AI for professionals · Free
Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents
Use Microsoft 365 Copilot well and build your first agent: what Copilot, Copilot Chat and Copilot Studio each are, how grounding works, Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, prompting and saved prompts, the Researcher and Analyst agents, building and grounding an agent in Copilot Studio, and responsible use.
Inside the course
From the lessons
Copilot and Copilot Studio: what each one is
Microsoft Learn
How Copilot works: models, grounding, chat and agents
Skills Pragati
Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
Skills Pragati
Prompting Copilot, and saving the prompts that work
Skills Pragati
The Researcher and Analyst agents
Skills Pragati
Build your first agent in Copilot Studio
Lisa Crosbie
Lesson frames belong to the creators named in the Credits below and are shown from YouTube.
What you will learn
Explain the difference between Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, agents and Copilot Studio; describe how grounding and permissions shape every answer; use Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint and check its output; write prompts with goal, context, expectations and source, and save the ones that work; choose between Copilot Chat, Researcher and Analyst, and between work and web mode; build, ground, test and publish a simple agent in Copilot Studio; and manage hallucination, prompt injection and data protection risks.
- Tell apart Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, agents and Copilot Studio
- Explain grounding and why permissions shape every Copilot answer
- Use Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, and check its output
- Write prompts with goal, context, expectations and source, and save the ones that work
- Choose between Copilot Chat, Researcher and Analyst, and between work and web mode
- Build, ground, test and publish a simple agent in Copilot Studio
- Manage hallucination, prompt injection, oversharing and personal data
- Prepare a safe rollout: permissions, a safe-use note and a test log for an agent
For you
Taking Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents from the United States
- Free in the United States, as everywhere, and self-paced: lessons, notes and the final assessment are open at any hour, so your time zone and shift pattern do not matter.
- The optional certificate for learners in the United States is a one-off US$23.99. What you get for it
- Plants across the Americas most often run Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Inductive Automation; each has its own free course to take next.
- See automation and engineering jobs in the United States, and what the industry looks like in Houston, Detroit and Chicago.
- EDWartens also has a regional site for the United States, for classroom training and local support: edwartens.com/us.
The course project · about 8 hours
Designing, testing and rolling out an HR policy agent in Copilot Studio: design brief, risk register, test report and support procedure
Design and test an HR policy agent built in Copilot Studio for a mid-sized company, as the business owner of the agent: write the design brief with knowledge sources and topics, build the risk register, record a structured test of the agent against real employee questions, and write the procedure that keeps the agent's answers correct after launch. The sample pack shows each document for a logistics company in Durban, South Africa.
Sample document pack, 4 documents, filled in for the scenario
- PlanDesign brief: HR policy agent for Teams
- Risk registerRisk register: HR policy agent
- Test reportPre-launch test report: HR policy agent
- ProcedureKeeping the HR policy agent correct after launch
Read inside the course and download as a workbook. The project is optional practice, marked when you submit it; the certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Course content
9 modules · 23 lessons · 4h 27m
In order, at whatever pace suits you. Each module ends with a practice task that builds on the last.
- 01Copilot and Copilot Studio: what each one is2 lessons13m
- 02How Copilot works: models, grounding, chat and agents2 lessons43m
- 03Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint4 lessons25m
- 04Prompting Copilot, and saving the prompts that work3 lessons48m
- 05The Researcher and Analyst agents3 lessons27m
- 06Build your first agent in Copilot Studio5 lessons37m
- 07Grounding an agent in your own knowledge1 lesson36m
- 08Responsible AI in Copilot: hallucination, prompt injection and data2 lessons35m
Requirements
- Who it is for
- Beginner. For anyone who works in Microsoft 365: Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams. No coding, and no AI background needed.
- Software
- A Microsoft work or school account. Copilot Chat covers most exercises; Copilot inside the apps and the Researcher and Analyst agents need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence; Copilot Studio has a free trial. Every exercise says what to do without a licence. What to download, and how
- Hardware
- A laptop or desktop with a browser.
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
You need a Microsoft work or school account. Copilot Chat covers most exercises; Copilot inside the apps needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, and every exercise says what to do without one.
Required
- 01Free
Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
Microsoft, in the browser
- Runs on
- Any modern web browser, plus Windows, macOS, Android and iOS apps
- Account
- None needed
Microsoft Copilot is free for individuals; you must be at least 13 (older in some countries). Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is included at no extra cost for organisations with an eligible Microsoft 365 licence and needs a work or school (Microsoft Entra ID) account.
Steps
- 1.Open copilot.microsoft.com.
- 2.Optionally click Sign in and use your personal Microsoft account.
- 3.Type your question in the message box.
- 4.For work or school use, sign in at microsoft365.com with your organisation account and open Copilot Chat.
- Copilot Chat with a work or school account adds enterprise data protection. Use it for work material if your organisation provides it.
Open Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chatcopilot.microsoft.com
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 02Free trial
Microsoft Copilot Studio
Microsoft, in the browser
- Runs on
- Any modern web browser (Chrome 91, Firefox 89 or Safari 16.4 or newer)
- Account
- A work or school Microsoft account (personal email addresses are rejected)
The trial lets you build and test agents in the test chat panel, but you cannot publish them. When it expires you can extend it by 30 days, and agents keep working for up to 90 days after expiry. Your organisation's IT admin can block self sign-up. Check the vendor page for the current trial length.
Steps
- 1.Open the Copilot Studio page and click Try for free (or go to copilotstudio.microsoft.com).
