How to write blog posts with Copilot Cowork – Vesa Nopanen – Future Work today

The world strikes quick. New options arrive each week, and time to jot down about them is restricted. So I did an experiment: I requested Copilot Cowork to assist me write this very weblog put up – about easy methods to write weblog posts with Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork. Sure, it’s that meta! 🤠

I’ve been writing futurework.weblog for years, and my approach of writing has developed over time. AI didn’t change why I write – sharing with the group, serving to folks out – however it’s altering how I write. Cowork can protect the context, construction and elegance over the entire article significantly better than what was doable earlier. Let’s take a better have a look at how I do it.

The world strikes quick – issues can change rapidly. However in all probability not usually as quick as Fable half. I used to be getting ready this put up final week, and utilizing Fable to jot down first drafts. After which immediately Fable wasn’t out there anymore. 😅 Nevertheless I do wish to embrace Fable info right here, in hopes it can come again. However don’t fear – this text helps you with different fashions as nicely.

1. Claude Fable 5 Preview was briefly available
   1. …and then it was gone (for now)
2. Create a skill of your own writing style
3. How I write a blog post with Cowork
   1. 1. Don’t rely only on research – give YOUR thoughts and ideas
   2. 2. Explain the style and what kind of post you want
   3. 3. Enter ALL the details you want noted
   4. 4. Include screenshots in the prompt
   5. 5. Do not settle for the first version
   6. 6. Ask Cowork to do a fact check
   7. 7. Ask for the post as a markdown file
   8. 8. Copy it to your blog AND MAKE EDITS
   9. 9. Ask Cowork to verify your text
4. Keep the personal touch – and the control

Claude Fable 5 Preview was briefly out there

Earlier than going into the writing course of, I wish to spotlight one thing contemporary: Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5, their most succesful mannequin up to now, was briefly out there in Microsoft 365 Copilot as an opt-in preview mannequin alternative. And also you have been to ready choose it in Cowork! Fable is designed for long-running multi-step workflows, deep analysis, and vision-based reasoning throughout paperwork and screenshots – which makes it actually good for writing lengthy articles the place the context wants to remain collectively from the title to the final paragraph.

To get preview Anthropic fashions seen in your tenant, there are two settings your admin must verify within the Microsoft 365 admin heart Copilot settings:

• Anthropic fashions enabled – that is the AI suppliers setting (Anthropic operates as a Microsoft subprocessor). Word that clients inside the EU Knowledge Boundary and within the UK have Anthropic fashions disabled by default – so us Europeans have to flip the change ourselves.
• AI fashions in preview enabled – preview fashions should at all times be individually enabled, even the place different Anthropic fashions are already on. That is the place you enable Anthropic Fashions with Knowledge Retention.

One key truth to notice: utilizing Claude Fable 5 (preview) at present includes 30-day information retention by Anthropic for security monitoring, and for these preview fashions Anthropic acts as an unbiased information processor below Anthropic’s personal industrial phrases. Regardless of it sounds scary, it’s a aware alternative your group makes – simply make sure that your admins assessment it earlier than enabling. Use of those preview fashions is non-compulsory.

…after which it was gone (for now)

And right here is the place the fast-paced world exhibits its different facet. Simply days after Fable 5 landed in Copilot, it disappeared once more. On June thirteenth, Anthropic introduced that entry to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 fashions was suspended with instant impact, following a US authorities export-control directive. This was not a comfortable limitation – it was a compulsory shutdown of those fashions for all clients, together with us overseas nationals outdoors the US. Microsoft complied, and Fable 5 vanished from Copilot environments the identical morning.

The excellent news: this solely impacts the Fable/Mythos household. Different Anthropic Claude fashions in Copilot stay unaffected, so multi-model alternative continues to be very a lot alive. And Anthropic has mentioned they consider it is a misunderstanding and are working to revive entry as quickly as doable.

So why am I nonetheless telling you all about Fable and the settings above? As a result of there could also be different fashions that require the identical settings sooner or later and hopefully we’ll get Fable again and shortly, I hope. When that day comes, you’ll know easy methods to change it on. Within the meantime, every part beneath works simply as nicely with the Claude Opus 4.8. and different fashions you have already got in Cowork.

Create a talent of your personal writing fashion

That is my primary suggestion. Cowork helps customized abilities – you create them by including a SKILL.md file to the Cowork folder in your OneDrive, and Cowork picks them up robotically. However right here is the trick: you don’t have to jot down the talent your self. Ask Cowork to create it for you!

What I did: I requested Cowork to undergo 30 of my futurework.weblog posts – written through the years, some with the assistance of AI, some with out – and analyze how I write. Right here is the immediate you need to use as a place to begin (simply exchange the weblog with your personal):

The result’s a private fashion talent that is aware of my tone, my construction, my favourite phrases, even my habits with screenshots. Now, at any time when I begin a brand new put up, I simply reference that talent and Cowork writes like me – not like a generic company AI. That is sensible, like actually sensible. After all abilities will be approach far more advanced and provide you with very a lot worth at work ( don’t skip utilizing abilities in Cowork!), however generally even easy abilities like “your fashion” will assist ship nice outcomes simply. Additionally keep in mind you may make the most of a number of abilities in your prompts on the similar time.

