New Microsoft Copilot 2026: Singapore Windows User Guide

Microsoft held a Windows and Surface event in San Francisco on 7 October 2026, and the phrase of the day was hybrid intelligence: AI that runs on your own PC when that makes sense, and reaches the cloud when it does not. Satya Nadella shared the stage with Nvidia's Jensen Huang, which tells you how much of the day was about selling laptops.

The software news landed earlier. On 25 September Microsoft introduced a rebuilt Copilot app with three parts. Home is the starting point: ordinary chat, plus Cowork, where you hand over a whole job such as a tender response or a launch kit and it comes back finished, plus Word, Excel and PowerPoint built straight into the app. Code lets you build small apps by describing them, using the same engine behind GitHub Copilot. Autopilot is the one to watch: you name an agent, give it a role and a goal, and it keeps working while you are at lunch, tracking deadlines and drafting follow-ups.

October added the local layer. On Copilot+ PCs, the laptops with newer neural processors, Copilot will be able to read files and recent activity on your machine with your permission, take actions such as organising folders or running device diagnostics, and use AI models running on the PC itself. Local models matter for one boring reason: they are cheaper than cloud tokens, so the monthly AI bill goes down. Windows Search also gains actions, so typing "turn on Do Not Disturb" into the taskbar does the thing instead of showing you a help page.

One caution before you get excited. Home and Code are rolling out through Microsoft's Frontier early-access programme, Autopilot is in private preview, and the local Copilot features are due "in the coming months" on Copilot+ PCs. This is a roadmap with dates attached, not something you install tonight.

Strip out the previews and five things are working right now, and most of them are free.

• Copilot chat. Sign in with any Microsoft account at copilot.com or in the Copilot app that ships with Windows 11. Signed in, you get chat history, image creation, voice conversations and longer threads. It works in Singapore on an ordinary personal account.
• The Copilot key and "Hey Copilot". Most new Windows laptops have a dedicated Copilot key. You can also choose a keyboard shortcut or switch on the wake word under Account, then Settings, then Copilot Keyboard Shortcuts.
• Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. The paid tier, and the honest reason to pay. It drafts a real document, edits a real workbook and builds a real deck, so nothing needs reformatting afterwards.
• Copilot Notebooks. Collect chats, files and meeting notes in one place, then ask questions across all of it. The quiet workhorse of the app.
• Work accounts. If your employer runs Microsoft 365, Copilot Chat comes with eligible subscriptions and only sees what your permissions already allow.

If your household is on Apple or Google instead, the equivalents are Siri AI on iPhone and Gemini on Android and the web. Mixing both ecosystems gets messy fast, so pick the side your files already live on.

1. Open the Copilot app on Windows 11. It is usually pinned to the taskbar or sitting in Start. If it is missing, install it from the Microsoft Store.
2. Sign in with your Microsoft account, personal or work. Without signing in you get a much thinner experience.
3. Pin it. Right-click the taskbar icon and pin it so it is one keypress away.
4. Set your shortcuts. Account, then Settings, then Copilot Keyboard Shortcuts. Turn on the Copilot key behaviour, or "Hey Copilot" if your machine supports the wake word.
5. Install the phone app and sign in with the same account, so your history follows you between PC and phone.
6. On a work laptop, email IT before you paste anything into it. Two minutes now, no awkward conversation later.

These are written for the things Singapore households and small businesses actually do. Paste them in, edit the bracketed parts, and see what comes back. In the free chat app, paste your own notes or data along with the prompt. In Word, Excel or Outlook, Copilot already has the file open.

1. Monthly expense cleanup for a small business (Excel)

You are helping a Singapore small business close its month.
Here is my expense list for [month] in this sheet.
Do these things:
1. Group every line into one of these categories: Cost of goods, Rent, Utilities, Transport, Marketing, Staff, Other.
2. Add a column called GST that shows 9% for GST-registered suppliers and 0 for the rest, and flag any line where you are unsure.
3. Build a summary table by category and compare it with last month.
4. List the three biggest jumps and explain what changed, using only the data in the sheet.
Do not invent any figures. If a line is unclear, mark it "check" instead of guessing.

2. Turning a messy email thread into a status update (Outlook or Teams)

Summarise this thread for my manager.
Give me:
1. A five-line status update: what was decided, who owns each action, the deadline.
2. Anything still unanswered that needs a nudge today.
3. One draft reply I can send, Singapore business English, under 120 words, no emojis.
Do not add opinions or commitments that are not in the thread.

3. A quotation you can review (Word)

Draft a quotation for [client name] based on the scope below.
Use SGD, show 9% GST as a separate line, and set payment terms at 30 days from invoice date.
Include: scope of work, exclusions, timeline, quotation validity of 30 days, and a short late-payment clause.
Keep it to one page, professional and plain. Leave placeholders in square brackets for anything you do not know.
This is a draft for my review, not a final legal document.

4. A client deck outline (PowerPoint)

Build a 10-slide deck outline for a [industry] client meeting in Singapore.
Audience: the operations director and one finance person. They care about cost and downtime, not technology.
Structure: the problem in one slide, what we propose, how it fits their current workflow, three numbers that matter, timeline, what we need from them, next step.
For each slide write the headline and three bullet points, then tell me which slide is weakest and why.

5. A weekly report from rough notes (works on the free tier)

Here are my raw notes from this week: [paste notes]
Turn them into a weekly report for my boss: what I finished, what is in progress, what is blocked and who can unblock it, and what I plan next week.
Under 250 words, plain English, no buzzwords. Put anything sensitive in [square brackets] so I can decide whether to keep it.
Then ask me two questions that would make next week's report better.

Two numbers matter: the monthly cost, and whether you can get it for free.

Singapore business prices are quoted in US dollars and exclude GST, so add 9% and your card's exchange rate. If you are a Singapore Citizen aged 18 or over who has completed an eligible AI course, the SkillsFuture AI Subscription gives you six months of Microsoft 365 Personal free as one of five choices. You pick once and cannot swap, so read the comparison before you claim it: which free AI tool to pick.

Three honest problems.

The interesting half is not out yet. Home, Code and Autopilot are early access and private preview. Do not buy a laptop for them this month.

The local features need new hardware. Reading files off your PC and running models on the device requires a Copilot+ PC, which in practice means a machine from the last two years with a proper neural processor. A 2022 workhorse will not do it.

It is a Microsoft-shaped tool. Copilot is at its best when your documents, mail and calendar already live in Microsoft 365. In a Google Workspace office or an Apple household, Gemini or Siri AI will get you further with less friction. If you want an agent tied to nobody, our guide to OpenAI Dots is the other side of that fence, at several times the price. For everyday email and report drafting with any chatbot, this office productivity workflow still holds up.

On privacy, one rule covers most of it. Consumer Copilot is not a filing cabinet, so do not paste customer NRICs, staff salaries or patient details into it. Under the PDPA, protecting personal data stays your organisation's responsibility whichever AI tool you use. When the local file-reading features arrive, grant that permission deliberately instead of tapping yes on the first prompt, and talk to IT before connecting a work account.