What are skills in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, and how should teams use them?

Short answer: Skills in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat are saved, task-specific instructions that Copilot uses automatically when a request matches them, so people stop retyping the same long prompts. Microsoft is rolling them out from October 2026, with completion expected by mid-November, which means L&D, HR and IT leaders should agree how staff create, share and check skills now, before every team builds its own.

What Microsoft has announced

In its Message Center post MC1493223, dated 9 October 2026 (publicly archived here), Microsoft announced skills in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. Microsoft describes a skill as a set of specific instructions and, optionally, supporting files or scripts needed to complete a task. Copilot uses those instructions automatically when a request is relevant to the skill, although users can turn off automatic use.

According to the post:

• users can create, edit, upload and share skills, and use skills deployed by their admin or published by software vendors
• people can pick a skill directly from a new "Agents and Skills" section, or let Copilot choose
• admins can deploy, install or block skills and plugins from the Microsoft 365 admin center, and review the skills users have created in the Tools view
• the Agent Store in Copilot Chat is being extended so people can find agents, skills and plugins containing skills in one place
• skills created in Copilot Chat also work in Copilot Cowork
• worldwide rollout is due to begin in October 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-November 2026, with tenants that use Information Barriers getting support in November, where personal skills are allowed but sharing is not yet

Microsoft is not alone. On 21 October 2026, Google's Workspace Updates blog described a new "Customize" hub in the Gemini app where users can configure custom skills and connect apps. Saved, reusable instructions are becoming a standard part of workplace AI tools.

Why this matters for your Copilot rollout

Until now, most people have used Copilot Chat one prompt at a time. The good prompts lived in someone's notes, or in their head. Skills change that. A well-written skill for, say, turning meeting notes into an action list in your house style can be shared across a team, so everyone gets a consistent result.

That is a real opportunity, and it also creates new questions:

• Quality. A skill is only as good as the instructions inside it. A vague or wrong skill, once shared, spreads the problem to everyone who uses it.
• Ownership. If anyone can create and share skills, who keeps them up to date when a process or template changes?
• Data. Skills can include supporting files. Staff need to know what information is appropriate to put in them.
• Visibility. Because Copilot can apply a skill automatically, people need to know when one is shaping an answer and how to check the result.

None of these are reasons to hold back. They are reasons to pair the feature with clear guidance and practical training, rather than letting it arrive unannounced.

Practical takeaways by role

L&D leaders: Treat writing a good skill as a teachable skill. It needs the same habits as good prompting: a clear description of the task, an example of a good result, and a step for checking the output. Build a short, hands-on session around your teams' real weekly tasks. Our Microsoft Copilot training is built around this kind of everyday work.

HR leaders: Many HR tasks repeat in a fixed format, such as job adverts, interview question sets and policy summaries. These are good candidates for shared skills, as long as someone checks the output for tone, fairness and accuracy. Our page on AI training for HR teams covers the people side.

IT leaders: Microsoft has given admins controls to deploy, block and review skills. Decide early whether you will start with a small set of approved skills, let teams build their own, or both. Then write the rules down in plain English. Our guide to writing an employee AI policy can help.

Transformation leaders: Pick three or four high-volume tasks, build a skill for each, and measure time taken and rework before and after. That gives you real evidence instead of anecdotes. Our guide to measuring AI training ROI explains how to set a baseline.

A simple way to start

1. Find the repeat tasks. Ask each team which three tasks they do in Copilot Chat every week.
2. Write one skill per task, together. Short workshops where a team builds and tests its own skill tend to produce better instructions than one person working alone.
3. Test before sharing. Run each skill against a few real examples and fix what goes wrong.
4. Name an owner. Every shared skill should have someone responsible for keeping it current.
5. Review monthly. Retire skills nobody uses and improve the ones people rely on.

What this means for your team

Skills move Copilot Chat from individual prompts towards shared, repeatable ways of working. The organisations that get the most from them will be the ones that teach people to write and check good instructions, and agree simple rules on sharing, before the feature reaches everyone's screen.

If you are unsure where your team stands with Copilot today, our free AI readiness scorecard takes a few minutes. To see how we help teams use Copilot well in their day-to-day work, take a look at our Microsoft Copilot training. We also run sessions in person, including AI training in Leeds.

Talk to us

If you would like help planning how your teams build and use Copilot skills, book a short chat with Day Seven.