Use Copilot in Outlook to summarize a consultant thread and draft a short acknowledgment

What This Does

A consultant's request, such as a due diligence questionnaire (DDQ), tends to grow into a long thread of follow-up questions, an attachment request and a due date buried three messages down. Copilot in Outlook can summarize the thread and point back to the emails it drew from. It can also draft a short acknowledgment. You read the cited emails before you act, and the reply goes out under your firm's review rules.

Before You Start

• Outlook with Copilot. Microsoft's help page lists Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook for Mac, new Outlook for Windows and the mobile apps. Copilot depends on your Microsoft 365 plan, your Copilot license and your organization's settings. Check with IT if the Copilot icon is missing. Pricing is on Microsoft's own pages.
• A consultant thread in your inbox, or the invented one below in a test mailbox.
• An answer from your CCO on which AI tools the firm approved and how chats are kept. Check the data settings for Copilot in your organization as well.

Data caution. Real consultant threads carry consultant identities, fee terms, scores and sometimes details of your investors, none of which should leave the firm's approved systems. Material non-public information never goes into an AI tool, and that includes a thread that quotes it. Whether the firm approved Copilot for this kind of thread is a question for your CCO. Attachments from a licensed data source may carry licence limits. The thread in this guide is invented and uses codes in place of names (CN-03 for the consultant, RQ-26-014 for the request).

Steps

1. Open the thread

Here is the invented thread, as it would sit in a test mailbox.

• Message 1, 2026-10-19, from CN-03: "Subject: RQ-26-014 follow-up. Thank you for the questionnaire. Two follow-ups: (1) Please describe how your investment committee records a dissenting view. (2) Please confirm who approves exceptions to a position limit."
• Message 2, 2026-10-20, from CN-03: "A third question: (3) Please describe how marketing material is reviewed before it is shared. Please also attach your current organization chart."
• Message 3, 2026-10-20, from CN-03: "Reminder that responses to RQ-26-014 are due 2026-10-30."

Select the conversation in your inbox.

2. Ask Copilot for the summary

Microsoft's page says to select the Summary by Copilot box at the top of the email thread in new Outlook, or Summarize in classic Outlook. In Outlook for Mac the page also says to choose Summarize in the Summary by Copilot box. Copilot scans the thread for key points. The summary appears at the top of the email and may include numbered citations that take you to the matching email in the thread.

3. Read the cited emails

Select each citation and read the email it points to. For this thread, the summary should show three follow-up questions, one attachment request and the due date of 2026-10-30. Compare it with the three messages above. If the summary says more than the emails do, or leaves out a question, trust the emails.

4. Draft the acknowledgment

Open a reply. Microsoft's page describes this path for a new message: select the Copilot icon from the toolbar and then choose Draft in new Outlook or Draft with Copilot in classic Outlook. In the Copilot box, enter:

Write a short reply to CN-03 confirming we received request RQ-26-014, including the three follow-up questions and the attachment request, and saying answers will follow after internal review. Include no figures, no dates, no claims about the firm, its process or its results, and no commitments.

Select Generate (in new Outlook it is an arrow button). Copilot drafts a message. The page also lists Make it shorter, Make it longer and Change Tone in new Outlook, or Adjust in classic Outlook. If the draft is not right, select Retry in new Outlook or Regenerate in classic Outlook. When it reads well, select Keep it or Keep.

5. Edit and route

Expect something close to this:

Hello,

Thank you for your messages about request RQ-26-014. We confirm receipt of your three follow-up questions and your request for an attachment. Answers will follow after our internal review.

Regards,
[PM name]

Delete anything that goes beyond receipt, especially any line about the firm's process, performance or timing. Follow your firm's review rules for outside replies. If the firm routes replies to consultants through the CCO or a compliance review, send the draft there, and do not click Send yourself.

6. Track the due date in your own system

Do not use a Copilot summary as your reminder. Put RQ-26-014 and its due date in your DDQ and RFP tracker, which in the Level 4 set is the DDQ and RFP Deadlines spreadsheet. Type the date from the consultant's email, not from the summary.

Real Example

Scenario: A consultant has sent three emails over two days and you are about to leave for an investor meeting. You need to know what is outstanding and send a holding reply.

What you do: Open the thread and select Summary by Copilot. Read the cited emails. Then draft the acknowledgment with the prompt in step 4.

What you get: A summary of three questions, one attachment request and a due date of 2026-10-30, and a four-line acknowledgment that confirms receipt. The answers themselves come later, written by you from the firm's approved materials and reviewed by the CCO.

Tips

• Go past the summary: ask Copilot to list the questions in the thread as a numbered list that you can paste into your DDQ tracker. Check it against the original emails, since a missed question is the expensive error.
• Keep the acknowledgment free of timing. Once an email says when answers will arrive, the firm has made a commitment.
• Do not let Copilot answer the substantive questions. Those answers come from the firm's approved library, and the CCO signs off on them.
• Summaries drop attachments and quoted text more easily than they drop main points. Open the emails when an attachment matters.

Tool interfaces change. If the Copilot icon or the Summary by Copilot box has moved, look for a Copilot option in the toolbar of a new message or at the top of an open email thread.