Microsoft 365 Copilot Prompt Engineering: Essential Techniques for AB-730 Success

Introduction

Microsoft 365 Copilot transforms how professionals work across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. However, the quality of Copilot's output depends entirely on the quality of your prompts. This is why prompt engineering is so heavily tested in the AB-730 certification.

This guide is based on official Microsoft documentation and training resources. You'll learn the exact techniques Microsoft recommends, complete with examples you can use in your daily work and on exam day.

Why Prompt Engineering Matters for AB-730

The AB-730 exam explicitly tests your ability to:

• Understand how to create an effective prompt
• Select appropriate resources to reference in a prompt
• Save, schedule, and share prompts
• Create and configure Copilot agents

According to Microsoft's official study guide, the "Manage Prompts and Conversations by Using AI" domain carries the highest weighting at 35-40%. This means prompt engineering knowledge alone could determine whether you pass or fail the exam.

AB-730 Domain	Weighting
Understand Generative AI Fundamentals	25-30%
Manage Prompts and Conversations (Prompt Engineering)	35-40%
Draft and Analyse Business Content	25-30%

The Four-Component Prompt Framework

Microsoft identifies four key elements for crafting effective Copilot prompts. Understanding this framework is essential for both the AB-730 exam and real-world Copilot usage.

Component	Priority	Description
Goal	Mandatory	What you want Copilot to do
Context	Important	Background information and purpose
Source	Important	Files, data, or people to reference
Expectations	Valuable	Format, tone, and constraints

Component 1: Goal (Mandatory)

The Goal is the only mandatory component. It specifies the action you want Copilot to perform or the information you need.

Microsoft's Guidance:

Every good prompt should have a goal. Whether it comes in the form of instructions or questions, it should indicate what you want out of your current session.

Good Goal Examples:

• "Create a one-page executive summary"
• "Draft an outline of a training manual"
• "Summarise this document"
• "Generate a formula column that calculates profit margin"
• "List action items from this meeting"

Weak Goal Examples (Avoid These):

• "Help me" (too vague)
• "Analyse" (no specific outcome)
• "Make it better" (undefined improvement)

Component 2: Context (Important)

Context provides background information about why you need something and how it will be used. This helps Copilot tailor its response to your specific situation.

Microsoft's Guidance:

Context is the roadmap that guides Copilot to your goal. It provides the necessary background information and details about the task. The more context you provide, the more accurate and helpful Copilot's response will be.

Good Context Examples:

• "For a quarterly business review with senior leadership"
• "Our audience is professionals who work in a hybrid environment"
• "This will be shared with external clients who are unfamiliar with our products"
• "Based on Q4 sales data for the North America region"

Component 3: Source (Important)

Sources tell Copilot where to find the information it needs. Without specific sources, Copilot pulls from all Microsoft 365 data you can access—which often leads to irrelevant results.

Microsoft's Critical Guidance:

If you do not tell Copilot exactly where to look, it will pull from all the Microsoft 365 data that you have access to, leading to unhelpful outputs. This is why we always recommend including a source no matter which framework you use.

How to Reference Sources:

• Type / to reference a person, file, or resource
• Specify file names: "Based on 'Q4_Sales.xlsx' and 'Q4_Review.docx'"
• Limit scope: "From emails in the last two weeks"
• Reference people: "Based on all emails from Sam"

Source Limits by Application:

Application	Maximum Sources
Copilot in Word	Up to 20 items
Copilot in PowerPoint	Up to 5 files

Component 4: Expectations (Valuable)

Expectations define how you want Copilot to present its response—the format, tone, length, and any constraints.

Microsoft's Guidance:

Expectations are the quality standards you set for Copilot's response. They define how you want Copilot to present the information.

Good Expectation Examples:

• "Concise summary with a 3-point trend analysis"
• "In table format"
• "Professional tone suitable for external clients"
• "As a bulleted list with no more than 5 items"
• "Maximum 500 words"
• "Friendly and suggestive tone"

Iterative Prompting: The Key to Better Results

Microsoft emphasises that effective prompt engineering is a conversation, not a single command. Rarely will your first prompt produce the perfect result.

Microsoft's Guidance:

Most likely, you'll follow up on the results with another prompt. Expect some back-and-forth conversation to get the results you're looking for.

