Guide Library

Agent Workshop

Agent Workshop - Give Your Agent Your Voice Inside Copilot

Week 2Agent Workshop

  • 20–30 minGuided walkthrough

Use a desktop browser for this workshop. Add your Communication Style Guide to the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat Notebook that holds your , check that your agent writes like you, and number your style guide's versions the way you did your profile's. Then let your agent walk you through one of this week's Field Guides.

Watch the video walkthrough in StormWind Campus (sign in with your bootcamp login).

What You Need for This Guide

  • A desktop browser.
  • Your approved Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat account with Notebook and file-upload access.
  • Your Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat Notebook from last week's workshop, with your Agent Profile in it.
  • Your saved My Communication Style Guide, with My Voice Dial in it if you have one.

Give Your Agent a Home Inside Copilot

Build Your Communication Style Guide

Choose the tool you’re allowed to use

Your approved tool

The tool your company approved.

Pick your approved tool above to see the steps and screenshots for it.

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6 steps · At your own pace
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Standard Data rules for AI at work

Data Rules

Data rules for AI at work

Check with your IT Team before you paste any work data into an AI tool. Avoid names, account numbers, customer data, or anything sensitive without explicit permission from IT. If you aren't sure, redact anything sensitive and replace it with generic information. AI makes mistakes, make sure to fact check your agents outputs even if they sound right.

Before you start

  • Check with your IT teamAsk what your company allows before you put anything from work into an AI tool. Your company policy is the one that counts, and it is the one this library cannot see.
  • Use the tool your company approvedChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Gemini are all covered here. Use the one your company approved, not the one you like best.
  • Sign in with your work accountA work account keeps your chats inside the agreement your company signed. A personal account in the same product sits outside it.
  • Connected appsAn email or file connection your IT team approved can read the names and addresses in what it opens. Everything else under “Never put this into an AI tool” still applies.
  • No approved account yetFollow the steps with made-up example text, or on paper, until IT gives you one.

Never put this into an AI tool

  • Customer or personal detailsNo names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses or account numbers. That covers colleagues as well as customers.
  • Regulated recordsHealth, financial, HR and legal records stay in the systems built to hold them, unless IT has told you in writing that this tool may see them.
  • Passwords, keys and access codesNo credentials of any kind, yours or anyone else’s, and nothing that grants access to a system.
  • Anything under an NDA or not yet publicUnreleased plans, contracts, pricing and source code need clearance before they go near a chat window.
  • Anything your company policy prohibitsYour company’s rules win over anything in this library. If policy keeps something out of AI tools, it stays out, whatever a guide suggests.

Do this instead

  • Swap real details for placeholdersWrite “Customer A”, “[client name]”, “$X”. You get the same quality of answer, and you put the real details back yourself.
  • Describe the situation rather than pasting the documentMost of what an agent needs is the shape of the problem, not the file it arrived in.
  • Trim a file before you upload or paste itTake out the identifying columns and pages first, or work from a short extract.

Check the answer before you use it

  • Read it as if a colleague had drafted itAn agent states wrong things with complete confidence. Your name goes on the work, so the check is yours.
  • Say where the agent helpedFollow your company rule on disclosing AI assistance, especially in client-facing or formal work.

When you are not sure

  • Ask before you paste or upload, not afterA question to your IT team takes a minute. Cleaning up after a data incident takes a great deal longer.
  • When in doubt, leave it outIf you would not put it in an email to someone outside the company, keep it out of the chat.
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Step

Add your style guide to My Agent

Last week your agent learned your work from your . This week it learns how you write. With your style guide in My Agent's References, every chat in the Notebook can use it without an attachment.

This builds on last week's workshop, Give Your Agent a Home Inside Copilot, and on the style guide you saved with Build Your Communication Style Guide. Do those first if you haven't.

If your account doesn't offer Notebooks or file uploads, you can still watch the video and keep attaching or pasting your Agent Profile and style guide into each chat, or ask IT about access.

