Recent Discussions
Copilot, Excel and photos
We have a number of networking devices, all the same type, that we are deploying within an office. To speed up asset management, engineers are putting a label on the back under the MAC and serial numbers then taking a photo so it can be documented later by admin staff. Through Excel I've tried with a single photo and multiple photos to extract the MAC details successfully and put them in to cells at the same time. However, this doesn't tell us which device it is as it doesn't process the photos in any order. Therefore my next step is to be able to capture the label info we have put on and tie this info together with the serial number each time so its all from the same equipment. Is it possible to do this either one photo at a time or across multiple photos? TIAGrounding Changes for Copilot in Outlook
Ever since I've had a cull Copilot licence I've used prompts to summarise emails in my outlook folders. It's always worked well until 1-2 weeks ago when it's returning content outside the selected folder and or only reviewing a few of the emails in the selected folder. I've revised and reverse engineered the prompt but it's still not working and more worryingly it gives a variation every time. Does anyone know why this is happening or the workaround? Ultimately all I want it to do is summarise each email and drop all the emails into a table.
This is a Problem - Quick Response Mode Missing in Copilot
Hi, I noticed Quick Response mode has completely disappeared from Copilot, and have seen many other users report the same issue starting January 2026 on MS Q&A site. I also read that Microsoft is pushing a new Smart Mode, which changes how responses work and may be replacing older models. The Quick Response mode fit my workflow far better than Think Deeper and Smart does. Since it disappeared, and the introduction of Smart Mode, I have constantly run into issues because now the app is making it's own decisions and interpretations of subjects and projects which is extremely frustrating because it's 2 steps forward and 2 steps back. Taking away the ability to choose which mode a user prefers, and leaving it up to the bot, is taking away personal preference and what works for individuals needs. Quick Response was added during the GPT-5 update in 2025, so I don't understand why it suddenly vanished. Can someone please explain what's happening and whether QR is coming back, as this mode is something I need due to limited time and needing to finish projects. Please and thank you.Microsoft 365, Copilot & Copilot Studio News
February News Roundup for Technical and Business Leaders (2026) February 2026 was a significant month for enterprise AI across Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, and Microsoft Copilot Studio. From large-scale enterprise deployments to governance updates and expanded model flexibility, Microsoft continues transitioning from AI experimentation to enterprise AI at scale. Here’s your strategic and technical breakdown of what mattered most this month. https://dellenny.com/microsoft-365-copilot-copilot-studio-news/Copilot memory works?
Hi I don’t have a Microsoft 365 Business or Premium subscription, only 365 Personal, so I don't have access to the memory on/off toggle in https://m365.cloud.microsoft/. Before considering an upgrade, I'd like to know whether your experience - with memory enabled on https://m365.cloud.microsoft - matches mine when I enable memory on https://copilot.microsoft.com. Last week I asked Copilot to remember (1 week after clearing the memory): Whatever the conversation topic, Copilot must answer in a single paragraph maximum, unless Lorenzo explicitly asks for more When Lorenzo posts code (Excel, Power Query, JavaScript, Office Script…), Copilot must not explain what the code does unless Lorenzo explicitly asks When Lorenzo posts code (Excel, Power Query, JavaScript, Office Script…), Copilot must not make any comment on the code unless Lorenzo explicitly asks When Copilot posts code (Excel, Power Query, JavaScript, Office Script…), Copilot must never say "why it works" Each time, Copilot confirmed the memory was saved. Issue #1: One week later, only the last item appears in the memory panel Issue #2: In a new conversation, I asked for an Excel solution, and the first thing Copilot added after the solution was "why it works" Thanks & any question/clarification let me knowCommon Mistakes Orgs Make When Adopting Agentic AI
Agentic AI is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about innovations in enterprise technology. Unlike traditional automation tools, agentic systems can plan, reason, take initiative, and execute complex multi-step tasks with minimal human intervention. Powered by advances in large language models and autonomous decision frameworks, agentic AI promises to transform how organizations operate. But here’s the hard truth: many organizations rush into adoption without fully understanding what they’re implementing. The result? Wasted budgets, frustrated teams, compliance risks, and AI initiatives that quietly fade away. If your organization is exploring or actively implementing agentic AI, understanding the common pitfalls can save you time, money, and reputation. Below are the most frequent mistakes companies make — and what to do instead. https://dellenny.com/common-mistakes-orgs-make-when-adopting-agentic-ai/Variance Analysis shows “Coming soon” in Excel Finance add‑in
I have installed the Finance add‑in in Excel and can see other features such as reconciliation working correctly. However, the Variance analysis option is still greyed out and shows “Coming soon”. Has anyone been able to access Variance analysis yet? If so, is availability dependent on tenant region, licence type, preview enrolment, or admin configuration? Any insight on expected rollout timing or prerequisites would be appreciated.Optimizing Network and Connectivity for Copilot Performance
In today’s AI-driven workplace, tools like Microsoft Copilot are quickly becoming essential for productivity. Whether you’re drafting documents, analyzing spreadsheets, summarizing meetings, or generating code, Copilot relies heavily on fast, stable network connectivity. Yet many organizations focus on licensing and deployment while overlooking one critical component: network optimization. If Copilot feels slow, inconsistent, or unreliable, the issue is often not the AI itself it’s the network. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to optimize network and connectivity for Copilot performance, explore technical configuration steps, and share practical best practices to ensure your users experience seamless AI assistance. https://dellenny.com/optimizing-network-and-connectivity-for-copilot-performance/
Agents don't work after upgrade off LLM
We have experienced that several of our personal agents no longer provide the same output after the upgrade to the new language model. The agents are now making mistakes and, for example, say that they can no longer complete the task. Has anyone else experienced the same issue?
