Microsoft Copilot is making a major expansion: it can now directly access Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and other third-party services if you grant permission, thanks to a recent Windows update. This lets users search and interact with personal data from multiple platforms using a single prompt. For example, you can ask Copilot to “Find my recent project notes from Drive” or “Get Sarah’s email address from Gmail,” and the assistant will fetch the information across your connected accounts—including Microsoft’s own Outlook and OneDrive.
Key features and implications from the update:
- Copilot’s new powers arrive with a Windows Store update for Windows Insiders, but broader rollout is expected after further testing.
- Copilot can pull information, search emails, look through files stored in Google Drive, and even interact with your schedule and contacts from both Microsoft and Google ecosystems.
- A major productivity boost: Copilot now adds an export button to long responses (over 600 characters), making it easy to convert answers, summaries, or drafts into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF files with a click—streamlining the process of taking ideas from chat to finished document format.
- The update is a strategic shift, showing Microsoft’s willingness to integrate, rather than compete directly, with Google’s services—at least when it comes to personal productivity.
- As Copilot evolves into a central productivity hub, users spend less time switching between separate apps.
- There are ongoing concerns around digital trust and security, with Copilot gaining access to a huge array of personal data once linked. Microsoft frames these integrations as opt-in, designed to enhance convenience for users willing to embrace them.
Overall, Copilot is moving from being just a clever chat interface to the control center for cross-platform work and content creation. You could soon summarize a week of work, have it formatted, and export it as a PDF for your boss—all with a simple command. But while the convenience is dramatic, it’s still wise to proofread Copilot’s outputs to avoid AI “hallucinations” in important documents.
