Microsoft has unveiled a redesigned Microsoft 365 Copilot experience aimed at making its AI assistant faster, clearer, and better integrated into everyday work. The update changes both the standalone Copilot app and the way Copilot appears inside Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
The company said the redesign reflects feedback from users and a broader effort to move Copilot beyond a simple chat box. Instead, Microsoft is treating it as a task-aware workspace that adapts to the job at hand. The updated app gives users more room to enter prompts, while tools and controls appear below the input area when needed. Microsoft also introduced a single entry point for Copilot across Microsoft 365 apps, designed to surface relevant actions based on the context of the work.
Microsoft said the new Copilot app is intended to feel more responsive and less cluttered. The interface now uses a left navigation panel that can expand or collapse, helping users move between agents, conversations, and history. The company also added a shared pinning system and improved session recall so people can return to work more easily.
The prompt area can expand to support longer or more complex input, including pasted content and inline formatting before a request is sent. Microsoft said the design uses progressive disclosure, meaning the app starts with a cleaner surface and reveals more functionality as needed rather than showing every option at once.
Microsoft also pointed to performance gains. According to the company, the Copilot app now loads more than twice as fast, with load times cut by more than half. It also said response times for complex chat prompts improved by 10%. Microsoft said early feedback from customers described the redesigned app as cleaner and more intuitive.
The redesign is not limited to the dedicated app. Microsoft is also changing how Copilot appears within Microsoft 365 applications, aiming for a more consistent experience across the suite. The company said usage has risen since it rolled out new in-app experiences, citing increases of 27% in Word, 33% in Excel, 43% in PowerPoint, and 30% in Outlook.
New capability-focused agents are part of that shift. Microsoft named Designer, Researcher, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as examples of agents that are meant to better match specific tasks. The company said these agents can draw on broader work context and operate more independently inside the apps where users already spend time.
A new Copilot entry point sits above the work itself and is designed to understand the context underneath it. Microsoft said Copilot can open a side panel that functions not just as a chat window, but as an editing partner that can suggest or make changes with clear indicators of what it is doing. The assistant can also be invoked directly on the canvas, including within a paragraph, spreadsheet cell, or slide.
Microsoft said the update is powered in part by Work IQ, which it described as an intelligence layer that draws on emails, files, chats, and meetings to tailor responses. The company said the system can provide quick answers for simple requests or deeper reasoning for more complex work, including the ability to choose between AI models when appropriate.
The company framed the redesign as part of a larger shift in AI product design, moving from isolated features toward connected experiences that are meant to fit how people actually work. Rather than asking users to adjust to software, Microsoft said it wants the software to adapt to users.
The new Microsoft 365 Copilot experience is available across desktop and mobile devices.