New features coming to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat for Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat will expand Outlook support to entire inbox and calendar, add Agent Mode in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint using web data and referenced files, and introduce specialized agents powered by Anthropic’s Claude model. Rollout starts January 2026; no admin action required except connecting to Claude. We’re introducing new capabilities for Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat users (without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license) to help them better manage their day in Outlook and create and refine Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations. These updates include: Copilot Chat in Outlook will expand from reasoning over a single email thread to reasoning over a user’s entire inbox, calendar, meetings, and other enterprise data. Agent Mode in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint uses web data and referenced files to help users create and refine content in the apps. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Agents allow users to create high-quality documents, workbooks, and presentations in Copilot Chat using web data and referenced files. Please find our Microsoft Ignite announcements here. When this will happen: We will begin rolling out early January 2026 and expect to complete by late March 2026. How this will affect your organization: Who is affected: Eligible Copilot Chat users with a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription. There is no change for users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. What will happen: Copilot Chat in Outlook will understand the entire inbox, calendar, meetings, and other enterprise data for a user. Additional documentation will be provided closer to rollout. Users will be able to ask Copilot to source information across their inbox, uncover action items, or manage their calendar. Users will be able to access Agent Mode in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint through the Tools menu in the Copilot Chat input box in each individual app. Agent Mode lets users create and refine content as they are working. Agent Mode will use web data and referenced files but will not have access to work data. Users will be able to access the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Agents in Copilot Chat from the Tools menu in the input box or by typing […]

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