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Use cloud storage files in Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot CLI

Use files in any storage RaiDrive supports — a cloud drive, object storage or a NAS — with Microsoft's AI tools through a RaiDrive drive. In the Microsoft Copilot app for Windows, attach a file from the drive to the chat; Copilot reads it and answers. GitHub Copilot CLI is a program that runs in a terminal (a window where you type commands, such as PowerShell). You start it in a folder on the drive, and it reads and writes the files there.

Before you begin

  • A drive connected in RaiDrive — see Create your first drive. The examples use OneDrive as Y: for the Microsoft Copilot app and Google Drive as Z: for GitHub Copilot CLI.
  • The Microsoft Copilot app for Windows, signed in.
  • For GitHub Copilot CLI: the copilot command installed and signed in with your GitHub account (see GitHub's Installing GitHub Copilot CLI).

Microsoft Copilot app

The Microsoft Copilot app does not work in a folder on your PC. You attach files from the drive, and Copilot answers in the chat. It can also make a new file from them — for example a PowerPoint presentation — which you download:

  1. In the message box, click +, then Upload images and files.

  2. In the file picker (the window where you choose a file), open This PC. A network drive (the default), such as OneDrive (Y:), is listed under Network locations. A Local Disk drive is listed under Devices and drives.

    File picker with OneDrive (Y:) selected under Network locations

  3. Open the drive and choose a file (for example Y:\Exports\export-results-2022.xlsx).

  4. Click Open. The file appears above the message box. To add more files — for example the workbooks of the other years — repeat steps 1 to 4 for each file. Copilot limits the number of files in one message.
  5. Ask for the work — for example "Analyze the yearly export results in these files and make a PowerPoint presentation."

  6. Copilot answers with a link, Download the PowerPoint presentation. Click it. The app saves the file (.pptx) in your Downloads folder. To keep it with the workbooks, move it to the folder on the drive (for example Y:\Exports).

    Copilot with three yearly export workbooks attached from the drive, offering the presentation to download

Copilot accepts documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, text files, CSV files (tables saved as plain text), code and images.

How it differs from tools that work in a folder

  • Copilot uploads the attached file to the chat (the app tells you it sends a copy to your OneDrive). It does not open a folder on the drive and does not write files back to it. A file Copilot makes is downloaded to your PC; to keep an answer or a file on the drive, save it there yourself.
  • Attach the files you want to ask about. Copilot does not see the other files on the drive.

Other AI tools can work on a whole folder on the drive. They read many files and write results there. For that, use GitHub Copilot CLI below, Claude, ChatGPT and Codex or Antigravity.

GitHub Copilot CLI

GitHub Copilot CLI works in a folder on the drive, like the other coding agents. It reads the files there, runs commands and saves its results to the folder:

  1. Open PowerShell — search for "PowerShell" in the Start menu.

  2. Type the two lines below, one at a time, and press Enter after each. The first line (cd) moves to the folder on the drive — replace Z:\Exports with your folder. The second line starts GitHub Copilot CLI:

    cd Z:\Exports
copilot

  3. The first time you start it in a folder, it asks Do you trust the files in this folder? Choose Yes.

  4. Ask for the work — for example "Analyze the yearly export results in this folder and make a PowerPoint presentation. Save it here as a .pptx file, and don't leave any other new files in this folder."

GitHub Copilot CLI reads the files in the folder without asking. Before it edits a file or runs a command, it asks you to allow it.

In this recording GitHub Copilot CLI reads the four yearly export workbooks in Z:\Exports and saves a PowerPoint presentation in the same folder.

The first slide of the presentation GitHub Copilot CLI saved:

First slide of the presentation GitHub Copilot CLI made from the yearly export workbooks

Help from GitHub

Next steps