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# Copilot Notebooks Are Now Workspaces: How to Use Them
- URL: https://seanshares.com/copilot-notebooks-now-workspaces/
- Published: 2026-11-09T13:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-09T13:30:00.000Z
- Description: Notebooks became Workspaces in the Copilot app. Here's how to build one, what content to add, and a few smart ways to use a shared workspace with your team.
- Author: Sean Shares
- Tags: Copilot

If you used Copilot Notebooks and opened the Copilot app recently, you might have noticed Notebooks is gone from the left side. It didn't disappear. Microsoft renamed it Workspaces, and it's turning into something a little different: a shared space for a team working on the same thing, not just a place for one person's notes and files.

Your old notebooks are still there. Microsoft's announcement says existing notebooks convert to workspaces and keep everything you added or created. But the new version is built around a different idea, and once you get it, it's one of the more useful things in the Copilot app.

I set up a test workspace in my own tenant so you can see each step. I used a couple of test files I already had, a fake order list and a project plan, so nothing here is real data.

## What Changed From Notebooks

The short version: Notebooks were mostly personal. Workspaces are meant for a team. Microsoft describes them as shared spaces that bring together context, team members and working files for an ongoing project.

A few other things Microsoft has been adding as part of the change, based on its October 2026 Copilot update:

- You can ask Copilot to create or edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and work on them right inside the workspace.
- Teammates can work in different documents at the same time, with live cursors showing who's where.
- Workspaces can use more kinds of content for grounding, including images and CSV files.
- Audio Overview can turn what's in the workspace into a listenable summary, now with topic-based episodes.

Some of these were rolling out to Frontier first, with wider availability following over the next few months, so don't be surprised if your tenant doesn't have all of them yet. Microsoft also notes that which workspace features you get depends on your license.

## Find Workspaces

1. Open the Copilot app in your browser or on your desktop.
2. In the left pane, select **Workspaces**.

![Copilot Workspaces page with suggested workspaces and a Jump back in section with a New workspace tile](https://seanshares.com/content/images/2026/11/ws-home.png)

The Workspaces page. I blurred my own workspaces and suggestions. Copilot suggested new workspaces based on files I'd been using.

Two parts of this page are worth a look. Start something new is Copilot suggesting workspaces based on what you've been working on. In my tenant it picked up on a group of related files I'd opened recently and suggested a workspace for them. Jump back in is everything you already have, including any old notebooks that were converted.

## Build a Workspace in One Screen

1. Select **New workspace**.
2. Give it a name based on the project, not the date. You'll thank yourself later.
3. Pick a color if you want it to stand out.
4. Under **Add members**, add the people working on it with you.
5. Under **Add existing content**, select the **+** and pick what Copilot should know about.
6. Select **Create workspace**.

![Let's build a workspace dialog with workspace name, add members, and add existing content showing Files, Meetings, Emails, Sites and Teams Chats filters](https://seanshares.com/content/images/2026/11/ws-create.png)

One screen for the name, the people and the content. The content picker covers files, meetings, emails, sites, Teams chats and even past Copilot chats.

The content picker is the part most people rush through, and it's the part that matters most. Look at the filters across the top: Files, Meetings, Emails, Sites and Teams Chats. There's also a Copilot Chats tab, so if you already had a useful conversation with Copilot about this project, you can bring it in instead of starting over. Over on the right there are buttons to upload a file or add something by link.

I added two test files: the order list and the project plan. That's it. A small, focused set of content gets you much better answers than dumping every file you own into one place.

## Ask Questions That Stay in Context

Once the workspace is created, you land on a page that asks what's next. Your content shows up in a panel on the right, and the chat box is set to use the workspace by default.

![New Copilot workspace with a message box, Try these next suggestions, and a content panel listing two test files](https://seanshares.com/content/images/2026/11/ws-panel.png)

The content panel on the right shows what the workspace knows about. The suggestions underneath the chat box are a good starting point.

The Try these next suggestions tell you a lot about how Microsoft wants you to use this: Build out the workspace, Get a team update and Bring people up to speed. Those last two are the interesting ones, and I'll come back to them.

To test it, I asked: "Using the order list in this workspace, which orders are on backorder and what is their total value?"

![Copilot answer listing two backorders and a total backorder value of 1,740 dollars with a citation to Blog Test Orders.xlsx](https://seanshares.com/content/images/2026/11/ws-answer.png)

The answer cites the file it came from. I checked the math in the workbook and it was right.

It found the two backordered rows and added them up correctly, and it cited the workbook right next to the answer. I didn't have to name the file or attach it. That's the whole point of a workspace. You set up the context once, and every question after that already knows where to look.

Always click the citation on anything that matters, though. Copilot was right here, but the footer under every response still says AI-generated content may be incorrect, and it means it.

## Keep Adding Content as the Project Moves

A workspace isn't something you set up once and forget. Projects change, and the content should change with them.

1. Open the workspace and look at the **Content** section in the right panel.
2. Select the **+** next to Content.
3. Pick the new file, meeting, email or chat, the same way you did when you created the workspace.

I'd make a habit of this after any meeting where a decision gets made. Add the meeting to the workspace while it's fresh. A week later, when someone asks what was agreed, the workspace already knows. The same goes for the email where a client finally approved the budget, or the Teams chat where the deadline moved.

