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Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant available through FAU's Microsoft 365 environment. The features available to you depend on your assigned Microsoft 365 license tier (Basic vs. Premium).
What do you need help with?
Getting Started
Learn about Microsoft Copilot, eligibility, and how to log in securely.
Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant designed to assist with web research, drafting documents, summarizing complex texts, generating creative images, and analyzing uploaded files.
- Standard/Basic Access: Available to all active FAU faculty, staff, and students with an eligible @fau.edu account at no extra charge.
- Premium Access (Paid Add-On): Available to users or departments that purchase an additional Microsoft 365 Copilot license for full organizational data grounding and priority performance.
- Navigate to copilot.cloud.microsoft.
- Select Sign In and enter your full FAU email address (e.g., FAUNetID@fau.edu).
- Complete the FAU Single Sign-On (SSO) login prompt and authenticate via Microsoft Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
- Confirm you are signed in under your FAU work account to ensure Enterprise Data Protection (EDP) is active.
Which Copilot License Do I Have?
Check your account license label to see what features and apps are enabled for you.
To check your current license label, sign in to Microsoft 365 with your FAU work account and scroll down to your profile to view your assigned badge:
- Overview: Included for eligible FAU accounts without requiring an add-on license.
- Features: Provides standard-speed access to web-grounded AI chat, document drafting, summarization, image generation, and single-file reference in the web app or select Microsoft 365 app sidebars.
- Data Limits: Grounded on web data and manually uploaded documents (does not search across your personal tenant emails or Teams history).
- Overview: Assigned to accounts with a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license.
- Features: Unlocks priority model performance, deep multi-step editing modes, and full native integration across desktop and web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
- Data Grounding: Connects directly to **Microsoft Graph / Work IQ**, allowing AI to synthesize information across your work emails, Teams chats, meetings, calendar, and OneDrive files.
Copilot License Comparison
Side-by-side comparison of Basic (Included) vs. Premium (Paid Add-On) capabilities.
| Feature / Capability |
Basic Tiers (Included) |
Premium Tier (Paid Add-On) |
| License Label Badge |
Copilot Chat (Basic) / M365 Copilot (Basic) |
M365 Copilot (Premium) |
| Security / Enterprise Data Protection (EDP) |
Included via FAU SSO |
Included via FAU SSO |
| Access Tier & Model Selection |
Standard Access capacity |
Priority Access & Advanced Model Choice |
| Data Grounding Source |
Web data & manually referenced/uploaded files |
Web data + Microsoft Graph / Work IQ (Emails, OneDrive, Teams, Calendar) |
| In-App Desktop Experience |
Browser (copilot.cloud.microsoft), Edge sidebar & basic app panes |
Full embedded experiences in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams |
| Teams Meeting Summaries & Recaps |
Not Supported |
Live meeting recaps, action items, and queryable meeting transcripts |
| Copilot in Outlook |
Included |
Included |
| Access to agents |
Limited (no advanced agents) |
Extensive use (including advanced agents like Researcher, Analyst, and custom agents) |
| Copilot in all other Microsoft 365 apps |
No |
Included |
| Additional License |
No |
Yes |
What Can I Do With Copilot?
Explore primary everyday use cases for artificial intelligence at FAU.
- Conduct Web-Grounded Research: Search the live web for structured answers, explanations, and cited sources.
- Draft & Refine Content: Generate outlines, write initial email drafts, or rewrite text to match specific tone and style guidelines.
- Summarize Documents: Upload PDFs, Word files, or spreadsheets into Copilot to pull key findings, executive summaries, or action items.
- Generate Custom Images: Create custom visuals, royalty-free background assets, or conceptual graphic designs using built-in image tools.
- Analyze Data: Upload datasets or tables to quickly pinpoint key patterns, analyze numerical trends, or build formula suggestions.
- Catch Up on Meetings (M365 Copilot Premium Required): Request meeting transcripts, automated key points, and outstanding action items from past Microsoft Teams meetings.
Protecting FAU Data
Maintain security compliance and protect institutional data.
- Use Your FAU Account: Always verify that you are logged in using your official FAU account. This ensures Enterprise Data Protection (EDP) is enforced, keeping prompts private and preventing Microsoft from using your inputs to train public foundation models.
- Follow FAU Data-Use Requirements: Never upload or prompt AI tools with high-risk sensitive data including Protected Health Information (PHI/HIPAA), un-aggregated student records (FERPA), or Social Security Numbers.
Learn More & Get Help
Explore external documentation or reach out for specialized licensing and technical support: