Microsoft Copilot File Upload and Reading in late 2025

Microsoft Copilot supports file uploads across personal, business, and enterprise environments, allowing users to submit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, and images for extraction, summarization, and structured interpretation. In late 2025 these capabilities differ depending on whether the user interacts with Copilot Chat, Copilot inside Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, or custom agents built with Copilot Studio. File-size limits, behavioral rules, storage locations, and enterprise governance policies determine how Copilot reads, stores, and processes uploaded content.

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Copilot Chat accepts uploaded files for reading, summarization, transformation, and detailed analysis of structured and unstructured content.

Inside Copilot Chat, users can upload PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint decks, and images. Once a file is uploaded, Copilot extracts headings, paragraphs, tables, lists, and embedded visuals. It can generate summaries, rewrite content, explain formulas, identify key findings, and answer targeted questions such as locating specific financial figures or summarizing individual slides. In business and enterprise accounts, uploaded files are automatically stored inside OneDrive in a dedicated folder, forming a controlled audit trail for compliance-bound organizations.

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........Supported Upload Formats — Copilot Chat (late 2025)

File Type	Behavior	Typical Use Case	Notes
PDF	Full reading with extraction	Policy documents, financial reports	Best for long texts
DOCX	Complete text parsing	Drafting, rewriting	Preserves structure
XLSX	Table and formula reading	Budgets, analysis	Handles moderate complexity
PPTX	Slide content reading	Presentations, visuals	Reads text and layout
Images (PNG, JPG)	Vision interpretation	Screenshots, diagrams	OCR + object reading

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Maximum file size limits depend on licensing, tenant configuration, and admin rules, with large variability across organizations.

The upload limit for Copilot Chat is not universal. Premium Microsoft 365 tenants often support files up to roughly 512 MB per file, while free or lightly configured tenants can restrict uploads to as little as 1–10 MB. Some organizations impose daily upload quotas, with non-premium or academic accounts commonly reporting caps around three files per day. Enterprise administrators can adjust available capacity through Microsoft Graph settings, SharePoint and OneDrive quotas, and Copilot usage policies.

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........File Size and Upload Quotas — Microsoft Copilot

Tier / Environment	Size Limit	Quota	Behavior
Premium Work Accounts	Up to ~512 MB	Moderate file count	Ideal for large documents
Standard or Academic Accounts	1–10 MB	Low daily count	Highly restricted
Enterprise Tenants	Admin-set	Governed by policy	Full flexibility
Free Personal Users	Small files only	No guaranteed quota	Intended for light tasks

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Copilot inside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint reads documents directly without requiring manual upload, eliminating many size limitations.

When Copilot is used inside Office applications, the assistant works directly with the open file. Because no upload step is required, the size constraints are governed by the underlying application rather than Copilot’s upload limits. In Word, Copilot rewrites paragraphs, drafts new sections, and analyzes arguments. In Excel, it explains formulas, reads tables, and generates structured commentary. In PowerPoint, it interprets slides, identifies themes, and assists with rewriting and reorganizing content.

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........In-App Reading Behavior — Copilot in Microsoft 365 Apps

Application	Reading Ability	Interaction Method	Strengths
Word	Full document interpretation	Acts on open file	Structural rewriting
Excel	Table and formula analysis	Works within workbook	Numeric reasoning
PowerPoint	Layout and text interpretation	Slide-aware	Narrative extraction

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Copilot Studio supports large multi-file ingestion as knowledge sources, enabling custom agents to analyze structured repositories.

Custom agents built in Copilot Studio accept files as knowledge sources. These files are stored in Dataverse and indexed for retrieval during conversations. The system accepts PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, HTML files, JSON, XML, EPUB, CSV, and other structured formats. Copilot Studio supports up to 512 MB per ingested file and allows large repositories of hundreds of files, constrained only by the Dataverse storage allocation of the tenant.

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........File Ingestion via Copilot Studio (late 2025)

Format	Accepted	Storage Location	Usage
PDF	Yes	Dataverse	Knowledge extraction
DOCX	Yes	Dataverse	Content rewriting
HTML/JSON/XML	Yes	Dataverse	Structured parsing
CSV/XLSX	Yes	Dataverse	Table interpretation
EPUB/RTF	Yes	Dataverse	Text-only processing

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Storage, governance, and privacy rules determine how uploaded content is retained and accessed, especially in regulated environments.

Uploaded files in Copilot Chat are stored automatically inside the user’s OneDrive—specifically in a folder named “Microsoft Copilot Chat Files.” These files fall under organizational retention rules, sensitivity labels, and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies. Administrators can disable uploads, require stricter permissions, enforce conditional access, or route all Copilot data through regional compliance anchors. For Copilot Studio, Dataverse governs versioning, metadata indexing, deletion, and access control.

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........Governance and Retention — Microsoft Copilot

Area	Behavior	Effect	Notes
OneDrive Storage	Uploaded files stored automatically	Ensures traceability	Applies to chat uploads
Tenant Governance	Admin controls access	Restricts upload ability	Ensures compliance
Dataverse Storage	Knowledge ingestion	Tied to capacity	Used for custom agents
DLP and Labels	Applied to files	Protects sensitive info	Fully enforced

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File-based workflows benefit from using the most appropriate Copilot entry point depending on document size, sensitivity, and task complexity.

Large documents are best processed directly inside their Office applications, avoiding upload caps. Sensitive files are safer inside Word, Excel, or PowerPoint rather than Chat uploads, since the content never leaves the controlled workspace. Multi-file environments are better handled in Copilot Studio, where ingestion builds reusable knowledge libraries. Messaging-like Copilot Chat remains ideal for quick summaries, explanations, and cross-document comparisons when tenant limits allow it.

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