Microsoft has announced a major update to its free Copilot offering. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is now natively available across the core Microsoft 365 apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.
A Unified Experience Across the Apps You Use Daily
With this rollout, users can now access Copilot Chat directly within their documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and emails. The chat interface appears in a side pane, allowing you to interact with Copilot without switching apps or uploading files. It’s context-aware, meaning it understands the content you’re working on and tailors its responses accordingly.
Whether you’re drafting a report, analysing data, or catching up on emails, Copilot Chat is designed to help you work smarter and faster – answering questions, generating content, and automating tasks right where you are.
Key Enhancements to the Chat Experience
Microsoft has introduced several usability improvements alongside this rollout:
- Expanded input box: Longer prompts are easier to write and format.
- Multi-image upload: Share and collaborate visually within chat.
- Quick access to features: Including Pages, image generation, and agents.
- GPT-5 integration: Users benefit from faster, more accurate responses powered by the latest model.
These updates are available at no additional cost for Microsoft 365 users, making Copilot Chat a powerful productivity tool for every worker.
Premium Features for Licensed Users
For organisations with a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, the experience goes even further. Licensed users benefit from:
- Advanced reasoning: Copilot can draw insights from your entire work graph – including emails, meetings, chats, and shared documents.
- AI-powered search: Find information across your work data with ease.
- Access to agents: Including pre-built Microsoft agents and custom ones built with Copilot Studio.
- Priority access: Faster response times and more consistent availability, even during peak usage.
Additionally, new agents like Researcher and Analyst are now available in-app, helping users explore ideas and analyse data more effectively.
Summary
This update brings Copilot Chat directly into the flow of work, making AI assistance more accessible and intuitive than ever. Whether you’re a frontline worker or a knowledge professional, Copilot Chat is now just a click away in the apps you use every day. If your organisation hasn’t yet explored Copilot, now is a great time to start.
If you are an existing Strategy 365 client and want to discuss how Copilot can help your business, get in touch with one of our experts today.