How to install Microsoft Copilot for your business

The short answer

Microsoft Copilot is the Ai assistant built into Microsoft 365. It works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and it can use your own emails, files, chats and meetings to draft, summarise and answer questions. To install it for a business, you buy a Copilot licence as an add-on to an eligible Microsoft 365 plan, then assign it to people in the Microsoft 365 admin centre under Billing then Licenses. There's nothing to download: Copilot appears in the apps your team already uses, usually within 24 hours.

Microsoft has renamed things a few times, so it helps to know what you're looking at. The product that used to be called Microsoft 365 Copilot is now called Microsoft Copilot, and its app has moved to copilot.cloud.microsoft. If you'd like the wider picture before you start, our guide to what Microsoft Copilot is covers each version in plain English.

Copilot Chat or a full Copilot licence?

Most businesses already have some Copilot without buying anything. Every organisation with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription gets Copilot Chat, and the two versions behave differently:

• Web-based Copilot Chat answers using information from the internet. It's included at no extra cost.
• Work-based Copilot answers using the emails, files, chats and meetings your account can already see, and works inside the Microsoft 365 apps. This needs a Microsoft Copilot licence.

A sensible approach is to let everyone use Copilot Chat first, then licence the people whose work involves a lot of writing, reading, meetings or spreadsheets.

Which Microsoft 365 plans can add Copilot?

The Copilot licence is an add-on, so each person needs an eligible Microsoft 365 licence first. According to Microsoft's licensing guidance, eligible plans include:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium
• Microsoft 365 Apps for business and Apps for enterprise
• Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, and Office 365 E1, E3 and E5
• Microsoft 365 E7, which includes Copilot

Smaller organisations on Business plans can also choose Microsoft Copilot Business. You can buy licences in the admin centre marketplace, through your Microsoft account team, or through a Microsoft partner such as Flotek.

How to install Microsoft Copilot, step by step

1. Check your users are set up. Everyone who will get Copilot needs an active account and an eligible Microsoft 365 licence.
2. Buy your Copilot licences. Purchase the number you need from the Microsoft 365 admin centre or your partner.
3. Open the licences page. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin centre and go to Billing then Licenses.
4. Select Microsoft Copilot. On the product page, assign licences to individual people or to a group.
5. Check the assignment. Go to Users then Active users and confirm each person shows the Copilot licence.
6. Give it time to appear. Copilot can take up to 24 hours to show in some apps. If it's still missing, close and reopen the app.

Getting Copilot working for your team

Once a licence is assigned, people sign in to the Microsoft 365 apps with their work account as normal. In Word, Copilot offers to help when you create a new document. In the other apps it sits on the ribbon. Copilot only works on files you can edit, so a read-only document won't show it.

If someone can't see Copilot, check these first:

• They're signed in with their work account, not a personal Microsoft account.
• Their apps are up to date.
• The file is open for editing.
• It's been at least 24 hours since the licence was assigned.

Before you switch it on: check your permissions

Work-based Copilot can only see what each person already has access to. That's good for security, but it also means Copilot can surface an old file that was shared too widely years ago. Before a wider rollout, review who can see what in SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams, and tidy up anything that's shared with everyone. Microsoft recommends starting with a small pilot group, reviewing conditional access policies and checking network requirements before you add more people.

Making Copilot pay for itself

Licences only deliver value when people use them. The organisations that get the most from Copilot do a few simple things:

• Start with everyday jobs, such as summarising long email threads, writing first drafts and recapping Teams meetings.
• Share prompts that work, so the whole team benefits from what one person discovers.
• Give people short, practical training rather than one long session.
• Review usage after a month and move licences to the people who use them most.

If you'd like a hand choosing licences, preparing your permissions or training your team, our Microsoft 365 services cover the whole rollout, or you can get in touch for a chat.

Further reading

• Microsoft Learn: license options for Microsoft Copilot
• Microsoft Learn: Copilot setup and onboarding guide for IT admins
• Microsoft Learn: Copilot Studio licensing and access

Further reading: Big Updates Coming to Microsoft 365 in 2026