IME does not work in the app version of "M365 Copilot Chat" (only hiragana can be entered)
Hi,Everyone. Please help me with my problem. Environment Windows Ver : Windows 11 Pro 24H2 M365 Copilot Chat Ver : bizchat.20260210.47.1 Situation For the past few days, IME conversion has not worked and I can only input hiragana. The IME works properly on the web version, so you can input kanji characters as well. Question Is this a known bug? How can I solve this? Thank you, best regards.Data Boundaries and Permissions in an Agentic Copilot World
We’re entering a new era of AI one where copilots don’t just answer questions but take action. They schedule meetings, update CRM records, draft contracts, analyze dashboards, trigger workflows, and even coordinate across tools. These “agentic” copilots move beyond passive assistance into active participation. But as AI systems become more capable and autonomous but a critical question emerges: Where are the data boundaries? And who controls permissions in an agentic copilot world? If your AI can act on your behalf, it must also respect the same guardrails you would. Otherwise, the promise of productivity quickly turns into a governance nightmare. Let’s dig what data boundaries mean in this new landscape and how organizations can think clearly about permissions before scaling AI agents across their systems. https://dellenny.com/data-boundaries-and-permissions-in-an-agentic-copilot-world/
Unexpected forced‑citation behavior in Copilot (making minutes from transcript)
Hi everyone, I’d like to raise a problem I encountered recently when using Copilot for meeting‑minutes generation. I’m curious whether others are seeing the same behavior, and whether this is an intentional change or a bug. What happened While generating meeting minutes, Copilot was provided with: an agenda (Word document), a set of personal notes (Word), a meeting transcript (Word). and a Standard Operating Procedure on what I exactly want (style of writing, abbreviations etc.) This is a workflow that previously worked flawlessly. Copilot could combine the content and produce a clean, citation‑free output suitable for direct use in official documentation. However, during my most recent session, Copilot suddenly enforced mandatory citation insertion for any content derived from uploaded files or tool‑accessed data. The system required inline citation markers for everything — even routine content like agenda headings, contextual expansions, or narrative descriptions drawn from the transcript. Why this is a problem For many users, especially in environments where: minutes must follow a strict template, output must be clean and ready for distribution, citations, footnotes, tags, metadata, or brackets are not permitted, …the new forced‑citation behavior creates several issues: 1. Copilot can no longer produce clean narrative minutes Even when instructed explicitly to: avoid citations, avoid file references, avoid metadata, Copilot still attempts to insert forced citation tags if it believes the content originates from a file or tool call. 2. Copilot refuses to proceed if citations are disallowed When asked to generate the minutes without citations (as required), Copilot stops and reports that it cannot continue because the system now requires citations for any file‑based content. 3. Workarounds are impractical Possible workarounds offered by Copilot included: manually pasting tens of pages of transcript text into the chat, accepting citations and manually removing them afterwards, or reconstructing content without referencing the original documents. These options either cause significant manual work or lead to loss of accuracy. Impact This effectively means that Copilot can no longer: merge agenda + notes + transcript into a single clean output, produce minutes using uploaded source documents, deliver professional documentation without embedded reference markers. For scenarios where clean formatting is mandatory (e.g., governance documentation, legal minutes, internal councils, compliance‑driven reporting), this makes Copilot unusable for meeting‑minute generation under the previous workflow. Questions for the community Has anyone else noticed this new forced‑citation requirement when working with uploaded files or transcripts? Is this an intentional design change, a temporary system rule, or an unintended side‑effect of a recent update? Is there a supported method to allow Copilot to generate narrative content from uploaded documents without inserting citation tags? Are there recommended best practices for producing clean, citation‑free procedural minutes using Copilot under the current rules? I would really appreciate insights from others who rely on Copilot for structured meeting‑minute generation, as this change has significantly disrupted a previously stable workflow. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or experiences you can share. (and yes, Copilot drafted this message for me ;-) )What’s new in Copilot Chat quality roadmap — February 2026
