The January 2026 update for Microsoft 365 Copilot brings a comprehensive set of enhancements designed to boost productivity, improve administrative control, and expand AI capabilities across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. From Agent Mode in core Office apps to enhanced voice capabilities and refined admin tools, this month's release demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to evolving Copilot into an indispensable workplace assistant.
Refreshed Microsoft 365 Roadmap
Before diving into specific features, Microsoft has announced a refreshed Microsoft 365 Roadmap that makes it easier to stay current with announcements spanning core apps, Copilot, and agents. This enhanced roadmap provides clearer visibility into features that are now available, rolling out soon, and planned for future releases.
Agent Mode: Working Alongside You
One of the most significant updates is the introduction of Agent Mode in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Unlike traditional Copilot interactions where users prompt and receive responses, Agent Mode actively works alongside users, making changes to files while reasoning through those changes transparently.
How Agent Mode Works
As Agent Mode operates, Copilot shows what it's doing and why, giving users transparency and control. Users can review, adjust, or steer the outcome at any point, maintaining full oversight of the editing process.
Access Tiers
- Copilot Chat users (without Microsoft 365 Copilot license): Standard access to Agent Mode with web grounding in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (rolling out February 2026)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users: Priority access with both web and work grounding. Agent Mode in Excel rolled out on Web in December 2025 and on Desktop/Mac in January 2026. Agent Mode in Word rolled out in November 2025, and PowerPoint Agent Mode is rolling out in February 2026.
New Agents for Document Creation
Complementing Agent Mode, Microsoft is introducing dedicated Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Agents that make it easier to create new files with a single prompt from Copilot Chat. These agents generate complete drafts with rich structure, formatting, and detail built in—eliminating the blank page problem.
Users can quickly produce polished documents, analyses, and slides ready for review and iteration. Both Copilot Chat users and Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users will have access to these agents when they roll out in February 2026.
Enhanced Voice Capabilities
Voice Chats Reference Memory
In the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, voice chats can now reference memory, enabling Copilot to draw on users' existing memories stored in personalization settings. This delivers more relevant and contextual responses while respecting user privacy and security. All referenced memories are visible and manageable within personalization settings. This feature rolled out in January 2026.
Voice Catch-Up in Outlook Mobile
Copilot in Outlook mobile now offers an interactive voice experience that summarizes unread emails and guides users through actions like drafting replies, deleting, archiving, pinning, and flagging—all hands-free. Users simply open Copilot from the Outlook mobile home screen and tap "voice catch-up." This feature began rolling out on iOS in January and will arrive on Android in February.
Copilot in Outlook: Smarter, More Intuitive
Implicit Grounding
Implicit grounding on emails and text is now available in Copilot Chat in Outlook. When users open Copilot Chat alongside an email, the email is automatically added as a grounding source. If they highlight text within the email, the grounding source updates to use only the highlighted text. This reduces copy-paste steps and improves response accuracy.
Natural Language Email Triage
Users can now take common email triage actions using natural language directly from Copilot Chat. Supported actions include marking messages as read or unread, pinning and unpinning, flagging and unflagging, and archiving messages. Examples include prompts like "Flag all unread emails from my manager" or "Archive all emails related to [project name]."
Automatic Replies via Natural Language
Setting up automatic replies is now conversational. Users can turn automatic replies on or off, set date ranges, and draft message responses leveraging their previous writing style—all through chat without navigating Outlook settings. This feature rolled out in December 2025.
Copilot Notebooks and Agent Grounding
Users can now ground an agent on a Copilot Notebook, drawing directly from references and working materials. Grounding on a Notebook helps agents stay aligned with the context of users' work and ensures responses remain relevant, consistent, and tailored to the information they're working with. This feature is rolling out in February 2026.
Excel and PowerPoint Enhancements
Locally Stored Workbooks Support
Copilot in Excel now works with locally stored modern workbooks, giving users faster, more consistent assistance across all their files without requiring changes to how workbooks are stored. This feature is rolling out in February 2026.
View-Only Mode in PowerPoint
Users can now interact with Copilot in PowerPoint when a presentation is opened in view-only mode. Even without edit permissions, users can ask questions about the presentation, request summaries, or get clarification on specific slides. This feature started rolling out in January 2026.
Enterprise Brand Assets
When creating slides with Copilot, PowerPoint can now automatically use approved enterprise assets from an organization's SharePoint Organization Asset Library (OAL) or connected Templafy libraries. This ensures presentations stay on-brand without manual asset selection.
Enhanced Presentation Creation Controls
Users now have more control when creating presentations with Copilot. During creation, they can guide the deck length, narrative tone, overall slide style, and include AI-generated images. This feature rolled out in December 2025.
Copilot Control System Updates for Admins
Expanded Copilot Chat Insights
Microsoft Viva is expanding access to Copilot Chat Insights in Copilot Dashboard by removing the requirement for tenants to have at least 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. The new requirement is just one (1) license, allowing more tenants to track adoption trends including usage over time, group-level adoption, retention, and app-level breakdowns. This feature is rolling out in February 2026.
Microsoft Purview Integration
Microsoft Purview is now integrated into the Microsoft 365 admin center to help admins ensure secure Copilot adoption. In the security tab of the Copilot overview page, admins can:
- Gain visibility around oversharing risks and drive remediations
- Understand how sensitive data is used in Copilot interactions and enable DLP policies
- Strengthen data compliance and complete suggested actions to meet AI compliance standards
This feature rolled out in January 2026.
Redesigned Copilot Overview Page
The redesigned Copilot overview page in the Microsoft 365 admin center delivers a centralized, comprehensive view of Copilot across the tenant. This new experience unifies insights on environment state, configurations, and prioritized recommended actions spanning Copilot Chat, agents, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The page aligns to admin needs for security and governance, management controls, and measurement and reporting. This feature rolled out in January 2026.
Copilot Readiness Page
A new Copilot readiness page organizes Microsoft-recommended settings into clear categories: deployment essentials, end-user experience, and data security. With completion status, user coverage insights, and guided recommendations in one place, IT teams can plan, sequence, and deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot more confidently. This feature rolled out in January 2026.
Staying Current
The Microsoft 365 Roadmap provides the latest updates on productivity apps and intelligent cloud services, while Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes detail features that are generally available and platform-specific.
January 2026 represents a significant step forward for Microsoft 365 Copilot, with improvements spanning user capabilities, administrative control, and AI-powered productivity. As these features roll out, organizations can expect enhanced workflows, better governance, and more intuitive AI assistance across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
Note: Dates mentioned are tentative and subject to change. Check the Microsoft 365 Roadmap regularly for the most current information.
Source: Microsoft Tech Community