Key takeaways
- A Copilot Notebook is a project space where you collect files, pages and notes so Copilot answers from that set, not from everything.
- Use a notebook for ongoing work with a fixed body of material, such as a course, a thesis or a client project.
- 'Copilot premium' means different things: higher consumer plans for Microsoft Copilot, and premium requests in GitHub Copilot.
- GitHub Copilot premium requests are a monthly allowance for the more capable models and features; heavier models use more per request.
- Allowances reset at the start of each monthly cycle; check GitHub's billing docs and your usage page for current numbers.
Copilot Notebooks are workspaces in Microsoft 365 Copilot where you gather the files, pages, meeting notes and links for one project, so Copilot answers questions and drafts content using that collection as its main source. They are also arriving in OneNote. "Copilot premium" is a looser phrase: it can mean Microsoft's higher consumer plans with more Copilot capability, or the premium requests that GitHub Copilot counts when you use its most capable models. This page explains notebooks, when to use them, and what premium plans and premium requests include, cost you in usage, and when they reset.
What are Copilot Notebooks?
Copilot Notebooks are project spaces in Microsoft 365 Copilot. You add references, such as Word files, PDFs, Copilot Pages, meeting notes and links, and Copilot uses that set as context for every question and draft in the notebook.
Think of a notebook as a focused folder with a built-in assistant. Instead of searching all your mail and files, Copilot prioritises the material you chose, which makes answers more relevant and easier to check. Notebooks keep your Copilot responses and notes together, so you can come back to a project days later without rebuilding the context. They are similar in spirit to Google's NotebookLM, but they live inside Microsoft 365 and follow your organisation's permissions and compliance settings.
How do Copilot Notebooks work?
You create a notebook, add references, then chat with Copilot inside it. Copilot retrieves relevant passages from those references, answers with citations to them, and can save useful responses as pages in the notebook.
Under the hood this is retrieval-augmented generation scoped to a chosen set of documents, the same principle I used in the OCR & Speech Workspace, where chat is limited to one document and answers cite page numbers. Scoping improves accuracy because Copilot has fewer irrelevant files to confuse it. References stay where they are stored, in OneDrive or SharePoint, and permissions still apply, so sharing a notebook does not give others access to files they could not already open. Keep references current: if you update a file, check that the notebook points to the right version.
When should I use Copilot Notebooks?
Use a notebook when you work on the same body of material over days or weeks and keep asking questions about it: a course module, a research project, a client engagement, a product launch or exam revision.
Also asked as: when to use copilot notebooks
Good fits:
- A semester course: lecture slides, notes and past papers in one notebook for revision questions.
- A thesis or report: sources, drafts and supervisor feedback together.
- A client project: proposal, meeting notes and requirements, so drafts stay consistent.
- Interview preparation: job description, company documents and your notes.
For a one-off question, plain Copilot Chat is quicker. For anything where you need answers from exactly your chosen files, and to see where each answer came from, a notebook is the better tool.
What are Copilot Notebooks in OneNote?
Microsoft has been bringing Copilot Notebooks into OneNote, so the AI project space sits alongside your handwritten and typed notes. You can gather pages and files for a topic and ask Copilot questions grounded in them.
This suits students who already keep class notes in OneNote: your notes become part of the material Copilot can use when you ask for a summary, a list of key definitions or practice questions. It also keeps the familiar OneNote structure of sections and pages. Availability depends on your Microsoft 365 plan, licence and OneNote version, and features roll out in stages, so update OneNote and check whether the Copilot notebook option appears for your account.
How do Copilot Notebooks work in OneNote?
In OneNote, you create or open a Copilot notebook, add the pages and files you want it to use, and ask Copilot questions in the Copilot pane. Answers draw on that material and point back to the pages they used.
A practical study workflow: create a notebook for one subject, add your lecture notes and the syllabus, then ask for a one-page summary per unit, a list of terms with definitions, and ten practice questions. Check every answer against your notes, because summaries can drop a condition or merge two ideas. Use Copilot to find gaps, for example "which topics in the syllabus have no notes yet?". Keep personal or sensitive notes out of shared notebooks, since anyone with access can query them.
