Guide

The new Microsoft Copilot: what Home, Code and Autopilot do, and what to type into each

Published 4 October 2026

An office desk with a laptop showing a blurred dashboard of coloured tiles, a printed checklist and a mug, in soft daylight

Short answerMicrosoft's new Copilot has three parts. Home is where you chat and hand off tasks, and it can now make real Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Code builds small apps and trackers from a description. Autopilot is an always-on agent that follows up and runs recurring work for you. Each needs a different kind of prompt.

On 25 September 2026, Microsoft announced a new Copilot built around three tabs: Home, Code and Autopilot (Microsoft). If you use Microsoft 365 at work, this changes what you can ask for. Here is what each part does and how to prompt it.

The three parts in plain words

Tab	What it does	Prompt it like...
Home	Chat plus Cowork-style task hand-off. It can create or update a real Word document, Excel workbook or PowerPoint deck.	A brief to a colleague
Code	Builds apps, trackers, dashboards and automations from a description, and lets you share them with your team. Built on the same technology as GitHub Copilot.	A spec for a small tool
Autopilot	An always-on agent with its own identity and workspace. It can watch channels, follow up on threads and run recurring work.	A standing job description

Sources: Microsoft, TechRepublic, VentureBeat.

Who gets it when: Home and Code are rolling out to Microsoft's Frontier early-access programme first, with wider availability over the coming weeks. Autopilot is going to a larger private preview. If you don't see the tabs yet, your organisation probably isn't in the first wave.

Prompts for Home

Because Home makes the actual file now, say which file type you want and who it's for.

prompt

Create a PowerPoint deck: 5 slides on our Q3 customer support results
for the operations team.
Use the attached Excel file only.
Slides: headline numbers, what improved, what got worse, causes, next steps.
Keep each slide to 3 bullet points.

For a weekly update, the weekly status report prompt works as a ready-made brief; just add "create a Word document" at the top.

Prompts for Code

Code turns a description into a working tool. The trick is to describe it like a small spec: who uses it, what goes in, what comes out.

prompt

Build a simple leave tracker for my team of 8.
Each person can add a leave request: name, start date, end date, reason.
I can approve or reject each one.
Show a calendar view for the month and a count of days left per person
(each person has 24 days a year).
Only people in my team can see it.

If you're not sure what the tool should show, plan it first with the spreadsheet dashboard plan prompt, then paste the plan into Code.

Prompts for Autopilot

Autopilot keeps working when you're away, so the prompt is closer to a job description than a request. Be clear about its limits.

prompt

Every Friday at 4 pm, look at the #project-alpha channel and my email
threads tagged "Alpha".
Write a short summary: what got done, what's blocked, who is waiting on me.
Send it to me only. Don't reply to anyone or send anything to the team
without asking me first.

And for follow-ups:

prompt

When I send a meeting follow-up email, check back 3 working days later.
If nobody has replied, draft a polite nudge for me to review.
Don't send it yourself.

The meeting follow-up email prompt and the inbox triage prompt give you the wording for the drafts it prepares.

Common mistakes

Not saying "don't send". An agent that can act on your behalf will, if you let it. Spell out what needs your OK.

Asking Code for "an app" with no detail. Name the users, the fields and the one view you care about most.

Using Home for a recurring job. If it should happen every week, it belongs in Autopilot.

Where to go from here

Microsoft's new layout looks a lot like the merged Claude chat and Cowork, and the same briefing habits work in both. For more ready-made work prompts, see the productivity prompts collection, and if you write processes for your team, the SOP writer prompt turns rough notes into steps an agent can follow. The prompt builder can draft any of these briefs for you.

Quick checklist

Home: say the file type, the audience and the source file.
Code: describe users, fields and the main view, like a mini spec.
Autopilot: write it as a standing job, with a schedule and clear limits.
Always say what it must not send or change without asking.
If the tabs aren't there yet, your organisation is probably waiting for the wider rollout.