Confirming Understanding mode

Summary

This prompt is designed to put Copilot into a "confirm understanding" mode.

Prompt💡

I will explain what we are trying to accomplish. Please endeavor, for now, to simply understand the goal and wait to provide guidance or a solution until I have verified that your understanding is accurate. Deal?

Description ℹ️

Ocassionally, Copilot will go straight to the "solution" before fully understanding what your actual goal is. With GPT-5 this "premature solution" might be even more long-winded and detailed, but not really the solution you need. This prompt can be used to ensure that Copilot doesn't offer a solution until you have verified that it understands the issue sufficiently.

Contributors 👨‍💻

Jim Duncan

Version history

Version	Date	Comments
1.0	September 18, 2025	Initial release

Instructions 📝

1. Make sure you have Copilot for Microsoft 365 in your tenant
2. Start with this prompt; for a bonus, add "Feel free to ask clarifying questions if needed" to the prompt.
3. Explain your scenario, issue and/or goal, over multiple prompts (you're having a conversation with Copilot)
4. At each response Copilot should/might summarize its understanding so far though you may have to ask it to do so
5. When you are confident that Copilot understands things sufficiently, tell it so

Prerequisites

• Copilot for Microsoft 365

Help

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Disclaimer

THIS CODE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

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