Copilot Actions, rolling out

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Copilot Actions has been available through Copilot Studio for some time, and now, a version of this feature is being rolled out within Microsoft 365. This new integration offers a user-friendly way to automate and delegate common tasks. The term "Actions" varies depending on the application. In Copilot Studio, it serves as a flexible tool for agents. By combining Copilot prompts and conversations, triggers (such as file modifications or scheduled reminders), and user-defined rules, Copilot Actions can generate artifacts that streamline workflows. A similar type of action is teased in the "lightweight" version of Copilot Studio within the M365 agent builder (marked as "coming soon"). The version discussed here is a new out-of-the-box functionality, designed to ensure that even users with minimal technical expertise can benefit from its powerful asynchronous capabilities. To utilize Copilot Actions, users must have a Copilot license (priced at $30). The help...

Create avatars from picture or photo is live

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Avatars in Teams is a way to express your presence without turning your camera on in meetings, and it is used when entering a Mesh meeting place. I must admit I du prefer the use of real video, but I do understand the user scenarios where an avatar might come in handy. 

Depending on your preferences, the avatar can be created to your liking, and there are many options to choose from when it comes to skin color, body type, face frame, colors and more. Sometimes, I think there are always too many options, and I never get a result that actually looks like me (if that was my intent).

The avatar feature has been around for a while, but I am obviously not the only one thinking my avatar could and should look more like me. Microsoft has now released a feature that allows you to create an avatar directly from an image (taken when you create the avatar) or by uploading an existing photo. 

The feature seems to be available for most Teams SKU's (Business and E3/E5, even essentials) at this time, and available for both MAC and Windows as long as you are using new Teams client (2.1). You still need 6GB of RAM and a Dual-core processor in order for avatars to be working, 8GB and Quad-core is still recommended for optimal performance. 

I had to give it a test run before writing this post, and the result wasn't that far off the real me. Here is the full user guide, if you want to give it a try: Join a meeting as an avatar.