Microsoft is launching a suite of new AI features to its core Office services, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. These new features will be completely free, not locked behind the $30-a-month Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription like many of the company's other AI features.
Microsoft has outlined the new features in a blog post, and although they're mainly focused on enterprise customers, the ubiquity of Microsoft software means many of us could find ways to utilize them outside the office.
A more advanced version of Copilot
A lot of these features revolve around Microsoft’s Copilot function within apps like Powerpoint, Word and Outlook. Copilot chat will soon be able to analyze content across your entire Outlook inbox. That includes calendar entries, as well as meetings.
Like the AI features that are being rolled out in Gmail via Gemini, these will allow you to use Copilot to track down niche emails, schedule and prepare meetings, and work across these different services.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is also adding voice functionality to the Copilot app and combining it with your Office account — so you can ask Copilot things like, “what are my top priorities for the day” or “catch me up on the meeting I missed."
While Microsoft does already have Copilot built into these platforms, it's been pretty limited so far. The expansion in each case will allow users greater dexterity in searching and using information across the apps.
Agentic superpowers
Agent Mode, a feature that originally launched to paid Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers early this year, will also come to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, no matter what subscription plan you’re on for 365.
Agent Mode allows an AI to complete functions on your behalf, generating complex spreadsheets or documents all from a prompt. You can even choose whether this is done by Claude or ChatGPT models.
This feature will also come to PowerPoint and be able to update existing decks or make entirely new ones.
Coming March 2026
Microsoft has said that it plans to bring these features by March 2026. This is a big push from Microsoft, looking to compete with Google’s Gemini, which is currently its biggest competitor for these kinds of applications.
Google recently announced the release of Gemini 3, the latest update for its powerful AI system. For Microsoft, this will prove to be the biggest competitor to its Copilot functions in apps like PowerPoint and Word.
Google owns G Suite, which includes apps like Google Docs, Google Sheets and Gmail. AI functions have already been rolled out to these platforms, but Google is likely going to keep advancing on it.
As the AI landscape gets more competitive, companies like Google and Microsoft are quickly trying to find ways to stand out, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.
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