Microsoft Copilot: 7 Major Updates to Know

What's really changing in Copilot

Copilot updates are accelerating. This cycle brings substantial functional changes — including a feature removal in Excel — as well as unprecedented interaction capabilities via voice and screen vision. Here's what administrators and power users need to anticipate.

License requirements and Frontier program

All the features presented require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (formerly Copilot for Microsoft 365). Users with only an M365 Business or Enterprise license without the Copilot add-on will not have access to these features.

The Frontier program allows access to features currently rolling out before their general availability (GA). Program enrollment is managed from tenant settings; it is not enabled by default.

Copilot Tasks Dashboard

The Microsoft Copilot application now includes a dedicated Tasks section, accessible via the checkbox icon in the navigation panel. It centralizes all instructions generating an asynchronous task, regardless of their origin:

• Copilot Chat
• Researcher (in-depth research agent)
• Copilot Pages
• Custom or enterprise agents

Each entry displays the task status (in progress, awaiting user action, completed) as well as the source application. Clicking on a task reopens the corresponding Copilot conversation directly with the produced results.

This centralization avoids having to browse chat history to find the result of an agent launched several hours earlier — real time savings for multi-agent workflows.

Sharing Copilot responses: useful with conditions

A Share response option now appears in the "…" (more options) menu of each Copilot response in the application. It generates a share link including:

• The prompt used
• The complete response
• Associated reference files

The link can be pasted into an email or any other channel. The scope of sharing remains limited to users with access rights to the referenced source files.

Active link management is performed from the same dialog, via Manage access. It is possible to revoke access at any time by clicking Stop sharing.

PowerPoint: Theme reuse without Brand Kit

Previously, Copilot in PowerPoint could only apply custom design to a new presentation from a Brand Kit configured in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This constraint is partially disappearing.

It is now possible to indicate in the creation prompt an existing PowerPoint file as a theme source:

1Create a project status presentation from the Word document [filename.docx] stored in SharePoint,
2applying the theme and design of the [branded_template.pptx] file.

Copilot extracts the theme from the source file and applies it to the newly generated presentation, integrating the content from the Word document. Both files must be hosted in SharePoint Online or Microsoft Teams — local files are not supported.

This functionality does not replace a Brand Kit for organization-wide consistency needs, but it removes the blocker in contexts where the Brand Kit is not configured.

Excel: Removal of the =COPILOT() function

This is the most impactful change in this cycle. The =COPILOT() function — which allowed embedding a Copilot prompt directly in an Excel cell — is being removed from the product.

As a reminder, this function worked as follows:

1=COPILOT("Analyze the sentiment of the text contained in", A2)

It allowed applying AI analysis row by row from the grid without opening the side panel.

Functional replacement: the Copilot side panel in Excel supports the same type of operation via natural language prompt. Example:

1Create a new column. For each row, analyze the Feedback field
2and determine the sentiment (positive, neutral, negative).
3Name the column "Feedback Sentiment".

Copilot then generates the column and inserts it into the spreadsheet.

Voice activation "Hey Copilot" on Windows

The Hey Copilot voice command is now available to activate Copilot without manually opening the application. It works via the Microsoft 365 Copilot desktop application for Windows.

Copilot Vision: Real-time screen analysis

Copilot Vision is Copilot's ability to analyze the content displayed on screen to answer contextual questions. This functionality does not allow Copilot to modify the displayed content — it is limited to reading and analysis.

Typical workflow:

1. Open an application (Excel, browser, Word document, etc.)
2. Activate Copilot via Hey Copilot or the desktop application
3. Click the Share button in the Copilot interface
4. Select Share display (full screen) or choose a specific application window
5. Ask your question in natural language about the visible content

Copilot analyzes the displayed content and provides a voice and text response. In an example with a table of commercial deals (closing probability, pipeline value), Copilot Vision identifies the row presenting the most favorable value/probability combination without the user having to manually filter or sort.

This functionality is particularly useful for:

• Quick analysis of dashboards or PDF reports
• Assisted navigation in complex interfaces
• Insight extraction from third-party applications not natively integrated with Copilot

Rebranding: Microsoft 365 Copilot becomes Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft is unifying the branding of its Copilot offerings. The product currently named Microsoft 365 Copilot will be renamed Microsoft Copilot. This change comes with a new logo and a unified application on Windows, which will combine personal and business accounts in a single interface.

This convergence aims to simplify the user experience on Windows, where the coexistence of two Copilot applications (personal and professional) created confusion.

Key takeaways

• Tasks: new centralized dashboard for Copilot tasks, all sources combined.
• Share response: share Copilot responses by link — use with discretion on sensitive content.
• PowerPoint: Copilot can extract a theme from an existing .pptx file to apply it to a new presentation, without Brand Kit.
• Excel: the =COPILOT() function is removed; migrate to the Copilot side panel.
• Hey Copilot: voice activation available via the Microsoft 365 Copilot desktop application for Windows, with continuous microphone listening.
• Copilot Vision: real-time screen analysis, read-only, from any open application.
• Rebranding: Microsoft 365 Copilot becomes Microsoft Copilot, with a unified personal/work application.