How I write a weblog put up with Cowork

Cowork carries out duties in your behalf throughout Microsoft 365 – sending emails, scheduling conferences, creating paperwork, posting in Groups – however for me, probably the greatest makes use of is writing articles. If you wish to study extra what Cowork can do, there’s a complete Microsoft Study coaching module on delegating multi-step work to Cowork, and have in mind Cowork is out there by the Frontier program for purchasers with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

Right here is my workflow – and the teachings I’ve realized on the way in which.

1. Don’t rely solely on analysis – give YOUR ideas and concepts

That is crucial one. If you happen to simply say “write a weblog put up about X and do a little analysis”, you get a generic article anybody might have printed. As an alternative, I write into the immediate my concepts, my insights, my hands-on experiences, and the important thing factors I wish to increase. The analysis Cowork does from exterior websites is there to assist my pondering and verify the details – to not exchange it. Your insights and experiences are what make the put up yours.

2. Clarify the fashion and what sort of put up you need

Inform Cowork what you’re making: a hands-on assessment? A how-to? A information recap? Who’s it for? Even with a mode talent in place, telling the intent of this specific put up makes an enormous distinction. For this put up, I informed Cowork this one is for the group – serving to folks out easy methods to write articles on this fast-paced world.

3. Enter ALL the main points you need famous

Every little thing you need within the article, write it in. Both within the first immediate or within the follow-ups. And don’t fear in regards to the size: the immediate will be as much as 250,000 characters. Additionally, your English doesn’t need to be the very best, nor does your chain of thought must be polished. Write it because it comes – Cowork is smart of it and buildings it higher. That’s precisely what it’s there for. As a non-native English speaker, I actually respect this.

And right here is one thing I actually like: Cowork permits you to queue messages even when it’s nonetheless processing your earlier immediate. When it’s doing an extended analysis or pondering, I can already give new directions – or repair these issues I noticed later that I ought to have talked about differently. The messages are queued robotically and Cowork takes them under consideration, adjusting its strategy in case your new message adjustments the path. No want to attend, no want to begin over.

4. Embrace screenshots within the immediate

You’ll be able to connect recordsdata to offer Cowork further context – simply drag and drop them onto the chat enter. I connect my screenshots and ask Cowork to place screenshot placeholders into the article on the proper spots. For this put up, I even took a screenshot of the immediate itself (partially displaying) and hooked up it – so Cowork might see what I used to be asking it to do. Then once I transfer the put up to WordPress, I simply drop my pictures the place the placeholders are. This protects a lot time.

5. Don’t accept the primary model

That is the place many individuals cease – they usually shouldn’t. Hold the dialogue going! Learn the draft, touch upon it, inform Cowork what works and what doesn’t, and let it create the following model. And the following one. The dialog is the modifying room. Cowork retains the entire article in context, so adjustments in a single part don’t break the remainder.

6. Ask Cowork to do a truth verify

When the put up begins to really feel prepared, ask Cowork to do a truth and error verify on the complete put up – to undergo the sources once more and confirm that the details, dates, and availability particulars are good. Options change quick within the preview world, and a weblog put up with unsuitable details helps nobody.

7. Ask for the put up as a markdown file

When the put up is prepared, I ask Cowork to jot down the weblog put up right into a markdown (.md) file. I discover this actually helpful: the file is simple to edit, and in my case simple to copy-paste into my WordPress weblog – headings, daring texts, bullets and quotes all come alongside properly. You get the file proper there within the dialog, and it additionally lands in your Cowork folder in OneDrive. One easy ask, and the put up is able to journey.

8. Copy it to your weblog AND MAKE EDITS

That is essential, so I write it in capital letters. Cowork doesn’t make an ideal end result. When the draft is sweet sufficient, copy it to your weblog – after which learn all of it by. Take away errors. Make it sound extra such as you. For instance, I often change “I really like the way in which” to “I like the way in which” – that’s simply me. (Word to myself: I ought to inform Cowork to replace my fashion talent so it will get that proper within the first place. And sure, I did that through the dialog I had with Cowork when penning this 🤠 )

Don’t simply copy-paste and publish, until the result’s precisely such as you need it to be. Your identify is on the put up – the ultimate accountability, and the ultimate contact, is yours.

9. Ask Cowork to confirm your textual content

What I additionally do on the finish, is that I choose all of the textual content within the weblog and ask Cowork to verify it as soon as extra. This fashion you may spot doable errors, typos, and many others. Typically I even ask it to do a truth verify once more, to catch doable errors. Redundant, sure, however as I’ve accomplished edits there’s often one thing that escaped my eye. It may be as simple as having a phrase repeated two two instances.

Hold the non-public contact – and the management

That is how I see it: Cowork is simply serving to to jot down all these phrases there and make sense of the construction higher. The concepts, the insights, the expertise – these are nonetheless yours. And Cowork pauses to ask to your approval earlier than taking delicate actions, so that you keep in management the entire approach.

It is very important hold the non-public contact. However it is usually essential to be trustworthy: the world strikes quick, time is restricted, and AI is right here to assist us. Why ought to we not use it?

Have you ever already tried writing with Cowork? I want to hear the way it works for you – drop a remark beneath!