Mon Sep 16 16:06:08 UTC 2024: ## Microsoft Expands Copilot Capabilities with Collaborative Document Tool and App Updates

**Redmond, WA -** Microsoft has announced several updates to its AI-powered Copilot assistant within Microsoft 365, including a new collaborative document tool called “Copilot Pages.” This feature, which will be available later this month, allows users to store and share information generated by Copilot in a shared space, enabling team collaboration on AI-generated content.

“Pages takes ephemeral AI-generated content and makes it durable, so you can edit it, add to it, and share it with others,” said Jared Spataro, Microsoft corporate vice president.

These updates come alongside a range of enhancements to Copilot within specific Microsoft 365 apps:

* **Excel:** Now in general availability, Copilot in Excel can access unformatted data, work with various formulas, and perform data analysis using Python.
* **Outlook:** The “Prioritize my inbox” feature highlights important emails and provides summaries, while users can customize the tool to prioritize certain topics, people, and keywords.
* **PowerPoint:** Users can now create presentations using branded templates and pull approved images from SharePoint.
* **Teams:** Copilot provides information on meetings based on video and text conversations.
* **Word:** Copilot can now integrate data from emails and meetings, in addition to web data and files.
* **OneDrive:** Users can compare up to five documents using Copilot.

Microsoft also announced the general availability of Copilot agents, which allow users to customize the tool to automate business processes.

These updates are aimed at improving the Copilot experience and encouraging wider adoption, despite ongoing concerns regarding data security and change management.

“The latest announcements improve the Copilot experience within apps such as Excel and PowerPoint and enhance the usefulness of the AI assistant,” said Jason Wong, distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner.

While Copilot Pages and Team Copilot offer collaborative capabilities, experts like Wong believe the key to successful adoption lies in delivering simpler, user-friendly experiences, especially as users face “change fatigue” from the constant influx of new generative AI features.

“It remains to be seen if all these new capabilities can drive the sticky adoption that Microsoft wants,” Wong added.

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