On March 16, 2026, Microsoft announced changes to the use of Copilot Chat. These changes will be implemented on April 15, 2026.
What’s changing?
From April 15, 2026, Microsoft is refining the Copilot Chat experience for users. As part of this update:
- Copilot Chat will continue to provide secure AI chat and chat first content creation through the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. In addition, users still get Copilot in Outlook with inbox and calendar grounding.
- Copilot will no longer be available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for Copilot Chat users. To ensure a high-quality experience, we are reserving the full Copilot experience in these apps for users with a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
- There are no changes for users who already have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
- Please note that in-product labels to help end users and admins identify their user experience is being modified. Users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will be labelled as “Copilot Chat (Basic)” and users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will be labelled as “M365 Copilot (Premium)”.