Microsoft Adds Office Document Creation to Copilot App While Retiring Outlook AI Themes

Microsoft is expanding the reach of Copilot by letting the app generate editable Office documents from user prompts, while simultaneously removing the AI-powered Themes by Copilot feature from Outlook barely two years after its debut.

Office Documents Come to Copilot

Under the new feature, users give the Copilot app a prompt and it creates an Office document, such as a Word file, which can then be edited in the appropriate Office application while the Copilot conversation continues. Documents can be shared with other users, who can further tweak them through Copilot prompts.

The capability is initially rolling out to Frontier customers in Chat and Cowork. One potential concern for enterprise buyers is that the system depends on OneDrive for storage rather than SharePoint, the platform many organizations rely on for document management.

Themes by Copilot Gets the Axe

In a contrasting move, Microsoft is retiring Themes by Copilot in Outlook. Launched less than two years ago, the feature was promoted as "the first instance of dynamic AI-generated theming in productivity applications." It let users with a Copilot license display AI-generated imagery in Outlook, with visuals inspired by the user's location when permissions were enabled and updating at regular intervals based on conditions such as the weather.

According to a Microsoft Message Center post, Themes by Copilot will be removed from Settings in October 2026. Users currently using an AI theme can keep it until they switch to a different theme, after which the Copilot theme cannot be restored.

A Warning for Copilot Adopters

Microsoft has not explained why the feature is being retired so soon. Possible reasons include low usage or pushback from administrators who did not want users overriding the configured appearance of their tools. The reversal also underscores a broader pattern: Microsoft has shown a willingness to deprecate features when its attention shifts to new priorities.

For organizations weighing adoption of Office in Copilot, the episode is a reminder that impressive keynote demos do not guarantee a feature will survive when Microsoft moves on to its next initiative.

Sources: Theregister