Microsoft made an announcement today, stating that it is granting all Microsoft 365 business users complimentary access to the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat sidebar feature within Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Users can take advantage of this functionality without having to acquire an extra Copilot license. The sidebar acts as an assistant, aiding users in a multitude of tasks, such as document composition and spreadsheet analysis.

Seth Patton, the General Manager of Microsoft 365 Copilot Product Marketing, elaborated that Copilot Chat is a web - based, secure, and data - driven AI chat feature that has now been seamlessly integrated into Microsoft 365 apps. It has the intelligence to perceive the user's current work context and generate relevant responses for the files that are open. For Microsoft 365 users, this feature comes at no cost whatsoever.

Although the free version of Copilot is capable of performing functions like document rewriting, summary creation, and PowerPoint presentation generation, users who opt to purchase a Copilot license can indulge in a more sophisticated and integrated experience. This includes priority features such as the ability to analyze all work - related data, upload files, generate images, and gain access to the latest support for GPT - 5 technology.