How to create a meeting minutes generator in Microsoft Copilot

João Barros 25 de October de 2026 4 min read

Automating the creation of meeting minutes with Microsoft Copilot helps save time and ensures that decisions and actions are well recorded. This tutorial shows how to build a meeting minutes generator that transforms transcripts or text into summaries, action items and assignments.

Prerequisites

Account with access to Microsoft Copilot (tenant with necessary permissions).
Access to Microsoft 365 (Outlook/Teams) to integrate transcripts or content.
Simple text editor to create and test prompts (e.g.: Notepad, Visual Studio Code).
Basic knowledge of prompt creation and logical flow (introductory level).

Step 1: Define the objective and the minutes format

Before using Copilot, decide what you want to obtain: executive summary (2-3 sentences), list of action items with owners and deadlines, and a decisions section. Having a standard format makes prompts and automatic integration easier.

Suggested format:
- Executive summary (1-2 sentences)
- Decisions made
- Action items (Owner - Deadline - Status)
- Items for follow-up
- Attachments / references

Step 2: Prepare the input (transcript or text)

Copy the meeting transcript (or the Teams chat) and clean obvious noise: excessive timestamps, system messages. If you have audio, generate a transcript first with the service you use in Microsoft 365 or with a compatible transcription tool.

# Example simplified input text
"[00:01] Ana: We need to reduce costs on project X.
[00:15] João: I propose reviewing vendors by 11/15.
[00:30] Maria: I'll prepare a report with options.
"

Step 3: Create the base prompt for Microsoft Copilot

Write a clear, structured prompt. Include the desired format and output examples. This helps Copilot produce consistent results. Use instructions like "Extract", "Summarize" and "List".

Base prompt:
"You are a meeting minutes assistant. From the transcript below, generate:
1) Executive summary (2 sentences)
2) List of decisions (each on its own line)
3) Action items in the format: Action - Owner - Deadline
4) Items for follow-up
Use clear and concise language.
Transcript:
[paste the transcript here]
"

Step 4: Adjust the prompt to extract owners and deadlines

If the transcript does not always mention owners or deadlines, ask Copilot to infer based on context and mark as "[to be confirmed]" when uncertain. This reduces common errors where Copilot assumes without indication.

Prompt with inference:
"If there is no explicit owner, suggest a likely owner from the participants and mark as [to be confirmed]. If there is no deadline, indicate [no deadline].
"

Step 5: Test in Microsoft Copilot and refine

Paste the prompt and the transcript into the Copilot interface (e.g.: Copilot in Outlook/Teams or Copilot Studio, depending on availability). Review the output and refine the prompt until you achieve consistency: request tone examples, limit length and specify the date format.

# Iteration example
Add to the prompt: "Use date format DD/MM/YYYY and keep each action item on a separate line."

Step 6: Integrate with Outlook/Teams (manual option)

If you don't have automatic integration, copy Copilot's output and paste it into the Outlook email or Teams conversation. To automate later, you can use Power Automate to connect transcripts and calls to Copilot.

# Manual task example
1. Generate minutes with Copilot.
2. Copy the result.
3. Send a summary email to participants with subject: "Meeting minutes - [Date]".

Verify the result

Confirm that the output includes the executive summary, clear decisions and action items with owners/deadlines or tags [to be confirmed]/[no deadline]. Also check date consistency (DD/MM/YYYY) and text clarity. Ask the team for feedback during the first week to adjust the prompt.

Conclusion

With a well-defined prompt and clean input, Microsoft Copilot can generate useful and actionable meeting minutes, saving time and reducing information loss. Next steps: automate with Power Automate, validate with stakeholders and create prompt variations for technical or sales meetings. Tip: start simple and refine the prompt with real examples — what is the first meeting you plan to automate?