Copilot Frontier Map — Track M365 Copilot Early-Access Features
Interactive tracker for Microsoft 365 Copilot features in the Frontier early-access programme. See what's available now, what's graduating to GA, AI models used, admin actions needed, and licensing prerequisites.
Copilot Cowork — Microsoft 365
Status: frontier. An autonomous execution agent that plans, coordinates, and performs multi-step, long-running work across your entire Microsoft 365 environment. Unlike standard Copilot which responds to one prompt at a time, Cowork takes a goal and breaks it into steps — drafting documents, sending emails, scheduling meetings, and tracking progress over time.
AI Models: Anthropic Claude, Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2026-03-31. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme in M365 Admin Centre. Approve Anthropic as a sub-processor (required — Claude powers the execution engine).
Researcher — Multi-Model Intelligence — Copilot Chat
Status: frontier. The Researcher agent now uses multiple AI models in parallel — OpenAI GPT and Anthropic Claude — to produce higher-quality, more accurate research outputs. New features include Critique (one model drafts, another reviews and refines) and Model Council (side-by-side comparison of outputs from different models).
AI Models: OpenAI GPT-5, Anthropic Claude Opus 4.6. Frontier date: 2026-03-31. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme. Anthropic sub-processor must be approved for Claude features.
Legal Agent for Word — Word
Status: frontier. A specialised Copilot agent built for legal professionals in Word. Helps review documents, understand agreements, make precise edits, and verify answers — all in one workflow. Designed for contracts, policies, and compliance documents.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2026-04-01. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme in M365 Admin Centre.
Agentic Email & Calendar — Outlook
Status: frontier. Copilot in Outlook can now carry out multi-step inbox and calendar tasks autonomously — triaging emails, organising messages by priority, and managing meetings over time by resolving conflicts and adjusting schedules.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2026-04-01. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme in M365 Admin Centre.
Copilot Call Delegation — Teams
Status: frontier. When you're busy, Copilot can answer incoming Teams Phone calls on your behalf. It gathers context from the caller, helps you decide whether to pick up, and can schedule follow-up appointments — so you focus on the calls that matter most.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2026-04-01. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Teams Phone licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme. Teams Phone must be configured.
Enhanced Copilot in Word — Word
Status: frontier. New Copilot capabilities in Word designed specifically for legal, finance, and compliance workflows. Built for real-time collaboration with improved speed and precision, leveraging Work IQ for context-aware document creation and editing.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2026-04-01. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme in M365 Admin Centre.
Draft & Send Email from Copilot Chat — Copilot Chat
Status: frontier. Draft, refine, and send emails end-to-end directly from Copilot Chat — without switching to Outlook. Tell Copilot what you need, iterate on the draft in place, and send final emails straight from Chat. Work IQ pulls in the right context automatically.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2026-03-31. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme in M365 Admin Centre.
AI Collaborator in Planner — Planner
Status: frontier. Use Copilot alongside your team's work in Microsoft Planner. Generate tasks from goals, execute assigned tasks, take feedback, and write status reports — helping teams plan, execute, and stay aligned without leaving Planner.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2026-03-31. Expected GA: TBA.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence + Frontier programme enrolment
Admin action: Enable Frontier programme in M365 Admin Centre.
Scheduled Prompting — Copilot Chat
Status: ga. Automate recurring Copilot prompts with natural language scheduling. Set Copilot to run specific prompts on a schedule — like 'every Monday at 9am, summarise last week's emails' — and receive results automatically.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2025-11-01. Expected GA: 2026-01-15.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (no Frontier enrolment needed — now GA)
Admin action: No additional admin action required.
Copilot Notebooks Enhancements — Copilot Chat
Status: ga. Enhanced Copilot Notebooks with streamlined UX, persistent navigation, built-in chat, personalised suggestions, an overview page, and expanded reference types including SharePoint and OneNote sources.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2025-12-01. Expected GA: 2026-03-01.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (no Frontier enrolment needed — now GA)
Admin action: No additional admin action required.
Copilot Pages — Copilot Chat
Status: ga. A persistent, editable canvas within Copilot Chat. Create multi-page documents with rich content — tables, code, diagrams — and share them with colleagues for real-time collaboration.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2024-09-01. Expected GA: 2025-03-01.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (no Frontier enrolment needed — now GA)
Admin action: No additional admin action required.
Copilot in Excel with Python — Excel
Status: ga. Copilot can now write and run Python code directly in Excel — enabling advanced data analysis, forecasting, and visualisations without leaving the spreadsheet. No Python knowledge required.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2024-05-01. Expected GA: 2024-09-01.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (no Frontier enrolment needed — now GA)
Admin action: No additional admin action required.
