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Microsoft 365 Copilot
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Microsoft Ignite 2024 | Microsoft 365 Copilot Innovation in Your Go-To Apps

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dereksnyder
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Nov 19, 2024

Today at Microsoft Ignite, we announced new capabilities for Microsoft 365 Copilot across the apps and services you use every day.  

Copilot + Pages 

In September, we announced Copilot Pages —a dynamic, persistent canvas designed for multiplayer AI collaboration.    

Copilot creates a pie chart from work data in BizChat which is added to a Copilot Page.

Today, we have announced that in addition to text, Pages now supports more content types, including rich artifacts like code, interactive charts, tables, diagrams, and math. These artifacts can be created in BizChat based on either your web or work data. They are interactive and stay in sync when shared through Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook, Teams, and more. We are also adding multi-Page support, whereby you can create multiple new Pages in a single chat session or add content from several chat sessions to a single Page. Additionally, Copilot chat prompts can now ground on Page content as the Page is updated, helping ensure subsequent Copilot responses are accurate. And, finally you'll be able to edit and share Pages on mobile so you can continue working with Copilot and colleagues while on the goAll these capabilities are rolling out to Pages in early 2025. 

Word 

Copilot in Word makes writing easier, helping you create content from what you already have, edit and share suggestions, and providing quick insights to understand information quickly.  

Copilot in Word finds additional files, meetings, and emails relevant to your prompt for you to choose as a source for your new document.

At Ignite, we announced that Copilot will help you find relevant sources and additional content with which to draft. When starting a new draft, Copilot will find additional files, emails and meetings to include. When drafting a new document, Copilot will show the sources throughout the new document and give you the option to keep the citations in the saved draft. Copilot coaches you on how to improve your document, sharing suggestions for tone, flow, and story. These new capabilities will begin rolling out by the end of the year and into Q1 of 2025. Read the blog to learn more. 

Excel 

We recently announced the general availability of Copilot in Excel, which is like having your own Excel expert that helps you prepare, analyze and share data.  

 

A user clicks the Copilot icon in Excel, types a table prompt, and Copilot creates it. The user requests changes, which Copilot makes before inserting the table.

At Ignite, we announced Copilot in Excel with Python is generally available for US (EN-US) using the Windows desktop app. Additionally, we have added a new start experience that enables people of all skill levels to create a personalized table for their tasks. Copilot in Excel can now reference Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files from your organizational data. You can ask Copilot in Excel to list the announcements from a newsletter drafted in Word. Copilot will respond with a list which you can insert into a new spreadsheet or copy and paste into your existing table. Responding to one of the top customer requests, we are adding the ability to import data from another Excel file, using natural language. Copilot in Excel can now search the web to find public information such as dates, statistics, and more without disrupting your workflow. You can look up a table of countries and their exchange rates. And with new text analysis capabilities, Copilot can help you better understand your data. Copilot can help you analyze text-based comments from a survey and provide insight on positive, negative, and neutral sentiment.  All these capabilities are rolling out between now and the end of the year. Read this blog to learn more. 

PowerPoint 

Creating presentations is a breeze with Copilot in PowerPoint.  

Copilot helps you translate your PowerPoint presentation.

At Ignite, we announced that Narrative Builder supports grounding on a file, letting you create the right story with the right information. Presentation Translator will enable you to use Copilot to translate your presentations into one of 40 languages, easily creating global-friendly presentations. Using add a topic with a file in Narrative Builder, you can steer Copilot to add new sections with work-specific context. In addition to SharePoint organization asset library, Copilot will connect with a Templafy asset library, helping you create new presentations that automatically include company images. Copilot will also help you rewrite text on your slide automatically, either to condense the content or make it more professional. Copilot will help you add speaker notes to all your slides, helping you be ready to present. All these capabilities will begin rolling out from today through January 2025.  Read the blog to learn more. 

Outlook 

We are delivering more Copilot in Outlook innovation to help you stay on top of your inbox and manage your meetings more easily than ever!  

 

Copilot schedules a meeting in Outlook using chat to add an agenda.

At Ignite, we announced the ability to schedule focus time or 1:1s, so you can use Copilot to schedule a meeting or find focus time using natural language. Copilot can help you draft an agenda for a meeting, including a summary and key bullet points to keep meetings productive. These features will begin rolling out beginning in December 2024 through Q1 of 2025. Read the blog to learn more. 

OneNote 

More Copilot features are coming to OneNote to help you organize your thoughts from multiple endpoints, all with the help of Copilot. At Ignite, we announced you can use Copilot Chat, with natural language commands, to summarize and rewrite notes for enhanced clarity and purpose. In a OneNote page, click the Copilot icon on the canvas, and take notes, summarize, create a task list, or rewrite the page. Additionally, Copilot can help you organize your Notebook section in seconds. Open Copilot in the OneNote app, type “organize this section,” and Copilot will organize your pages of notes. And finally, Microsoft 365 Copilot can now reason over your OneNote content. Whether you’re using Word, PowerPoint, BizChat, or other Microsoft 365 apps, Copilot can reason over your OneNote pages, providing citations directly back to your OneNote page. Read the blog to learn more.  

Copilot Chat references OneNote Notes within a Teams chat.

