In this month’s blog I’m excited to share the latest updates coming to Copilot for Microsoft 365 from the Copilot Wave 2 announcement last month.
Copilot Pages
Among the most exciting developments is the introduction of Copilot Pages, powered by Microsoft Loop. This new feature transforms collaborative projects by organising all critical information from the web and documents into reusable business assets on a single page.
Copilot Pages is a dynamic, persistent canvas that allows for multiplayer AI collaboration. It enables users to interact with AI-generated content in a more durable and editable format, making it easier to collaborate and iterate on ideas.
In terms of how it works, when you receive a response from Copilot that you want to keep, you can click “Edit in Pages.” This action creates a new page with the response already copied and formatted. You can continue to refine the content on the page, add new information, and make edits. The page supports various content types, including text, images, and code blocks. You can share the page with your team, allowing everyone to see and contribute in real-time, making Copilot Pages a truly collaborative tool as multiple users can work together with Copilot to improve and expand the content.
All created pages are stored and can be accessed later, making it easy to revisit and update them as needed. A Copilot Page is essentially a Loop Page, and when you create a Copilot Page, it is stored as a .loop file. The Copilot Pages are stored in a new user-owned SharePoint Embedded container, which is specific to each user and counts against the tenant’s SharePoint quota. These .loop files can be managed just like any other files in your SharePoint system, supporting features like version history, compliance, and access controls.
These new features are rolling out now for Copilot for Microsoft 365 users. Additionally, Copilot Pages will be accessible on the free Microsoft Copilot web version when users sign in with a Microsoft Entra (work) account.
Copilot Excel
Copilot in Excel is now generally available. You can also now work with data that isn’t formatted in a table, and there is support for more formulas like XLOOKUP and SUMIF; conditional formatting; the ability to iterate with Copilot on visualisations like charts and PivotTables; and can now work with text.
There is also a public preview of Copilot in Excel with Python, adding more polish and power to your data analysis capabilities.
Copilot in PowerPoint
PowerPoint users will benefit from the new Narrative Builder, which helps you work with Copilot to create a first draft of your presentation. You can start with an outline that Copilot generates based on your prompt, which you can then edit and refine. Brand Manager will allow you to leverage your company’s branded templates, ensuring your presentations are on-brand and ready for enterprise use. Soon, it will also pull in company-approved images from your SharePoint Organisation Asset Library.
Copilot in Teams
Copilot in Teams meetings can now interpret both meeting chats and transcriptions, capturing spoken and written conversations. This enhancement ensures that all communication is effectively recorded and accessible.
Copilot in Outlook
For those managing a high volume of emails, Copilot in Outlook offers a solution by prioritising your inbox based on the content of incoming emails and the context of your role. Future updates will allow users to teach Copilot specific topics, keywords, or important contacts, marking those emails as high priority. These features are anticipated to be available in public preview later this year.
Copilot in Word
Copilot in Word will soon be able reference content from emails and meetings, in addition to Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and PDFs.
Copilot in OneDrive General Availability
Copilot is now rolling out for OneDrive and will be generally available by the end of the month. Copilot in OneDrive is a powerful AI assistant that streamlines how you interact with your files, as it allows you to use Copilot to work across multiple files. You can quickly retrieve specific information from documents, presentations, and spreadsheets, ask Copilot questions about multiple files, generate concise summaries and compare documents.
Copilot Agents
One of the most noteworthy announcements is the general availability of Copilot agents. These AI assistants can automate and execute processes with or without human interaction, ranging from simple chat agents to fully autonomous ones. This capability will be particularly impactful in BizChat and SharePoint Online, where users can interact with agents as they would with teammates.
Copilot Agents can be customised to meet specific organisational needs, integrating seamlessly with data sources like SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics 365. By automating routine tasks such as sending emails, updating records, and creating support tickets, Copilot agents enhance productivity and efficiency. They are user-friendly, allowing even those with minimal technical skills to create and deploy them using tools like Copilot Studio. Integrated within Microsoft 365 applications like Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive, these agents work alongside users, handling repetitive tasks and providing valuable insights to unlock the full potential of their work.
Copilot Agents in SharePoint
Copilot agents in SharePoint can assist users by answering questions, summarising information, and providing insights based on the content available in SharePoint. With easy creation options that require no coding skills, users can set up agents tailored to their specific needs. These agents interact with SharePoint content, such as documents and files, to deliver relevant answers and summaries. Additionally, users can customise their agents by adding more files, updating branding, and modifying prompts, ensuring a personalised experience. Copilot agents also enhance collaboration by allowing team members to share and access the agents, all while adhering to the organisation’s security policies and permissions. As part of the broader Microsoft 365 Copilot initiative, these agents aim to integrate AI into various Microsoft 365 applications to boost productivity and efficiency.
As always, if you want to learn more about the features and capabilities announced in Copilot Wave 2 please feel free to reach out.