The short answer
Copilot Notebooks is now called Copilot Workspaces. Microsoft is rolling out the rename in phases from late October 2026, and existing notebooks become workspaces automatically, keeping their content and sharing. A workspace is a shared place in the Microsoft Copilot app where a team keeps files and works with Copilot, which answers only from the references added, up to 300 files. You can invite people when you create it, or later with Invite.
| Made by | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Rename | Copilot Notebooks became Copilot Workspaces, phased rollout from late October 2026 |
| Existing notebooks | Become workspaces automatically, content and sharing kept |
| Where | Microsoft Copilot app (m365.cloud.microsoft); OneNote over time |
| Who gets it | Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat licensed users; Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium and Pro |
| File limit | Up to 300 files used for answers |
| Shows sources | Answers come only from the references you add |
| Not the same as | Copilot Projects, which are for your own work |
What happened to Copilot Notebooks
Microsoft has renamed Copilot Notebooks to Copilot Workspaces. Microsoft's support article "Copilot Notebooks Is Now Copilot Workspaces" describes a workspace as a shared place where you and your team keep project information and files together and work with Copilot on an ongoing workstream. The rename rolls out in phases from late October 2026, and Microsoft says availability varies with each organisation's rollout schedule, so some people will still see the Notebooks name for a while.
The new name signals a change of purpose. Notebooks started as a personal research space, a little like Google's Gemini Notebook (called NotebookLM until July 2026): you added files and Copilot answered from them. Microsoft calls Workspaces "team-first", with an experience built for collaboration, including live cursors so you can see what colleagues are working on. Microsoft 365 Message Center post MC1535647, published on 2 November 2026, describes a new Home in the Microsoft Copilot app that brings Chat, Cowork, Projects and Workspaces together, with Notebooks becoming Workspaces in the left navigation.
If you are wondering whether you lost anything: you did not. Microsoft's answer is direct. Existing notebooks automatically become workspaces with their content intact, a notebook you shared stays shared, and one you did not share stays private. Microsoft also says no Notebooks features are going away.
What you need first
- A licence that includes it. Microsoft's Notebooks support pages, updated in November 2026, say the feature is available to Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat licensed users, and that accounts need a SharePoint or OneDrive licence (service plan) to create one. It is also available to Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium and Pro subscribers.
- The Microsoft Copilot app. Workspaces live in the Microsoft Copilot app at m365.cloud.microsoft. Microsoft says the newer collaborative features will reach Copilot Workspaces in OneNote over time.
- Your source material in Microsoft 365. Workspaces work best when the files you want Copilot to use are already in OneDrive or SharePoint.
- Sharing rights on those files. When you share a workspace, people are invited to its linked files too, and Microsoft says you must have sharing permission for each linked file.
How to create a Copilot Workspace, step by step
Microsoft has not yet published a separate "get started" article under the new name; its step-by-step guide is still titled "Get started with Microsoft Copilot Notebooks" and points to the rename article. The steps below follow that guide, with the new label where Microsoft has renamed it.
- Go to the Microsoft Copilot app at m365.cloud.microsoft.
- In the left pane, select Workspaces (still Notebooks if the rename has not reached your organisation). If you cannot see it, open the app launcher and look for it there.
- Expand the list, open the page that lists all of them, and choose to create a new one. Later you can use the plus button next to the heading.
- Give it a clear name, such as "Q1 pricing review", so colleagues know what belongs in it.
- Add content to References. You can pick from suggestions, filter by Files, Meetings, Emails or Sites, search, Upload from your device, add from OneDrive, or drag and drop.
- Select Create. Microsoft's rename article says that when you create a workspace you can choose the option to invite people straight away.
- To invite people later, select Invite in the upper right corner of the workspace, enter names or email addresses and confirm.
What you can put in a workspace, and the limits
Microsoft's "How Microsoft Copilot Notebooks works" article says you can add Word documents, PowerPoint decks, Excel sheets, Copilot Pages and specific web addresses. The supported formats it names are .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .pdf, .page, .loop and OneNote pages and notebooks. Microsoft's October 2026 Copilot update adds JPG, PNG, CSV and TSV files as references.
| Question | What Microsoft's support pages say |
|---|---|
| How many files can Copilot use? | Up to 300 files in one workspace to generate answers |
| Does Copilot search all my email and Teams? | No. It uses only the references you added |
| Copilot Chat licence sources | Standard sources: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Copilot Pages, images, audio and external web addresses |
| Microsoft Copilot licence sources | Adds premium sources: Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive content and internal web addresses |
| Audio overviews | English, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Chinese |
| Image generation or charts inside it | Not supported |
| Deleting a page or workspace | Currently permanent and cannot be undone; a recycle bin is in development |
Two of these trip people up. First, the split between standard and premium sources means a colleague on Copilot Chat may not see answers drawn from a Teams meeting that you, on a full Microsoft Copilot licence, can use. Second, deletion is final, so agree as a team who is allowed to tidy up.
