Forum Discussion
Removal of Copilot Chat Availability in M365 Apps?!?
The frustration from larger companies is completely valid IMHO.
Especially for those companies that have already invested heavily in user adoption and change management like grant_jenkins pointed out.
Keeping in mind that I'm a long-time Microsoft MVP but Not a Microsoft employee, here's what I know:
The two message center posts about this change: MC1253858 vs. MC1253863
What's leaving
The integrated Copilot Chat pane directly inside the desktop and web applications of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
What's staying
Access to standard Copilot Chat through Microsoft 365 Chat as well as the chat pane within Microsoft Teams. But as JukkaNiiranen pointed out, through Teams you can just get to the existing M365 Chat but will not have access to any premium Copilot Teams features.
I think the most concerning part of this rollout is that it's going to affect the enterprise tenants the most. If you've already done a lot of user education towards how to use the free Copilot within Office apps, now you have to tell those users that they don't have access to that functionality anymore. That does really suck and makes you wonder what else is going to change in the future and what you should invest in and not invest in.
My opinion is that this is a commercial lever to drive premium licensing of Copilot because Microsoft knows that the costs are going to get out of hand if they continue to allow big organizations to have this functionality for free within the Office apps.
My advice would be to urgently update your internal FAQs and adoption materials or, if you have a digital adoption platform, make sure that the in-app guidance lets people know that things will change on April 15th so you don't have a flood of help desk tickets.
Yes, the naming is confusing. Based on the current Microsoft documentation, these are experience labels rather than separate licences:
- M365 Copilot (Premium) means the user has a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence and receives the full, priority experience in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
- M365 Copilot (Basic) means the user does not have the paid add-on but still receives standard access in those apps.
- Copilot Chat (Basic) means the user does not have the paid add-on and does not have Copilot Chat inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote.
Copilot Chat itself remains available through the Microsoft 365 Copilot app and web, with supported entry points in Outlook and Teams. Word, Excel and PowerPoint agents are also available from the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
The exact experience can vary by licence and tenant configuration, so organisation size alone is not enough to determine which Basic experience users receive. The label displayed in the app is the clearest indicator.
Microsoft documents the current labels and access points here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/overview