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...

Microsoft Teams: Enable transcription policy by default

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Microsoft is about to update its Teams default policy settings for transcription services. Previously, transcription was turned off by default for new tenants. With this update, transcription will be enabled by default for new global policies created for new tenants. This change aims to streamline the adoption of transcription and enhance the use of AI features within Teams.

For tenants without customized policies, the new default settings will apply, impacting these tenants by enabling transcription by default. However, tenants with customized policies for user-level or group-level assignments will remain unaffected by this change. This update aligns transcription with the default policy for recording, which is also enabled by default in the Teams admin center. The update applies to Teams for Windows desktop and Teams for Mac desktop.

Although existing policies will not be changed, admins are advised to familiar themselves with the new settings and apply them if needed (or wanted) in the organization. The policies will be available as part of the regular Teams policies found in the Teams Admin Center. 

This update is associated with the Roadmap ID 468282 and should be complete by the end of March.