Neowin reports that tech giant Microsoft will be shaking up the user interface of its Microsoft 365 app early next year. In addition, the app will be getting a new icon and a small name change, henceforth to be called “Microsoft 365 Copilot” starting mid-January 2025.
The company made the announcement via its Microsoft 365 Message Center, with the following details for the upcoming UI changes:
The app will no longer have a top header. Instead, tools like user profile, settings, and feedback will move to the bottom left toolbar. The feedback button will be available under the “Settings and more” section in the bottom left toolbar.
The search box will now be presented on the Homepage for users to find all their content across multiple file types and storage locations. Note: There is no change to the search experience—only the placement of the feature.
All the apps on the left toolbar are aligned to the top and the AI-rich experiences like Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Copilot Pages will be presented together to establish correlation.
The organization logo, previously displayed in the top header under the Organization theme, will no longer be visible in the app. Note: This change does not affect other Microsoft 365 apps where the organization logo will still appear in the header.
The “Back” button on the Windows Microsoft 365 Copilot app will not be available. Users will still be able to use the left AppBar to navigate between pages.
The “My Day” feature is being removed from the app experience, and users will no longer see the button to launch the calendar and to-do on the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. Note: This change does not affect other Microsoft 365 apps where My Day feature is available.
The “Help me create” feature will be retired from the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. Launched in February 2024, “Help me create” was focused on helping users go from their stated intent to document creation using an LLM. With Microsoft 365 Copilot app becoming the destination for Copilot, we will be bringing AI-powered document creation into Copilot tab. Users will be able to brainstorm ideas and draft new content based on a storyboard or a script to an agenda or an executive summary from Copilot Chat.
In short, the many changes in store for Microsoft 365 include: the removal of the header; the ability to access your profile, settings, and feedback via the bottom corner toolbar; the removal of the “Back” button and “My Day” feature; and your organization’s logo no longer visible in the app.
The AI feature “Help me create” will also be removed, with AI features such as Copilot Chat and Copilot Pages now being grouped together under a new Copilot tab.
Microsoft plans to begin rolling out these changes to the Microsoft 365 app in mid-January of 2025.
