With new Copilot agents regularly being announced, it can be confusing to keep track of their functionality. We take a look at two key agents – Researcher and Analyst.
Businesses waste hours every week on research and data analysis, whether it’s pulling together reports, prepping for client meetings, or just trying to make sense of an array of complex spreadsheets.
Microsoft 365 Copilot’s new Researcher and Analyst agents solve this problem by providing secure AI-powered multi-step reasoning that performs hours of work in minutes.
These built-in agents are now generally available to all licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users, meaning every employee can access a 24/7 research assistant and data analyst which work seamlessly within Microsoft 365 without compromising security.
What is the Microsoft 365 Copilot Researcher Agent?
Researcher is your AI-powered research assistant inside Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed to tackle complex, multi-step tasks that would normally take hours to complete. Instead of manually combing through files, emails, and meeting notes, Researcher gathers information from across your organisation and the web, then distils it into clear, actionable insights.
You might be wondering “what makes this Copilot research agent different from simply asking Copilot a question?” It’s the depth of its reasoning and its secure access to your work data. It’s built on OpenAI’s deep research model, orchestrated by Microsoft 365 Copilot and powered by Microsoft Graph (the framework that securely connects your emails, Teams chats, OneDrive, SharePoint, and more). This means it can read and understand the context of your recent meetings, files, and projects without you ever needing to upload or copy that information elsewhere.
Clarifying questions and deeper research
When you give Researcher a prompt, it doesn’t just provide a quick, surface-level answer. It will often ask clarifying questions first, just like a human colleague might. For example, if you ask it to create an executive status report for a project, it may ask which milestones you want to highlight, whether you need a detailed risk assessment or a summary, and if you have a preferred format. This ensures the final output is accurate and in the style you need.
You can even check it’s doing what it is supposed to be doing by watching its train of thought in real time. As the Researcher agent searches through relevant project files and recent communications to pull everything together, it will generate internal threads to break down different aspects of your request, such as financial risks, progress milestones, and upcoming deadlines.
In just a few minutes, you’ll have a detailed, professional report that can be opened in Copilot Pages where your team can review and collaborate on the content.
How Microsoft 365 Copilot Researcher helps in practice
Researcher shines in scenarios where pulling together insights normally involves hours of digging around for information. For example:
Executive project reporting
Instead of manually reviewing meeting notes, emails, and spreadsheets to create a detailed progress update for a major project, you can ask Researcher to create an executive status report. It will gather information from every relevant source like project documents, Teams meeting transcripts, PowerPoint presentations and chat threads to outline and any risks or blockers. It can even highlight issues like cost increases or supply chain delays, referencing where those details came from.
Market and competitor research
For sales or marketing teams, Researcher can provide a strategic snapshot of your market landscape. Ask it to outline current consumer trends in your sector, any upcoming changes to legislation, identify how competitors are reacting, and suggest opportunities for your business. It combines data from the web with your internal strategy files to provide an informed starting point for reports, presentations, pitch decks, meetings, or campaigns.
Compliance and policy analysis
Legal and compliance teams can use Researcher to monitor regulatory changes. For instance, you could prompt it to summarise a new law, compare it against your company’s current policies, and flag any compliance gaps. This saves hours of manual cross-checking and helps you respond proactively to potential risks.
By integrating secure access to your data with intelligent reasoning, Researcher doesn’t just provide answers, it delivers outputs that will save your team hours and hours of time so they can focus on taking action.
How to Use the Microsoft 365 Copilot Analyst Agent
Instead of wrestling with huge spreadsheets, writing complex formulas, or waiting for a colleague who knows Python to be free to help, the Microsoft 365 Copilot Analyst Agent can turn raw, messy data into actionable insights in minutes. It’s like having your own on-demand data scientist inside Microsoft 365.
Analyst is built on OpenAI’s o3 mini reasoning model and optimised for advanced data analysis at work. Instead of just giving a single answer, you’ll notice that it thinks through problems step by step, refining its approach as it goes. It even shows you the Python code it’s running so you can validate its work. This transparency means you can trust the outputs while understanding how the agent reached its conclusions (always helpful when working with AI).
How the Analyst agent works
When you give Analyst a prompt like “review this dataset and identify trends in customer behaviour”, it starts by examining the data you provide. You can attach Excel or CSV files directly from your desktop, OneDrive, or Teams, making it simple to connect the agent with the information you already have.
Analyst begins by examining the data you provide and mapping out the steps it needs to answer your question. You can even follow its reasoning, watching as it works through the problem. For example, it might start by cleaning and organising the data, segmenting it by region or product line, and finally running calculations to identify patterns. If deeper analysis is needed, Analyst automatically writes and executes Python code, all within the secure environment of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
In record time, you’ll receive a clear summary of findings, complete with charts and trend lines that are ready to share with your team or add straight into a presentation.
