Summary of "NEW Copilot Workflows Agent Will Automate Your Job (Full Tutorial)"

Microsoft 365 Copilot Workflows Agent Tutorial

The video provides a detailed tutorial on the new Microsoft 365 Copilot Workflows Agent, an AI-powered tool designed to automate workflows across Microsoft applications such as Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Approvals, and Planner.

Copilot Ecosystem Overview

The Microsoft 365 Copilot platform includes three main components:

App Builder
Workflows Agent (focus of this tutorial)
Copilot Studio (both light and full versions)

These tools enable users to build conversational AI agents that automate tasks using natural language commands, leveraging existing Microsoft 365 licenses and data security/compliance frameworks.

Workflows Agent Capabilities

Automates workflows triggered by events such as receiving new emails.
Integrates with multiple Microsoft 365 apps to streamline work processes.
Uses natural language prompts to define actions, making it accessible without deep coding knowledge.
Can send automated emails, analyze incoming messages for questions, research answers using internal and external knowledge sources, and generate detailed, formatted email drafts.
Sends summaries and status updates directly to Teams, improving visibility and collaboration.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

How to access and add the workflows agent from the Microsoft agent store (part of the Frontier program, a pre-release phase).
Creating an autonomous email agent that:
- Detects questions in incoming emails.
- Researches and drafts detailed responses.
- Sends the draft to the user for review instead of replying directly to the sender.
- Sends a summary message to Teams with sender info, questions, and response overview.
Setting up Outlook mail rules to avoid email loops caused by automated replies.
Live testing with a sample email containing multiple questions and the agent’s automatic processing, response generation, and Teams notification.

Comparison to Copilot Studio

The workflows agent automates many tasks that previously required manual setup in Copilot Studio, simplifying the creation of autonomous agents.

Use Case and Benefits

The workflows agent helps users automate repetitive communication tasks, improve productivity, and maintain professional correspondence with minimal manual intervention. It supports detailed, well-referenced responses including links and diagrams.

Future Content Tease

The presenter mentions plans to cover the App Builder tool in a future session.

Main Speaker / Source

Shervin Shaffy, Principal Engineer on Microsoft Copilot Team

Summary of Key Points

Introduction to Microsoft 365 Copilot’s workflows agent for automating job tasks.
Using natural language to build AI agents that integrate with Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and more.
Building an autonomous email agent that scans emails, researches questions, drafts replies, and updates Teams.
Practical demonstration including setup, avoiding email loops, and live testing.
Workflows agent simplifies tasks previously done manually in Copilot Studio.
Encouragement to explore creative prompts and use cases across Microsoft 365 apps.
Presenter plans future tutorials on related Copilot tools.