Copilot has modified fairly a bit because the begin of this 12 months. Not solely does the bot have an official app, however now anybody with a Microsoft 365 account can entry Copilot in apps like Phrase, PowerPoint, and Excel. Earlier than, it was unique to enterprise customers.
In case you have Microsoft 365 and Copilot Professional, or your organization makes use of this suite of instruments, there are some new Copilot options you may entry proper now. Microsoft introduced an inventory of 14 new Copilot options rolling out this month, however seven of these actually apply to admins and administration. For the remainder of us, the opposite seven are key new options to look out for:
You’ll be able to generate pictures immediately in Phrase and Powerpoint paperwork
This month, each Phrase and Powerpoint will allow you to generate pictures and seek for inventory pictures utilizing Copilot by way of Microsoft Designer. In case you immediate Copilot to generate you a picture, it’s going to create and current the same old collection of choices, which you’ll select from to insert into your doc. When utilizing the function in Powerpoint, Designer will incorporate it in a “compelling slide design.”
Credit score: Microsoft
Reference PDFs, emails, and conferences in Phrase
Beginning final month, Microsoft rolled out the flexibility to reference PDFs and encrypted Phrase docs utilizing Copilot in Phrase. This month, the corporate may even add the flexibility to reference Microsoft Cloud data, which incorporates your emails and conferences. These updates add on to the info sorts you could possibly reference beforehand, together with Phrase and PowerPoint information.
Going ahead, it is possible for you to to tug these information sorts into your prompts with Copilot in Phrase. In case you name on Copilot and ask it to write down you a undertaking proposal, you may have Copilot base it on one in every of these information from an expanded menu. In case you mentioned the undertaking in depth in a gathering, or if the notes are specified by a PDF, Copilot will have the ability to analyze that doc or file and generate a report from it.
Credit score: Microsoft
Expanded help for creating PowerPoint shows from PDFs and encrypted Phrase information
Equally, Microsoft rolled out the flexibility to create PowerPoint shows from new PDF and Phrase file sorts in June. You can even reference Phrase docs and PowerPoint shows in PowerPoint itself.
Nevertheless you create a PowerPoint presentation with Copilot, it is best to discover three key enhancements to how the AI handles the PowerPoint doc, together with improved titles, sections, and slides; presentation buildings with slides in your agenda, sections, and conclusion; and new transitions and animations.
As well as, PowerPoint chat can reply questions utilizing Microsoft cloud, Microsoft Graph, and Bing.
New options in Excel
Microsoft introduced three new Copilot options for Excel, all of that are rolling out this month:
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Copilot now works with information ranges “resembling tables” with headers alongside a single row. Microsoft says that is extra environment friendly than earlier than, as you will not must format information earlier than calling in Copilot.
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The edit field is obtainable irrespective of which cell you’ve gotten chosen, so you should use Copilot with no need to fret about the place you might be in your spreadsheet.
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Copilot shall be extra conversational with its responses to questions on Excel information, together with providing step-by-step directions for sure duties.
Credit score: Microsoft
Copilot in Groups
Have you learnt who you are chatting with at work? You might suppose you do, however the extra AI options take over our work applications, the much less you might be interacting with an actual human being.
A brand new Groups options rolling out proper now could be Copilot integration in Groups chats and channels. After typing out your message, you may immediate Copilot to regulate your phrases in any method you need. Microsoft suggests prompts like “add a name to motion,” “make it persuasive,” or “convert my message into an inventory and add inclusive language.”
You would possibly suppose your boss despatched the workforce a hand-written message, or that you simply’re having a enjoyable chat with a coworker. However, for all you understand, they used Copilot to alter their phrases. You might, in reality, be chatting with an LLM.
In case you’re utilizing Copilot to write down a joke in your coworkers, please do not.
Credit score: Microsoft
Copilot permits you to rewrite content material in SharePoint
Copilot rewriting has come to SharePoint: In case you use the app to create web sites in your group, you’ll use acquainted Copilot instruments to rewrite textual content. It does not appear to be there’s something notably revolutionary right here, thoughts you. It looks as if these are the same old rewriting instruments you’d count on from generative AI. Nevertheless, now you should use them immediately in SharePoint. That is rolling out this month.
Copilot in Loop
Loop is Microsoft’s collaborative workspace app, permitting workforce members to work collectively on a undertaking in actual time. Whereas you can begin a undertaking from scratch with a clean canvas or from a template, Microsoft desires you to make use of Copilot to generate a “structured doc prepared for workforce collaboration.” In case you use Loop, you may attempt asking Copilot to arrange your workspace based mostly on no matter parameters you want. Microsoft launched this function in Might.
Credit score: Microsoft