Microsoft 365 Copilot is no longer just a chat assistant. With Copilot Cowork, Microsoft introduces an execution layer that carries out real tasks across your Microsoft 365 environment — sending emails, scheduling meetings, creating documents and posting in Teams — while you stay in control.
Cowork is now generally available (GA) and marks a fundamental shift in how AI fits into daily work. Want to see where it fits among Microsoft's other AI tools? Read how to organize work with Copilot — Notebooks, Pages, agents or Cowork.
What is Copilot Cowork?
Cowork turns Copilot from a conversational assistant into a task executor. Instead of giving you suggestions you then act on manually, Cowork does the work itself.
You describe an outcome — "send a meeting recap to my team" or "create a slide deck summarizing Q3 results" — and Cowork breaks it down into concrete steps across multiple Microsoft 365 apps. It drafts the email, builds the presentation, schedules the calendar invite, and asks for your approval before sending or publishing.
What Cowork can do
Cowork works across the full Microsoft 365 suite with 13 built-in skills:
- Communication — Draft and send emails, post in Teams channels, create HTML newsletters, manage your inbox by sorting and responding to messages
- Documents — Create Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files from scratch, edit existing documents, organize files in SharePoint and OneDrive
- Calendar — Schedule meetings with natural language, manage conflicts, decline meetings with a reason, get daily briefings
- Research — Search across your organization, perform deep research across multiple sources, browse SharePoint and OneDrive
- Automation — Run prompts on a schedule so recurring tasks happen automatically
You can also create up to 20 custom skills by adding a `SKILL.md` file to `/Documents/Cowork/Skills/` on OneDrive. Cowork picks them up automatically.
How it works in practice
A typical Cowork interaction follows five steps:
- Describe your task — Tell Cowork what you need in natural language. You can also attach files.
- Watch it work — Cowork breaks your request into steps and executes them one by one. You follow along in real time.
- Steer when needed — Interrupt at any point to add context or adjust direction.
- Approve actions — Before Cowork sends an email, posts a message or takes any sensitive action, it pauses and asks for your approval. A risk indicator shows you the impact level.
- Review results — Check the output, download documents or ask Cowork to make changes.
Compliance and data: Claude models via Microsoft
Copilot Cowork uses Anthropic's Claude models as underlying AI technology. This raises a fair question: does my data go to Anthropic?
The short answer: it depends on how your tenant is configured — but in the standard setup your data stays under Microsoft's contracts. Here is what you need to know:
- Copilot Cowork is a Microsoft product, not an Anthropic service. It runs within the Microsoft 365 platform under Microsoft Enterprise Data Protection.
- Anthropic is a Microsoft sub-processor. For the standard Claude models the Microsoft Product Terms and Data Protection Addendum (DPA) apply — there is no separate contract between your organization and Anthropic, and the Claude models do not train on your data.
- But Claude models run outside Microsoft's own environment. Anthropic models are currently excluded from the EU Data Boundary (and in-country processing commitments). That is the key difference with the GPT/Microsoft-hosted Copilot features.
- Admins stay in control. Anthropic models are on by default in most commercial regions, but off by default in the EU, EFTA and the UK — a global admin opts in (and can limit access per user or security group) in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
> One exception to watch: certain advanced "Anthropic Preview models with Data Retention" (such as Claude Fable and Mythos) are not covered as Microsoft sub-processor models. For these, Anthropic acts as an independent processor under its own terms and retains inputs and outputs (up to 30 days, longer for trust-and-safety review). They are off by default and require a separate, explicit admin opt-in.
In short: for the standard, subprocessor-governed Claude models the contractual data protection (Product Terms, DPA, Enterprise Data Protection) matches other Copilot features. The main caveat is that Anthropic models sit outside the EU Data Boundary and are admin-controlled — so EU organizations should make a deliberate choice before enabling them.
Want the full picture — admin settings, regional defaults and what Anthropic-as-Microsoft-subprocessor means for your data? Read Microsoft 365 Copilot gets smarter with Anthropic.
> Copilot Cowork vs. Claude Cowork — these are two separate products. Claude Cowork is Anthropic's own SaaS offering. Copilot Cowork is Microsoft's product that happens to use Claude models under the hood. Different platform, different contracts, different data processing.