The New and Recent options at the top of the panel are also handy. New starts a fresh chat inside the workspace, and Recent brings back earlier conversations, so you're not scrolling through your whole Copilot history to find the one about this project.

## Listen Instead of Read

One feature that's easy to overlook is Audio Overview. Microsoft has been expanding it as part of the workspace changes. It can turn the content in a workspace into an audio summary, longer overviews can be split into topic-based episodes, and there are new formats like Critique and Debate. Microsoft also says saved overviews inherit sensitivity labels from their sources, which matters if your workspace includes anything confidential.

This sounds like a gimmick until you try it on a project you've been away from. Fifteen minutes of audio on the drive in is a lot easier than rereading a stack of documents at your desk. It was still rolling out more widely when I wrote this, so you may not see it yet.

## Revisit Your Old Notebooks

If you used Notebooks before, they're now sitting in Jump back in as workspaces. Take five minutes to go through them. Some were probably personal scratch pads that can stay as they are. Others may have been for a team project, and those are worth opening up to the people involved now that workspaces are built for sharing. Rename anything with a vague name so teammates know what it's for before they click.

## Outside the Box Ways to Use a Workspace

Most people will use workspaces as a project folder with a chat box attached. That's fine, but here's where I think they really shine.

A handoff binder. When you're going on vacation or passing a project to someone else, build a workspace with the key files, the email threads where decisions were made, and the meeting where the plan changed. Add the person taking over as a member. Now when they wonder why the budget changed in March, they can ask the workspace instead of messaging you on your day off. That's exactly what the Bring people up to speed suggestion is for.

A new hire starter kit. Instead of a 40-link onboarding email, make a workspace with the handful of documents and sites a new person actually needs. They can ask basic questions like "where do I submit expenses?" without feeling like they're bugging anyone.

A weekly status machine. Add the meetings and chats for a project, then ask for a team update every Friday. Copilot pulls from what's in the workspace, so the update reflects the actual discussion instead of whatever someone remembers on Friday afternoon.

A decision log. When a project has a lot of back and forth, add the key emails and meetings as they happen. Months later, "why did we pick vendor B?" is a question you can actually answer.

## Workspaces vs Projects

This is the confusing part. At the same time Notebooks became Workspaces, Microsoft added something called Projects to the Copilot app home. They sound like the same thing, but they're not.

According to Microsoft's announcement, Projects are a place to group your own related chats, Cowork tasks, files and instructions. Think of a project as your personal folder for a piece of work. Workspaces are the shared version, built for a team with members, shared content and collaboration.

My rule of thumb: if it's just you, use a project. If other people need to see it, ask questions about it or work on files in it, use a workspace.

## Tips Before You Invite Your Team

Keep the content list short. Five to ten good sources beat fifty random ones. If a file is outdated, remove it so Copilot stops quoting it.

Check that everyone can open the files you add. If you add a file from your OneDrive that you've never shared, a teammate in the workspace may not be able to open it. Share the file properly or store it somewhere the team already has access to.

Name things clearly. Copilot does better with "Q4 vendor contract - signed.pdf" than "final final v3.pdf," and so do people.

Give it a minute. When I asked my question, the response showed Working, then Reading 2 files, before the answer appeared. Bigger workspaces take longer. That's normal.

Ask follow-up questions in the same chat. Once Copilot has read the files for your first question, follow-ups like "now break that down by region" or "who's the rep on the bigger one?" build on what it already found, and you get to the useful answer faster.

If you're still getting used to how Copilot decides what to search, my post on [Work IQ and where the Work/Web toggle went](https://seanshares.com/work-iq-copilot-chat-work-web-toggle/) explains the newer Copilot app layout. And if most of your project data lives in spreadsheets, [what Copilot can do in Excel](https://seanshares.com/what-can-copilot-do-in-excel/) is a good companion read.

## FAQ

### What happened to Copilot Notebooks?

Microsoft renamed Notebooks to Workspaces in the Copilot app. Existing notebooks convert to workspaces automatically and keep the content you added.

### Can I share a Copilot workspace with my team?

Yes. Workspaces are built for teams. Add people under Add members when you create the workspace, or later from the workspace itself.

### What can I add to a workspace?

Files, meetings, emails, SharePoint sites, Teams chats and previous Copilot chats, plus uploads and links. Microsoft has also been adding support for images and CSV files as grounding content.

### What's the difference between a Copilot workspace and a project?

Projects are for organizing your own chats, tasks and files. Workspaces are shared spaces for a team working on the same thing.

### Do I need a license to use Workspaces?

Microsoft says access to individual workspace features depends on your license, so what you see may differ from a coworker on a different plan.

## Final Thoughts

The rename from Notebooks to Workspaces sounds like a cosmetic change, but it's really a shift from "my notes" to "our project." Pick one real project this week, add a few of the right files and the people working on it, and ask it a question you'd normally send in a Teams message. If you get a good answer, you've just saved a coworker an interruption.

*Sources: Microsoft 365 Message center,* [*MC1535647: Microsoft Copilot app updates to Home and navigation*](https://mc.merill.net/message/MC1535647?ref=seanshares.com)*; Microsoft Tech Community,* [*What's new in Microsoft Copilot, October 2026*](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft-copilot-blog/what's-new-in-microsoft-copilot--october-2026/4568528?ref=seanshares.com)*.*