Ask Copilot in Word where a client's house style guide covers a topic
For Copyeditor / Proofreader (Freelance / Publishing)s ·
What This Does
House guides run long, and the answer to "does this client use the serial comma?" is rarely where you expect it. Copilot's chat pane in Word can read the guide you have open and point you to the passage that covers a topic, so you spend less time paging through a long Word file you last opened months ago.
It finds the passage. You read the rule. The guide, not Copilot, is the authority.
Before You Start
- Your own copy of the client's house guide is saved as a Word file. Use a copy you are entitled to keep and use, and never edit the client's original.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot is available to you. Microsoft says it needs an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription or Microsoft Copilot license, and that the Copilot button may be missing if your plan or your organization's settings do not include it. Check the vendor's Copilot plan page or ask your IT contact.
- You know which topic you are after: serial comma, numbers, capitalization of titles, hyphenation, abbreviations.
- You have checked how your client or managing editor feels about their house guide going into an AI tool. House guides are sometimes confidential, and some contracts and house policies limit AI tools. If the answer is no, skip to the last tip, because the same habit works with Word's own Find.
Steps
1. Open Copilot with the guide in front of you
Open the house guide in Word. In the corner of the document, select the Copilot button. Microsoft calls it the Copilot Dynamic Action Button. The chat pane opens with Edit mode turned on.
2. Switch to Chat only
Edit mode lets Copilot change the document. You do not want that here. Select Chat only so Copilot answers in the pane and makes no changes to the file. Look at the pane before you type anything, and confirm the mode.
3. Ask where the guide covers the topic
Type a question that asks for a location, not an opinion:
Where does this guide cover the serial comma? Give me the heading the passage sits under and the first few words of the passage. If the guide does not cover it, say "not covered" and do not answer from general knowledge.
Ask one topic at a time. You can also ask for every place that touches numbers, or titles, or hyphenated compounds, because a rule is sometimes split between a general chapter and an exceptions list.
4. Go to the passage and read it
Use the heading and opening words Copilot gave you to find the passage in the guide itself. Read the rule there. Apply the rule as written, and only then to the manuscript.
Microsoft's page does not say that Copilot's answers carry citations back to the document, so do not expect a clickable link. Ask for the heading and the opening words, as above.
Real Example
Scenario: You are about to start a copyedit for Client B on Title A (invented names). Client B's house guide is a Word file you saved yesterday. You need to know how it treats numbers before you start.
What you type:
Where does this guide cover how to write numbers in running text? Give me each heading that mentions numbers and the first few words of each passage. If the guide has an exceptions list, include it. Do not summarize the rule.
What you get: A short list. Suppose it names two places: a general heading called "Numbers" and a later heading called "Exceptions for tables and captions" (both invented). You open each in the guide and read the rule. The general heading says one thing, and the exceptions heading says another for captions. That second passage is the one a quick skim would have missed.
The check that matters: Press Ctrl+F in the guide and search for "number". If a heading turns up that Copilot did not list, Copilot missed it. This happens, so a "not covered" answer needs the same check before you tell anyone the guide is silent.
Tips
- Put the rule you confirmed on your project style sheet with the heading it came from. Next time you can go straight to it.
- Ask for locations, not paraphrases. A paraphrase can drift from the wording. A drifted rule is easy to apply wrongly across a whole manuscript.
- When the guide is silent, that is a question for your managing editor or for the manual your client names. Copilot cannot settle it.
- No AI at all? The same routine works with the Navigation pane and Find in Word. Search the topic and read each hit. Note the heading.
Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for the Copilot button near the document corner, and look for a chat-only option in the pane.