Back in 2023, Microsoft first introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI assistant available inside productivity apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and others to make content creation easier than ever. Since its launch, Microsoft 365 Copilot has received a steady stream of updates to make it more powerful and useful for users.
At Ignite 2024, Microsoft introduced several new capabilities for Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve user productivity.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Actions:
Users often use Microsoft 365 Copilot for repetitive tasks like asking for status updates and summarizing meeting recaps. With the new Microsoft 365 Copilot Actions, users can create customizable prompt templates that can be automated. Users can customize the prompt to be triggered by specific events. Microsoft 365 Copilot Actions are now in private preview.
Copilot in Teams:
Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams can now analyze the content presented during meetings. Copilot already has access to chat messages and meeting transcriptions. With onscreen content access, users can ask Copilot to summarize screen-shared content and more. This new Copilot in Teams feature will be in preview in early 2025.
Teams users often share files during their conversations. With the new file summaries support in 1:1 and group chats in Teams, Copilot can summarize file content, allowing users to learn about the file without opening it. Microsoft 365 Copilot file summaries will be available in preview in early 2025 in both desktop and mobile apps.
Copilot in PowerPoint:
Copilot in PowerPoint will be getting the following three new capabilities:
- Narrative Builder based on a file: To create a high-quality first draft of slides, Copilot"s Narrative Builder can now refer to a particular file to create a compelling narrative. This feature will be generally available with Copilot in PowerPoint beginning in January.
- Presentation translation: Microsoft 365 Copilot can now translate an entire PowerPoint presentation into one of 40 languages without affecting the slide design. This translation feature will be generally available with Copilot in PowerPoint on the web from December and for desktop and Mac in January 2025.
- Organization image support: Microsoft 365 Copilot can now create presentations using the organization"s images to ensure that the created slides are on brand. This feature will be generally available in Q1 2025.
Copilot in Excel:
Microsoft 365 Copilot is coming to Excel"s new start experience to help users create a spreadsheet from scratch. With this new capability, users can now ask Copilot what they want to create, get suggestions, and refine them further. This feature will be generally available by the end of the year.
Copilot in Outlook:
Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook will allow users to ask Copilot to schedule focus time or 1:1s. Instead of just scheduling the meeting at a specified time, Copilot can now find the best available time for both people. Copilot can even create an agenda for the meeting. This capability will be available by the end of November.
Copilot in OneNote:
Copilot in OneNote can now organize the contents available in a whole section. The section can include typed, handwritten, and voice notes. Copilot will first provide a preview of the organization; users can further chat with Copilot to refine the structure and click apply to update their section with organized content. This update is in preview.
Copilot Pages:
The recently introduced Copilot Pages is a dynamic, persistent canvas to enhance collaboration in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Copilot when signed in with a Microsoft Entra account. Copilot Pages is getting the following new features in early 2025 during general availability:
- Rich artifacts: In addition to text, Pages will support more content types, including code, interactive charts, tables, diagrams, and math from enterprise or web data. By adding this rich content to Pages, users will be able to further edit and refine it with Copilot, as well as share it for collaborative work.
- Multi-Page support: Users will have the flexibility to add content to Copilot Pages in a variety of ways. They will be able to create multiple new Pages in a single chat session or add content from multiple chat sessions to a single Page. To continue building on a topic, users can add to Pages created in previous Copilot conversations.
- Ground on Page content: Copilot chat prompts will be grounded on the Page content as the page is updated, making subsequent Copilot responses more relevant.
- Pages available on mobile: Users will be able to continue working with Copilot and colleagues while on the go, with the ability to view, edit, and share Pages on mobile.
With these updates, Microsoft 365 Copilot continues to evolve as a powerful AI assistant, streamlining workflows and making complex tasks more manageable for enterprise customers.