Two new updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word: Smarter Creation and Researcher agent

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What’s New in Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word Microsoft continues to evolve its Copilot capabilities in Word, bringing powerful new features that enhance productivity and streamline workflows. Two newly announced updates are rolling out this fall: First out of the gate is the integration of the Researcher Agent, allowing great content generation within Word itself. The second update is bringing more of the search and creation capabilities we have in Chat directly into Word. These updates represent a meaningful step toward closing the functionality gap between Copilot in Word and Copilot Chat. For me, this is a most welcomed improvement, making it easier for end users to get the results they want even faster, with less friction and more flexibility. Deep Research with the New Researcher Agent in Word Not too long ago, Microsoft introduced the Researcher agent in Copilot Chat, but moving and editing that content required copy/paste and jumping between applications. With this coming update...

A couple of favorite picks from the Admin Center in August

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Features in Teams are being rolled out at a really high speed these days, and I am a little behind on sharing my thoughts on them. So here is my summary of what I think are some of the important updates coming soon.

Microsoft Lists in Teams:
The release of Microsoft lists is going to be available on many platforms, and also Teams. The feature will be available by default for all users, channels and teams, unless policies are in place to restrict access. A user will have a mix of lists, both personal and related to different channels and teams. I recommend you share this link with your organization, to prepare for what will be coming in September and October: Get started with Microsoft Lists

New calling and meeting experience:
One of the biggest changes this summer, was the preview release of new calling and meeting experience. This will probably be a default setting (according to earlier posts), but if you want to experience some of the new great features you need to turn them on yourself.

Click on your avatar, and select "settings". Within the settings, you will have to check the box next to "Turn on new meeting experience (New meetings and calls will open in separate windows. Requires restarting Teams.)" and restart Teams.

After you've done this, multiple things will be available:

  • All new calls and meetings will pop out in a separate window, so you can easily access meeting notes or other relevant information in the regular Teams window without minimizing the call.
  • Large gallery view (up to 49 streams, available for selection once 10 participants have joined with video)
  • Together mode. A new mode where you get to see everyone as if they were seated in an auditorium.
  • Meeting controls are moved away from the middle of the video feed to a separate bar at the top.
Read more about these features and more at the TechCommunity These features should already be available in most tenants.

Speaker attribution in Live Captions:
Live caption is getting an improvement that will help identify who said what during a meeting. Rolling out by the end of August, this feature will list the speaker's name in front of the captions printed on screen.