  1. In My Agent Files, make a folder called Communication Style Guide beside My Agent Profile and move your style guide into it, so each new version has a home. Any folder you can find again works.

  2. In Copilot Chat, open Notebooks, then My Agent. In the Content pane, select Add references, then the upload-arrow control. Choose your style guide, select Open, then Add. Wait until References lists two files: your Agent Profile and your style guide. Add it here rather than to a chat, where it would stay in that one chat.

Step

Tell My Agent what your style guide is for

This card replaces last week's instructions. It keeps every rule and adds your style guide: your agent uses it for anything you'll send or share and copies its patterns rather than the particulars of its examples.

  1. At the upper right of My Agent, open the three-dot menu and choose Instructions. In Tell Copilot how to respond, select all of last week's text, paste the card in its place, then select Save. If you added lines of your own to last week's instructions, add them to the new card before you save.

    Notebook instructions with your style guide
    You are my work agent. You help me with my day-to-day work.

You have these reference files. Use each one for its job:
- Agent Profile: my role, priorities, the people I work with and how I like answers. Use it as background whenever it's relevant.
- Communication Style Guide: how I write, including any My Voice Dial settings. Use it whenever you draft something I'll send or share. Copy its patterns, not the particulars of its examples. If one of its sections has its own instructions, follow them.

How to work with me:
- Don't invent facts about me, my organization or my work. If a missing detail would change your answer, ask me one question first.
- Run a file's First Setup Check only when I ask for it.
- My files are the master copies. When I ask to update one, follow that file's own VERSIONS section if it has one and give me the complete next version. Remind me to save it as my master file, keep the old file, and replace that file in this Notebook. Don't tell me the saved setup has been updated.

  2. Open Instructions again and check that the whole card was saved, through the last rule about master files.

Step

Test your agent's voice in a new chat

Now check that your agent uses your style guide on its own, with nothing attached. If the draft sounds like you, the saved setup is working.

  1. On My Agent home, use the Message Copilot box to start a new conversation inside the Notebook. Copy the card and fill in the two bracketed lines with something you write often, such as a team update or a reply to a customer. A few words on each is enough, then send it.

    Test my agent's voice
    Draft a short message using my Communication Style Guide. Don't send or post anything.

Who it's for: [who will read it]
What it needs to say: [the facts, in a few words]

After the draft, name the two or three rules from my style guide that shaped it most, and anything you had to guess.

  2. Read the draft aloud. Each rule your agent names should be one you can find in your style guide, and any fact it guessed needs checking before you use the draft. Then note one thing that sounds unlike you, such as a tone that's too cold or sentences that run long. That becomes your change in the next step. If nothing does, that's a good result too.

Step

Set up versioning for your style guide

Last week you versioned your . Now do the same for your style guide, so each change becomes a new numbered file you can compare and go back to. Fixing the file, rather than one draft, means every later draft gets it right.

  1. Stay in the same chat. If you have a change, send Set up versioning with your change, with its bracketed line replaced by what sounded off and the rule you want instead. If the draft already sounded like you, send Set up versioning only (no change).

    Set up versioning with your change
    I want to set up versioning for my Communication Style Guide, so I can track every change.

Change to make: [type what sounded unlike you and the rule you want instead, or write "None, set up versioning only"]

Put any change in my style guide, not your built-in memory, so my file stays my master copy. Unless a rule conflicts, do all of this in one reply:

1. If I gave a change, add it as a rule in the section it fits best, such as Structure and Formatting or Words and Phrases to Avoid. Use my words, and don't add rules I didn't give you. Keep it about how I write, not about the facts of any one message. If it contradicts a rule already there, stop before writing anything: quote both rules and ask me which one to keep.
2. If my style guide has no STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS section, add the one below to the end of it, word for word. If it has no version number in its title, version line or filename, treat the current guide as Version 1. Otherwise continue from its current number. Do not restart numbering.
3. Follow STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS to return the entire updated style guide, with the new version number in both its title and its filename. Keep every other section as it is, including My Voice Dial and How I Want My AI Agent to Use This Guide.
4. In the What changed table, list my change, if I gave one, and say whether you added STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS. Do not claim a section was added if it was already there.
5. End by walking me through saving it, as STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS describes.

STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS

The style guide title, the version line under it, and the filename all show the same version number. Use simple whole numbers: v1, v2, v3, and so on. The title uses readable spaces, like My Communication Style Guide v2. The filename uses hyphens and no spaces, like My-Communication-Style-Guide-v2.txt.

- If I ask which version you're using, give that line's number and date.
- If I ask you to update this style guide, create the next version:
  1. Raise the current version number by one. Use that new number in the title and in the version line below it, like Version 2 | Updated October 16, 2026. These are examples: use the actual next number and today's date. If you can't see today's date, write DATE NEEDED.
  2. Apart from the title, version line and version history, change only what I asked. Keep everything else as it is, in the same order.
  3. Add a one-line summary to the top of VERSION HISTORY. Keep the five newest lines.
  4. Give me the entire updated style guide as one downloadable plain-text file named My-Communication-Style-Guide-vNUMBER.txt, replacing NUMBER with the new version number. Use only plain letters, digits, hyphens and the dot before txt. Include every section and all unchanged content. If you can't create files, put the entire style guide in one code block and give me the exact filename above it.
  5. Show what changed in a table: Section, What changed, Why.
  6. Walk me through saving it: save the new file in the same folder as my earlier versions, keeping every older file. Then replace the style guide in your saved setup the same way I first added it, start a new chat, and ask which version you're using.
- If a change would contradict something already in this guide, quote both and ask me which one to keep before you write the new version.
- If I tell you something new about how I write, offer a new version. Wait for my yes.
- Never overwrite an earlier version or reuse its number.
- You can't change your own saved setup, so don't say my style guide is updated until I've replaced it.

VERSION HISTORY
- Version 1: Original style guide.
    Set up versioning only (no change)
    I want to set up versioning for my Communication Style Guide, so I can track every change.

Change to make: None, set up versioning only

Put any change in my style guide, not your built-in memory, so my file stays my master copy. Unless a rule conflicts, do all of this in one reply:

1. If I gave a change, add it as a rule in the section it fits best, such as Structure and Formatting or Words and Phrases to Avoid. Use my words, and don't add rules I didn't give you. Keep it about how I write, not about the facts of any one message. If it contradicts a rule already there, stop before writing anything: quote both rules and ask me which one to keep.
2. If my style guide has no STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS section, add the one below to the end of it, word for word. If it has no version number in its title, version line or filename, treat the current guide as Version 1. Otherwise continue from its current number. Do not restart numbering.
3. Follow STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS to return the entire updated style guide, with the new version number in both its title and its filename. Keep every other section as it is, including My Voice Dial and How I Want My AI Agent to Use This Guide.
4. In the What changed table, list my change, if I gave one, and say whether you added STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS. Do not claim a section was added if it was already there.
5. End by walking me through saving it, as STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS describes.

STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS

The style guide title, the version line under it, and the filename all show the same version number. Use simple whole numbers: v1, v2, v3, and so on. The title uses readable spaces, like My Communication Style Guide v2. The filename uses hyphens and no spaces, like My-Communication-Style-Guide-v2.txt.

- If I ask which version you're using, give that line's number and date.
- If I ask you to update this style guide, create the next version:
  1. Raise the current version number by one. Use that new number in the title and in the version line below it, like Version 2 | Updated October 16, 2026. These are examples: use the actual next number and today's date. If you can't see today's date, write DATE NEEDED.
  2. Apart from the title, version line and version history, change only what I asked. Keep everything else as it is, in the same order.
  3. Add a one-line summary to the top of VERSION HISTORY. Keep the five newest lines.
  4. Give me the entire updated style guide as one downloadable plain-text file named My-Communication-Style-Guide-vNUMBER.txt, replacing NUMBER with the new version number. Use only plain letters, digits, hyphens and the dot before txt. Include every section and all unchanged content. If you can't create files, put the entire style guide in one code block and give me the exact filename above it.
  5. Show what changed in a table: Section, What changed, Why.
  6. Walk me through saving it: save the new file in the same folder as my earlier versions, keeping every older file. Then replace the style guide in your saved setup the same way I first added it, start a new chat, and ask which version you're using.
- If a change would contradict something already in this guide, quote both and ask me which one to keep before you write the new version.
- If I tell you something new about how I write, offer a new version. Wait for my yes.
- Never overwrite an earlier version or reuse its number.
- You can't change your own saved setup, so don't say my style guide is updated until I've replaced it.

