Edit images in PowerPoint with Designer Editor [Mac]

March 10, 2026

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
Expanded AI skill inferencing for E3 and E5 users [Windows, Web]

This update expands AI‑powered skill inferencing to Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 users, helping organizations keep user profiles more accurate and up to date.

Roadmap ID: 548643

Details:
What changed: AI‑powered skill inferencing, previously available only to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Viva licensed users, can now be enabled for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 users. Admins can turn this capability on directly in the Microsoft 365 admin center. When enabled, AI automatically identifies and updates skills on users’ Microsoft 365 profiles based on work activity from the Microsoft Graph. This control is available to tenants with Copilot licenses.

Why: Organizations asked for broader access to AI‑powered skill updates so they could maintain more complete and accurate user profiles across their workforce. Expanding this capability helps teams surface expertise more easily and improves profile data quality.

Try this:

• Open the Microsoft 365 admin center and review the People Skills settings.
• Turn on AI‑powered skill inferencing for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 users.
• Inform users that their profiles may begin updating automatically based on their work activity.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Improves organizational visibility into employee skills, making it easier to identify expertise and support workforce planning.
• Personal impact: Helps users keep their profiles current without manual updates, making their expertise easier for colleagues to discover.

Chat History filtering experience refresh
This update refreshes the Chat History filtering experience to make it easier to find past conversations and clear filters when needed.

Roadmap ID: 543423

Details:
What changed: The filtering interface on the Chat History landing page has been simplified to help users locate conversations more quickly. The updated design makes filters easier to apply and provides a clearer way to remove them, reducing the chance of getting stuck in a filtered view.

Why: Users asked for a more intuitive filtering experience so they could navigate their chat history with less effort and avoid confusion when filters were active.

Try this:

• Open the Chat History page and apply a filter to narrow your results.
• Select the clear option to remove all filters and return to the full list.
• Switch between filter types to see how the simplified layout improves navigation.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Helps teams retrieve past conversations faster, improving productivity and reducing time spent searching for information.
• Personal impact: Makes it easier for individuals to manage and revisit their own chat history.

Explainable AI with deep and inline citations for connectors
Microsoft Copilot introduces an explainable AI experience that shows how responses from connected data sources are generated by using inline and deep citations.

Details:
What changed: Copilot now provides inline citations for connector-based results, with a hover experience that displays a glance card summarizing the cited entity, and a deep citation view available when users select the citation for more detail.

Why: Users want clearer insight into how Copilot-generated results are created, especially when responses are based on external or connected data sources. This update improves transparency by explaining the origin of information through richer citation details.

Try this:

• Hover over an inline citation in a Copilot response to view a summary of the referenced entity.
• Select the citation to open a detailed view that explains how the result was generated.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Improves trust and confidence in Copilot responses by making data sources and reasoning more transparent for teams using connected systems.
• Personal impact: Helps individuals better understand and validate Copilot results by clearly showing where information comes from and how it was used.

Summarize and explain PDFs with Copilot in Microsoft Edge [Web]
Microsoft Edge expands its built‑in PDF reader with new Copilot actions that help you quickly summarize or explain PDF content directly in the browser.

Roadmap ID: 498641

Details:
What changed: The existing Ask Copilot experience in the Microsoft Edge PDF reader now includes two additional actions—Summarize and Explain—that let you generate a concise overview or simplify complex sections of a PDF or selected content. These actions follow the same enterprise controls and policies already applied to Copilot in Edge.

Why: Reviewing long or complex PDFs often requires extra time and context switching. This update makes it easier to understand key points or technical language without leaving the PDF reader or copying content into another tool.

Try this:

• Open a PDF in Microsoft Edge and select Summarize to get a quick overview of the document.
• Select a paragraph or section and choose Explain to simplify complex language or concepts.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Helps teams review documents faster and stay within existing enterprise controls while using Copilot in Edge.
• Personal impact: Makes it easier to understand lengthy or technical PDFs without interrupting your workflow.

Ask Copilot directly from the Microsoft Edge address bar [Web]
Microsoft Edge lets users send a search query from the address bar directly to Copilot to receive a synthesized, more targeted answer.

Roadmap ID: 493287

Details:
What changed: When users type a search query in the Microsoft Edge address bar, they can choose to ask Copilot instead of running a standard search, enabling Copilot to generate a focused response based on web content and, for eligible users, work content.

Why: Switching between search results and separate AI tools can interrupt workflow. This update allows users to move from intent to answer in one step, directly from the address bar.

Try this:

• Type a question or topic in the Edge address bar and select Ask Copilot.
• Use Copilot’s response to quickly understand a topic before refining or acting on the result.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Helps teams find relevant information faster by combining search and AI responses in a single, policy‑governed experience within Microsoft Edge.
• Personal impact: Reduces time spent scanning search results by delivering clearer, synthesized answers directly from the address bar.

