Copilot Cowork is an extension of Microsoft 365 Copilot designed for long-running, multi-step work rather than quick, one-off prompts. Instead of asking Copilot to create a single document or slide and then stopping there, you can delegate a broader piece of work to Cowork and let it manage the steps over time.

Key differences from the standard Copilot experience include:

• Multi-step workflows: Cowork can handle tasks that unfold over minutes or hours, not just a single interaction.
• Ongoing collaboration: You stay in the loop as work progresses, reviewing outputs and guiding the direction as needed.
• Deeper context: With Work IQ, Cowork can use the broader context of your work across Microsoft 365, not just isolated files or messages.
• Secure by design: All of this happens inside Microsoft 365, leveraging your existing security and compliance boundaries.

Copilot Cowork is built to rethink how you handle complex work that doesn’t fit into a single prompt or a single app.

Here’s how it manages multi-step tasks:

• Runs over time: Tasks are not confined to one turn. Cowork can keep working for minutes or hours, coordinating actions as it goes.
• Cross-app coordination: It can move across Microsoft 365 apps as needed, so the work isn’t stuck in just one place. For example, it might pull information from documents, emails, and notes to produce a coherent output.
• Work IQ context: Using Work IQ, Cowork has access to the full context of your work—not just fragments of data—so it can reason over all relevant materials and make more informed decisions.
• Progressive outputs: As it works, Cowork produces real outputs along the way, which you can review, refine, and approve.

Copilot Cowork is designed to reimagine AI-assisted work while staying within the security and compliance framework of Microsoft 365.

From a security perspective:

• Runs inside Microsoft 365: All Cowork activity happens securely, inside Microsoft 365, using the same enterprise-grade controls you already rely on.
• Context with boundaries: Work IQ gives Cowork a broad view of your work context, but it still respects your existing permissions and access controls.
• Data handling: As Cowork coordinates tasks and produces outputs over minutes or hours, it operates within your organization’s established security and compliance policies.

This means you can delegate meaningful, multi-step work to Copilot Cowork while maintaining the protections already in place across your Microsoft 365 environment.