VERSION HISTORY
- Version 1: Original style guide.

  2. Check the reply before you save anything. The What changed table should list your change, if you gave one, and say STYLE GUIDE VERSIONS was added. The new file's title and version line should show the next version number: v2 for most people, or v3 if your style guide already had a v2, for example from Build an Answer Bank in Your Voice. Every other section should be kept, including My Voice Dial if you have one. If something's wrong, ask in the same chat for a complete corrected file. You approve every change to your files.

  3. Select the download link for the new file in Copilot Chat's reply. Save it under the filename in the reply, such as My-Communication-Style-Guide-v2.txt, beside your earlier style guide, and keep the earlier file as your record.

    If Copilot Chat gives you text instead of a file, copy all of it into a new plain-text file with that exact filename.

Step

Replace the style guide in My Agent

Saving the new version on your computer doesn't change My Agent. Until you replace the file there, every chat in the Notebook still reads the earlier one.

  1. In References, open the earlier style guide's three-dot menu, select Remove and confirm. Then select Add references, then the upload-arrow control, choose the new file from your style guide folder, and select Open, then Add. Keep every version on your computer and only the current one in My Agent.

  2. Start a new chat in My Agent and send Check my file versions. It should name your new style guide version and quote your change, or the versioning setup, from the top of VERSION HISTORY. If it still names the earlier version, check References and try another new chat.

    Check my file versions
    Which versions of my files are you using?

Read the current Agent Profile and Communication Style Guide saved in this Project or Notebook. For each one, give its version number and updated date. If a number or date is missing, say so. Then quote the newest line of my style guide's VERSION HISTORY. Use the files rather than an older conversation. Do not guess or change any file.

Step

Work through a Field Guide with your agent

Now put your agent to work. Each Field Guide's Download Guide link saves the whole guide as a .md file, plain text that AI tools read well. Attach it to a chat in My Agent, and your agent walks you through the exercise one step at a time, shaped to your role.

  1. Open Field Guides and choose a Week 2 guide that fits something on your plate: Build an Answer Bank in Your Voice, Write the Ask Your Boss Can Say Yes To, Explain a Technical Change So Non-Technical People Get It, Edit an AI Draft Until It Sounds Like You, or Teach Your Agent to Give Better Writing Feedback. The recording uses Write the Ask Your Boss Can Say Yes To. Read the guide's Data Rules, then select Download Guide.

  2. On My Agent home, select + in the Message Copilot box, then Upload images and files, and choose the downloaded file. Attach it to the chat rather than to References, because a guide is for one task. Then send: Can you help me work through this exercise?

  3. Answer in your own words, one question at a time. If a step doesn't go the way you expect, say so in the same chat, or ask your agent to help you fill something in. When the guide says to save a file or replace one in My Agent, do that yourself. If you start a new chat, attach the guide again and say which step you're on.

The same method works for any article or document your organization lets you use with AI: attach it and ask your agent what matters in it for your role.

Agent Workshop - Give Your Agent Your Voice Inside Copilot

Confirm your result

Confirm the outcomes below to finish this guide.

Final checks

A new My Agent chat with nothing attached drafts in your voice and names rules from your style guide.

My Agent holds the new version of My Communication Style Guide, and a new chat names that version and quotes its newest VERSION HISTORY line.

Provide Feedback

Thanks. That went straight to the people who write these guides.