Microsoft 365 Copilot: Updated handling of entity inserts in the Copilot Chat input box

Updated March 4, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

Introduction

We’re updating how entities inserted from Add Work Content under the + menu behave in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat. With this change, entity names (such as document titles, people names, or other referenced objects) will no longer be inserted as text within the input box, making it easier for users to craft clean prompts without needing to manually delete entity labels. This feature is available to both users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (Microsoft 365 Copilot users) and users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (Copilot Chat users), but the experience varies.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 552592.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in mid‑February 2026 and completes in mid-March 2026 (previously late February).

How this will affect your organization

Who is affected: All users with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat in commercial (non-government) clouds.

What will happen:

• When users insert entities through Add Work Content (+):
  • The entity pill will appear in context, but the entity name will no longer be inserted as text in the chat input box:

     

• This change creates a cleaner prompt-building experience by removing extraneous text.
• No admin controls are changing.
• This update is enabled by default for all tenants.

What you can do to prepare

No action is required.

Optional steps include:

• Informing helpdesk or training teams about the change.
• Updating internal documentation that references entity insertion behavior in Copilot or Copilot Chat.

Learn more: Using Context IQ to refer to specific files, people, and more in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat | Microsoft Support

Compliance considerations

No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.