On storage, Microsoft's Loop storage documentation says Copilot Pages and Copilot Notebooks content sits in a user-owned SharePoint Embedded container, private by default and counted against your organisation's SharePoint storage quota. Microsoft's rename article adds that core Microsoft 365 security, compliance and governance controls continue to apply.
A worked example: a monthly pricing review
This is an illustration, not a test we ran. Imagine a hypothetical product marketing lead who runs a pricing review every month with finance and sales. Here is how a workspace could replace the usual chain of emails.
- She creates a workspace called "Pricing review" and adds the current price list (Excel), last month's review deck (PowerPoint), the competitor notes (Word) and the notes from the last review meeting.
- In the workspace's instructions she writes: "Answer only from the references. Quote figures exactly and name the file each one comes from. Flag anything that contradicts another file."
- She invites the finance analyst and two sales managers with Invite. They can see who is in the workspace and what they are working on.
- Before the meeting she asks Copilot for a one-page brief on what changed since last month, then generates an audio overview to listen to on the way in.
- After the meeting, the analyst uploads the updated price list, and the next month's questions start from the new file rather than from someone's inbox.
The point is that the sources, the instructions and the people are in one place, so Copilot's answers are grounded in the same files everyone else sees.
Copilot Workspaces or Copilot Projects?
The new Home in the Microsoft Copilot app shows both, and the names are easy to mix up. Microsoft's own distinction in the rename article is short:
- Projects are for your own work. Projects appear on the Home tab and work with Chat and Cowork.
- Workspaces are for group work. A workspace gives your team a shared place to work with Copilot on a workstream.
You can use both, and Microsoft says that as changes roll out you will be able to bring a file from a project into a workspace to share it. Our view: start anything you will hand to colleagues in a workspace, because moving it later means re-checking every file's sharing permissions.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- "I can't find Workspaces." The rename is phased, and MC1535647 says the new Home reaches deferred-release organisations from late November 2026. Look for Notebooks in the left pane or the app launcher; your content is the same.
- "My colleague can't open a file in the workspace." You need sharing permission on every linked file; without it, colleagues have to request access file by file. Premium sources such as Teams content are only available to Microsoft Copilot users, and if the workspace includes a OneNote page, share the whole OneNote notebook.
- "Copilot ignored a document I mentioned." It only reads references you added. Add the file to References, then ask again.
- "The answer mixed up two versions of a file." Remove the old version from References, or name the file you want in the prompt.
- "I deleted the wrong page." Deletion is permanent. Keep the master copies of important files in SharePoint or OneDrive, not only inside the workspace.
Is Copilot Workspaces the right tool?
Pick Copilot Workspaces if your team already works in Microsoft 365 and keeps asking Copilot the same questions about the same set of files. It is the most direct way to give a group one grounded source of truth. It is a weaker fit for one person's research on public web material, where Google Gemini Notebook or Perplexity may suit better (see Gemini Notebook vs Perplexity), and it is not the place for image work, which it does not support. Microsoft's October 2026 Copilot update (30 October 2026) also says creating and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files inside Workspaces reached Frontier users in October and rolls out worldwide in January 2027, so expect the feature to change again soon.
For the wider picture of what Microsoft Copilot can do and which licence suits whom, read our Microsoft Copilot guide and the Copilot course in Learn. If you are choosing between assistants, Copilot vs Gemini covers the trade-offs for teams on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
Prompts to copy
Brief from the workspace
Using only the references in this workspace, write a one-page brief on [topic] for [audience]. Start with the three facts that matter most, quote every figure exactly and name the file it comes from. End with open questions the files do not answer.
You get: A grounded brief with every figure traced to a file
What changed since last time
Compare [newer file] with [older file] in this workspace. List every change to [prices, dates, owners or other fields] in a table with old value, new value and file name. Do not include anything that is unchanged.
You get: A change log you can paste into a meeting note
Find contradictions
Check the references in this workspace for statements or numbers that contradict each other about [topic]. For each one, quote both passages, name both files and say which looks more recent.
You get: A list of conflicts to fix before a decision
Workspace instructions
Answer only from the references in this workspace. If the answer is not in them, say so. Quote figures exactly, name the source file for each claim and write in plain British English for [audience].
You get: Standing instructions that keep the whole team's answers grounded