Microsoft published its October round-up for Microsoft 365 Copilot on 30 October. Most of it reaches early-access customers first, through Microsoft’s Frontier programme, then everyone else through November. So if you use Copilot, this is the month the screen your team opens every day changes.
The theme is simple: Copilot is moving from answering questions to doing work. Chat and Cowork merge, skills arrive for everyone, and Cowork picks up plugins for whole roles. Each of those is useful. Each also needs a decision from someone in your business, which is why we have written this.
Entries are numbered so the checklist can point to them. They are not a count of features; some entries cover several related changes.
If you only have 2 minutes
- 1The Copilot app is changing. Chat and Cowork move into one Home this month. Tell your team before it arrives.
- 2Anyone can build a skill. People can now describe a skill in plain language and share it. Decide who builds them and who checks them.
- 3Cowork does work, and costs per task. Cowork tasks run on Copilot Credits. More hand-offs means a bigger bill, so set up a way to see usage.
- 4Data rules now reach Cowork. Purview data loss prevention covers Cowork in preview, and you can set retention for Copilot memory.
- 5Excel gets accounting skills. Worth a try with whoever does your month-end, once it reaches you in November.
- 6Autopilot is coming. An always-on personal agent, early access only for now. Nothing to do yet.
Checklist
Do first
- Tell your team the Copilot Home is changing · Before mid-November · see 1
- Agree who can create and share skills, and how they are checked · November · see 2
- Set up a way to see Copilot Credits usage · Now · see 5
- Check data loss prevention policies include Cowork, and set memory retention · November · see 10
When you have time
How people use Copilot
1.Chat and Cowork move into one Home
Who: Everyone using the Copilot app · Rollout: Frontier in October, worldwide in November · Where: Copilot app
Until now, Copilot Chat and Cowork lived side by side. This month they merge into one Home in the Copilot app, with a shared navigation pane that gathers agents, skills and connectors in one place.
Nothing your team built goes away. What changes is where they find it, and how naturally a quick question turns into a bigger task.
Why this matters
The screen people open every day is changing. If nobody is told, the first reaction is usually “something has broken”, and the second is going back to the old way of working.
- In plain words: One front door for asking Copilot something and for handing it a job.
- A real-world example: A 15-person accounting practice in Tauranga has been using Chat for quick questions and ignoring Cowork. With one Home, the same person who asks “what did this client agree to last year?” can follow it with “draft the engagement letter”, without hunting for a different screen.
- Our take: Good change, and the right direction. Send a two-line note to your team before it lands, with one example of something they can now hand off. It costs nothing and saves a week of confusion.
Home
Agents
Skills
Connectors
Projects
What can I help with?
Ask
Hand off a task
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
2.Skills come to Copilot Chat, built in plain language
Who: Everyone using Copilot Chat · Rollout: Rolling out in November · Where: Copilot Chat
Skills, which started in Cowork, are coming to Copilot Chat. People will be able to create their own by describing what they want in plain language, rather than writing anything technical.
A skill is a reusable set of instructions: how your business writes a quote, answers a complaint or summarises a site visit. Once it exists, anyone it is shared with gets the same result.
Why this matters
A good skill saves hours across a team. A bad one spreads the same mistake to everyone who uses it, quietly, and with the authority of “that is how Copilot does it”.
- In plain words: Write down how a task is done once, and Copilot does it that way for everyone.
- A real-world example: An electrical contractor in Hamilton has three people writing quotes, each a little differently. One of them describes their best quote as a skill: the sections, the wording on exclusions, the payment terms. Now every quote starts from the same, checked version.
- Our take: This is the most important change in the round-up. Pick two or three people to build skills, agree a simple check before a skill is shared, and give each one an owner. Keep the master instructions in a document you own, not only inside Copilot.
Describe it in plain language
Owner
Ops lead
Shared with
Sales team
Checked
Yes
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
3.Projects keep the context together
Who: Everyone using Copilot · Rollout: Cowork in October, Copilot Chat in November · Where: Cowork and Copilot Chat
Projects keep chats, tasks, instructions and context together in one place. Copilot can also now refer back to previous Chat conversations and Cowork tasks.
