As generative AI usage continues to surge and become an integral part of daily workflows, organizations are prioritizing privacy and security—and we continue to evolve Copilot experiences in Windows to address these needs. Starting later this month, for organizations with managed PCs running the Pro or Enterprise edition of Windows[1], users signing in with a work or school account will receive an updated experience.

In this post, we’ll dive into:

Improvements to privacy and security
Upcoming changes to the user experience
How to manage these changes in your organization

Commitment to security

Windows 11 plays an important role in your Zero Trust strategy. So does Microsoft Copilot. We’re ramping up data protection to help you advance your security goals while ensuring employees have seamless access to the AI productivity tools they need to stay ahead of the curve.

Microsoft Copilot will offer enterprise data protection for users signed in with an Entra account. This is a significant step in strengthening data protection for Microsoft Copilot as the enhanced security, privacy, and compliance controls and commitments available for Microsoft 365 Copilot will now extend to Microsoft Copilot prompts and responses. If you were hesitant about adopting Copilot for your work needs, now is the time to consider integrating it into your organization.

When Microsoft Copilot updates to enterprise data protection (EDP), commercial data protection (CDP) will no longer apply. EDP is offered at no additional cost when a user signs in with an Entra account and does not require additional action from IT to activate. Additionally, both the in-app and browser experiences for Copilot will shift to an ad-free user interface to minimize disruptions.

Easy access for optimal productivity

Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise have been designed to meet the productivity, security, and manageability requirements of organizations—and we’re applying the same approach to Microsoft Copilot*. Windows 11, together with Microsoft 365 apps, delivers the best experience for employees to work more efficiently and maximize productivity and creativity with Microsoft Copilot.

With updates coming soon to managed PCs, users with work or school accounts can easily access Microsoft Copilot through the Microsoft 365 app if they or their admin have elected to pin Copilot in the Microsoft 365 app. The Microsoft 365 app comes pre-installed on all Windows PCs. This app can be uninstalled or reinstalled from the Microsoft Store and pinned to the taskbar or Start menu as desired.

The Microsoft 365 app simplifies access to Copilot, enabling people to create, share, and collaborate in one place alongside their favorite Microsoft 365 apps, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For commercial organizations, Microsoft will prioritize future Copilot developments on the experience in the Microsoft 365 app, instead of Copilot in Windows.

The updated entry point for Microsoft Copilot within the Microsoft 365 app

The Microsoft 365 app can be pinned to the taskbar in Windows. The Microsoft Copilot app can be pinned to the navigation bar within the Microsoft 365 app for easy access.

Accessing Microsoft Copilot within the Microsoft 365 app is available at no additional cost for users with an Entra account. Copilot chat within the app is grounded in information from the web and does not access organizational resources or content, such as business apps, email, or other data that resides in a tenant boundary. The same web-based chat experience is available via a user’s default browser when accessing microsoft.com/copilot with an Entra account.

If you have the add-on Microsoft 365 Copilot license, you will have access to both web and work modes in chat, with the option to toggle between the two. The work experience is an AI chat experience grounded in work data inside a tenant boundary. It provides the added benefits of Microsoft Graph-bound chat capabilities and the ability to search across meetings, email, files, and more.

When will this happen?

The update to Microsoft Copilot to offer enterprise data protection is rolling out now.

The shift to the Microsoft 365 app as the entry point for Microsoft Copilot will align with the annual Windows 11 feature update release. Changes will be rolled out to managed PCs starting with the optional non-security preview release on September 24, 2024, and following with the monthly security update release on October 8 for all supported versions of Windows 11. These changes will be applied to Windows 10 PCs the month after. This update is replacing the current Copilot in Windows experience.

Want to get started? You can enable the Microsoft Copilot experience for your users now by using the TurnOffWindowsCopilot policy and pinning the Microsoft 365 app using the existing policies for Taskbar pinning.

Things to consider for IT

Copilot innovations are designed to help everyone, including IT professionals. We want to emphasize that we will continue to offer controls so you can seamlessly manage AI experiences and adopt them for your organization at your own pace.

If you decide to enable Microsoft Copilot for your users, it will appear in the Microsoft 365 app starting mid-September. The option to pin Copilot to the navigation bar within the Microsoft 365 app can be found under Settings on the Copilot page in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
If you do not select to enable Copilot, you can decide whether users will be prompted to pin and enable Microsoft Copilot themselves within the Microsoft 365 app.

If Copilot is pinned, it will be prominently accessible in the Microsoft 365 app as seen in the screenshot above. For more information, see Pin Microsoft Copilot to the navigation bar.

Thank you for joining us on this journey!

Thank you for joining us on this journey! To enable easy access to Copilot for employees, pin the Microsoft 365 app to the taskbar and pin Microsoft Copilot within the Microsoft 365 app.

For more information on managing Microsoft Copilot experiences in Windows, see Manage Copilot in Windows. If you previously enabled Copilot in Windows or the Copilot app in your organization, we recommend that you read through this documentation as it contains critical information to help you manage the changes.  

To learn more about other Copilot innovations for work that were announced today, please watch today’s Microsoft 365 Copilot: Wave 2 event and see the Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2: Pages, Python in Excel, and agents.

Continue the conversation. Find best practices. Bookmark the Windows Tech Community, then follow us @MSWindowsITPro on X and on LinkedIn. Looking for support? Visit Windows on Microsoft Q&A.

[1] This blog only covers the Windows and Copilot integration for organizations that use work or school accounts to log in to Windows. It does not apply to how people with a Microsoft Account (MSA) use Microsoft Copilot.

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