Copilot: ask questions of a document with evidence

What you will make

A practical Copilot guide to ask questions of a document with evidence. Use the sample input and prompt, then check the result. Use a fictional Microsoft 365 workplace task as the practice setting. Identify the file or excerpt that supports the requested result.

Prepare the source and scope

Use a short document you may share and record its title and version. Choose a question whose answer is known so you can test retrieval first. Open your available Microsoft Copilot experience and confirm whether it can read the intended work source.

Try this prompt

In Copilot, provide the prepared input, then send the following request. For real work, replace fictional details with approved facts.

Using only this document, answer who approves equipment purchases. Give the section and a short supporting excerpt. If the document does not say, answer Not specified.

Review the result

Locate the excerpt in the actual source and distinguish the approver from the person submitting a request. Record each correction and its supporting source.

If the answer is wrong or incomplete

A document title alone does not grant access to its contents. Provide the text if the source cannot be read. If the active Copilot surface cannot access the file or app, paste an authorized excerpt into chat. Keep the same review criteria for the text-only workflow.

Practice and completion check

Repeat with one incomplete input. Check the answer against the review criteria, remove unsupported claims and save the prompt with its source version. This workflow has not been verified in a customer deployment.