Why this matters
Most real work is ongoing: a client, a tender, a fit-out. Re-explaining the background every time is where people give up on AI tools.
- In plain words: A folder for a piece of work that Copilot remembers.
- A real-world example: A builder pricing a school tender puts the drawings summary, the spec notes and every related chat in one Project. Two weeks later, “what did we assume about the roofing?” gets a straight answer.
- Our take: Low effort, high payoff. Show people once, with a real piece of work, and let it spread.
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
Cowork
4.Plugins for whole roles, plus OneNote and Planner
Who: Cowork users · Rollout: October; OneNote and Planner Frontier in October, worldwide in November · Where: Cowork
Cowork gets role-based plugins under Roles & Industry, for Sales, Service, Education, Legal and Finance. There are new plugins for OneNote and Planner, and a task catalogue showing what Cowork can do.
Why this matters
Each plugin widens what Cowork can reach and do. That is the point, and also why someone should decide which teams actually need which ones.
- In plain words: Ready-made toolkits that let Cowork work like someone in a particular role.
- A real-world example: A distributor in Christchurch turns on the Sales plugin for its two account managers and Planner for the operations lead, and leaves the rest off until there is a reason to switch them on.
- Our take: Start with the Planner plugin if you already run work in Planner; it is the quickest win. Treat the role plugins like new staff: give them to the team that needs them, not to everyone.
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
5.Cowork tasks run on Copilot Credits
Who: Whoever pays for Copilot · Rollout: In place since 16 June 2026 · Where: Billing
Since June, Cowork has been billed in Copilot Credits on top of the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. The price of a task depends on the model used, the context it pulls in, the tool calls it makes and how long it runs.
Nothing about that changed in October. What changed is how much more there is for Cowork to do.
Why this matters
Every feature in this round-up that hands work to Cowork also adds to the bill. Usage that was small in June can be noticeably bigger by Christmas.
- In plain words: Copilot now charges per job, on top of the monthly licence.
- A real-world example: A marketing agency in Wellington lets its team hand Cowork every report and deck. The work gets done faster; the first invoice after the change is a surprise nobody budgeted for.
- Our take: Not a reason to stop. A reason to watch. Decide who looks at usage each month, and teach people to plan a task before handing it off rather than nudging Cowork twenty times.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
More tasks handed to Cowork, more credits used.
Directions on Microsoft: Copilot Cowork gets model choice plus usage-based billing
6.Autopilot, an always-on personal agent
Who: Frontier programme only · Rollout: Frontier from November · Where: Copilot
Microsoft describes Autopilot as an always-on, cloud-based personal agent. It is reaching Frontier, the early-access programme, this month.
Why this matters
It shows where Copilot is heading: agents that keep working when you are not at your desk.
- In plain words: A Copilot that carries on in the background.
- A real-world example: Not one for real work yet. Most New Zealand businesses will not see it until it leaves Frontier.
- Our take: Nothing to do. We are watching it, and will write it up properly when it reaches everyone.
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
Inside the apps
7.Excel: accounting skills, clean data and an interactive canvas
Who: Excel users · Rollout: Accounting skills Frontier in October, worldwide in November; clean data in October; canvas worldwide in November · Where: Excel
Excel gets accounting skills, a clean data skill and an interactive canvas.
Why this matters
Month-end and messy exports are where most small businesses lose hours in Excel.
- In plain words: Copilot in Excel gets better at bookkeeping-style work and tidying up data.
- A real-world example: A café group in Auckland exports sales from its point-of-sale system every week and spends an hour fixing columns before anyone can read it. The clean data skill is worth trying on exactly that file.
