By Tom Warren , a senior editor and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. At Microsoft�

Microsoft’s new Copilot Actions use AI to automate repetitive tasks

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2024-11-19 16:30:06

By Tom Warren , a senior editor and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.

At Microsoft’s Ignite conference today the software giant is introducing Copilot Actions, a new way for Microsoft 365 Copilot users to automate repetitive tasks. Microsoft is also adding AI agents to SharePoint, allowing PowerPoint to translate entire presentations and improving how Copilot works in Outlook to find the best time for meetings.

Copilot Actions, now in private preview, enable anyone to automate repetitive everyday tasks. That could include automating a summary of meeting actions from Teams meetings, generating weekly reports, or even automating meeting prep. Copilot Actions is designed to be something you set and forget, much like an AI-powered macro that goes off and does its thing based on some fill-in-the-blank prompts.

Microsoft is also working on improvements to Microsoft 365 Copilot across a variety of Office apps. PowerPoint users will be able to translate presentations early next year into one of 40 languages. PowerPoint’s Copilot Narrative Builder will also take cues from branded templates, speaker notes, and built-in transitions and animations to create a better first draft of a presentation. Copilot will also be able to use images from SharePoint to integrate into PowerPoint presentations.