Summary
Microsoft is introducing Brand Skill support in PowerPoint Copilot Desktop starting in September 2026. Brand managers can upload custom Markdown files to Brand Kit to guide presentation creation. Administrators must establish governance review processes and verify Enterprise Brand Manager policies before rollout.
Administrator impact: Administrators need to review brand manager assignments and establish internal governance processes for published skills.
End user impact: Eligible users can apply organization approved presentation skills when creating content with Copilot in PowerPoint.
Score rationale: This update introduces a new administrative capability and workflow for AI generated content requiring proactive governance.
Brand Skill support for Copilot in PowerPoint
Brand managers can now upload custom presentation skills as Markdown files to Brand Kit for use with Copilot in PowerPoint Desktop, enabling consistent, organization-approved presentation guidance. Rollout begins mid-September 2026. Organizations should manage governance, review skills regularly, and ensure compliance with policies.
Published: 17 Sept 2026
Expires: 30 Nov 2026
Last updated: 17 Sept 2026
Category: Plan for change
Tags: Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365), New feature, User impact, Admin impact
Microsoft Message
Brand managers will be able to upload custom presentation skills as Markdown (.md) files to Brand Kit and share them across their organization for use with Copilot in PowerPoint. This capability helps organizations provide reusable, organization-approved instructions that guide presentation creation, supporting more consistent and efficient content development.
This change advances personal and team productivity by embedding reusable presentation guidance into the tools employees use to create presentations.
Rollout schedule
- Frontier: We will begin rolling out mid-September 2026 and expect to complete by late September 2026.
- General Availability, Worldwide: We will begin rolling out in late September 2026 and expect to complete by the end of September 2026.
Impact on your organization
Who is affected
- Brand managers who create, manage, and publish organizational Brand Kits.
- Users in organizations where a Brand Kit containing a custom presentation skill has been published and who have access to Copilot in PowerPoint.
- The product team should confirm applicable licensing and whether additional eligibility requirements apply.
Platforms and services
- Microsoft 365 Brand Kit
- Microsoft Copilot
- Microsoft PowerPoint – Desktop
What will happen
- Brand managers will be able to upload a custom presentation skill as a Markdown (.md) or .zip file to Brand Kit.
- Brand managers will be able to publish the skill for use by people in their organization.
- Eligible users will be able to use the published skill with Copilot in PowerPoint.
- The skill can provide reusable instructions to guide how Copilot creates presentations.
- The feature requires a Brand manager to upload and publish a skill. It is not automatically activated merely because the capability becomes available.
Action required and recommendations
- Review who is assigned as a Brand manager through the Enterprise Brand Manager policy.
- Identify the people responsible for writing, reviewing, approving, and maintaining presentation skills.
- Establish governance for security, privacy, accessibility, legal, and brand review.
- Test skills with representative presentation scenarios before publishing them broadly.
- Communicate the availability of published skills to users of Copilot in PowerPoint.
- Update internal Brand Kit and Copilot documentation.
- Review published skills periodically and remove or replace outdated instructions.
- Review Microsoft documentation: Brand Skill support for Copilot in PowerPoint.
Compliance considerations
- This change provides eligible users with a new way to interact with generative AI by using organization-published instructions with Copilot in PowerPoint.
- This change introduces organization-published instructions that can guide Copilot when users create presentations.
- Brand Kit publishing is governed through the Enterprise Brand Manager policy and a mail-enabled security group. Confirm that presentation skills use the same controls without additional configuration.
- Confirm storage, retention, audit logging, Purview behavior, user-level disablement, third-party integration, and GDPR data-subject-request implications before publication.