The Microsoft 365 edition
This is a real edition from 27 October 2026, at the Practical level, in plain language.
Copilot is moving from writing text to building and doing things itself, but much of the news is still in early access.
Copilot Code turns your description into a working app
Microsoft is introducing Copilot Code, a new feature in Microsoft Copilot. You describe in plain language what you want. Copilot turns it into a working app or a dashboard. First, Copilot asks questions to make your goal clear. Then it pulls information from your emails, meetings, documents and chats. This is done with Work IQ. You change the app by simply continuing the conversation. You don't have to see the code, but you can open it. Microsoft gives a deal value calculator and a widget with the figures you check every morning as examples. The app can stay on your own device. If you want to share it, you put it in a Microsoft cloud environment. Anyone in the organization with access to the underlying data can then use it. The app follows the management and security rules your organization has already set up. Copilot Code is now being rolled out through Frontier, the early access program. So most people don't see the feature yet.
There are two things you can already try: 'Clean data' in Excel to tidy up messy lists, and Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint on your Android phone or tablet. The rollout of Clean data started in October, so you may not see it yet. It is better to leave building apps and delegating tasks in Notebooks for now, as they are only available to testers for the time being.
PowerPoint gets interactive slides with Copilot
Copilot in PowerPoint can now create interactive slides. There is a new skill for this: 'Create interactive slide'. You give a short instruction or use existing content. Copilot turns it into a slide that you can explore. Think of a dashboard, a timeline, a process or a comparison of products or scenarios. You start with the 'Interactive Slide' button in the PowerPoint ribbon and describe the slide you want. You can refer to the presentation itself, an Excel file or a Word document. The skill is also in the Skills picker in Copilot. The rollout is for PowerPoint for Windows and Mac (Current Channel and Monthly Enterprise Channel) and for PowerPoint on the web. Microsoft expects it to be finished by the end of October 2026. Read more →
Cowork in Copilot gets role plugins and tasks that start on their own
Microsoft is expanding Cowork in Copilot with plugins for four roles: Sales, Service, Education and Legal. You can find them in the new Roles & Industry section of the plugin library. A plugin contains ready-made ways of working, so you don't start with an empty prompt. The Education plugin, for example, helps with evidence for accreditation, accessible teaching materials and assessing an AI tool. Cowork can also work with Power Platform connectors. These will become available in the coming weeks. What is new is that a task can also start when something changes in a connected system, such as a new case or a deal moving to another stage. You describe in plain language what Cowork should watch. Cowork then suggests an automation. You create it via Automations, Add and then Create with Cowork. The admin decides which plugins and connectors your organization may use. A renewed task catalog follows at the end of October. Read more →
Copilot Notebooks can take over more tasks
A Microsoft employee lists the new Copilot features of October 2026 on his blog. It is his own take, not an official explanation from Microsoft. In Notebooks, you can delegate tasks, choose a model and get richer output. This is in Frontier and so is not yet available to everyone. In Word, Excel and PowerPoint too, Copilot can edit files alongside a conversation in Chat. That rollout is also in Frontier. Excel gets 'Clean data' to tidy up data. That rollout started in October. In September, Copilot came to Word, Excel and PowerPoint on Android. Copilot Chat is also better at finding information in scanned PDFs. What you see yourself can differ per organization. Read more →
If the slide doesn't match what you wanted, start again with a clearer description. Say which point should get the attention and in which steps you want to show the information. Preferably choose a type of slide, such as a timeline or a comparison.
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