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Use the Power Automate plug-in for Windows Copilot (preview)

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[This topic is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]

With the Power Automate plug-in for Windows Copilot, you can use automations to work with Excel, PDF, and other files directly in Windows Copilot.

Important

  • This is a preview feature.
  • Preview features aren’t meant for production use and may have restricted functionality. These features are available before an official release so that customers can get early access and provide feedback.

Prerequisites

  • To use the plug-in, sign in to Power Automate for desktop in Windows Copilot with your personal Microsoft Account.

    Support for work and school accounts isn't currently available.

  • Install Power Automate for desktop from the Microsoft Store.

    The plug-in isn't yet available for Power Automate for desktop installations with the MSI installer.

Enable the plug-in

To use the Power Automate plug-in in Windows Copilot, you need to enable it in the plug-in's menu. Once you install Power Automate for desktop, you see the Power Automate plug-in in the list where you can turn it on.

Excel actions

You can create a new Excel file and write data to it from Windows Copilot. Here's an example prompt you can try once you enable the plug-in:

Write to an Excel file the names and heights of the five highest mountains in the world in both meters and feet

If you allow it, Windows Copilot can also access content from PDF files and websites that you open in Microsoft Edge. You can use this feature with the Excel action in the plug-in. For example, you can ask Windows Copilot to move data from a PDF file to Excel.

Email actions

The email action allows you to ask Windows Copilot to compose a new email in your default email client. Here’s a sample prompt you can try:

Write an email to express gratitude to a colleague for their help to get the presentation ready

PDF actions

The plug-in lets you use PDF actions to merge and split PDFs directly in Windows Copilot. Here are two sample prompts:

  • I need to split a PDF by the first page. Can you help?
  • Assist me in combining two PDF documents

Power Automate displays a file picker dialog when you use the merge PDF action. You can use the Ctrl key to choose multiple PDF files that you want to combine into one.

File management

You can use the Power Automate plug-in to request to rename and move files directly from Windows Copilot. Here are two examples you can try:

  • Add the word -final to the end of all PDF files in a folder
  • Move all Word documents to a different folder

Power Automate shows you a folder selection dialog when you use these actions. This dialog allows you to verify the location where the operation should happen.

Control and privacy

The automation actions operate on your Windows machine locally. Power Automate doesn't receive user data.

Disable the Power Automate plug-in for Windows Copilot with Registry Editor

If you want to disable the Power Automate plug-in for Windows Copilot from running on a machine, use the Registry Editor. Proceed to the Registry Editor path Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Power Automate Desktop. At this location, create a new DWORD value named DisableWindowsCopilotFlowRuns and set its value to 1.

To learn more about how Copilot in Windows uses your data to assist you, go to Copilot in Windows: Your data and privacy.

Send us your input

If you want to share your thoughts on the plug-in, contact us at [email protected].