Friday, March 22, 2024

Copilot Productivity Tip – Word re-write

Time spent per day before: 30-60 minutes per document
Time spent with Copilot: 5-10 minutes per document

Resources




Writing in a language that is not one's own can be challenging. That is why Copilot can help rewrite the content to make it more consistent and clear. Copilot can correct the tense, the passive voice, the readability, and the personal tone of the content. This way readers can enjoy the content more and understand the main points better.

Some writers may have a specific style that they want to use. Copilot in Word may or may not respect that style, depending on the instructions given. But one can always try to tell Copilot what kind of style they want and see what happens. Maybe Copilot will surprise them with some creative suggestions. Or maybe Copilot will ignore them and do whatever it wants. Who knows?

Original draft

Here’s the original blog-post I started out with before throwing Copilot at it.

Not everyone is a native writer of the language they produce content in. Thus, using Copilot to rewrite your content for consistency in terms of tense, passive language, readability, and personal flavor will ensure those consuming the content have a better experience and more clearly pick up on the points you want to come across in your argumentation.

If you have a particular writing style, then Copilot in Word may or may not be able to assist, but you can try to add this as part of the prompting instructions and verify the outcome.

Automatic rewrite

When using the auto rewrite feature this is what I ended up with.

image

Sometimes, people write content in a language that is not their native one. Therefore, using Copilot to edit your content for consistency in grammar, voice, clarity, and tone will help those who read the content have a better experience and understand the messages you want to convey in your reasoning.

If you prefer a specific writing style, then Copilot in Word may or may not help you, but you can attempt to include this in the prompting instructions and check the result.

Manual prompt for rewrite

This time around I wanted to give more instructions to simplify my writing.

“Rewrite the text using shorter sentences and language understood by an audience with little experience in Copilot or Word. Make instructions concise and relatable for beginners.“

Do you write in a language that is not your first one? Then Copilot can help you make your writing better. It can fix grammar mistakes, make sentences easier to read, and use the right words for your message.

Do you have a favorite way of writing? Copilot in Word might be able to copy it. Just tell it what you want and see what it does. You can always change it if you don't like it.

Manual prompt with styling

And this is the prompt I ended up with for the final post, as it reflects some of my personal writing style. Maybe this will makes it way into Word eventually using writing samples for style.

“Rewrite the text using shorter sentences and language understood by an audience with little experience in Copilot or Word. Make the text longer than the original, write in third-person tense and **DO NOT** use *I*, *You*, *Your* and *We*. Throw in some subtle irony and sarcasm.”