Use Copilot in Outlook to summarize a long internal thread and check it against the emails

What This Does

Internal threads with your paralegal grow fast, and the open question for you ends up buried in the sixth reply. Copilot in Outlook can scan a conversation and put a short summary at the top, with numbered citations that take you to the email behind each point. You get the thread's state in a minute, and you still read the cited emails before acting on anything.

Before You Start

• You use Outlook (new Outlook or classic Outlook on Windows, Outlook for Mac, or the mobile app). Microsoft's page lists the entry points for each.
• Copilot is available to you. It depends on your Microsoft 365 plan, a Copilot license and your organization's settings. If you see no Copilot icon or summary box, ask your IT contact, or check the vendor's license information. This guide states no price because plans differ by firm.
• Firm policy first. Ask whether your firm allows Copilot on threads that quote client details. Client names, A-numbers, receipt numbers, passport numbers, dates of birth, addresses, immigration and criminal history, and any asylum, trafficking or abuse detail stay in the firm's approved systems. Copilot may read a thread that contains them only if the firm approved it for client data under your confidentiality duties and your state bar's rules on AI use, which you check. A thread that uses matter codes and item codes is the safest place to start.
• The thread is internal. A summary of an outside party's email is still a summary you must verify.

Steps

1. Open the conversation

Select the conversation in your inbox so the whole thread opens in the reading pane.

2. Ask for the summary

The entry point depends on your Outlook version, per Microsoft's page:

• New Outlook: select the Summary by Copilot box at the top of the email thread.
• Classic Outlook: select Summarize.
• Outlook for Mac: select Summarize in the Summary by Copilot box at the top of the thread.
• iOS and Android: open the conversation, then select the Copilot icon in the toolbar. The summary appears under the email.

Copilot scans the thread for key points. When it finishes, the summary appears at the top and may include numbered citations that take you to the corresponding email.

3. Read the cited emails

Select each citation and read the email it points to. Compare the summary with your own reading on three things: what was received, what is missing, and what is waiting on you. A summary can flatten a detail or put a point under the wrong item.

4. Act from the emails, not the summary

Write your reply or your instruction from what the emails say. If you ask the paralegal to chase an item, name the item code yourself.

Real Example

Scenario: An invented thread between you and your paralegal about matter IM-26-038 has seven short emails. Excerpts, all invented:

• Paralegal: "Received PASSPORTCOPY and PAYSTUBS for IM-26-038."
• Paralegal: "Still waiting on LEASE. Client says the landlord is slow."
• Paralegal: "Question for you: do you want the draft cover letter before or after LEASE arrives?"

What you do: Select the Summary by Copilot box (new Outlook) or Summarize (classic Outlook).

What you get: A summary along these lines: documents received are PASSPORTCOPY and PAYSTUBS, LEASE is still missing, and the paralegal is asking whether to draft the cover letter before or after LEASE arrives. Open the citation next to the question and confirm it is the paralegal's email, not something you wrote. The decision about the order of work is yours.

Tips

• Use the summary as a table of contents, not as the record. The file keeps the original emails.
• Ask yourself what the summary leaves out. If the thread mentioned a date, open that email and read the date from it, not from the summary.
• After a long thread, write the decision in one line in your case management system so nobody has to rebuild it from email.

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for the Copilot icon or a Summarize option in the same part of Outlook.