Microsoft 365 Copilot: New Navigation, Voice, and Context Enhancements Arriving Soon

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Here are three new updates to the user interface of Microsoft Copilot. These releases improve usability, expand interaction options, and streamline how users incorporate work content into prompts. All three of these features were actually announced "a long time ago", and the initial release started almost 6 months ago. But I guess the setup is complicated, as the rollout hasn't completed yet. This only proves the importance of paying attention to the official roadmap and the tenant message center in order to understand when features are being implemented for your organization. Timelines may continue to evolve as deployments progress, and this summary includes the official reference IDs and documentation links for verification. Refreshed Navigation Experience There is a redesigned navigation experience for the Microsoft 365 Copilot app heading your way, delivering a cleaner, more efficient layout. The update flattens the menu structure and groups related components to help...

Microsoft Copilot coming to Teams and Outlook for users with Entra accounts

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Microsoft is expanding the Microsoft Copilot for users with Entra licenses, and the distinctions between the different versions are becoming increasingly blurred. Initially, when Copilot was released, there was the "Bing/Chat" version for commercial use. This version did not necessarily protect company data from being harvested or used for training purposes. Microsoft also released the enterprise-protected Copilot version for all users with an M365 E5 license about the same time. Although this version did not integrate searches or features with company data, it at least promised to keep data and queries private to the organization when used.

Subsequently, Microsoft revised the requirements for accessing the enterprise-protected version of Copilot, making it available to everyone with an Entra User License, effectively including virtually anyone within an M365 tenant.

Now, further changes are on the horizon for this group of users. Starting mid-January, Microsoft will enhance this offering even further. Soon, users will be able to access Copilot directly from Teams and Outlook, in addition to the existing web interface (BizChat). This is mentioned in Roadmap ID 420330

While I believe this is a positive development, it may cause confusion among users who might assume they now have Copilot licenses. Therefore, it is important to train and inform your users about the differences in behavior of these apps and integrations for users with and without a Copilot license. For instance, explaining why they might experience different results based on the actual license and version of Copilot they are using is essential.

If you want to help your users find the app, an admin can follow this guide to pin the app for the endusers. Or you can let them find it and pin it for themselves.