AssistantAI TRAINING
Learning guide · 7 courses

Free AI courses for office work

Free lessons, a free account and the ability to run every exercise are three different things. Copilot, Cowork, Dataverse, automation services and organization features may still need paid access. Check the course and software requirements before starting.

Find your starting point

Claude Academy's Claude 101 and AI Fluency courses are public self-paced lessons with quizzes and badges. Claude capabilities and limitations adds exercises and a final quiz. Some Claude features, including Cowork and enterprise tools, may require paid or managed access. Microsoft's Getting Started with Microsoft Copilot is a free Learn course with videos, quizzes and guided activities. It does not offer a certificate.

Make Academy's Automation to AI Agents: Foundation includes six months of course access and an assessment for an Explorer badge. Make execution allowances and outside model costs are separate. Microsoft's Power Automate course is free to read, but practice needs Power Automate, Dataverse and eligible AI Builder access. Draft, analyze, and present with Microsoft Copilot has a public course path, while the Outlook exercise needs a work or school account with Copilot.

Before starting, decide whether you need concepts, a review method, a no-cost demonstration or a live workflow. Free course access does not mean every software step is free.

Example to try

Put AI to work on a familiar task

  1. 01Start with

    A sample document or office task

  2. 02Make a first pass

    A useful first draft

  3. 03Make it yours

    Check the result before sharing

Use a fictional example to practise the workflow.

Compare the courses

CourseWhat you’ll doTimeCost and access
Claude 101Anthropic / Claude Academy
  • Thirteen lessons, a quiz and completion badge are listed
  • 2.5-hour course estimate
  • The course is free.
  • Software for the exercises may need a paid plan. Check the account requirements before you start.
Automation to AI Agents: FoundationMake Academy
  • Six included courses plus one assessment lead to an AI Automation Explorer badge.
  • This is one learning-path bundle
  • 2–3.5-hour learning-path estimate
  • The course is free.
  • Software for the exercises may need a paid plan. Check the account requirements before you start.
Draft, analyze, and present with Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft
  • Seven modules
  • The optional Outlook exercise takes a learner through triage, summary, draft, coaching and meeting conversion.
  • Seven modules
  • The course is free.
  • Software for the exercises may need a paid plan. Check the account requirements before you start.
Automate and extend your solutions with AI in Microsoft Power AutomateMicrosoft
  • Four modules include recurring/email flows, a Dataverse connector exercise and grounded-prompt practice.
  • The prompt exercise imports a fictional proposal dataset and tests a data-backed summary.
  • Four modules
  • The course is free.
  • Software for the exercises may need a paid plan. Check the account requirements before you start.
AI Fluency: Framework and foundationsAnthropic / Claude Academy
  • Fourteen lessons, additional activities and a final quiz support a completion badge.
  • The provider discloses AI assistance in development and human responsibility for course content.
  • Four-hour course estimate
  • The course is free.
  • Software for the exercises may need a paid plan. Check the account requirements before you start.
AI capabilities and limitationsAnthropic / Claude Academy
  • Thirteen lessons pair explanations with hands-on exercises and a final quiz.
  • It is a companion to AI Fluency, designed to be taken in either order.
  • 3.5-hour course estimate
  • The course is free.
  • Software for the exercises may need a paid plan. Check the account requirements before you start.
Getting Started with Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft
  • The listing names six assignments, activity readings for email/Word drafting, meeting prep and recap, Excel insights, presentation creation and day-planning retrieval/validation.
  • Most exercises are framed with free Copilot Chat
  • A few show enterprise capabilities and can be followed conceptually without the business license.
  • Five module estimates total about 6 hours
  • Course-specific FAQ states the course's features are free.
  • No certificate is awarded.
  • Copilot Chat is described as free
  • Business Copilot access may require an eligible paid license.

Take a closer look

Course page preview: Claude 101
Office workflowsAnthropic / Claude Academy

Claude 101

Start with your first Claude conversation, then explore projects, artifacts, skills and connected tools.

Format
Self-paced
Time
2.5-hour course estimate
Explore courseAvailable
Office workflowsAnthropic / Claude Academy

AI capabilities and limitations

Explore how prediction, context windows and instructions shape Claude’s responses, including its knowledge limits.

Format
Self-paced
Time
3.5-hour course estimate
Explore courseAvailable
Office workflowsMicrosoft

Getting Started with Microsoft Copilot

Learn Copilot prompts for email and Word drafts, then explore Teams meeting prep, Excel insights and project assistance.

Format
Self-paced
Time
Five module estimates total about 6 hours
Explore courseAvailable

Try this before you choose

Choose one free lesson and one task. List the account, app, connector and feature tier needed for its exercise, then try it with nonsensitive data and check current access and certificate terms.

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