Copilot: 5 New Features for Creators

Key insights

• Copilot subscription changes
  Microsoft has folded upgraded Copilot features into Microsoft 365 subscriptions and discontinued Copilot Pro, so many advanced capabilities are now available to more 365 customers.
• Temporary Chats
  This mode creates Copilot requests that are not saved to your chat history, making it useful for sensitive queries or one-off tasks you don’t want retained.
• Copilot in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
  Copilot now appears inside core apps to help with drafting, editing, and design work, so users can get AI assistance without leaving the document or sheet.
• App Skills (Excel)
  App Skills let you prompt Copilot to change spreadsheets directly—add formulas, reorganize data, and adjust formatting from natural-language commands.
• Agent Mode (Excel)
  Agent Mode runs multi-step workflows in Excel: it can research, generate, and modify workbooks automatically to complete larger tasks or reports.
• Practical tips from the video
  The host demonstrates using Temporary Chats for privacy, App Skills for quick sheet edits, and Agent Mode for complex jobs—try each on a sample file before applying to critical data.

Introduction

Kevin Stratvert's recent YouTube video walks viewers through the latest updates to Copilot in Microsoft 365, focusing on five headline features that rolled out in early 2026. The video explains subscription changes, privacy controls, and powerful new tools in Excel, while also demonstrating how Copilot now appears across Word and PowerPoint. Overall, the presentation aims to help users understand what is available and how to adopt the new capabilities.

Importantly, the video emphasizes practical use cases, not just marketing claims, with demonstrations that show both convenience and limits. Consequently, the update is relevant to individual users, IT admins, and knowledge workers who rely on Microsoft 365 every day. As a result, the changes could shift how teams automate tasks and protect sensitive information.

Subscription and Privacy Updates

One of the most notable points in the video is the change to Copilot's subscription model. Specifically, Microsoft has folded many upgraded Copilot features into standard Microsoft 365 subscriptions and retired standalone plans like Copilot Pro, which broadens access while simplifying licensing.

At the same time, Kevin highlights a new privacy tool called Temporary Chats, which lets users make requests without saving them to chat history. Therefore, teams can try sensitive prompts or exploratory queries without leaving a persistent record, and this balance helps users weigh convenience against data retention.

Copilot Across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

The video also shows that Copilot is more tightly integrated across core apps. For example, Copilot can now access context from documents and meetings to give richer answers in Word, create slides in PowerPoint, and assist with analysis in Excel, making the assistant feel more consistent across tasks.

However, Kevin points out that wider availability does not eliminate the need for governance and user training. In practice, teams must decide which features to enable and how to manage sensitive sources, because broader integration increases both productivity and exposure to accidental data sharing.

Excel: App Skills and Agent Mode

Excel receives two of the most powerful additions: App Skills and Agent Mode. App Skills let Copilot perform context-aware edits to spreadsheets, such as reorganizing tables or applying formulas based on plain-language instructions, which reduces repetitive manual steps.

Meanwhile, Agent Mode enables multi-step workflows where Copilot can research and generate or modify workbooks autonomously. This capability can save hours on complex reports, yet teams must monitor outputs for accuracy and appropriate assumptions, because automated research can introduce errors without human review.

Benefits, Tradeoffs, and Practical Challenges

The video makes clear that these updates deliver meaningful productivity gains by automating routine tasks and providing on-the-fly assistance. For example, users can get quick summaries, generate slides from notes, or reformat spreadsheets much faster than before, which improves throughput for small teams and individuals.

On the other hand, Kevin stresses several tradeoffs. First, broader feature access through Microsoft 365 simplifies licensing but may raise costs for organizations that previously relied on limited or free tiers. Second, automation increases speed but also requires new review practices, because Copilot can make plausible mistakes or apply assumptions that do not match business rules.

Additionally, privacy controls like Temporary Chats help, yet they are not a complete substitute for strong data governance. IT teams still need clear policies on which data sources Copilot can access, how long results persist, and who audits agent actions. Therefore, governance and training remain essential to get the most value without exposing sensitive information.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Kevin Stratvert's video is a practical guide to the newest Copilot changes while offering a balanced view of opportunities and limits. In short, these updates make Copilot more capable and broadly available, but they also demand clearer governance, oversight, and user education.

For readers considering adoption, the video suggests starting small: enable features for pilot teams, monitor outputs closely, and document policies for data access and review. Ultimately, when organizations pair these features with sensible controls and training, Copilot can reduce busy work and let people focus on higher-value tasks.

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