Microsoft 365 Copilot
Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook, Teams and Excel, the Researcher and Analyst agents, Agent Builder, and the data controls behind them.
Start: What Microsoft 365 Copilot is and where things liveAbout Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant across Outlook, Teams, Excel and the Microsoft Copilot app. Every eligible work account gets Copilot Chat, which answers from the web and the content you give it. The Microsoft 365 Copilot license adds answers grounded in your mail, meetings, chats and files, plus the Researcher agent. Copilot only shows content you already have permission to view.
Best for: People who work in Outlook, Teams and Excel on a work account, and the admins who manage Copilot.
Good for
- Summarizing long email threads with citations to each message
- Asking about a Teams meeting while it runs or afterward
- Researcher reports built from your work files and the web
- Building a simple agent with your own instructions and knowledge in Agent Builder
Where people slip
- Assuming Copilot Chat can see your mail and files. Without the license it only sees what you add
- Signing in with a personal account. Look for the Work label and green shield
- Trusting numbers from Excel or Analyst without checking them
- Leaving files overshared in SharePoint, since Copilot can find anything you can view
What is the difference between Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Copilot Chat comes with eligible work accounts and answers from the web, plus files you upload or content you have open. The Microsoft 365 Copilot license also grounds answers in your mail, meetings, chats and files through Microsoft Graph, and unlocks Researcher.
Does Microsoft train its models on my Copilot prompts?
Microsoft says prompts, responses and Microsoft Graph data aren't used to train foundation models. Enterprise data protection applies when you sign in with a work or school account. Look for the Work label and the green shield.
What happened to Copilot Notebooks?
They're now called Copilot Workspaces, a shared space for a team's ongoing work. Personal work goes in Projects on Home. Existing notebooks convert automatically as the change rolls out.
Can Agent Builder agents take actions?
No. Agent Builder agents use your instructions, knowledge and optional tools for documents, charts, code and images. For actions, connectors or workflows, copy the agent to Copilot Studio.
Checked against Microsoft 365 Copilot's own docs on 2026-11-06.
Basics
Know which Copilot you have, find your way around the app, and get a first useful answer safely.
New to Microsoft 365 Copilot? Start here. Already use it? Skip to the next milestone.
0 of 2 lessons completeKnow your Copilot
Tell which Copilot you have, point it at the right files, and check what it gives back.
0 of 2 lessons completeCopilot in Outlook, Teams and Excel
Summarize, draft and analyze in your daily apps, and check the output before anyone acts on it.
0 of 2 lessons complete