Microsoft has just made Copilot for Microsoft 365 available for SMB customers:
Bringing the full power of Copilot to more people and businesses
So I went and signed up to get a look. Bottom line at the moment is that, yes you can buy a single license for a tenant with Business Premium but you need to pay for 12 months up front. Here in Australia than means around $600 inc GST upfront for a minimum 12 months. I have no doubt that I will get value but as yet there is no month by month option.
When I open my Microsoft 365 portal now I see a new Copilot icon as shown on the left.
When I select that icon, I am taken to a ChatGPT like screen as shown above that allows me to interact with my data in Microsoft 365 as expected.
If I open Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc on the web I see a Copilot button in the ribbon as shown above.
However, I can’t see the expected Copilot button in any of desktop applications, like Word shown above.
This video from MVP Shane Young:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KROOEdZXvoY
provided all the answers.
To see the Copilot button in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote (but not Outlook or Teams) you need to
go into each application individually (yes all of them one by one at this stage). Select File from the menu.
Then select Account from the option on the left.
On the right, I’d suggest that ensure your application is up to date first by selecting the Update Options button as shown above.
Now select the the Update License button as shown.
You’ll see the above dialog appear. Select Sign in and sign in using the account that has been assigned a Copilot for Microsoft 365 License.
You should see the above message indicating the process is complete. Select Close.
Now, Close and re-open the application.
Now the Copilot button should be visible and because this is Word you will also see the Draft with Copilot dialog as shown above confirming everything is enabled.
Remember, you’ll need to do this individually for each desktop application: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote following the same process.
Things are bit different for Outlook and Teams.
For Outlook you’ll need to switch over to the New Outlook by toggling the option in the top right corner of Outlook on the desktop as shown above.
As for Teams, you’ll just need to Sign Out and then Sign in with the account that has Copilot assigned.
you can also add the Copilot app on the left menu bar.
which will allow you access to the original ChatGPT style interface:
Don’t forget you can pin this ‘app’ to menu bar as well by right clicking on it.
All this an it is only day one with Copilot for Microsoft 365. Much to come. Stay tuned.
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