

For each item marked "waiting on me", ask Copilot to draft a reply in the thread: short, acknowledging the delay, stating your answer or your timeline. Edit each one so it sounds like you — then send. Eight replies in ten minutes is realistic once the context is loaded.

💡 The pre-leave version

This routine works even better if you set it up before you go. The day before leave, ask Copilot to summarise the open state of your active threads and save it. When you return, you have a "before" snapshot to compare against — and the catch-up prompt becomes "what changed since this summary?"

What not to outsource

Two categories need your eyes, not a summary: anything involving conflict or sensitive personnel matters, where tone and subtext matter more than facts; and anything where you're the decision-maker on record — approvals, sign-offs, money. Use Copilot to find these faster, then read them properly.

Do this this week

You don't need to wait for your next holiday. Run the same routine on the last 48 hours of a busy inbox: flag the threads that matter, stack them into Copilot Chat with the prompt above, and see how close its action list matches what you'd have found by hand. If it holds up on two days of email, you can trust it with two weeks — and book the leave.