Provide custom instructions for your Microsoft Copilot Notebook

_{Last updated: February 2026}

When you start a notebook in Microsoft Copilot Notebooks, intelligent suggestions from your work data recommend content based on your notebook’s topic, and you can set instructions for Copilot to follow when delivering prompts.

Provide specific guidelines for Copilot

1. Open your notebook in the Microsoft Copilot app or OneNote.

2. Open the notebook's instructions:

   • In the Microsoft Copilot app, in the upper-right corner, select the More options (...) button, then select Instructions.
   • In OneNote, select the arrow next to your notebook name in the upper-left corner, then select Copilot instructions.

3. In the dialog, enter specific instructions for Copilot. You can ask Copilot to format responses how you want, focus on a topic, use a specific tone, and more. For example:

   Always respond in Spanish and bullet points. Make sure to account for branding colors, grey 500 and orange 280. The client prefers their name written in lower case. Write out numbers in words rather than numerals.

4. Select Save.

You can edit your instructions at any time.

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