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, users get a new AI-powered tool embedded in Word that helps them conduct complex, multi-step research using both work and web data. This agent combines Open AI’s deep research model with Copilot’s orchestration and search capabilities.
Rollout: is estimated to begin in mid- August, and should be complete by the end of September 2025. The feature will be available in 37 languages across Word on Windows, Mac, and the web.
Compliance and data considerations: The Researcher agent may access and process existing customer data (e.g., documents, emails) to generate responses. Depending on tenant configuration, it may also store new data.
Conversational Content Creation with Copilot in Word
Microsoft are bringing some (for me, long awaited) enhancements to Copilot in Word, allowing users to interact with Copilot in a more natural, chat-based format. The roll-out that is planned to begin in September 2025 and be completed by the end of October (Roadmap ID 499428) , will enable licensed users to:
- Draft new documents or sections using conversational prompts.
- Reorganize content into formats like FAQs.
- Rewrite or update existing sections with ease.
What are the changes, and why it matters:
As someone who frequently works with teams on documentation and internal communications, I have seen limitations with the current implementation of Copilot in Word. Forcing me to jump between multiple applications in order to gather information, transform it and the format it in Word. This new ability to iterate on content directly through chat will reduce that friction and speed up productivity even more.
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