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 currently available through the Frontier preview program and marks a fundamental shift in how AI fits into daily work.
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: no. Here is what you need to know:
- Copilot Cowork is a Microsoft product, not an Anthropic service. It runs entirely within the Microsoft 365 platform, under Microsoft contracts and Microsoft Enterprise Data Protection.
- Anthropic is a sub-processor of Microsoft, listed in Microsoft's DPA and Product Terms. There is no direct contractual relationship between your organization and Anthropic.
- All data stays within your Microsoft 365 tenant and is subject to Microsoft Purview, eDiscovery, audit logs and retention policies — just like any other Copilot feature.
- Claude models do not train on your data and do not store prompts or output persistently.
In short: from a compliance perspective, Copilot Cowork is equivalent to other Copilot features. The model may be different, but the data governance is the same.
> 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: preview via the Frontier program
Cowork is currently in preview through the Microsoft 365 Copilot Frontier program. As of recently, Cowork is now available in the Netherlands and the EU for organizations enrolled in the Frontier program.
The Frontier program provides early access to the latest Copilot capabilities. If your organization has a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, you can enable Frontier program participation through the Microsoft 365 admin center.
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 | Preview (Frontier program) | 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?
Cowork has no separate price tag. It is part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot license — there is no add-on fee for Cowork itself. If your users already have a Copilot license, access to Cowork comes through enrolling in the Frontier program at no extra charge.
| What you need | Cost |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot license | ~$30 / user / month |
| Copilot Business (Business plans, < 300 users) | ~$21 / user / month |
| Copilot Cowork | Included — no separate fee |
In other words, the cost of Copilot Cowork is simply the cost of a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. For a detailed breakdown of the two Copilot license types, see our guide on 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 available in the Netherlands and the EU for organizations enrolled in the Microsoft 365 Copilot Frontier program.
Does Copilot Cowork cost extra? No. There is no separate fee for Cowork. It is included with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license; you only need to enroll in the Frontier program.
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, enroll in the Frontier program, and prepare your organization for the next wave of AI productivity.
