When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Microsoft 365 is down to $69.99 for a full year, giving you premium Office apps, 1TB storage, and built-in AI tools across your devices. If you're already using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint --even occasionally--this is one of those upgrades that just makes your setup smoother across the board. Microsoft 365 is currently $69.99 for a 1-year subscription (MSRP $99.99), and it bundles together the apps you actually use with features that go beyond basic document editing. That means your files are accessible across devices, backed up, and easy to share without emailing attachments back and forth. One of the bigger upgrades here is the built-in AI assistant, Copilot .

PCWorld reports Microsoft 365 Copilot has evolved from offering passive suggestions to actively making live changes in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word documents. The upgraded agentic capabilities allow Copilot to create presentations and documents from scratch, though with some limitations like missing graphics. These enhanced features are available across Microsoft 365 Copilot, Premium, Personal, and Family subscriptions, representing a significant productivity upgrade. Although Microsoft's Copilot reportedly remains far behind competing AI Large Language Models (LLMs) in terms of usage, the Copilot built into its Microsoft 365 applications remains a potent assistant.

PCWorld reports Microsoft has stopped automatically installing Microsoft 365 Copilot on Windows 11 following significant user backlash against forced AI integration. This decision addresses privacy concerns after a previous Copilot bug allowed unauthorized access to confidential Outlook emails. Administrators can still manually deploy the AI assistant, while existing installations remain unaffected by this policy change. Since October, the Microsoft 365 Copilot app has been automatically installed on computers running Windows 11, a move that has upset many users. Fortunately, Microsoft has taken the criticism on board and is no longer automatically installing this app--for now.

PCWorld reports on a critical Microsoft Copilot bug (CW1226324) that allows the AI to scan and summarize confidential Outlook emails, bypassing privacy protections. This vulnerability affects Microsoft 365 accounts and compromises sensitive data like contracts and medical information stored in Sent and Drafts folders. Microsoft is rolling out a fix, but the timeline remains unclear, raising significant concerns about AI reliability and data privacy protection. For all its supposed intelligence, "AI" seems to make a lot of stupid mistakes--for example, scanning and summarizing emails marked "confidential" in Microsoft Outlook.

PCWorld reports that Microsoft 365 subscribers with Copilot+ PCs can now access automatic alt text generation for images in Word and PowerPoint. This accessibility feature requires Microsoft 365 version 2512 and a Copilot+ PC with at least 40 TOPS NPU to function properly. Users can approve or edit AI-generated captions for both new and existing images, enhancing document accessibility and productivity. Microsoft has announced that Microsoft 365 subscribers with certain Copilot Plus computers will now have access to a new feature: automatic captions, or alt texts, in Word and PowerPoint.

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Heathrow, NatWest and Minecraft are among some of the sites and services experiencing problems amid a global Microsoft outage. Outage tracker Downdetector showed thousands of reports of issues with a number of websites globally on Wednesday. Microsoft said some users of Microsoft 365, which includes Outlook and Teams, might see delays. The company's Azure cloud computing platform, which underpins large parts of the internet, reported a degradation of some services at 1600 GMT. It said this was due to DNS issues - the same root cause of the huge Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage last week.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. What was once a simple but useful app has turned into an annoying advertisement for Copilot and AI features. If you use the Microsoft 365 app on your mobile phone or tablet, you should think carefully before updating to the latest version. For a long time, the Microsoft 365 app was great for its focus on Office, allowing you to view your recent documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more--both local and cloud-synced. It was also a great way to create new files and launch them in their respective apps.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Microsoft 365 Premium combines the best of Microsoft Copilot with Microsoft 365. If you want your household to be on the cutting edge of AI, Microsoft has a deal for you: Microsoft 365 Premium, which combines the Family plan with Copilot Pro. At a new price of $19.99 per month, Microsoft 365 Premium sounds simple enough. Previously offered only to business users, it's now available to consumers as well.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Copilot's new'Agent Mode' is your personal AI wizard for Office Two new AI features in Copilot will do all the work for you, revising documents in Word and crafting spreadsheets in Excel. Microsoft just announced that it's launching two new AI features in Microsoft 365 Copilot for Office apps, known as Agent Mode and Office Agent. Presented as tools for "vibe working," the idea is to allow more independence for AI to do what it needs to do to handle complex tasks without you fulling giving up control over the process. For example, Agent Mode in Excel allows Copilot to manage the spreadsheet at an expert level.