💡 Our Technical Review in summary
Summary
Microsoft is significantly enhancing the grounding and drafting capabilities of Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word. These updates allow users to reference more data and larger documents when using the “Draft with Copilot” feature. Key improvements include the ability to reference entire OneDrive/SharePoint folders, an increase in the number of individual items that can be referenced (up to 20), and expanded support for large-scale documents up to 1.5 million words.
Impact
- Folder Referencing: Users can now point Copilot to a specific folder on OneDrive or SharePoint. Copilot will automatically use the 10 most recent files within that folder as the context for content generation.
- Increased Reference Limit: The maximum number of individual items (files, emails, or meetings) that can be referenced during a draft command has been increased to 20, allowing for more comprehensive research and synthesis.
- Large Document Support: Copilot can now process and reference massive documents containing up to 1.5 million words or 3,000 pages, facilitating the analysis of complex reports and long-form documentation.
- Rollout Timeline:
- Word for the Web: Folder referencing is available now. Large file support and the 20-item reference limit arrive in April 2025.
- Word for Windows/Mac: Folder referencing is expected in July 2025. Other capabilities are scheduled for April 2025.
- Completion: The full global rollout is expected to be finalized by early December 2025.
Action Required
- License Verification: Ensure that users requiring these features are assigned a Microsoft 365 Enterprise Copilot license.
- Policy Management: Review Copilot settings in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center or via Group Policy to ensure the Draft feature is enabled for the appropriate user groups.
- User Education: Inform users about the “10 most recent files” limitation when referencing folders to ensure they understand how Copilot selects data from within a directory.
- Update Internal Documentation: Update training materials to reflect the new 20-item reference limit and the capability to handle high-word-count documents.
Microsoft Official Update
Service: N/A
Category: planForChange
Severity: normal
We heard that customers would like to be able to
reference more data, more quickly, when creating, reviewing, and finalizing Word
documents using the Draft feature with Copilot in Word. We’re happy to share three improvements, developed based on your
feedback.
- Reference folders when using Copilot: Up
until now, when using Copilot, you could reference files, emails, and even
meetings, but had to add them one by one. Today, we are enabling you to
reference a whole folder (stored on OneDrive or SharePoint).NOTE: Copilot
will use the 10 most recent files as the basis of the content it generates. - Support for larger documents in Word Copilot: We
continue to expand the size limits of what we support, and we are expanding our
ability to referencing large documents up to 1.5 million words or 3000 pages. - More files can be referenced in Draft with
Copilot in Word: You
can now reference up to 20 items such as files, emails, and meetings when using
the Draft with Copilot command.
[When this will happen:]
General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout has begun and expected to complete by early December 2025.
[How this will affect your organization:]
This further extends the richness of grounding support for customers, enabling more complex scenarios with Copilot in Word that support a broader set of customer document and folder reference needs.
[What you need to do to prepare:]
The ability to reference a folder
is available to all Word for the web users and coming to Word for Windows and
Word for Mac users with an Enterprise Copilot license (learn more about
licenses for businesses) in July 2025.
Other capabilities coming later in
April 2025 in Word for the web, Word for Windows, and Word for Mac:
- The ability to reference up to 20 files when
drafting a document with Copilot - The ability to reference larger files (up to 1.5
million words or 3,000 pages
You can manage Copilot for specific apps or users through either the Microsoft 365 Admin center or Group Policy.
