Stop only learning about Claude, Copilot has automations too

Most advice about AI is written about Claude. But most companies actually licensed Copilot or Gemini.

So the advice you saw this week is probably not applicable in your 9-5, and you're not getting any better at AI.

Here's the version that is applicable: your job is a stack of admin and busy work, and you can build a real automation for a piece of it with whichever tool your company already gave you.

Today, let's talk about Copilot's Power Automate platform.

What is Copilot's Power Automate?

Instead of manually searching for connectors, you simply type what you want (e.g., "Send an email when a new item is added to SharePoint") and Copilot generates the flow structure for you.

You can create your own flows or use the owns that already exist within the Power Automate platform.

Here's an introduction to Power Automate, using the example of automating getting a Teams notification anytime you are tagged in an Outlook email.

Caution: I'm a blunt person, and I will be honest when I say this: Power Automate is not as easy as it's marketed to be. It will take hours of trial and error. This guide will save you the hours I spent figuring it out.

Identify a repeatable, administrative-heavy task

Choose a task you keep redoing by hand, i.e. the notes you copy from one place to another.

In my case, it'd be checking Outlook religiously to make sure a client hasn't @'d you.

AI workflows only pay off if it replaces something genuinely repetitive. Don't add complexity to your day for the sake of "automation."

What this looks like in a real workday:

• Checking your Outlook when you live in Teams messenger

• Sending meeting recap notes in one internal chat, then copying it into a running notes document

• A status change in a tracker that three other people need to know about

Caution: the biggest waste of a no-code build is automating something that only happens twice a quarter. Save the effort for admin you're doing weekly or more.

Example workflow: Automate getting a Teams notification when you are tagged in an email.

Describe the workflow in plain language

Description-based builders let you describe the outcome in a sentence instead of wiring triggers and actions by hand.

An example is: "When I get an email from this address, send me a message in Teams" is a complete instruction.

You're not required to know what a trigger or a connector technically is.

Descriptions you could ask Copilot to build for your job:

• "When a new email arrives from this client, post it to my project channel in Teams"

• "When someone fills out this intake form, notify the owner and add a row to the tracker"

• "When a ticket's status changes to blocked, message the assigned lead"

Caution: write the instruction as one plain sentence before you open the tool at all. If you can't say it in a sentence, it isn't ready to automate yet.

Example prompt: "When I am tagged in an email, notify me in a Teams chat to myself."

Let the platform suggest the steps

Once you've described it, the platform proposes the workflow in the chat.

This is the part that used to require real technical setup, and mostly doesn't anymore.

Caution: first drafts are often broader or narrower than you meant. This is where you will have to tweak triggers or outputs in the workflow.

Example prompt, What Copilot suggests: "You can automate this by creating a flow with these steps:

1. Use the “When a new email arrives (V3)” trigger from Outlook, and set it to filter for emails where you are tagged (mentioned).

2. Add a condition to check if you are mentioned in the email.

3. If true, use the Teams connector to send a message to yourself in a 1:1 chat.

Would you like help setting up this flow step-by-step?"

Build and Test

Copilot isn't at the point to where it can physically piece the workflow for you together.

You still have to follow the Copilot suggestions to complete the flow setup. Ask Copilot questions on fine-turning the parameters (i.e. what will the text say in my message) and conditions.

Always, always test the workflow before shipping it to a broader Teams channel or email.

While AI speeds up the process, if you're in a disjointed system like Copilot and can't create loops that correct itself, always exercise human judgement.