MC1459130Improved capabilities for files with Copilot in OneDrive Web

What and why:

Copilot experiences that have been available in SharePoint expanded preview are now becoming available directly in OneDrive. Users will be able to find, understand, analyze, create, and act on content using natural language, all without leaving their OneDrive experience.

With extended file capabilities in Copilot in OneDrive, users can work across their files without opening each one, manually searching through folders, or stitching together insights on their own.

These capabilities are designed to help users move faster from files to finished work while respecting the permissions, policies, and governance controls already in place across Microsoft 365.

Beginning on August 24 2026, these capabilities will roll out to eligible tenants as an opt-out preview. As part of this rollout, Copilot in OneDrive and Copilot in SharePoint will use the same tenant-level preview controls.

Rollout schedule:

• Public Preview (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out on late August 2026 and expect to complete by late September 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out on late December 2026 and expect to complete by late December 2026.

Impact on your organization:

Who is affected

• OneDrive Web users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license
• Admins managing OneDrive

What will happen

• Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will automatically see the updated Copilot entry point in OneDrive Web. This includes OneDrive Home, My Files, views such as Shared, People, and Meetings, and supported file preview experiences, including PDFs.
• From these entry points, users can prompt Copilot in natural language to act on their files and folders. Depending on the context, users can ask Copilot to summarize files, answer questions about documents, compare content, analyze spreadsheets, create new content from existing files, or help find relevant information across their Microsoft 365 context.
• This rollout extends Copilot file experiences across both SharePoint and OneDrive, giving users a more consistent way to work with content wherever their files are stored.
• For example, users can ask Copilot to create summaries, FAQs, project overviews, reports, presentations, Office documents, or HTML dashboards based on selected files, folders, or relevant work content.
• Copilot in OneDrive works within each user’s existing permissions. Users can only access, summarize, analyze, or act on content they are already authorized to view or edit.

Updated capabilities in Copilot in OneDrive can help users:

Find the right files faster

• Users can ask Copilot to find files related to a project, topic, meeting, person, or recent activity. This reduces the need to remember exact file names, folder locations, or where a piece of work was last shared.

Understand files without opening each one

• Users can summarize documents, presentations, PDFs, images, meeting recordings, and other supported content types so they can quickly understand what a file contains and decide what to do next.

Get answers from file content

• Users can ask questions about their files, such as “What are the main action items in this deck?” or “What changed between these versions?” Copilot can help extract key information from content users already have access to across supported Microsoft 365 locations, including OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, and Outlook.

Analyze files and folders

• Users can ask Copilot to analyze supported files, including spreadsheets and collections of documents, to identify trends, compare information, generate insights, or summarize what matters most.

Create new content from existing files

• Users can ask Copilot to create drafts, summaries, FAQs, project overviews, reports, presentations, Office documents, or dynamic HTML dashboards based on selected files, folders, or relevant Microsoft 365 context.

Share with more context

• Users can use Copilot to help share files and folders, check permissions, or update sharing settings, while staying in control of what is shared and with whom.

Action required / Recommendations:

No action is required to receive this update. Copilot in OneDrive will update automatically for users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

Optional steps to prepare:

• Inform users about the new Copilot capabilities and confirm they have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
• Configuration controls available
• Preview opt-in/opt-out: Admins can use PowerShell cmdlets to opt the entire tenant out of the preview. Find instructions and troubleshooting guidelines.
• Important: Copilot in OneDrive and Copilot in SharePoint use the same tenant-level preview controls. Organizations that opt out of the preview will disable both Copilot in OneDrive and Copilot in SharePoint. Separate controls for each product are not available.

Licensing controls

• Copilot in OneDrive is available to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Users without the required license will not have access to Copilot in OneDrive capabilities.

Permission and access controls

• Copilot in OneDrive respects existing file and folder permissions. Users can only use Copilot with content they are already authorized to access. Copilot does not grant new access to files, folders, li paries, sites, or other Microsoft 365 content.

Content governance controls

• Existing governance controls, including sensitivity labels, retention policies, sharing controls, and access restrictions, continue to apply. Copilot-generated responses are grounded in content the user has permission to access.

User action and confirmation controls

• For actions that modify content, such as creating, moving, renaming, sharing, or deleting files, Copilot will require user review or confirmation before completing the action. This helps ensure users remain in control of changes to their files and folders.

Additional information Get started with Copilot in OneDrive | Microsoft Support

• This feature provides a method of communicating with generative AI and supports the following capabilities: Purview Communication Compliance.
• This feature generates and stores customer data and supports the following capabilities: Purview eDiscovery, Data Retention, Purview Sensitivity Labels, Customer Lockbox.
• This feature supports Customer Key for encryption at rest.
• This feature follows its parent service's data residency and processing commitments.
• This feature supports role based access control (RBAC).
• Customer administrators can control user access to this feature using the following interfaces: Licensing, PowerShell Cmdlet.
• The newly created objects appear in the following inventories: Agent 365 Registry.
• This product supports Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies.