Microsoft Rolls Out AI-Powered Copilot in OneDrive to Boost Productivity and Collaboration

Key Takeaways:

• Copilot in OneDrive is designed to help users extract, summarize, and format information from their files using natural language commands.
• This new feature enhances productivity by enabling users to quickly understand, improve, and share document contents.
• The AI assistant supports various file types and multiple languages, including English, French, German, and more.

Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled that its OneDrive app would be enhanced with new Copilot capabilities this summer. The company has now started rolling out Copilot in OneDrive to commercial customers with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription.

The Copilot AI assistant is accessible on the OneDrive web app and the file viewer in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. It appears as a sidebar where users can ask open-ended questions about their files using natural language commands. This feature also lets users extract relevant information from files and format it in a table or document.

“Copilot in OneDrive helps you do just this, offering you a quick and intuitive way to extract answers from your documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and other files. Simply give Copilot in OneDrive a prompt, and it will fetch what you need from your files, saving you time by giving you instant access to information contained deep within your files,” Microsoft explained.

Generate file summaries with Copilot in OneDrive

With Copilot in OneDrive, users can also summarize the content of single or multiple files, including PDF documents. This feature is designed to help users quickly understand document contents. The Copilot AI assistant also helps users improve existing files and create automated summaries when sharing files with coworkers. This capability is initially available for users who share documents via the Word web app, with support for desktop and mobile clients coming later this year.

Later this month, Copilot in OneDrive is expected to be generally available for all commercial customers with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription, priced at $30 per user per month. It supports a variety of file types, including Loop components, Office documents, PDFs, OpenDocument formats, and web files. The AI assistant currently supports English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, and Simplified Chinese.