Microsoft Copilot Gets Major Upgrade Across Office Apps with New Agent Features
Microsoft has released a significant update to Copilot across Word, Excel, and Outlook, adding autonomous agent capabilities that can complete multi-step tasks on your behalf.
Microsoft Copilot Becomes More Autonomous
Microsoft has pushed a major update to Copilot, the AI assistant built into Microsoft 365. The update introduces agent-style features that allow Copilot to carry out multi-step tasks without you having to manage each step manually.
What Has Changed
The key new capabilities include:
- Copilot in Outlook can now draft replies, schedule follow-ups, and flag urgent emails automatically based on rules you set
- Copilot in Excel can run analysis across multiple spreadsheets, spot trends, and produce summary reports with minimal input
- Copilot in Word can pull in data from other documents and online sources to help you build reports from scratch
- A new Copilot Actions feature lets you set up recurring tasks that run in the background
Why This Matters for Business Owners
Previous versions of Copilot were useful but still required you to ask it to do each thing individually. The new agent features mean you can describe a workflow once and have Copilot handle it repeatedly. This is significant for small teams where individuals wear many hats.
For example, you could set Copilot to monitor your inbox for supplier emails, extract key information, and update a tracking spreadsheet automatically.
Availability and Cost
The update is rolling out to all Microsoft 365 Business Standard and above subscribers. There is no additional cost for existing subscribers, though some advanced agent features require the Copilot add-on licence at around 25 dollars per user per month.
Getting Started
Look for the Copilot icon in your Office apps to access the new features. Microsoft has also published short video guides in the help centre.
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