Microsoft’s Office apps now have free Copilot Chat features

Microsoft is adding the free Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and agents to Office apps for all Microsoft 365 business users today. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote are all being updated with a Copilot Chat sidebar that will help draft documents, analyze spreadsheets, and more without needing an additional Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

“Copilot Chat is secure AI chat grounded in the web—and now, it’s available in the Microsoft 365 apps,” explains Seth Patton, general Manager of Microsoft 365 Copilot product marketing. “It’s content aware, meaning it quickly understands what you’re working on, tailoring answers to the file you have open. And it’s included at no additional cost for Microsoft 365 users.”

While this free version of Copilot will rewrite documents, provide summaries, and help create slides in PowerPoint, the $30 per month, per user Microsoft 365 Copilot license will still have the best integration in Office apps. The Microsoft 365 Copilot license is also not limited to a single document, and can reason over entire work data.

“Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license get priority access to features like file upload and image generation, along with the latest technology like GPT-5, including faster response times and more consistent availability—even during peak usage periods,“ explains Patton.

Microsoft previously bundled its AI-powered Copilot features into Office apps for consumer Microsoft 365 plans earlier this year, but it raised the prices of subscriptions at the same time. Microsoft isn’t doing any price adjustments for businesses with Copilot Chat being added to Office apps. Microsoft is also getting ready to bundle its sales, service, and finance Copilots into the Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription in October, reducing the price for some businesses that rely on Microsoft’s latest AI tools.