Accessing Microsoft AI technology Copilot with Microsoft Office is possible through two different methods, each tailored to the specific Microsoft 365 plan you have
Both Copilot options only work for Microsoft 365 software (Windows or Mac). Not Office 2021, Office 2019 or other versions of Office.
Copilot Pro
Copilot Pro is the choice for Microsoft 365 consumer customers with either Microsoft 365 Family or Personal.
Pay $20 a month extra to get Copilot Pro extras in your Microsoft 365 software.
Copilot Pro is integrated into the main Office apps, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. For example this in Word:
That means options to summarize, write, rewrite and make AI images all appear within the apps, instead of needing to switch between AI apps and Office.
The paid Copilot also lets you use the latest versions of the AI models (GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo) with faster responses during peak times. These choices are obvious in the web page https://copilot.microsoft.com/
Making AI images should also be faster with Pro users getting another 100 ‘Boosts’ per day to use in Designer (Bing Image Creator).
In the future there’ll be ‘Copilot GPT’ a customized Copilot for a specific topic. Copilot GPT Builder will do that with just a simple set of prompts.
See Copilot Pro brings AI into Microsoft Office
Copilot for Microsoft 365
“Copilot for Microsoft 365” is the name for AI extras in Office apps for business and enterprise licenses plus education faculty and staff.
It’s similar to Copilot Pro but more expensive (in two different ways, see below).
It has all the features of Copilot Pro (see above) plus some extras:
- Teams – use Copilot within Teams.
- Microsoft Graph support
- Data Protection what Microsoft calls ‘Enterprise grade’.
- Better Customization – with a Copilot Studio tool (as opposed to ‘Builder’ in Copilot Pro).
Copilot for Microsoft 365 costs $360 per year, per user paid up front. Microsoft promotes this as US$30 a month but there’s no monthly payment option. So this plan is not only more expensive overall but demands a hefty upfront commitment.
Now Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available on most commercial and Enterprise plans including Business Premium and Business Standard even for a single license.
See Copilot for Microsoft 365 – what you need to know
Copilot Pro brings AI into Microsoft Office
See what Copilot can do for Word – the videos.
