Skills in Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork are reusable, custom capabilities you define so Copilot can better support the way you actually work. Instead of only relying on generic prompts, you can create Skills that reflect your specific tasks, workflows, and responsibilities.

In practice, that means you can teach Copilot how to handle the recurring activities that are unique to your role—whether that’s preparing a weekly status summary, organizing project updates, or following a particular review process. Over time, Copilot uses these Skills to get smarter about the work only you do, so you spend less time repeating instructions and more time on higher-value work.

Custom Skills help you reimagine how Copilot supports your daily work by encoding your own processes into Copilot’s behavior. Instead of starting from scratch every time, you can:

• Capture your standard steps for a task (for example, how you want meeting notes summarized or which metrics to highlight in a report).
• Turn those steps into a reusable Skill that anyone on your team can use.
• Ensure more consistent outputs that match your expectations and your organization’s way of working.

Because Skills are tailored to your workflows, Copilot becomes more aligned with your role over time, helping you handle routine tasks more efficiently and with fewer corrections.

To stay current on new Copilot Cowork capabilities, including how Skills are evolving, Microsoft provides ongoing updates through its official blog. The blog covers:

• New features and enhancements to Copilot Cowork.
• Examples of how organizations are using Skills to reshape everyday workflows.
• Guidance and best practices for getting started with custom Skills.

You can explore these updates and learn how to apply them in your own environment by visiting the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Cowork blog at the link referenced in the source material.