What is Copilot premium?
"Copilot premium" has no single meaning. For Microsoft's consumer Copilot, it refers to the paid plans that include more Copilot capability across apps. For GitHub Copilot, it usually refers to premium requests, the metered allowance for the most capable models and features.
On the Microsoft side, the free Copilot app covers everyday chat, while paid Microsoft 365 consumer plans add Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook with higher limits; Microsoft has renamed and restructured these plans more than once. On the GitHub side, every paid Copilot plan includes a monthly number of premium requests, and you can pay for more. Before buying anything, confirm which product the page you are reading is about, because the names overlap.
What does Copilot premium include?
On Microsoft's paid consumer plans, it typically includes Copilot in the Microsoft 365 desktop and web apps, higher usage limits, priority access to newer features and image creation. On GitHub, premium requests unlock the most capable models, agent mode and the coding agent at higher volumes.
Because both sides change often, rely on the current plan pages rather than lists in older articles. A sensible check before paying: list the three tasks you would use it for each week, try them on the free tier first, and see whether limits or missing features actually block you. Students often find that the free consumer Copilot, Copilot Chat through a college account, and GitHub Copilot's free tier or student benefits cover most needs.
What is the difference between Copilot basic and premium?
The basic, free tiers give general chat and limited use of advanced features. Premium tiers add Copilot inside the Office apps or more powerful coding features, higher limits and earlier access to new models and tools.
In GitHub Copilot, the practical difference is which models and features you can use and how often: base models are included for routine completions and chat, while premium models and agent features draw on the premium request allowance. In Microsoft's consumer Copilot, the difference is mainly whether Copilot works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook and how much you can use it. Neither tier changes the need to check outputs; premium means more capability and volume, not guaranteed accuracy.
What are Copilot premium requests?
Premium requests are GitHub Copilot's unit for metering use of its more capable models and features. Each chat message, agent step or coding agent session that uses a premium model consumes one or more requests from your monthly allowance.
Models have multipliers: a lightweight model may count as a fraction of a request or be free on paid plans, while the most capable models count as several requests per message. Your plan includes a monthly allowance, and organisations can set a budget for paid overage. You can see your usage in your GitHub settings, and in the editor the model picker shows which models are premium. To stretch the allowance, use an included model for routine edits and save premium models for hard debugging and design.
When do Copilot premium requests reset?
GitHub Copilot's premium request allowance resets at the start of each monthly billing cycle; GitHub's documentation states the exact reset time. Unused requests do not roll over.
If you run out before the reset, Copilot falls back to included models, or you can enable paid overage if your plan or organisation allows it. Check the usage page in your GitHub settings to see how many you have used and when the counter resets. For organisations, admins can view usage per user and set spending limits. Because GitHub has adjusted allowances and multipliers since premium requests were introduced, check the current billing documentation instead of numbers quoted in forums.
Sources
GenAI engineer and AI product builder with 2+ years shipping production-grade AI systems: RAG pipelines, fine-tuned LLMs, hybrid retrieval and multi-modal apps across vision, speech and OCR, architected end to end from ingestion to deployment. Leads engineering for SCULT INDIA's 14-member team, founded the 500+ member TechVerse Enclave community and has mentored 200+ students. Three hackathon first prizes: Changethon 2025 (IIT Roorkee), Product Genesis at Vividhotsava 2025 (CSJMU) and BYTEBATTLE (MeetKats).
Open to GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks at colleges. For campus sessions the inviting institution covers the visit end to end: travel (a First AC train ticket for journeys up to five hours, a flight for anything longer), accommodation, meals, and pickup and drop; the honorarium and workshop fees are negotiable on WhatsApp or on the call, and requests are welcome from institutions that can cover the visit this way. Email pranjulrathour41@gmail.com.
