Prepare for Meetings in Outlook Without Copilot

What Copilot's meeting prep does, and who gets it

Microsoft 365 Copilot can prepare you for a meeting directly in Outlook. It summarizes relevant context, tasks and documents, and you can chat with it to dig deeper. The feature is available in the new Outlook for Windows, on the web, on Mac and on mobile, and since August 2026 also in classic Outlook for Windows.

According to Microsoft, the feature is only available to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. That license is a paid add-on on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft's list price for enterprise plans is $30 per user per month, with lower prices for small-business plans. Many companies license Copilot only for some employees, so a lot of people who prepare customer meetings every day don't have access.

Option 1: use the free Copilot Chat in Outlook

Copilot Chat is included with many Microsoft 365 business plans. Since mid-2026, Microsoft has been expanding it in Outlook so that it can reason over your whole inbox, calendar and meetings instead of a single email thread. Whether you already have this depends on your organization's rollout and admin settings. If you do, you can ask it to find and summarize what you need before a meeting.

Prompts that work well before a customer meeting

“Summarize my emails with [customer] from the last four weeks. What did we agree on?”
“Which questions from [contact] have I not answered yet?”
“What did I promise to send [customer], and is any of it overdue?”
“List the open items from my last meeting with [customer].”

The limits: every answer is a one-off. You ask again before the next meeting, the result isn't saved per customer, and you can't easily share it with a colleague as the current status. It also isn't always clear which emails the answer is based on, so check important details in the original thread.

Option 2: a 15-minute manual routine that works with any plan

No AI needed. This routine uses Outlook search and a short note. It works best for important meetings with existing customers.

1. Find the right emails (3 minutes)

Search Outlook with operators instead of scrolling: from: or to: with your contact's name or address, subject: with the project name, hasattachments:yes for proposals and documents. Sort by date and start with the most recent thread.

2. Write down what was agreed and what's open (5 minutes)

Read the last two or three threads and note commitments on both sides: what you promised to deliver and what the customer promised. Then list questions that are still unanswered. Open items often hide in a side note at the end of a long email.

3. Check the calendar and your notes (3 minutes)

Open the last meeting with this customer in your calendar. Check the invite, attached notes and the attendee list. Is anyone new joining who doesn't know the background?

4. Define the goal and the next step (4 minutes)

Write the goal of the meeting in one sentence, two or three questions that build on the open items, and a proposal for what happens next: who does what by when. Our client meeting prep guide has a copy-and-paste template for this note.

Copilot license, Copilot Chat or manual: which fits?

Microsoft 365 Copilot license: the most integrated option if your company already pays for it.
Copilot Chat: a good free starting point for quick questions, if it's available in your tenant.
Manual routine: works for everyone and builds a useful habit, but takes time for every meeting.
If you manage many customers at once, or colleagues need the same status, a tool that keeps the status per customer can save the most time.

Option 3: keep a briefing per customer with aenuma

aenuma works with any Microsoft 365 mailbox and doesn't require a Copilot license. You assign the relevant Outlook emails and meetings to a client engagement, and aenuma keeps a briefing with agreements, open questions and next steps. Every statement links to its source, and the briefing updates when you assign new emails. For a first meeting with a new client, the client meeting package drafts the deck and talk guide.

Your mailbox is read-only by default, aenuma never sends anything on its own, and the AI only sees the emails you assign. Details are on our security and privacy page. If your company uses Dynamics 365 Sales or Salesforce together with Copilot, see our comparison with Copilot for Sales.

Sources

Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes (meeting preparation in classic Outlook, August 2026; Copilot Chat in Outlook, July 2026). License prices change; check Microsoft's current pricing before you decide.

By Joshua Schütt. Last updated: October 2026.

How to prepare for meetings in Outlook without a Copilot license.