Read the blog to learn more.Read the blog to learn moreClipchamp 

At Ignite, we announced we’re combining the power of Clipchamp, our video editing software, and Stream, our enterprise video platform. This unified platform allows you to easily shift between creating and consuming video content and enhancing productivity and efficiency for enterprise organizations. Additionally, you can now summarize video content embedded in Outlook and PowerPoint.  

 

An image of Clipchamp’s home screen.

Forms 

Copilot in Forms helps you compose and improve your forms and quizzes, helping you gain valuable feedback and insights.  
 
At Ignite, we announced that you can use Copilot in Forms to help you collect responses. Read the blog to learn more about all the recent Forms innovation and what’s coming next.  

Copilot in Forms provides suggestions to improve your form.

Teams and Places 

New AI-powered features across Microsoft Places, Teams and Copilot triangulate across the hybrid workplace to make it simple, fast and easy to plan in-person and virtual touchpoints with colleagues.    

 

Microsoft Places is open in an Outlook calendar view.

At Ignite, we announced that the Places card is your one-stop-shop to see what’s happening on a given day and take actions like manually updating your work plan and quick-booking rooms or desks — directly from your new calendar experience in Teams and Outlook. Copilot in Places recommends if today is the best day to come into the office using coworker workplans, in-person meetings, and any team guidance for the day. Additionally, Places finder makes it easy to act on these insights and book the right spaces, whether meeting rooms or individual desks, for your in-office experience. Copilot can also manage your room booking and rebook, if any room declines, or if the meeting changes. Microsoft Places is now generally available in Teams Premium. Speaker recognition is now available in additional meeting spaces, from a Teams Room to a BYOD room. This identifies voices and people in a room so it’s always clear who’s speaking. Speaker recognition also enables Copilot to identify the correct speakers in intelligent meeting recaps, ensuring that meeting notes and action items are correct. Read the blog to learn more. 

 

Agents in Microsoft 365 

At Ignite, we introduced the preview of agents in Microsoft 365. Agents supercharge Copilot – adding specialized skills and knowledge while automating specific tasks at hand. 

 

A screenshot of the Employee Self-Service Agent.

The Facilitator agent in Teams meetings and chats enhances collaboration by taking notes and sharing summaries in real-time. The Interpreter agent provides real-time speech-to-speech translation in up to nine languages during Teams meetings, removing language barriers. The Project Manager agent automates project tasks in Planner, from creation to execution. Agents in SharePoint leverage rich SharePoint content to solve business challenges. The Employee Self-Service Agent quickly addresses common policy questions and simplifies HR and IT services. Learn more about the Employee Self-Service Agent by signing up for our upcoming webinar, and by joining our private preview here. Read the blog to learn more. 

SharePoint 

SharePoint is your organization’s foundation of knowledge and insights. 

A screenshot of a SharePoint site where you can create an agent.

As mentioned above, we announced the general availability of Agents in SharePoint. These agents will empower users to discover and unlock valuable information within their growing content, for specific projects and processes, to gain insights faster and make smarter business decisions.  Read the blog to learn more. 

Copilot Analytics + Business Impact Report

Today we announced Viva Insights will be included in Microsoft 365 Copilot at no additional charge as part of the new Copilot Analytics. Copilot Analytics is designed to empower every IT and business leader to measure adoption and business impact of Copilot and agents — with out-of-the-box experiences and customizable reporting for deeper analysis against your KPIs. Learn more here.

 

The new Copilot Business Impact Report, powered by Viva Insights, is now available in public preview to help organizations understand how their use of Microsoft 365 Copilot relates to key business outcomes. Businesses can gain valuable insights into their operations and make data-driven decisions to enhance productivity and improve business value. Copilot Impact Survey Template in Viva Pulse is now generally available to help business leaders understand employee adoption and the business value of AI. We’re also expanding the generative AI capabilities embedded across Microsoft Viva. Whether you are looking for help to draft more engaging employee communications or simplifying data analysis for business leaders, Copilot in Microsoft Viva can help. We also announced even more Copilot capabilities coming to Viva, including Viva Amplify, Viva Glint and Viva Insights.  

For IT admins: 

As we stand at the forefront of AI transformation, your role as IT leaders, admins, and AI champions has never been more crucial in driving secure administration, and successful adoption and impact with Microsoft 365 Copilot.  

 

Copilot admin center dashboard.

At Ignite, we announced the availability of a new role called AI administrator, scoped for administration of Microsoft 365 Copilot and enterprise AI services on Microsoft 365. Now, admin users assigned with the AI administrator role can efficiently administer Copilot without the vast permissions in the Global admin role. Additionally, Copilot in Microsoft 365 admin centers is targeted for general availability in 2025, which transforms the IT admin experience by leveraging AI to optimize routine tasks and generate insights that enable better decision-making. Last year, we introduced a dedicated page in the Microsoft 365 admin center for Copilot administration. Finally, we're excited to announce the availability of a new stand-alone report for Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection. Now, you’ll have visibility into the number of Microsoft Copilot active users, average daily active users, as well as totals and trends for the number of active users by app entry point. 

 

For even more Ignite content, check out the get started page. We hope you’re excited about all the innovation we are bringing to Microsoft 365 Copilot. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and we’re grateful for the time you’ve taken to share your thoughts. It’s your input that helps us to continually improve and provide the best possible experience. Stay tuned for even more updates in the months to come.

Updated Nov 25, 2024
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