This week brings People Skills mapping file retirement plus expanded agent, Planner, and Copilot entry points across Microsoft 365.

Starting August 22, 2026, the optional role-to-skill mapping file used in advanced setup for People Skills will be retired. People Skills will no longer use uploaded role/title mappings to infer skills and will instead infer relevant custom skills from user expertise and activity. Admins should stop relying on mapping files and review any People Skills rollout guidance or internal documentation that references them.

• Impacts orgs that previously uploaded role-to-skill mapping files
• No configuration change required, but mappings will no longer influence skill inferencing

Microsoft is removing the standalone Create experience in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for iOS and Android. Users will continue to create documents, presentations, images, and other artifacts by prompting in Copilot Chat. Prepare user communications and update training materials to reflect the new creation flow.

• Affects Microsoft 365 Copilot app users on iOS and Android
• Creation remains available via Copilot Chat prompts

Copilot Studio is introducing a new workflows designer to build, evaluate, and publish agentic automations on a visual canvas. This enables more advanced, reasoning-based workflows over unstructured inputs with less custom code. Makers and platform owners should review governance, environments, and ALM practices ahead of availability.

• General Availability: August 3, 2026
• Targets Copilot Studio workflows/agentic automation scenarios

Copilot Studio workflows will support an agent node that lets makers invoke agents directly as workflow steps. This brings reasoning into automations to reduce manual handoffs and handle nuanced decisions within a single workflow. Platform admins should validate maker guidance and monitor usage as it rolls out.

• General Availability: September 1, 2026
• Applies to Copilot Studio workflows (agent flows)

A new usage report will be available in the Microsoft 365 admin center to track adoption and activity for agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. The report includes active agent users/agents and usage breakdowns by user, agent, and user-agent pair, including segmentation by license state. Admins should incorporate this into Copilot/agent adoption reporting and operational reviews.

• Visibility into agent usage patterns across the tenant
• Includes segmentation for licensed vs. unlicensed Copilot users

Planner capabilities are coming to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat so users can create, update, and query Planner plans and tasks without leaving chat. This expands Copilot Chat into work management scenarios across desktop and web. Consider updating end-user guidance for Planner and Copilot Chat usage patterns.

• General Availability: early September 2026
• Affects Copilot Chat users who use Microsoft Planner

Planner Agent chat is being added to Microsoft Planner basic plans, enabling users to ask questions about plans, understand priorities, and take actions directly within Planner. This may change how users interact with plans and how teams expect insights and summaries. Admins should validate availability for their Planner plan types and prepare user enablement content.

• Brings AI-assisted Q&A and actions into the Planner app experience
• Uses Microsoft 365 resources to help create and manage plans (subject to permissions)

Microsoft Edge is rolling out an upgraded Copilot new tab page that integrates Microsoft 365 Copilot chat, web search, and curated work content in one place. This changes what users see when opening a new tab and may influence how they start searches and Copilot interactions. Consider updating user guidance and reviewing any Edge configuration/policy implications for new tab experiences in your organization.

• Includes enhanced Copilot chat integration, compose capabilities, and suggested actions
• Applies to Microsoft Edge new tab page experience

Copilot in Classic Outlook is getting a new, more prominent entry point next to the Outlook ribbon to improve discoverability and consistency. The entry point also surfaces contextual recommendations for reading email, composing messages, and managing calendars. Prepare helpdesk and user communications to reduce confusion about the UI change.

• UI change impacts Copilot discovery and workflows in Classic Outlook
• Recommendations may surface based on email and calendar context

PowerPoint Copilot users can create and upload custom skills directly from within the Copilot experience in PowerPoint. These skills are saved to the user's personal OneDrive and available for that user's use in PowerPoint Copilot. IT should consider guidance on skill governance, data handling expectations, and user training, especially where OneDrive policies apply.

• Skills are stored in the user's OneDrive
• Available across PowerPoint platforms (web, Mac, and desktop)

Excel’s chat-only Copilot experience is being updated, changing how users access additional Copilot agents. Users will access agents via the “…” menu in the header and then choose Microsoft 365 Copilot. Update internal documentation and prepare support teams for the UI/navigation change starting in August 2026.

• General Availability rollout begins: August 2026
• Affects Excel users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses

Agent Builder is adding support for scheduling prompts to run automatically on a defined cadence (for example hourly, daily, or weekly). This enables more proactive and automated agent workflows with less manual prompting. Admins and champions should plan for user enablement and review any governance around automated agent runs.

• Enables scheduled, automated prompt execution in Agent Builder workflows
• Designed for recurring tasks and proactive insights