Microsoft Edge for Business will soon let you integrate summarization and contextual grounding capabilities via Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. This will allow the AI to interact directly with your workspace, including open tabs, Microsoft 365 documents and YouTube videos. This feature is rolling out now on an accelerated timeline from the previously planned March release.
Organizations that want to use the new feature, will need to be signed into Edge for Business with Entra ID credentials and have an active Copilot license. The feature is located in the Edge side panel and lets you query Copilot about specific content in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files or video transcripts. The feature is off by default to maintain corporate oversight and requires explicit admin approval and user activation.
Microsoft has also put security protocols in place that respect all existing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and EdgeEntraCopilotPageContext policies. If your organization is restricting a specific page or document using these tools then Copilot will be stopped from accessing that content to prevent unauthorized data exposure.
Organizations that decide to enable this feature could see an increase in workflow efficiency as employees will no longer need to trawl through long documents or watch full videos to extract specific information. However, it could also create security issues if documents and pages are not adequately protected and employees more easily stumble upon sensitive information that they should not have access to.
Following the mid-February rollout, the feature will become available to eligible tenants. Organizations are encouraged to review their DLP configurations now to determine any impact this feature may have. Admins are also advised by Microsoft to update internal documentation and tell users of the new capabilities to ensure a smoother transition. For its part Microsoft will provide updates to the Edge policy documentation to help teams refine how Copilot accesses page content.
You can read more at the Microsoft 365 Admin Center under message ID MC1187682.