Another day, another AI model. At least that’s how it seems. Just between Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Microsoft’s own MAI models, there’s a constant flow of new and updated AI models for Microsoft 365 apps. Be aware of changes in AI models because the new software can behave in
Excel now lets you choose which AI model powers Copilot, but Microsoft does a poor job of explaining what each one does. The Copilot model picker in Excel offers Auto, two OpenAI GPT models and two Anthropic Claude models. Here is which Copilot model to leave selected for everyday work,
Microsoft is killing Copilot Podcasts and Copilot Labs, two of the more novel features in Microsoft 365 Copilot. If you turn documents, meetings, or web topics into listenable audio shows, save what you want now. There is no admin switch to keep the feature alive, and August 2026 looks like
Microsoft is switching off Meeting Insights, the free Outlook feature that automatically shows emails and files linked to your upcoming meetings. From mid August 2026 it starts disappearing, and by early September 2026 it is gone. The catch: the replacement only works if you pay for a Microsoft 365 Copilot
Copilot Notebooks are quietly becoming one of the genuinely useful parts of the whole Copilot push, and Microsoft has now opened them up well beyond the expensive Copilot license. A Copilot Notebook is a workspace where you gather the files, pages and links for one project, then ask Copilot questions
Copilot Notebooks are one of the most useful new AI features in Microsoft 365, and they fix the problem most people have with AI: not knowing where its answers come from. Inside a Notebook, Copilot only reads the sources you give it and nothing else, so you get useful summaries,
Word makes it surprisingly hard to see a full list of styles in a document. There’s no tidy panel that lays out every style and shows how they connect to each other. The only option built into Word is a hidden Print setting that produces a long, flat report that’s
Microsoft Forms Copilot has quietly turned one of the humblest corners of Microsoft 365 into a better survey and quiz builder. Copilot can now draft a whole form from a plain English prompt, suggest fixes to questions you already have, and even add basic branching, all inside one pane next
Excel’s Flash Fill has a fatal flaw: it forgets. Flash Fill runs once, on the rows in front of it, and then it’s done. Edit a cell, add a row or refresh the data and nothing updates. Excel now has four alternatives all better ways to split or join text
Word now lets you choose which AI runs Copilot, but Microsoft does a poor job of explaining what the choices actually do. The Copilot model picker in Word offers Auto, two Anthropic Claude models and OpenAI’s GPT in Quick Response or Think Deeper flavors. Here is what each Copilot model
Microsoft has quietly added OpenAI’s new GPT 5.6 model to Microsoft 365 Copilot on the very same day it reached ChatGPT, a surprisingly fast turnaround. The catch is that Microsoft renames the model, so instead of the clear Sol, Terra and Luna labels that OpenAI uses, Copilot users only see
Microsoft 365 business prices jumped on July 1, 2026, and if you manage a company or government subscription your next renewal will cost more. The increase hits Business, Enterprise, Frontline, and Government plans, with rises ranging from 0% to a steep 43%. Home users on Personal, Family, Premium, and Education
The AI engine inside your Excel and Outlook may have changed in the last few weeks, and Microsoft never told you. Microsoft has quietly started routing some Copilot prompts to its own MAI models instead of the OpenAI and Anthropic technology that used to do the work. The Copilot button
Microsoft’s new Surface 8GB RAM models look like a bargain, but they are a trap. In June 2026 Microsoft quietly added 8GB versions of the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop that cost more than last year’s 16GB models while giving you half the memory. 8GB is less than what most
Microsoft now has two different apps both called Copilot, and the naming is genuinely confusing. The Copilot app is a free, standalone AI chatbot built into Windows. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app is something else entirely: the old Microsoft 365 hub for your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, now with
Outlook search has vastly improved with Immersive Search, and if your mailbox has a Copilot plan attached, it is worth trying today. Instead of hunting for exact keywords, you can type a plain English question like and get a real answer, complete with links back to the source emails. It
Microsoft now has a free Microsoft AI Playground where you can test its own in-house AI models with no Azure account and no credit card, just a Microsoft login. The MAI Playground opens up three models to try: MAI-Voice-2 for text to speech, MAI-Image-2.5 for text to image, and MAI-Transcribe-1.5
PowerPoint 365 with Copilot now hides a useful choice that most people never notice: separate AI image models for making slide graphics. Tucked below the main model selector are four options, GPT-Image-2, GPT-Image-1.5, MAI Image 2.5 and Flux.2 Flex, each with real strengths and weaknesses. Picking the right one means
Excel lets you pick which AI model Copilot uses, and the list keeps growing: various GPT options, two Claude Opus and the heavyweight Claude Fable 5 (maybe). If you do not understand the difference, you are not alone. This plain English guide explains what each Copilot AI model for Excel
Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint lets you pick which AI model handles each task, but the menu is confusing and changes all the time. So what is an AI model, why does Microsoft offer several, and which Copilot model should you actually choose? This plain English guide explains the
Looking for the best AI for spreadsheets? We asked the four major AI sites, ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, to build the same spreadsheet and the results split cleanly down the middle. But Claude and ChatGPT show an instant spreadsheet preview with every answer, so you can check
Microsoft has been crowing about its latest AI innovation, Microsoft Scout. Scout is the company’s newest AI agent, and it works very differently from Copilot. A lot of the hype is vague and full of Redmond’s latest favorite buzzwords. Here is a plain English explanation of what Microsoft Scout does
The much anticipated Copilot “Move to Ribbon” option has finally arrived in Microsoft 365 for Windows, and unlike the Mac version, the Copilot button really does return to the ribbon. The good news is that the choice is sticky, so it applies to all future Word documents instead of being
Microsoft’s much hated Copilot button finally has a way to get out of your way, and we’ve found the first real world example running on a live machine. The promised “Move to Ribbon” choice has arrived in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but it’s not quite what Microsoft pledged. Instead of