- 2.Enter your work or school email address and click Next.
- 3.Follow the prompts to finish sign-up. The trial starts straight away.
- 4.Create an agent and test it in the test chat panel.
- If sign-up fails with a message that it could not be completed, ask your IT administrator to allow self-service trials.
- Plan your lab so you do not need to publish the agent, as trials cannot publish.
Open Microsoft Copilot Studiomicrosoft.com
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents at a glance
Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for microsoft 365 users, office workers and IT staff rolling out Copilot. It has 9 modules and 4h 27m of video lessons by Skills Pragati, Lisa Crosbie, Microsoft Learn, with written notes and worked problems, a practical project with a document pack and a 15-question final assessment (pass mark 60%). Learning is free with an account; an optional certificate with a public verification code is issued when you pass. Last updated 27 September 2026.
All course factsHide course facts
- Price
- Free, for good. No trial, no card. The only paid item is the optional certificate, a small one-off fee.
- Who it is for
- Microsoft 365 users, office workers and IT staff rolling out Copilot
- Format
- 9 self-paced modules, 4h 27m of video, written notes, a practice task per module and one final assessment.
- Level
- Beginner. Beginner. For anyone who works in Microsoft 365: Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams. No coding, and no AI background needed.
- Brand
- Microsoft
- Software
- A Microsoft work or school account. Copilot Chat covers most exercises; Copilot inside the apps and the Researcher and Analyst agents need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence; Copilot Studio has a free trial. Every exercise says what to do without a licence.
- Hardware
- A laptop or desktop with a browser.
- Certificate
- Optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code. Not a vendor credential.
- Video lessons by
- Skills Pragati, Lisa Crosbie, Microsoft Learn (independent creators, credited below)
- Language
- English
- Last updated
- 27 September 2026
A shareable EDWartens certificate
Finish every module and pass the final assessment, and the optional EDWartens certificate is yours. It carries a unique verification code on a public page anyone can check, so it stands up when a recruiter looks it up. See it below.
The course itself stays free whether or not you ever buy one.
Stuck? Ask a practising engineer
A free course usually means a comment section and hope. This one does not. Every module has an Ask-your-trainer panel that reaches the same engineers who teach our paid programme: people who commission panels for a living, not moderators.
Pairs well with
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Learner reviews
No reviews yet
Reviews here are written only by learners who have finished every module of Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents, and they are published exactly as written. Finish the course and yours will be the first.
Common questions
Who is the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents course for?
Anyone who works in Microsoft 365 and wants to use Copilot properly, and team leads or business champions who want to build a first agent in Copilot Studio. No coding or AI background is needed.
Do I need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence?
Not to take the course. Copilot Chat, available with a Microsoft work or school account, covers most exercises, and Copilot Studio has a free trial. Copilot inside Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, and the Researcher and Analyst agents, need the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence; the exercises say what to do without it.
Is this a Microsoft course or exam preparation?
No. It is built on free public lessons, including Microsoft Learn's PL-7008 episodes and Skills Pragati's AB-730 preparatory labs, credited on each module. EDWartens is not affiliated with Microsoft, and the course is not official preparation for any Microsoft exam or credential.
Will I build a real agent?
Yes, if you have access to Copilot Studio or its trial. You build a small agent grounded in a public web page in module 6, and the project takes an HR policy agent from design brief to tested launch.
Is the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents course really free?
Yes. Every module, the notes, the project and the final assessment. The only paid item is the certificate, if you want it.
What certificate does the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents course give?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, with a number anyone can verify on our site. It is not a Microsoft certification.
How long does the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents course take?
About 7.5 hours of video lessons, plus time for the notes, the practice questions and the final assessment. The optional project adds about 8 hours.
What can I do after finishing it?
Use Copilot in daily work with a checking habit, write and save prompts your team can reuse, and design, test and publish a simple Copilot Studio agent grounded in your own documents. The project leaves you with a design brief, risk register and test report you can show an employer.
What you walk away with
Your certificate for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio Agents
Finish the course, pass the final, and this is the document with your name on it.
Verifiable by anyone
Adds to LinkedIn in one click
QR code on the certificate
Names what you can do
A permanent link
Earned, not attended
Learning is free. The certificate is optional.
Add it now and pay only when you have finished the course, or come back for it later. One-off, US$23.99, with a receipt.
Issued by EDWartens, the training division of Wartens, as a Certificate of Completion for this self-paced course. Sold by Wartens Ltd (England and Wales). It is not a vendor certification, a university award or a CPD-accredited activity, and it does not certify competence on live equipment. Delivered electronically; see the refund policy.
Credits
Who made the video lessons
The video lessons in this course were created by the people below, not by EDWartens. Every lesson streams from its creator's own YouTube channel; EDWartens neither hosts nor sells that footage, and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens and do not endorse this course. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
- Skills Pragatithe AB-730 preparatory lessons and labs: how large language models and Copilot fit together, Copilot Chat against agents, Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, prompt engineering, saving and scheduling prompts, the Researcher and Analyst agents, work and web mode, and responsible AI
- Lisa Crosbiethe Copilot Studio tutorials: what Copilot Studio is, creating a first agent, adding knowledge, working with topics, adding actions and publishing
- Microsoft Learnthe PL-7008 series episodes that open the course, explain grounding an agent in knowledge, and close the course
If you are one of these creators and would like a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.