Welcome to the June 2024 edition of What's New in Copilot for Microsoft 365! Every month we highlight new admin and end-user features in Copilot for Microsoft 365, enabling you to better prepare, plan, and roll out Copilot features that help your users be more productive and efficient. This month you will learn about expanded availability, new reporting on adoption and impact, Copilot Deployment Kit to drive adoption with your users, a plugin to extend Copilot in Teams meetings capabilities, and new end-user features in Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint and more.
Admin and management capabilities:
- Expanded availability of Copilot for Microsoft 365
- Review Copilot adoption trends with Viva Insights
- Gain more understanding of your company’s use of Copilot with Viva Insights
- Drive awareness and adoption with the Copilot Deployment Kit in Viva Amplify
- Extend Copilot in Teams meetings capabilities with a Copilot for Sales plugin
- Learn about new hands-on prompt guidance in Copilot Academy in Viva Learning
- Join the Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) session for Copilot in Outlook
End-user capabilities:
- Rewrite SharePoint pages with Copilot in SharePoint Text v1
- Add visuals to Word and PowerPoint documents with Microsoft Designer in Copilot
- Transform messages and manage access to meeting artifacts with Copilot in Teams
- Access more information across the Microsoft 365 tenant with Copilot in Word
- Create richer presentations with Copilot in PowerPoint
- Expanded data structure support and comprehensive answers in Copilot in Excel
- Share work plans with Copilot-assisted Loop page creation
Expanded availability of Copilot for Microsoft 365
Microsoft continues to invest in expanding availability and purchase options for Copilot for Microsoft 365. In May, we extended eligibility to all Microsoft 365 and Office 365 commercial suites. Now, as previously announced, we have extended eligibility to standalone plans. Copilot for Microsoft 365 can now be purchased as an add-on to the following plans:
- Microsoft 365 Apps for business and enterprise
- Microsoft Teams Essentials, Enterprise, and EEA
- Exchange Kiosk, Plan 1, and Plan 2
- SharePoint Plan 1 and Plan 2
- OneDrive for Business Plan 1 and Plan 2
- Microsoft Planner Plan 1 (formerly Project Plan 1)
- Microsoft Project Plan 3 and Plan 5
- Project Online Essentials
- Visio Plan 1 and Plan 2
- Microsoft ClipChamp
Users licensed with one of the plans listed above and Copilot for Microsoft 365 can use all the Copilot capabilities available within the apps and services included with that plan. Learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365 prerequisites and other requirements.
Review Copilot adoption trends with Viva Insights
In the Adoption and Impact pages in the Copilot Dashboard, you can see six-month lookback trendline views for your organization. The new Adoption page trendline shows Copilot adoption trends across the trailing six months, filterable by either number of Copilot active users, % of active Copilot users, number of Copilot licensed employees, or % of Copilot licensed employees. Six-month lookback trendline views will be available in July. Learn more about the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers.
Reporting dashboard with line graph representing 6 months of trend data.
Gain more understanding of your company’s use of Copilot with Viva Insights
The new Copilot Adoption PBI template enables a deeper look into how your organization is adopting Copilot, including a dynamic date slicer, trendlines, and trendlines, and a section highlighting top actions. The Copilot Adoption PBI template is available now from analyst workbench in Viva Insights.
Reporting dashboard with multiple graphical representations of Copilot adoption data.
The new Copilot Impact PBI template also enables a deeper look into areas of Copilot impact on your organization’s behavioral data, including a dynamic date slicer, Copilot assisted hours and value calculator, group comparisons, and the ability to customize active usage definitions.
Reporting dashboard with multiple graphical representations of Copilot impact data.
Drive awareness and adoption with the Copilot Deployment Kit in Viva Amplify
The Copilot Deployment Kit can help you drive Copilot awareness and adoption by helping employees prepare for Copilot and understand what it can do for them in their Microsoft 365 apps. It includes eight pre-drafted communications and campaign briefs with objectives and key messages that can easily be edited and published through multiple channels including Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint. You can guide users through their Copilot journey with pre-packaged video introductions, practical ways to try Copilot, and example prompts that have been tried and tested using Microsoft’s own rollout strategy. The Copilot Deployment Kit in Viva Amplify began rolling out in June.
a computer screenshot of the Copilot Deployment Kit.