- Our take: Try it, with a person checking the numbers. Accounting output should never go anywhere without a human looking at it first.
| date | item | amt |
| 3/11 | Flat white | 5.5 |
| 03-11-26 | flat white | $5.50 |
| 4 Nov | Muffin | 6 |
| Date | Item | Amount |
| 3 Nov | Flat white | $5.50 |
| 3 Nov | Flat white | $5.50 |
| 4 Nov | Muffin | $6.00 |
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
8.Word and PowerPoint: legal skills, formatting and brand kits
Who: Word and PowerPoint users · Rollout: October · Where: Word and PowerPoint
Word gets a Legal plugin with more than 20 legal skills, document-specific formatting and design, and Markdown support.
PowerPoint gets simpler Brand Kit setup with publish and unpublish controls, a Sonnet 5.5 model option, interactive slides, a template assessment skill and a way to record a skill.
Why this matters
Brand kits are the quiet win here: decks that look like your business by default.
- In plain words: Better-looking documents and decks with less fiddling.
- A real-world example: A consultancy sets up its Brand Kit once, so every proposal deck starts in its colours and fonts instead of the default blue.
- Our take: Set up the Brand Kit. Treat the Legal plugin as a first draft and a checklist, not legal advice.
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
9.Teams recaps without a transcript, and Copilot Workspaces
Who: Teams and Workspaces users · Rollout: Teams recap worldwide in October; Workspaces collaboration Frontier in October, Office files worldwide in January · Where: Teams and Copilot Workspaces
Intelligent recap in Teams now works without a saved transcript, worldwide from October. The organiser needs a Copilot licence to turn it on.
Notebooks have become Copilot Workspaces, with live team collaboration in Frontier now, and creating and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files coming worldwide in January.
Why this matters
Meeting recaps without keeping a transcript suits businesses that would rather not store every word said.
- In plain words: Meeting notes without a recording of everything, and a shared space to work with Copilot.
- A real-world example: An HR consultancy runs sensitive meetings and does not keep transcripts. It can now get a recap and actions without changing that policy.
- Our take: Check your meeting policy covers recaps, then turn it on for the meetings where it helps.
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
For IT and admins
10.Data loss prevention reaches Cowork, and memory gets retention rules
Who: IT admins · Rollout: DLP for Cowork in public preview from October; memory retention in October · Where: Microsoft Purview
Purview data loss prevention now extends to Cowork, in public preview. You can also configure retention for Copilot memory.
Why this matters
Cowork drafts, files and sends on someone’s behalf. The rules that protect email and files should protect it too.
- In plain words: Your data rules now apply to Copilot’s work, and you decide how long it remembers things.
- A real-world example: A medical practice already blocks NHI numbers going out by email. Extending the same policy to Cowork means an assistant cannot paste one into a draft either.
- Our take: Worth an hour of your IT provider’s time this month. If you do not have data loss prevention policies at all, that is the bigger job.
Cowork draft
Patient follow-up for NHI ABC1234 booked for Tuesday.
Blocked by your data rule: health identifiers cannot leave the practice.
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026
11.Insights Agent and a SharePoint knowledge base
Who: IT admins and managers · Rollout: Insights Agent in October; SharePoint knowledge base Frontier in October · Where: Admin and SharePoint
The Insights Agent is available, with a second version in early-access preview. SharePoint gets a knowledge base in Frontier.
Why this matters
You cannot improve adoption you cannot see.
- In plain words: A way to see who is using Copilot, and a shared knowledge base on the way.
- A real-world example: A manager notices the sales team uses Copilot daily and operations barely at all, and books a short session for operations rather than retraining everyone.
- Our take: Use it to aim your training at the people who need it, not as a league table.
Microsoft Copilot Blog: What’s new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Release notes for Microsoft 365 Copilot
Watching next month
- Autopilot as it moves beyond Frontier
- Skills in Copilot Chat once they reach everyone, and how sharing is controlled
- Office file editing in Copilot Workspaces, due worldwide in January
- Any change to Copilot Credits pricing
How this issue was put together
We read Microsoft’s October round-up and release notes, and only include changes with a date, a cost or something you need to do.
Every fact links to its source. Where Microsoft has not said something, such as which licence a feature needs, we have not guessed.
The examples are made-up New Zealand businesses, not clients. The figures are our own illustrations, not Microsoft screenshots.