Microsoft adds new custom tone feature for Copilot in Teams chat and messages

Microsoft continues to add new features for its generative AI assistant Copilot across many of its software products and services. This includes using Copilot in its Teams online meeting chat and messaging service.

Today, in a blog post, Microsoft announced a new feature that lets people write text messages in Teams chats and meetings. The article first reviews some of the Copilot features already released for Teams. They include Rewrite, which, as the name suggests, can rewrite your message with improvements so that your texts have better clarity and impact.

There’s also Adjust, which can edit your Teams message so it can be more specifically targeted to a colleague, friend, family member, etc.

Today, Microsoft is also introducing another Copilot writing feature for Teams called Custom Tone. Microsoft says this is an extension of the Fit option, but offers a custom way to rewrite a message with a prompt that you type. The blog post states:

This comes with the freedom to request multiple edits, which Copilot will make simultaneously in your rewrite. Would you like to add persuasive language to make your message more compelling? Or add additional context to your tone to give the right impression? Or turn a long sentence into a bulleted list before sharing it with your team? With a personalized tone, asking how to edit your message gives you the reins to make Copilot work exactly the way you want.

The custom tone feature also allows users to enter an open prompt to allow the message to be translated into another language, always with more specific prompts, like asking Copilot to turn your message into something “longer and happy and in Spanish.”

If you’re having trouble finding the right prompts to use in the Custom Tone Copilot feature in Teams, there is also a Microsoft Copilot Lab page with helpful Copilot prompt suggestions.