Extend Copilot in Teams meetings capabilities with a Copilot for Sales plugin
Copilot extensions are a way to extend the capabilities of Copilot for Microsoft 365, enabling it to interact with and process data from various sources, enhancing user productivity and offering a more personalized experience. Now, you can extend the power and knowledge of Copilot in Teams meetings for your sales organization by enabling a plugin to connect to Copilot for Sales. With this plugin, Copilot can process conversations in real time and return insights to sellers, such as an overview of an account opportunity, based on your organization’s Copilot for Sales data. Copilot can also suggest dynamic prompts for querying account information when sellers mention keywords and names during a discussion. You can enable the plugin with just a few clicks, and sellers can turn it on from the Copilot plugin menu. Copilot’s ability to intelligently surface data and insights from your organization’s Copilot for Sales knowledge base during customer meetings can transform sellers’ efficiency and drive better meeting outcomes. This feature began rolling out in June.
A video of a computer screen showing a Microsoft Teams meeting with the Copilot side pane open, returning account information.
Learn about new hands-on prompt guidance in Copilot Academy in Viva Learning
In April, we announced the general availability of Microsoft Copilot Academy, a new addition to our Viva Learning platform designed to help your users effectively use Copilot through guided upskilling. Now Copilot Academy supports new hands-on prompt guidance from Copilot Lab. These exercises, combined with the guidance and documentation in Copilot Academy, help learners uplevel their Copilot skills all in one place. Copilot Academy started rolling out in May.
A screenshot sowing the Viva Learning interface with Microsoft Copilot Academy showing as enabled.
Join the Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) session for Copilot in Outlook
We will be hosting an Ask Me Anything (AMA) event on Copilot in Outlook on Tuesday, July 9, from 9-10 AM PT. Engage with experts to discuss pivotal topics like email composition assistance, summarization, scheduling and calendar management, and more. This is a chat-based event, so come ready to post your questions in the comments section!
Promotional graphic for an Ask Microsoft Anything session on Copilot in Outlook featuring four Microsoft employees with their names and roles, along with the event’s date and time.
Rewrite SharePoint pages with Copilot in SharePoint Text v1
In July, users will be able to use Copilot to quickly rewrite existing text on SharePoint pages or news posts, helping to ensure that their audience can engage with high quality content. Within seconds, users can easily change the tone of their text, review the content before replacing it, make the text concise or longer, and even auto rewrite the text. Copilot in SharePoint Text v1 is rolling out in July.
A computer screen showing prompts being written into Copliot within SharePoint, and clicking generate to create a new page.
Add visuals to Word and PowerPoint documents with Microsoft Designer in Copilot
Getting the right image for a document or presentation is getting a whole lot easier with new Microsoft Designer capabilities in Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Starting in September, PowerPoint and Word users can create the perfect AI-generated image with a simple prompt, or pull in the ideal stock photo. To do this, they just open Copilot and use a prompt to create an image… and Copilot will generate the image. Users can also open Copilot and type a prompt telling it to find an image…, and Copilot will find options from Microsoft’s stock photography library to select from. In PowerPoint, Designer will automatically add the image into a compelling slide design.
These Designer integrations start rolling out in September for Word and PowerPoint.
Two screenshots, the first says “Create an image of a colorful chair in a Claymation style”, the second says “find me an image of space”.
Transform messages and manage access to meeting artifacts with Copilot in Teams
Users can now instruct Copilot to customize their drafted messages. When writing a message in a Teams chat or channel, users can open Copilot beneath the message box and type a prompt such as “add a call to action,” “make it persuasive," or "convert my message into a list and add inclusive language." Copilot will adjust the message accordingly. This feature is now available. Learn more about transforming messages with Copilot in Teams.
A video of a computer screen showing a chat in Microsoft Teams with the mouse clicking on the Copilot icon and selecting the option called custom.
