Microsoft Is Getting Rid of Copilot Prioritize in Outlook

Microsoft is retiring Copilot Prioritize in Outlook, a feature that uses AI to identify important emails and help users focus on messages that need attention.

According to Microsoft 365 Message Center advisory MC1519861, the retirement will begin on October 26, 2026, across all Outlook clients. Microsoft expects to remove the feature completely by mid-November 2026.

The company describes the move as a cleanup effort that will allow it to focus on other Copilot experiences in Outlook. However, it hasn’t explained why it decided to discontinue the feature.

Copilot Prioritize will no longer sort emails by importance

Copilot Prioritize analyzes incoming emails and assigns priority levels to help users identify messages that require immediate attention.

Users can also provide custom instructions to tell Copilot which emails matter most. Outlook then allows them to filter their inbox and view messages that Copilot considers high priority.

The feature skips certain emails, including out-of-office replies, meeting messages, low-importance emails, encrypted messages, spam held in quarantine, and delivery failure notifications. It also ignores emails outside the Inbox.

Once Microsoft completes the retirement, users will no longer have access to Copilot’s automatic email prioritization or its related inbox filters.

Microsoft wants to focus on other Copilot features

Microsoft says removing Copilot Prioritize will help it direct resources toward other Copilot capabilities in Outlook.

The retirement comes as Microsoft continues to update Outlook with new features and improvements.

The company recently introduced a unified inbox in New Outlook, allowing users to view emails from multiple accounts in one place. Microsoft also fixed an issue that caused Copilot buttons to disappear in Outlook.

Separately, Microsoft is bringing back the Send Availability feature to simplify meeting scheduling.

Via Neowin