Overview of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

This article gives a general overview on what the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat offers. Copilot chat is already a part of the list of applications that you can already access with your Columbia College exchange log in, similarly to accessing Word or PowerPoint. At the end is links to several Microsoft learning resources for a smoother experience using Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.

Overview

This article gives a general overview on what the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat offers. Copilot chat is already a part of the list of applications that you can already access with your Columbia College exchange log in, similarly to accessing Word or PowerPoint.

 

How to:

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat includes:

• Secure, AI chat grounded in the web and powered by the latest models
• A side-by-side experience that's aware of a user's open content in select Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook
• IT controls, enterprise data protection and agent management
• Features like Copilot Pages, file upload, and image generation

 

Copilot Chat includes standard access to capabilities like file upload, image generation, and models (like GPT-5). This means it's subject to service capacity availability to ensure the product works well for everyone. Quality and performance may also vary depending on service availability. If the service isn't available at a given moment, Copilot notifies the user—it doesn't interrupt a task in progress.

 

The Copilot Chat user interface for work and education

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat offers a UI designed for work and education. Users know they're protected by the green shield in the top right of the UI. Users can access agents and their recent chats from the right panel. Additionally, suggested prompts in the center of the UI can help users get started.

 

Unlike Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Chat is not grounded in organizational content like files, emails, or chats as part of the chat experience—it is grounded in data from the web only. If Copilot Chat users would like to use organizational content in their chat, they can do so in three ways:

• As part of their prompt (such as copying and pasting in content, uploading a file, including a file by typing '/' and selecting it from the ContextIQ menu, or selecting a suggested prompt which contains a file).
• By using Copilot Chat in select Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook with content they have open. In this scenario, Copilot Chat is aware of the user's open content and is able to engage with it instead of requiring the user to upload a file or copy and paste the content into Copilot Chat.
• By using a pay-as-you-go agent that has access to organizational content.

 

Users can access Copilot Chat from:

• Web: m365copilot.com
  • Users with Copilot Chat pinned in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app are redirected to m365.cloud.microsoft/chat. If not, they're redirected to copilot.cloud.microsoft. Get more details on how to pin Copilot Chat.

Microsoft offers Copilot experiences in many products, giving you AI-powered features that deliver tailored insights and intelligent solutions. Find documentation, training, and other technical resources to make the most of the enterprise-grade data-security and privacy features for your organization.

 

Additional resources

• Frequently asked questions about Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

  See common questions and answers about Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat Privacy and Protections

  Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat protects workplace AI-powered web chats by providing enterprise data protection to keep organizations safe. Learn about the data protections, authentication, authorization, and GDPR compliance.

• Decide which Copilot is right for you

  Microsoft has several Copilot AI virtual assistants, including Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Security Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Copilot Studio. Decide which Copilot is right for you and your organization. Which Copilot is right for me?

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat in Edge

  Learn how to use Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat in Edge.

• What is Microsoft 365 Copilot?

  Learn about what Microsoft 365 Copilot is and common Copilot features in Microsoft 365 apps, like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. This article answers common questions about Copilot, including what is Copilot, how Copilot works, and the benefits of using Copilot.

• Manage Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

  Learn how to turn on Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat for your organization.

• Pin Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat in the Microsoft 365 apps

  Learn how to improve the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat across your organization by pinning it to the navigation bar in Teams, Outlook, and the Microsoft 365 Copilot app cross the web, desktop, and mobile.