Copilot: 10 New Outlook, Excel & PPT

Key insights

• Copilot evolution & licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot now acts beyond chat to perform tasks inside apps and reason across content. New model options from OpenAI and Anthropic give more control over responses. Many of the newest features require a Copilot Premium license to use.


• Outlook: context and actions: Outlook adds an Account selector so Copilot acts on the right mailbox, and Copilot can now read your inbox and calendar to summarize commitments. You can draft in Copilot chat, refine text in the compose canvas, and push drafts directly into Outlook for faster email workflow.


• PowerPoint: skills and brand support: PowerPoint gets built-in Copilot Skills for creating and editing slides, plus Brand Kit support so generated decks match company visuals. Presenters can ask Copilot for slide explanations during meetings and create new decks with guided prompts.


• Excel: agentic work and planning: Excel introduces Agent Mode so Copilot can guide multi-step tasks and execute actions inside workbooks. Plan mode helps you structure work before running changes, and Copilot now supports more workbook types for broader compatibility.


• Customization and navigation: You can configure the new Copilot button and pick model options for responses. In Excel, use the three-dot menu to customize Copilot, and the improved Copilot Chat navigation makes jumping between linked results faster.


• Adoption tips: Switch accounts when needed, enable mailbox/calendar access for richer summaries, and use Plan mode to reduce errors before applying changes. Expect staged rollouts and check that your organization has the required Copilot Premium access to unlock advanced features.

Mike Tholfsen’s recent YouTube video walks through the top 10 new features for Microsoft Copilot across Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint in mid-2026. The video serves as a practical tutorial and highlights how Copilot is shifting from a chat helper into an action-oriented assistant inside each app. This article summarizes those updates and evaluates what they mean for everyday users and IT teams. Importantly, the views presented in the video are Mr. Tholfsen’s own and do not represent his employer.

Video scope and new model options

The video opens by noting that Copilot now supports multiple underlying models, including options from OpenAI and Anthropic, giving users more choice for accuracy, safety, and cost. Mr. Tholfsen demonstrates how selecting a model can change Copilot’s tone and problem-solving approach, and he explains when one model might be preferable over another. He also stresses that many of the most advanced tools shown require a Copilot Premium license, which introduces a clear cost tradeoff for organizations. Therefore, teams should weigh the value of advanced capabilities against licensing spend before rolling them out broadly.

Outlook: account selectors and action-driven assistants

One of the most visible updates in Outlook is the new account selector in the Copilot side pane, which helps users pick the mailbox or calendar Copilot should act on. This reduces risk when people manage multiple accounts, but it also adds a small extra step that can slow workflow if not configured carefully. Further, Copilot’s expanded inbox and calendar awareness lets it reason across messages and meetings, enabling summaries and scheduling suggestions that draw from broader context. While this improves productivity, it also raises questions about privacy and scope, so administrators should set clear policies on data access.

Mr. Tholfsen also shows improvements in drafting workflows, such as drafting in the Copilot chat and sending that draft directly into Outlook’s compose window for final edits. Additionally, inline coaching helps users refine language and tone as they write, which is useful for consistency but may require training to avoid overreliance. Teams must balance the convenience of automated drafting with the need for human review, especially for sensitive or high-stakes communications. In short, Outlook’s new features accelerate routine tasks but increase responsibility for governance.

PowerPoint: built-in skills and brand consistency

In PowerPoint, the video highlights new Copilot Skills that help create and edit slides with more context and control than before. Mr. Tholfsen demonstrates generating entire decks, refining slide content, and using slide explanations during live presentations to support audience understanding. The addition of Brand Kit support means Copilot can align generated content with brand colors, fonts, and logos, which helps maintain visual consistency across decks. However, brand automation can sometimes produce designs that miss fine-grained stylistic preferences, so designers will still need to review and tweak results.

Moreover, PowerPoint’s new creation paths speed up deck development, but they also change the role of human authorship—presenters must ensure accuracy and relevance of automatically generated slides. While Copilot can accelerate ideation and first drafts, the tool can replicate errors or introduce factual gaps if prompts are vague. Thus, presenters will benefit from iterative review cycles that combine Copilot output with human subject-matter expertise.

Excel: agentic capabilities, plan mode, and navigation

Excel’s most notable changes move Copilot toward agentic work, where it can act on tasks inside a workbook rather than only offering suggestions. Mr. Tholfsen shows Agent Mode and a new Plan mode that lets users map out workbook changes before execution, which reduces the risk of accidental edits. Navigation improvements in Copilot Chat also make it easier to jump between analyses and source data, helping users keep context while refining formulas and charts. These advances aim to speed complex workflows, but they require careful testing on real datasets to avoid unintended consequences.

Furthermore, Copilot Skills for Excel expand how the assistant manipulates tables, generates summaries, and suggests visualizations, yet compatibility across older or customized workbooks can still be a challenge. Organizations should pilot these features with representative files to discover edge cases where automation fails or misinterprets data. In addition, IT teams will need to manage permissions and backups to protect data integrity as Copilot takes more agent-like actions.

Tradeoffs, adoption challenges, and governance

Across all three apps, the tradeoffs are clear: increased productivity and richer automation versus higher licensing costs, potential privacy concerns, and the need for tighter change control. Mr. Tholfsen’s demonstrations show real gains in speed, but they also reveal scenarios where human oversight remains essential. For example, choosing models affects output style and risk tolerance, while automation in inboxes or workbooks demands clear governance and auditing policies to maintain trust.

Adoption will likely be phased, starting with power users and controlled pilots before broad deployment. IT leaders should plan training, update compliance rules, and set rollback procedures. By framing Copilot as a team tool rather than a replacement, organizations can gain productivity while managing the challenges of accuracy, privacy, and cost.

Conclusion and next steps

Mr. Tholfsen’s video offers a useful, hands-on look at the 2026 Copilot updates for Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint, and it helps viewers understand both the potential and the limits of these tools. Moving forward, teams should pilot key features, define governance rules, and prioritize use cases that deliver measurable value. In that way, organizations can harness Copilot’s advances while limiting risk and ensuring that automation improves work, rather than complicates it.

Keywords

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