Common Follow-up Prompts:

• "Make it more concise"
• "Make it longer"
• "Expand this section with two examples"
• "Rewrite in a more professional tone"
• "Add a closing paragraph reinforcing key benefits"
• "Format this as a numbered list"

Prompt Chaining

For complex tasks, break your request into smaller, sequential prompts that build toward a final output:

1. "Summarise the financial highlights of Q2"
2. "Convert the summary into three slides focusing on key growth areas"
3. "Rewrite the slides for a senior executive audience"

Starting Fresh

When switching to an unrelated task, start a new conversation. Type "new topic" to signal to Copilot that you're changing context. This prevents irrelevant information from previous queries affecting your results.

Application-Specific Prompt Techniques

A critical point for the AB-730 exam: Copilot behaves differently across Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft states:

Each of these variants responds differently to prompting because their context awareness, input data, and operational boundaries differ. A prompt that works well in Word will not translate effectively to Excel or Teams.

Copilot in Word

Key Capabilities:

• Drafting documents from scratch or from source files
• Rewriting selected text
• Summarising documents
• Answering questions about document content

Best Prompts for Word:

Task	Example Prompt
Draft new content	"Write a job offer letter for a sales position at Contoso. The start date is 1st August, and the salary is £45,000 per year plus bonuses."
Draft from file	"Create an executive summary based on /Q4_Report.docx focusing on the key achievements and challenges."
Rewrite	"Make this more concise" or "Adjust the tone to be more professional"
Summarise	"What are the main points of this document that decision-makers should know?"

Word Limitations:

• Questions work best with documents under 1.5 million words
• Rewrite works best on documents under 3,000 words
• Can reference up to 20 source items when drafting

Copilot in Excel

Key Capabilities:

• Generating formulas for new columns and rows
• Explaining existing formulas
• Creating charts and visualisations
• Identifying data insights and trends

Best Prompts for Excel:

Task	Example Prompt
Generate formula	"Add a column that calculates profit margin as (Revenue - Cost) / Revenue"
Explain formula	"Explain this formula" (after selecting a cell with a formula)
Create chart	"Create a bar chart showing sales by region for the last 12 months"
Get insights	"Identify the top 5 products by revenue growth and highlight any seasonal patterns"

Excel Best Practice:

Be specific with your questions—the more detail you provide, the better Microsoft 365 Copilot can help. This includes clearly specifying the tables or data ranges and the column headers you want to reference.

Copilot in PowerPoint

Key Capabilities:

• Creating presentations from prompts or source files
• Adding and editing slides
• Generating speaker notes
• Applying design suggestions

Best Prompts for PowerPoint:

Task	Example Prompt
Create presentation	"Create a 5-slide presentation on the benefits of renewable energy for senior leadership"
Use role context	"Act as a professional landscaper. Create an outline for a 45-minute presentation on tulips."
Add slide	"Add a call-to-action slide to encourage the audience to take the next step"
Design prompts	"Make this entire presentation look more modern with dark mode and neon accents"

PowerPoint Tips:

• Start with a role to frame the content: "Act as a [role]..."
• Use Word Styles in source documents for better slide structure
• Start from a template to preserve branding and design
• Can reference up to 5 source files

Copilot in Outlook

Key Capabilities:

• Summarising email threads
• Drafting email responses
• Coaching for tone and clarity
• Summarising file attachments

Best Prompts for Outlook:

Task	Example Prompt
Draft email	"Let the team know we decided to use clay shingles and to go ahead so we meet the deadline"
Reply	"Type a response confirming that I will attend the meeting and ask about the agenda"
Adjust tone	"Make it more formal" or "Make it shorter"
Block time	"Block time to focus for an hour tomorrow"

Coaching Feature:

Copilot's Coaching feature reviews your draft emails for tone, sentiment, and clarity. Requires at least 100 characters of content. Use this to improve sensitive communications.

Copilot in Teams

Key Capabilities:

• Summarising meetings (requires transcription enabled)
• Listing action items and decisions
• Answering questions about meeting content
• Summarising chat threads

Best Prompts for Teams:

Task	Example Prompt
Meeting summary	"Recap the meeting and suggest an agenda for a follow-up based on outstanding items"
Action items	"Create a table with tasks, assignees, and due dates"
During meeting	"What questions are unresolved?" or "Highlight disagreements"
Chat summary	"Summarise what I've missed" or "What were the key takeaways from last month?"