We’re building Copilot Chat in the open. Every month we publish a quality roadmap that turns what we learn from customer feedback into improvements that make Copilot Chat’s responses more accurate, complete, relevant, and useful. Features shown here are available at no additional cost to users with a qualifying Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license. February Highlights: 🚀 Discover What’s New: Try the latest quality features today Summarize emails in one click: Open Copilot from Outlook and click the ‘Summarize’ button to instantly summarize the email you’re reading. 🚧 What’s Next: Explore upcoming quality features in development Create higher quality images faster: Create higher quality images faster using the new GPT-Image-1.5 model. (This functionality will provide parity with ChatGPT free.) 📌 Bookmark the monthly Copilot Chat quality roadmap and tell us what you want to see next: https://aka.ms/copilotchatroadmapCopilot Makes Branding Easy! New PowerPoint Brand Images Feature
🚀 New PowerPoint Feature: Brand Images + Copilot Enhances Brand Consistency! Microsoft has just released a powerful new capability in PowerPoint: Brand Images, allowing users to insert company‑approved logos, icons, and photos directly from within the app. No more searching through folders, Teams chats, or old emails to find the “right” logo. With the help of Microsoft 365 Copilot, users can now build professional, brand‑consistent presentations faster than ever. 📌 What this means for organizations: Centralized, controlled access to brand assets Ensures up‑to‑date logos and visuals Eliminates incorrect or outdated branding Seamless user experience inside PowerPoint To enable this feature, admins must configure the Organization Assets Library (OAL) in SharePoint and upload approved brand assets. Adding metadata and tags greatly improves search and filtering. I’ve created a full video breaking down everything you need to know: 👉 Feature overview 👉 Admin setup steps 👉 Best practices for asset organization 👉 How Copilot enhances the experience 🎥 Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/Uv8JpHCvgg0 #Microsoft365 #PowerPoint #Copilot #BrandManagement #M365Admin #SharePoint #Productivity #ModernWorkplace #MicrosoftUpdates #GiulianoDeLucaDo I need to have a Copilot license to use MCP servers through Frontier?
Do I need to have a Copilot license to use Microsoft-published MCP servers for Word / Teams / Outlook / SharePoint under Microsoft Agent 365 (Frontier)? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-agent-365/tooling-servers-overviewHuman-in-the-Loop: Where Copilot Agents Should (and Shouldn’t) Act Alone
In the fast-evolving world of artificial intelligence, the term “Copilot agent” has become almost ubiquitous. These intelligent assistants—whether guiding developers in code completion, helping customer service teams respond to emails, or assisting radiologists interpreting scans—are transforming how work gets done. But as with any powerful tool, the key question isn’t just what these agents can do, but when they should act alone and when humans must stay in the loop. This is where the concept of Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) becomes essential. It’s not about limiting AI; it’s about responsible collaboration between humans and machines. https://dellenny.com/human-in-the-loop-where-copilot-agents-should-and-shouldnt-act-alone/
Copilot Should Allow Structured Outputs from Enterprise Data
Copilot’s enterprise search works well—but once it retrieves emails, chats, or files, it forces all output into fixed paragraph summaries. This stops us from generating structured, actionable documents (matrices, task lists, project summaries, prioritized workflows, etc.) using our own organizational data. This is severely limiting normal business processes. Please consider updating Copilot to allow structured formats when users explicitly request them. It would dramatically improve real-world usability.Designing Safe Agentic Workflows with Microsoft Copilot
Agentic AI is no longer a futuristic concept it’s already reshaping how teams work. Microsoft Copilot has evolved beyond a simple assistant that responds to prompts. Today, it can act as an agent: planning tasks, making decisions, calling tools, and collaborating across systems like Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Azure, and enterprise data sources. But with great autonomy comes great responsibility. Designing safe agentic workflows is critical. Without proper guardrails, Copilot-powered agents can expose sensitive data, take unintended actions, or produce results that undermine trust. In this blog, we’ll explore how to design secure, reliable, and auditable agentic workflows using Microsoft Copilot, with clear architectural principles and hands-on technical steps. Whether you’re a developer, architect, or IT leader, this guide will help you move from experimentation to production safely. https://dellenny.com/designing-safe-agentic-workflows-with-microsoft-copilot/
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