Microsoft Copilot Notebooks Adds Markdown, Plain Text and Rich Text Support

Microsoft has upgraded Copilot Notebooks with three new text file format supports: Markdown, plain-text and rich-text. Users can now import text-based files such as README files, technical notes, system logs and conversation transcripts directly into notebooks without prior format conversion. Previously, the service primarily supported Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, as well as PDF, Copilot Pages and Loop files.

The Markdown format support is a key highlight of this update. With the development of AI agent technology in recent years, Markdown (. md) files have gained popularity for building artificial intelligence context and instructions. Users can import exported meeting notes into the system and ask about decisions made by the AI, responsible persons for each action, and unresolved issues. They can also import plain-text customer service tickets and request summaries of the most common problems and common themes. Additionally, users can add project wikis, meeting notes, release notes and work notes to ask the AI for key information needed to quickly understand a new project.

This upgrade makes Copilot Notebooks more accessible to users not deeply tied to the Microsoft Office ecosystem. Microsoft stated that this is just the beginning and will introduce support for more file formats in the future.