Scope Copilot Chat prompts to Teams channels with Context IQ [Web]
You can now search for and select Microsoft Teams channels in Context IQ to ground Copilot Chat prompts in the conversations and content that matter most.

Roadmap ID: 429645

Details:
What changed: Context IQ now allows you to search for and select Microsoft Teams channels when creating prompts in Copilot Chat, so responses are grounded in a specific channel instead of across all Teams content.

Why: Users asked for more precise ways to focus Copilot Chat on relevant team conversations and reduce noise from unrelated channels.

Try this:

• Open Copilot Chat and start a new prompt.
• Use the Context IQ menu to search for and select a Teams channel.
• Ask a question to get responses grounded in that channel’s conversations.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Improves response relevance and reduces time spent searching across multiple Teams channels.
• Personal impact: Makes it easier to get accurate, channel-specific answers without manual filtering.

Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility
Connect Copilot with Shortcut to manage agile development workflows [Web]

Users can connect Microsoft 365 Copilot with Shortcut to manage agile development workflows using the Copilot Connector.

Roadmap ID: 515178

Details:
What changed: Users can now integrate Shortcut as a data source for Microsoft 365 Copilot. This enables Copilot to retrieve, summarize, and assist with agile development tasks directly from Shortcut project data.

Why: Teams using Shortcut for product and engineering work can now bring their workflow data into Copilot to streamline task updates and planning. -- incorrect. find new.

Try this:

• Open Copilot and ask for a summary of active Shortcut stories.
• Request an overview of recent team progress pulled from Shortcut.
• Use Copilot to identify blockers based on Shortcut task data.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Helps teams maintain visibility into engineering work without switching tools.
• Personal impact: Makes daily task reviews faster and easier.

Connect Copilot to Amazon S3 document repositories [Web]
Users can connect Microsoft 365 Copilot to Amazon S3 so Copilot can access structured document repositories through a Copilot connector.

Roadmap ID: 513285

Details:
What changed: Microsoft 365 Copilot can now connect to Amazon S3 using a Copilot connector, which makes structured documents stored in S3 available in Copilot experiences.

Why: Many organizations store important documents in Amazon S3 and want Copilot to reference that content without moving or duplicating data.

Try this:

• Configure the Amazon S3 Copilot connector for your organization.
• Ask Copilot to find or summarize documents stored in connected Amazon S3 repositories.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Enables teams to access Amazon S3 content directly in Copilot workflows, reducing context switching and manual searches.
• Personal impact: Helps individuals find and reference documents stored in Amazon S3 more quickly using natural language.

Excel
Edit with Copilot in Excel to enhance your productivity (formerly Agent Mode) [Windows, Web, Mac]

Edit with Copilot in Excel to build and change workbooks, using Excel tools like tables, charts, PivotTables, and formulas to complete complex data tasks faster.

Roadmap IDs: 542182, 527835

Details:
What changed: A new option is available in Copilot in Excel that enables you to edit your workbook through chat. You can use Copilot as an assistant to create and make changes by describing what you want to do through chat.

Why: This change reduces the need to switch between manual steps and back-and-forth requests, which can help you move through data modeling and analysis with less effort.

Try this:

• Open Copilot chat in Excel and see "Let's edit together" welcome message.
• If you don't see the message, then go to the tools menu and select "Edit with Copilot".
• Describe what you'd like to do in the chat. For example, "Build an expense tracking template, then add formulas for variance calculations."
• Business impact: Helps teams complete complex models and reports faster by reducing manual steps in Excel workflows.
• Personal impact: Saves you time by letting Copilot perform multi-step workbook updates while you stay focused on insights.

PowerPoint
Edit images in PowerPoint with Designer Editor [Mac]

PowerPoint now includes the Designer Editor for image editing, giving you a modern, intuitive way to refine images directly on your slides without leaving PowerPoint.

Details:
What changed: You can now use PowerPoint’s new AI-powered image editing capabilities to perform tasks such as improving image resolution, removing backgrounds, and moving image elements with generative AI—all directly within your presentation.

Why: Creating polished slides often requires quick image adjustments, and switching tools slows down the workflow. This change keeps image editing within PowerPoint so you can stay focused on your presentation.

Try this:

• Select an image on a slide and open the Designer Editor to refine visuals directly in PowerPoint.
• Remove distracting backgrounds from photos before placing them into layouts.
• Add text annotations with cool text effects.

Why this matters:

• Business impact: Helps teams create more polished presentations faster by reducing the need to switch tools for image editing.
• Personal impact: Makes it easier to enhance slide visuals quickly, helping your presentations look more professional with less effort.