Copilot in SharePoint July 2026: Key New Features

Introduction

Microsoft’s July 2026 update for Copilot in SharePoint adds practical features that make SharePoint content more useful in day-to-day work. For IT admins and site owners, the changes also bring new governance options and a simplified model experience as Copilot continues rolling out by default for licensed users.

What’s new in Copilot in SharePoint

Create content from SharePoint data

Copilot can now generate:

• Word documents
• Excel workbooks
• PowerPoint presentations
• Interactive HTML reports

This lets users turn existing SharePoint content into deliverables without starting from scratch or copying data between apps.

Manage files directly in chat

Users can now work with files and folders conversationally, including:

• Suggesting and applying folder structures
• Organizing libraries
• Sharing files with specific people from chat

This should reduce friction for common document management tasks.

New workflow automation options

Copilot now supports natural-language setup for lightweight process automation in SharePoint:

• Approvals for requests, reviews, and sign-offs
• Rules for email notifications based on metadata or content changes
• Quick Steps for repeatable one-click actions in lists and libraries

These additions are especially useful for teams that need basic automation without building custom flows.

Skills improvements

Microsoft also expanded support for Skills in SharePoint:

• Built-in skills to help create reusable team workflows
• Support for site initialization, including a SharePoint.md starter
• /Skills command to discover available skills on a site

This should make custom Copilot experiences easier to deploy and reuse.

Better chat trust and usability

The chat experience now includes:

• Compact, clickable citations
• Sensitivity labels surfaced in chat
• Properly clickable links
• Reasoning transparency for applicable models
• Faster access through a 1-click Q&A prompt in the Copilot button
• --about command for model and version details

Impact on IT administrators and users

For end users, the biggest benefit is speed: they can create files, dashboards, and automations directly from SharePoint content using natural language. For admins and site owners, Microsoft added two notable controls:

• One model provider using the latest reasoning OpenAI model for all users
• Per-site control to show or hide the Copilot button for site visitors

These changes help balance broader adoption with governance on sensitive sites.

Next steps

IT admins should review where Copilot in SharePoint is enabled and confirm governance expectations for high-sensitivity sites. Site owners should test the new automation, file creation, and skills features in pilot scenarios, especially for document-heavy teams.

Organizations with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses can also explore Microsoft’s adoption hub and prompt library to accelerate rollout and user training.