Copilot Projects is a new space in the Microsoft Copilot app that keeps the chats, tasks, files and instructions for one piece of work in a single place. Microsoft scheduled it to start reaching standard-release tenants in late October, and the old Notebooks feature is being renamed Copilot Workspaces at the same time. Your files don’t move anywhere, which is the detail most people will care about.
Here are the facts worth knowing before you click around, all taken from Microsoft’s own notices:
- Projects groups related chats, Cowork tasks, files, instructions and outputs
- Notebooks become Workspaces, and existing notebooks convert with their content intact
- Standard release was scheduled to begin in late October 2026; deferred release begins in late November
- Files stay in OneDrive under your existing permissions and labels
- Projects works on Windows, Mac and web first, with mobile listed as “coming soon”
If you’ve been following the Autopilot, Home and Code rollout, this is the organizing layer that sits around it. It also arrives alongside the new Copilot Chat limits for unlicensed users, so licensing questions are worth asking now.
What Copilot Projects actually does
According to Message Center notice MC1535647, Projects is a new area inside Home, the Copilot app’s starting point that already brings together Chat and Cowork. You create a project, add files and context, then start chats or Cowork tasks inside it. Each project shows up in the Home navigation pane.
The useful part is how answers get built. Microsoft says responses draw on the project’s context first, then on your broader Microsoft 365 work context. In practice, that means a question asked inside a project should lean on the files and instructions you attached there, not on everything you’ve ever touched.
A project also remembers the instructions you give it. If you always want a client’s reports written in a certain tone, you set that once instead of pasting it into every chat.
Where your files live (and why nothing moves)
Projects doesn’t store content itself. The notice is explicit that files stay in OneDrive, under the same permissions, sensitivity labels and retention policies they already had.
Anything Copilot creates follows the same rule: Word, Excel and PowerPoint files it generates are saved to your OneDrive. So a project is closer to a folder with a smart front door than a new place to put things.
That matters if your company has strict data rules. You aren’t creating a second copy of sensitive documents, and your admin’s existing controls still apply.
Notebooks are now Workspaces: what changes
Copilot Notebooks is evolving into Copilot Workspaces, and the new name replaces “Notebooks” in the left navigation. Microsoft says existing notebooks convert to workspaces and keep their content, so there’s nothing to export first.
Workspaces are the shared side of the story, built for teams. Per Microsoft’s October 2026 Copilot roundup, early-access (Frontier) users already get live cursors across documents, and editing Office files inside a workspace follows later. The table below shows how the two pieces differ.
| What you’re comparing | Projects | Workspaces |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Keeps one piece of work together: chats, Cowork tasks, files, instructions and outputs | Gives a team a shared space for context, members and working files |
| Relationship to Notebooks | New in Home | Evolved from Notebooks; existing notebooks convert and keep their content |
| Early-access extras | Cowork first (October), then Copilot Chat (November) | Live cursors (Frontier, October); Office file editing (Frontier in October, worldwide in January) |
Microsoft’s roundup also lists Audio Overview updates for workspaces and support for JPG, PNG, CSV and TSV reference files. Treat those dates as soft: the post itself says they’re tentative and subject to change.
When you’ll see it: rollout timing
Rollout depends on which release channel your organization uses. If your admin runs the standard channel, you may already have Projects. Deferred-channel tenants are further behind.
Here’s the timeline as Microsoft has published it:
- Standard release: begins late October 2026
- Deferred release: begins late November 2026
- Workspaces rename: “in the coming days,” with no specific date given
- Projects in Copilot Chat: November, per the October roundup
- Office file editing in Workspaces, worldwide: January
One wrinkle: the Message Center notice says mobile support for Projects is “coming soon,” while the roundup talks about Copilot Chat in November without naming a platform. Don’t plan a mobile workflow around it until you see it on your own phone.
What admins should check this week
Access to Cowork and its related features depends on Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing and your organization’s usage-based billing setup. That’s the part most likely to surprise people, because a project that starts a Cowork task can trigger usage you didn’t budget for.
Microsoft’s notice asks admins to do two things:
- Review which users fall under a spending policy that grants Cowork access
- Confirm your intended usage-based billing configuration
Both checks take minutes, and they spare you a billing conversation later.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Copilot Projects?
It’s a space in the Copilot app’s Home screen that groups related chats, Cowork tasks, files, instructions and outputs for one piece of work. Answers inside a project draw on that project’s context first.
Does Copilot Projects store my files?
No. Files stay in OneDrive under your existing permissions, sensitivity labels and retention policies, and files Copilot creates are saved to your OneDrive too.
What happens to my Copilot Notebooks?
They convert to Copilot Workspaces and keep their content. The Workspaces name replaces Notebooks in the left navigation.
Is Copilot Projects on mobile?
Not yet, according to Microsoft. The notice lists Windows, Mac and web in tier 1 languages, with mobile support “coming soon.”
Do I need a paid license to use it?
Access to Cowork and related capabilities depends on Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing and your organization’s usage-based billing. The notice doesn’t spell out which plans qualify, so ask your admin.
My take: worth it for repeat work, skip it for one-offs
If you keep coming back to the same client, report or product launch, set up a project once and let the instructions do the repeating. For a quick one-off question, a plain chat is still faster. Before you roll it out to a team, though, settle the billing question first, because that’s where this feature can get expensive.
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