Microsoft Copilot Cowork: Automate Multi-Step Tasks With AI -- Now Generally Available

Until now, Microsoft 365 Copilot could help you with individual steps: summarize an email, create a slide, analyze a spreadsheet. As of June 16, 2026, it goes much further: Copilot Cowork can now handle complete tasks that span multiple steps and different apps.

What is Copilot Cowork?

Cowork is a new automation layer in Microsoft 365 Copilot. Instead of processing individual instructions, you describe a desired outcome -- and Cowork plans the necessary steps, gathers context from your emails, meetings, files, and business data, executes the steps, and delivers a finished result.

Example: You say: 'Create a summary of Q2 results as a PowerPoint, based on the numbers from the Excel file in the Team channel and the highlights from the last three meetings.' Cowork opens the relevant files, extracts the data, creates the presentation, and notifies you when it is done.

Key features:

1. Multi-step task planning
Cowork breaks complex assignments into individual steps and works through them sequentially. You can see progress at any time and intervene if needed. This fundamentally distinguishes Cowork from the previous Copilot Chat, which only reacted to individual inputs.

2. Browser automation (new!)
For the first time, Copilot can act beyond Microsoft 365 apps. Cowork can visit websites, gather information from web sources, and automate browser-based tasks -- all through Microsoft Edge. This opens entirely new possibilities: research on external sites, extracting data from web tools, or handling recurring browser tasks.

3. Partner plugins
Nine partner plugins are already available, including Miro, monday.com, Morningstar, and S&P Global. This allows Cowork to execute tasks that go beyond the Microsoft ecosystem. Eight more plugins are coming soon.

4. Dedicated Cowork tab
The Copilot interface now features a dedicated Cowork tab where you can create new assignments, track ongoing tasks, review completed work, and manage multiple AI workflows simultaneously.

5. Model selection
You can choose between GPT-5.5 and an automatic mode that selects the best model for your task.

Practical use cases:

- Meeting follow-up: 'Send all attendees of today's project meeting a summary with the discussed tasks and deadlines.'
- Reporting: 'Create a monthly report from the Excel data in the SharePoint folder and compare the numbers with the previous month.'
- Research: 'Search the internet for current market prices for X, compare them with our purchase prices in the spreadsheet, and create an overview.'
- Onboarding: 'Collect all relevant documents for new team members from our SharePoint and create a welcome email with links.'

Availability and pricing:

- Requirement: Microsoft 365 Copilot license (30 USD per user per month) on a qualifying plan (E3, E5, Business Standard, or Business Premium)
- Additional costs: Cowork uses usage-based billing via Copilot Credits. The price per task depends on four factors: model usage, context retrieval, tool calls, and runtime. Pay-as-you-go costs 0.01 USD per Credit
- Billing start: Users who used Cowork during the Frontier preview (March through June) will not be billed until July 1, 2026
- Availability: Worldwide, in the browser, Microsoft 365 desktop apps, and mobile

How to get started with Cowork:

1. Open Microsoft 365 Copilot (in the browser, desktop app, or on mobile)
2. Switch to the new Cowork tab in the Copilot interface
3. Describe your task in natural language -- the more specific, the better
4. Optional: Drag and drop files into the chat to add context
5. Cowork creates a task plan that you can confirm or adjust
6. Sit back and track progress in the Cowork tab

Privacy note:

Cowork accesses emails, calendars, files, and meeting transcripts to execute tasks. Data processing occurs within the existing Microsoft 365 compliance boundaries. IT admins can control which Cowork features are available for which user groups and which data sources Cowork may access through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Browser automation should be evaluated carefully, as data may potentially leave Microsoft infrastructure.

Is Cowork worth it?

For teams already deeply embedded in Microsoft 365, Cowork is a genuine productivity leap. Instead of manually operating five apps and gathering information by hand, you describe the desired outcome and Cowork does the work. The usage-based billing means costs can escalate quickly with intensive use -- it pays to keep an eye on credits. The greatest value lies in recurring, multi-step tasks that previously required significant manual effort.

Sources: microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/06/16/copilot-cowork-is-now-generally-available, learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/cowork, thewincentral.com/microsoft-copilot-cowork-generally-available-ai-teammate, windowsforum.com/threads/copilot-cowork-ga-june-16-2026-metered-agent-billing-credits-and-it-governance.426989