Availability: now generally available
Copilot Cowork is generally available (GA), including in the Netherlands and the EU. Early access ran through the Microsoft 365 Copilot Frontier program; organizations that used Cowork via Frontier had to complete billing setup before 30 June 2026 to keep access.
To use Cowork, your organization needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and usage-based billing (Copilot Credits) enabled in the Microsoft 365 admin center. For the full setup and how to cap costs, see our guide on Copilot Cowork cost management.
How Cowork compares to other Copilot features
| Feature | Status NL | AI models |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Chat | Generally available | GPT + Microsoft |
| Copilot Agents | Generally available | GPT + Microsoft |
| Copilot Cowork | Generally available | Multi-model incl. Claude |
What this means for your organization
Cowork represents the next step in Microsoft's AI strategy: moving from assistance to execution. For organizations already using Copilot, this means:
- Less manual follow-up — Tasks that required multiple app switches now happen in one conversation
- Consistent output — Recurring tasks produce standardized results every time
- Full control — Every action requires explicit approval, so nothing happens without your consent
- Same compliance posture — No new data processing agreements needed beyond your existing Microsoft contracts
How much does Copilot Cowork cost?
Copilot Cowork has two cost components. First, every user needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot license as the fixed baseline. Second, Cowork's actual usage is billed per consumption in Copilot Credits (pay-as-you-go at $0.01 per credit), charged against a linked Azure subscription — so heavier, multi-step tasks cost more than light ones.
| What you need | Cost |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot license | ~$30 / user / month |
| Copilot Business (Business plans, < 300 users) | ~$21 / user / month |
| Copilot Cowork usage | Usage-based — Copilot Credits ($0.01 / credit) |
Because usage is variable, you set spending limits in Cost Management to keep it predictable. For the full breakdown — credits, limits and converting credits to costs — see Copilot Cowork cost management, or try the interactive estimator on our Copilot Cowork solution page. For the two Copilot license types, see Copilot Business vs Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Copilot Cowork vs regular Copilot
It helps to be precise about how Cowork differs from the Copilot you already know:
| Aspect | Copilot Chat / Agents | Copilot Cowork |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Answers questions, drafts content, summarizes | Executes multi-step tasks end to end |
| Who acts | You act on its suggestions | Cowork performs the actions for you |
| Scope | One app or prompt at a time | Spans Outlook, Teams, Excel and SharePoint in one flow |
| Approval | Not needed — it only suggests | Required before any send, post or sensitive action |
| AI models | GPT + Microsoft | Multi-model, including Anthropic's Claude |
Put simply: regular Copilot is an assistant that helps you do the work; Cowork is an executor that does the work and asks for your sign-off.
Frequently asked questions
Is Copilot Cowork available in the Netherlands and the EU? Yes. Cowork is generally available, including in the Netherlands and the EU. You need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and usage-based billing (Copilot Credits) enabled in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Does Copilot Cowork cost extra? Yes. Beyond the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, Cowork usage is billed per consumption in Copilot Credits (pay-as-you-go, $0.01 per credit) against a linked Azure subscription. You set limits in Cost Management to keep it predictable. See Copilot Cowork cost management.
How do I get Copilot Cowork? Cowork is generally available. You need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and usage-based billing (Copilot Credits) enabled in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Universal Cloud can set this up for you.
When should I use Cowork instead of regular Copilot? Use Cowork when an entire multi-step task should run autonomously; use Copilot or Notebooks for research, drafting and analysis. See how to organize work with Copilot.
What can Copilot Cowork skills do? Cowork ships with 13 built-in skills across communication, documents, calendar, research and automation. You can also add up to 20 custom skills by placing a `SKILL.md` file in `/Documents/Cowork/Skills/` on OneDrive.
Does my data go to Anthropic? No. Cowork runs entirely within Microsoft 365 under Microsoft contracts. Anthropic is a sub-processor; your data stays in your tenant and the Claude models do not train on it.
Get started
Want to explore Copilot Cowork for your organization? Contact Universal Cloud — we help you set up Microsoft 365 Copilot, enable Cowork with usage-based billing, and keep costs under control. Learn more on our Copilot Cowork solution page.
