The Shadow WriterCapture your own writing style as a profile

The situation

The drafts are correct, but they sound like a brochure. You rewrite every other sentence until it sounds like you.

The cut

After

Goal: Use the attached texts to create a style profile that lets someone else write the way I do.

Source: Only the attached texts. They are texts I wrote and consider well done.

Expectations: No more than twelve rules, each with an example sentence from my texts. Cover: sentence length, form of address, opening, closing, words I use often, words I never use, how I handle technical terms.

Goal: Write [Text type, e.g. an email to customers] on the topic [Topic] following my style profile.

Source: Only the profile and my key points below. Do not make up any facts.

Expectations: The text, then the two passages where you are least sure they sound like me.

Style profile:
[Style profile text, e.g. the profile from step 1 with all rules and example sentences]

Key points:
[Content, e.g. what the text must say]

No add-on license, in Microsoft Copilot Chat with file upload. Without a copy button: select the text and copy it with Ctrl+C.

How to use it

1. Upload three to five of your own texts of the same type as files and send step 1.
2. Read the profile and delete what is not right.
3. Use step 2 for every new text, with the profile and your key points.
4. Optional: store the most important rules as custom instructions. According to Microsoft, you find them in the Microsoft Copilot Chat settings under Personalization, if your IT has enabled the feature.
5. Pass the profile on to your team so shared texts sound the same.

How to spot a good answer

• No more than twelve rules.
• An example sentence from your own texts for every rule.
• In step 2, two marked passages you check specifically.

The check

Count the changes you make to a draft, once with and once without the profile.

Limits

• Use texts of the same type. If you mix emails and technical articles, the profile gets blurry.
• Only upload texts that are really yours.
• According to Microsoft, custom instructions apply to all your conversations. A style for customer emails does not fit every chat.
• The menu names come from the English learning module. In your interface they may be named differently.

Sources

Microsoft Learn: Personalize Copilot with memory and custom instructions (training unit), Microsoft Learn: Write an effective prompt (training unit), Microsoft Learn: Frequently asked questions about Microsoft Copilot Chat. As of October 15, 2026.

Mark as practiced

Prefer to practice with guidance? Live course “Copilot Ninja in 4 Wochen” (in German) at the Power Platform Academy

Pass it on

Technique 11 from the PowerPlatformAcademy Dojo: The Shadow Writer. Your best texts become a style profile, and the next draft sounds like you. Free to copy, with a source on Microsoft Learn.

https://copilot.ninja/en/techniken/eigenen-schreibstil-festhalten/

Combo: No more chatbot tone