Extending Copilot: New Features for End Users, Admins, Developers, and ISVs

Microsoft

Nov 19, 2024

In this blog post I'm excited to share a roundup of all the Ignite announcements covering new value and improvements to Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility. Users can extend Microsoft 365 Copilot with agents to customize its capabilities, connect to external data and actions, and automate their business workflows. We have exciting announcements this Ignite to help users get more out of Copilot, simplify development and publishing experiences for developers and ISVs with the new Microsoft 365 agents SDK, and help IT confidently adopt Copilot and agents with the Copilot Control System.

New features for end users

Agents in Word and PowerPoint

End users will soon be able to acquire, and use agents tailored to their specific workflows without leaving Copilot within their Word and PowerPoint documents. This seamless integration with the app store allows agents to read document context and insert items directly into your document. For example, you will be able to:

Acquire an agent without leaving Word:

Use an agent to read selections from Word and insert text and images back into the document:

This level of integration makes it easier for users to create high-quality documents and presentations without having to switch between different apps or search for information manually.

File upload improvements

Users can simplify the process of uploading files as grounding knowledge by using a the / command during interactions with an agent. This feature supports file uploads as part of a prompt, including SharePoint files and content sourced from connectors, making it easier to integrate and utilize external data sources. This capability streamlines the process of incorporating external data into agent interactions, making it easier for users to provide the necessary context and information for the agent to perform its tasks.

New features for admins

We are introducing the Copilot Control System, designed to help IT confidently adopt and accelerate the business value of Copilot and agents. For more details, read Jared Spataro’s Ignite blog. Here, I’ll highlight additional Copilot Control System capabilities introduced at Ignite to help IT admins track usage, index more external business data to ground Copilot and agent responses, and export user interactions with Copilot for compliance scenarios.

New usage reports in Microsoft 365 admin center

In the coming weeks we will introduce active user metrics of agents, showing totals, summaries, and trend views in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. You’ll be able to view agent details such as App ID, Name, Publisher, Active users, and the Last activity date. With these new user metrics, admins can now track agents end to end from deployment to usage in admin center. Agents add new skills to Copilot and configuring new connectors expands the pre-indexed knowledge available to Copilot. The initial release of this update will be limited to usage of agents built by your organization via Copilot Studio (including agent builder) and Teams Toolkit. In the coming months we will enable information on the usage of agents built by Microsoft and Microsoft Partners, as well as usage of connectors.

No extra cost for indexing your business data into Copilot

We've removed license requirements for indexing data into Copilot, now allowing 50 million items per tenant. IT admins can configure Microsoft Graph connectors in MAC, which expands the pre-indexed knowledge available to Copilot. These connectors enhance enterprise search and ground Copilot and agent responses by indexing external data alongside Microsoft 365 productivity data, while respecting access controls helping to ensure users only access information they are authorized to view.

We are also expanding the catalog of pre-built Graph connectors available in MAC for IT to configure, with 20 additional pre-built connectors such as CB Insights, Mural, S&P Global, and more made available by Jan 2025. This will help organizations index more of their external business data into Copilot at no additional cost and expand what Copilot knows for every user in the tenant.

New Copilot activity APIs

The new Copilot Activity APIs to export Copilot interaction data will be available in public preview by the end of the year. Customers want flexible options to export Copilot interactions to meet various reporting, security, investigation, and compliance needs. These APIs capture the user intent and the sensitive corporate information that Copilot has accessed to generate the response.

New capabilities for developers

Microsoft 365 Agents SDK

We are excited to share the new Microsoft 365 Agents SDK is now in public preview. Developers can build enterprise-grade, scalable, multi-channel agents with code using the SDK. Initially launching with support for C#, and coming soon for Node.JS and Python, these agents can operate across various channels, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Teams, the web, and more. They can also access agents built with Copilot Studio to extend their capabilities, enabling continuity from Copilot Studio to code-first scenarios. Available in C#, developers can call AI services of their choice, including Azure AI Foundry, Semantic Kernel, or others.

The availability of the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK in public preview is a significant milestone for developers. It provides the tools and resources needed to build robust, scalable agents that can operate across multiple channels, ensuring a seamless user experience. Try out the new SDK in public preview.

Code Interpreter

Agents now have the capability to perform complex data analysis by executing scripts and processing data directly within their environment. Now generally available, this can reduce the need for external tools and allow for advanced data-driven applications, handling tasks such as data manipulation, transformation, and visualization. For developers, this means that they can build more sophisticated agents with Copilot Studio and Teams Toolkit to handle a wide range of data-related tasks.

Scoped web

Agents can now reference data from up to four public websites, enhancing their grounding capabilities. This allows them to access and incorporate relevant information from external, real-time sources, making their responses more informed and contextually accurate. This feature is particularly useful for agents that need to provide up-to-date information or context from external sources. Over the coming weeks this will be generally available through Teams Toolkit and Copilot Studio.

New features for ISVs (Independent Software Vendors)

Plugin evolution to agents

ISVs have worked with us through the Copilot journey, creating outstanding plugins for their customers. Plugins are components of agents that enable actions with external systems. ISVs that created plugins will have their plugins upgraded to agents in the user experiences by the end of the year. Users will now be able to access all their installed agents (including those built as plugins) via one location in Copilot. These upgraded plugins will show up in the right pane of Copilot just like any other agent and support agent experiences like focused chats. This upgrade will provide coherence in how users discover, install, manage, and use different types of agents.

This will apply to the Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences for desktop and web across the Microsoft 365 app (Office) and Teams. Copilot in Word, Copilot in PowerPoint, Copilot in Microsoft Teams Meeting and Copilot on Teams mobile will follow in the coming months

Partner Center publishing

ISVs can now publish their agents and connectors under the Microsoft 365 and Copilot program in Partner Center for broad distribution to customers. Each submission undergoes app validation and upon completion your agents and connectors will be made available to customers in relevant stores. E.g., a published connector will be made available to developers in Copilot Studio and agents for end users can show up in the store experiences in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 hosts such as Teams, Outlook and more.

Certification Evidence in Admin Center

ISVs can now make their Microsoft 365 Certification evidence available to IT admins. This is now available in the Teams admin center and will be available from Microsoft 365 admin center (MAC) in early 2025. Microsoft 365 Certification for ISV apps is a rigorous review of the app's security and compliance against the Microsoft 365 Certification framework. For customers, this feature provides their IT admins with the information they need to make informed decisions about the agents and apps they deploy within their organization. IT Admins can evaluate certification evidence directly from MAC enabling them to review agents and apps quickly, expediting the approval process.

Learn more about Copilot + agents

The new extensibility features announced this week at Ignite are designed to enhance productivity and streamline workflows for end users, admins, developers, and ISVs. By leveraging these capabilities, organizations like yours can maximize value of their Microsoft 365 Copilot investments and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.