Critical Requirement:

To prompt Copilot about the meeting or see Copilot's conversation history after the meeting ends, make sure to turn on live transcription during the meeting.

Advanced Prompt Features for AB-730

The AB-730 exam specifically tests three advanced prompt management features: saving, scheduling, and sharing prompts.

Saving Prompts

Microsoft designed prompts to be reusable building blocks. Save frequently-used prompts for:

• Daily meeting recap templates
• Excel analysis prompts
• Standardised customer reply templates

Access saved prompts through the Copilot Prompt Gallery at m365.cloud.microsoft/copilot-prompts.

Scheduling Prompts

Scheduled prompts run automatically at specified times and frequencies. This feature is available in:

• microsoft365.com/chat
• Microsoft 365 Copilot in Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Outlook for the web and Desktop

Key Limit: You can create up to 10 scheduled prompts.

How to Schedule:

1. Hover over your prompt
2. Select "Schedule this prompt"
3. Choose when and how often it should run
4. Optionally enable email notifications when the response is ready

Sharing Prompts

Prompts can be shared to team or tenant collections for consistent AI assistance across your organisation. Use cases include:

• Standardised customer reply templates
• Department-specific analysis prompts
• Consistent communication tone across teams

Understanding Limitations

The AB-730 exam tests your awareness of Copilot's limitations. Key points to remember:

Context Limitations

• Copilot has limited memory within a conversation
• Each Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Chat, and GitHub Copilot operate independently with no shared memory
• Include all relevant information in each prompt—don't assume Copilot remembers previous conversations

Document Size Limits

Task	Maximum Size
Questions about documents	~1.5 million words
Rewriting text	~3,000 words
Summarisation or referencing	~300 pages

Prompt Execution

• Execution limited to 100 seconds
• Long documents may cause timeouts
• Process content incrementally when possible

Responsible AI Considerations

The exam tests your understanding of AI risks:

• Fabrications: Copilot may generate plausible but incorrect information. Always verify with citations.
• Prompt Injection: Be cautious of prompts from untrusted sources.
• Over-reliance: Use human review for important decisions. Copilot is an assistant, not a replacement.

AB-730 Exam Tips for Prompt Engineering

1. Memorise the Four-Component Framework

Know Goal, Context, Source, and Expectations—and their priority levels (mandatory, important, valuable).

2. Understand Application Differences

Know which Copilot features are available in each app and how prompts should differ between them.

3. Remember Key Limits

• 20 source items in Word
• 5 source files in PowerPoint
• 10 scheduled prompts maximum
• 100-second execution limit

4. Focus on Practical Application

Questions often present business scenarios. Think about which prompt components and techniques would best solve the described problem.

5. Know Advanced Features

Be prepared for questions about saving, scheduling, and sharing prompts—these are explicitly listed in the exam objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of the AB-730 exam covers prompt engineering?

Prompt engineering falls under "Manage Prompts and Conversations by Using AI," which accounts for 35-40% of the exam—the highest-weighted domain.

Do I need to memorise specific prompts for the exam?

No. Focus on understanding the four-component framework and knowing when to use each component. The exam tests concepts and application, not memorised prompt text.

Is hands-on Copilot experience required to pass?

While not strictly required, hands-on experience significantly helps. If you have access to Microsoft 365 Copilot, practise using all four components in different applications.

What's the difference between prompts in Word vs Excel?

Word prompts focus on text generation and manipulation. Excel prompts focus on data analysis, formulas, and visualisation. Each app's Copilot has different context awareness and capabilities.

How important is the Source component?

Critical. Microsoft explicitly states that without specific sources, Copilot pulls from all accessible data, leading to unhelpful outputs. Always include sources in your prompts.

Master Prompt Engineering for AB-730 Success

Prompt engineering is not just an exam topic—it's a practical skill that transforms your productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot. By mastering the four-component framework and understanding application-specific techniques, you'll be prepared for both the AB-730 exam and real-world AI-powered work.

Practise with Examinotion's AB-730 exam questions to test your prompt engineering knowledge. Our questions cover all exam domains with detailed explanations that reinforce Microsoft's official guidance.