Agent Mode in Word, Excel & PowerPoint — Word / Excel / PowerPoint
Status: ga. Copilot becomes an interactive agent within Office apps — not just responding to prompts, but engaging in turn-based conversations to iteratively build, refine, and polish your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2025-06-01. Expected GA: 2026-01-01.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (no Frontier enrolment needed — now GA)
Admin action: No additional admin action required.
Copilot Studio Custom Agents — Copilot Studio
Status: ga. Build custom AI agents using Copilot Studio — no coding required. Connect agents to knowledge sources, define conversational flows, and deploy them to Teams, web, or other channels.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2024-11-01. Expected GA: 2025-05-01.
Licensing: Copilot Studio licence or Microsoft 365 Copilot licence
Admin action: No additional admin action required.
Work IQ (Copilot Memory) — Microsoft 365
Status: ga. Copilot remembers context from your past interactions, preferences, and work patterns. It uses this 'memory' to personalise responses — knowing your role, your projects, your communication style, and your organisation's terminology.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2025-06-01. Expected GA: 2025-12-01.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (no Frontier enrolment needed — now GA)
Admin action: No additional admin action required. Admins can manage memory retention policies.
Narrative Builder in PowerPoint — PowerPoint
Status: ga. Copilot creates a complete presentation narrative from your input — structuring slides with a logical storyline, adding speaker notes, and suggesting design layouts. Goes beyond simple slide generation to true storytelling.
AI Models: Microsoft (GPT). Frontier date: 2024-03-01. Expected GA: 2024-09-01.
Licensing: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (no Frontier enrolment needed — now GA)
Admin action: No additional admin action required.
Copilot Frontier Map
Track Copilot features in the Frontier programme — status, GA dates, AI models, admin actions
Track Copilot features in the Frontier programme — status, GA dates, AI models, admin actions
What is the three-tier release model (Frontier, Standard, Deferred)?
Early access to experimental AI features. Organisations opt in to try cutting-edge capabilities before broad release. Features may evolve or be withdrawn.
Features that have reached General Availability. Available to all licensed users as soon as they ship. This is the default tier.
Organisations can delay major Copilot changes for approximately 30 days after GA. Gives IT teams time for internal testing, training, and change management.
What is the Microsoft 365 Copilot Frontier programme?
The Frontier programme is Microsoft's opt-in early-access programme that lets organisations trial experimental and upcoming Copilot AI capabilities before general availability. Features in Frontier are production-quality but may evolve, change, or be withdrawn based on real-world feedback. Tenant admins enable it via the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre.
How do I enrol my organisation in the Frontier programme?
Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre → Settings → Org settings → Copilot → Frontier programme. An admin must explicitly opt in. Some features (like Copilot Cowork) also require approving Anthropic as a sub-processor.
What is the three-tier release model (Frontier, Standard, Deferred)?
In 2026, Microsoft introduced three release tiers for Copilot features. Frontier gives early access to experimental features. Standard is the default — features arrive at GA automatically. Deferred lets organisations delay new features by ~30 days after GA for internal testing and change management.
Does enrolling in Frontier guarantee early access to everything?
No. Some Frontier features have additional requirements — for example, Copilot Cowork requires approving Anthropic as a sub-processor, and Call Delegation requires a Teams Phone licence. Each feature may also roll out in stages across tenants.
Will Frontier features definitely become generally available?
Not necessarily. Microsoft explicitly states that Frontier features can change, pause, or be withdrawn. GA timing is never guaranteed. However, most Frontier features do eventually graduate to GA — examples include Scheduled Prompting and Copilot Notebooks enhancements.
What about data residency and Anthropic for EU tenants?
Features using Anthropic Claude (like Copilot Cowork and multi-model Researcher) require data to cross to Anthropic's infrastructure, which is excluded from the EU Data Boundary. EU/EFTA/UK tenants must explicitly opt in to Anthropic as a sub-processor — it's disabled by default in these regions.
How often does this tracker get updated?
We verify all features against public Microsoft sources regularly. Each feature card shows a 'last verified' date. When Microsoft announces changes — new Frontier features, GA graduations, or withdrawals — we update within days.
Where does this data come from?
Every feature on this page is sourced from public Microsoft documentation — official blog posts, the Frontier features page, and the Microsoft 365 Roadmap. We do not include internal or unconfirmed information. Each feature links to its public source.
Last verified: 2026-05-02 · · · Sources · Report an issue