Examples of Microsoft 365 Copilot Analyst in action
Analyst is ideal for teams who need to make sense of complex data quickly, without specialist skills or time-consuming manual work. Here’s how it can help:
Identifying top customers and accounts at risk
For situations where you have thousands of rows of revenue data across several regions and customer tiers, Analyst can quickly calculate year on year growth, segment customers by activity, and flag accounts showing declining spend. With this insight, your sales team can focus on retention strategies before revenue drops further.
Spotting trends and opportunities in large datasets
For a marketing team preparing a quarterly review, Analyst can take multiple Excel sheets such as product sales, campaign data, analytics data and customer feedback, and find patterns you might otherwise miss. It can highlight underperforming regions, top selling products, or seasonal trends, and even suggest when and where to focus future campaigns for maximum impact, helping you decide exactly where to focus next.
Forecasting and strategic planning
Finance and operations teams can ask Analyst to forecast departmental expenses for the rest of the year, using historical data to model likely trends. It can create visual charts to show which cost areas are rising fastest or where savings are being achieved, providing decision makers with a clear, data driven picture.
When combined with Microsoft 365 Copilot Researcher, you can create rich, strategic reports that combine hard data with contextual insights for decision makers in less than 15 minutes. Pretty incredible.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Agents: Licensing and cost
By now you might be wondering what licences you need and how much they cost. Both of these new agents are included with Microsoft 365 Copilot. There’s no need to purchase separate add-ons or Copilot Studio unless you want to create custom agents.
How to access Microsoft 365 Copilot Researcher & Analyst
Accessing Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Researcher and Analyst agents is simple, and they’re ready to use as soon as you have a Copilot licence. Both agents are pre pinned in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, which is available on web, desktop, and mobile.
To get started, open the Copilot app and switch to Copilot Chat. You’ll see Researcher and Analyst already available, so just select the agent you want to use. From there, you can begin with one of the sample prompts provided or write your own, and even attach internal files from OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, or your desktop for deeper insights.
Please note: Researcher and Analyst require a full Microsoft 365 Copilot licence to use. These advanced agents aren’t available in the free version of Copilot Chat.
Once your output is ready, you can share it in Copilot Pages to collaborate with colleagues or adapt the results for reports, presentations, or emails.
Conclusion
Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Researcher and Analyst agents give every employee the power to work smarter, turning hours of research and data analysis into just minutes. By securely connecting to your company data and using advanced reasoning, they deliver decision‑ready insights you can trust.
Our team can help you explore how the Researcher and Analyst agents can streamline your workflows and boost productivity. Get in touch with our experts to discuss the available options.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Researcher and Analyst FAQs
Do I need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence to use the Researcher and Analyst agents?
Yes, you need a full Microsoft 365 Copilot licence to use them. These advanced agents aren’t available in the free version of Copilot Chat.
Are Copilot agents free?
No. Copilot agents like Researcher and Analyst are only available to licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users. Free Copilot Chat provides basic AI assistance but does not include these advanced reasoning agents.
Do I need Copilot Studio to use the Researcher and Analyst agents?
No. Copilot Studio is only needed if you want to create custom agents or agent flows. The built in Researcher and Analyst agents are included with your standard Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.
How is Microsoft 365 Copilot different from ChatGPT?
Unlike ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Copilot can use Microsoft Graph to securely access company data and files in SharePoint or OneDrive. While ChatGPT (even with ChatGPT Pro or Deep Research) can summarise information and answer questions, Microsoft 365 Copilot has the added benefit of being able to combine internal insights from your company data with trusted web research in a single, multi-step output while connecting to the Microsoft applications you already use.
Even if you connect ChatGPT to SharePoint or Outlook, it still processes data outside your Microsoft 365 tenant, whereas Copilot works natively within your secure environment, automatically respecting your organisation’s permissions and compliance rules. Microsoft 365 Copilot also includes Enterprise Data Protection, ensuring that your data remains private and does not leave your Microsoft environment, unlike ChatGPT.
Can these agents send emails or take direct actions?
Not directly. Researcher and Analyst focus on research, data analysis, and generating outputs. However, you can easily share their results in Copilot Pages or adapt them for email or presentations.
How is my company data protected?
The Researcher and Analyst agents access your files and communications through Microsoft Graph, which keeps all processing within your Microsoft 365 tenant. Your data is not shared with OpenAI or used to train public AI models.
Are there usage limits for the Researcher and Analyst agents?
Yes. Each licensed user can run up to 25 combined queries per month across the Researcher and Analyst agents. This is typically more than enough for most day to day business needs.