Now, meeting organizers have the flexibility to manage which attendees have access to meeting recordings, transcripts, and AI-generated insights based on transcripts, such as Copilot interactions and intelligent meeting recap. To provide access, meeting organizers can select from three options: (1) Everyone (2) Organizers and Co-organizers, or (3) Specific People. To access this meeting option, meeting organizers can go to any of the meeting option entry points and select “Who has access to the recording or transcript.” By default, access is set to ‘Everyone,’ but meeting organizers can change this before the meeting starts. Copilot will not be available to meeting attendees excluded from access to the recording or transcript, even if “Allow Copilot” option is set to “During the meeting.” This new meeting option started rolling out in June to Copilot for Microsoft 365 licensed users and will be available to Teams Premium licensed users next quarter.
A computer screenshot displaying the recording and transcription meeting options in Microsoft Teams.
Access more information across the Microsoft 365 tenant with Copilot in Word
Now, in addition to referencing Word and PowerPoint files when using Copilot in Word, users can reference PDFs and specific emails and meetings. This increases access to information across your organization’s Microsoft 365 tenant when creating or summarizing Word documents. The ability to reference PDFs and encrypted Word documents started rolling out in June. Referencing Microsoft Cloud information, starting with emails and meetings, will begin rolling out this month. Learn more about drafting with referenced files and information.
An image of a blank Word document with a Draft with Copilot window open. The prompt says “Write a project proposal based on /” and a menu shows several reference options
Create richer presentations with Copilot in PowerPoint
Users can now create presentations from additional PDF and encrypted Word file types. This gives users richer context to build new presentations, in addition to referencing Word documents and PowerPoint presentations today. This feature began rolling out in June.
When users create a new presentation from a Copilot prompt, Copilot in PowerPoint will deliver higher quality presentations with richer content and more relevant images. These improvements include:
- Refined designs for title, section, and content slides
- Robust presentation structure with agenda, section and conclusion slides
- Elegant transitions and animations throughout the presentation
These features began rolling out in June.
An image of a new “Beautiful Spring Flowers in Season” PowerPoint presentation. Copilot is open on the right-hand side with the prompt: Create a presentation about beautiful spring flowers in season for my Flower Shop named Blissful Blooms. Make sure to include associations and meanings for each flower.
After a user asks Copilot a question in PowerPoint chat, an answer will be generated using the rich, people-centric data and insights from the Microsoft cloud, Microsoft Graph, and Microsoft Bing search. That way, users can stay in the app, ask questions, and maintain focus on creating their presentations. This feature began rolling out in June.
In a blank PowerPoint presentation, Copilot chat is open. A question was asked, and Copilot responded by pulling in information from both the company and the web and includes references for where the information was sourced.
Expanded data structure support and comprehensive answers in Copilot in Excel
Users are no longer limited to using Copilot in Excel only in Excel tables, because Copilot in Excel now works on data ranges resembling tables with a single row of headers on top. This saves time by eliminating the need to format data. so users can start analyzing with Copilot right away. This feature started rolling out this month.
In addition, the edit box is now available on any Excel worksheet, regardless of the selected cell. Copilot will reason over the nearest table, or data range resembling a table, to the user’s selected grid area on the same worksheet. This enables users to interact with Copilot immediately, regardless of their position in the worksheet, saving time and increasing productivity. This feature started rolling out this month.
Copilot in Excel now also provides more conversational and comprehensive answers to a wide array of Excel-related questions. When prompted, users can now receive step-by-step instructions including formula examples, or can see corrections and explanations of formula errors. This feature started rolling out this month.
A computer screenshot showing Excel with a Copilot chat window open.
Share work plans with Copilot-assisted Loop page creation
Microsoft Loop pages are flexible canvases that help users organize and share their work with their teams. They can use Copilot in Loop to go from a blank page to a structured document ready for team collaboration as quickly as possible. They can start from scratch or select an existing page or template as a starting point, and Copilot can easily create a Loop page that suits their specific needs, whether it's a project plan, a feedback session, or something else. This feature began rolling out in May.
Text is entered in the Copilot prompt field in Microsoft Loop asking for a new page to be built based on an existing page. The new page is generated for the current topic.
Did you know? The Microsoft 365 Roadmap is where you can get the latest updates on productivity apps and intelligent cloud services. Please note that the dates mentioned in this article are tentative and subject to change. Check back regularly to see what features are in development or coming soon.
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