MC1493223: Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat Adds Custom Skills for Users and Admins

📢 Official Microsoft Message Center Announcement

[What and why:]

We are introducing skills in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. Skills let you customize Copilot Chat with task-specific instructions to improve workflow accuracy. A skill includes specific instructions and, optionally, supporting files or scripts needed to complete a task. Copilot automatically uses these instructions when a request is relevant to the skill, although end users can disable this automatic invocation.

Here is a summary of the features in this release:

• Skills for end users: Users can create and edit skills, upload existing skills, and share skills with others. They can use skills deployed by their admin or public skills published by Independent Software Vendors. Users can choose whether Copilot can automatically invoke skills or explicitly select one from the new “Agents and Skills” section in Context IQ. For more information about the Context IQ experience, see the related Message Center post MC1479519.
• Skill deployment by admins: From the Microsoft 365 admin center, admins can deploy, install, or block skills and plugins that contain skills and connectors. With this release, these plugins will be available in both Copilot Chat and Copilot Cowork. For more information about centralized plugin controls, see our recent announcement on plugins. Admins can also use the Tools view to review all skills created by users in Copilot Chat.
• Agent Store to include plugins: The “Agent store” in Copilot Chat is evolving to include plugins; see our recent announcement on plugins for context. With this release, users can discover agents, skills, and plugins containing skills in the Store. Discoverability of connector-only plugins in Store is not part of this release and will be added as a follow up, making all plugins available there. Until then, connectors will remain available through the Data Sources menu in Chat.
• Use across Cowork and Chat: Skills created in Copilot Chat can also be used in Cowork. Plugins deployed from the Microsoft 365 admin center will be available in both Copilot Chat and Copilot Cowork. However, skills created in Copilot Cowork are available in Copilot Chat only if they are shared.
• Developer tools: User-built skills and plugins created with WIQ Dev Tools or Agents Toolkit will also be available in Copilot Chat.

Skills in Copilot Chat will roll out to Information Barriers tenants in November. In tenants where Information Barriers are enabled, users can create skills for personal use and use skills deployed by their admin or use public skills published by Independent Software Vendors. Sharing user-created skills is not currently supported but will be enabled in the future in accordance with Information Barriers policies.

[Rollout schedule:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in October 2026 and expect to complete by mid-November 2026.

[Impact on your organization:]

Copilot Chat users can create, upload, and edit skills, and use skills and plugins published by ISVs or deployed by admins. Admins can publish, install, block, and review skills and plugins in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Support for Information Barriers tenants will roll out in November. Users in these tenants can create skills for personal use and use skills and plugins published by ISVs or deployed by admins, but they cannot share user-created skills at this time.

[Action required / Recommendations:]

To deploy a plugin that contains skills, go to the Microsoft 365 admin center > Agents > Tools > Upload. Upload the plugin app package, publish or install it for the intended users or groups. Review the skills created by users in Copilot Chat by reviewing the skills and plugins inventory in Tools on Microsoft Admin Center

[Compliance considerations:]

This feature follows its parent service’s data residency and processing commitments.

This feature supports role-based access control (RBAC).

Customer administrators can control user access to this feature using the following interfaces: Admin UI, Admins have user/group granularity for controlling access to the service.

The newly created objects appear in the following inventories: Microsoft 365 admin center Tools Registry

Source: Microsoft Message Center • Analysed by MWPro