A planned Copilot feature for Microsoft’s Files companion app has been cancelled as the taskbar-based Files, Calendar and People apps prepare to stop functioning in December 2026.
Microsoft has cancelled a planned Copilot feature for the Files companion app just as the wider Microsoft 365 companion suite moves towards retirement. The roadmap entry, which had suggested that Copilot prompts would become available in Files for Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat users, now carries a cancelled status and a correction from the company saying the description is no longer accurate. The wording on the roadmap had been easy to misread, but the underlying message is clear: the feature will not ship, and the app it was meant to enhance is on the way out.
The Files companion app was one of three Microsoft 365 companion apps designed for quick access from the Windows 11 taskbar, alongside Calendar and People. Microsoft’s own documentation says the apps were intended to help users find files, people and calendar items more quickly, with Files offering shortcuts to recent documents and other Microsoft 365 content. The retired feature would have extended Copilot file prompts to users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, but that expansion is now off the table.
That cancellation sits against a broader retirement plan. Microsoft has confirmed that the Calendar, People and Files companion apps will be retired on 16 December 2026, and the company says the apps will stop functioning before that date. The retirement guidance also makes clear that Microsoft will no longer provide updates or fixes, including security patches, during the wind-down period. In practical terms, that makes further feature work on the apps unlikely.
Microsoft has also told administrators how to remove the companion apps from managed environments. Its guidance advises tenant owners to disable automatic installation, remove any Intune assignments that could reinstall the apps, and then deploy an uninstall to affected devices. For users on unmanaged PCs, Microsoft says the apps can be removed through Windows settings or by uninstalling one of the companion apps, which removes the full set. The company adds that underlying files, contacts and calendar data remain in Microsoft 365 services, so uninstalling the apps does not delete user content.
The more useful access paths are being folded back into tools Microsoft already supports. The retirement documentation points users towards Windows Search, File Explorer, OneDrive, SharePoint, Outlook, Teams and the Office apps for file discovery and related tasks, while Copilot itself remains available for people who remember only fragments of a document’s details. The cancelled roadmap item therefore appears to mark the end of a separate taskbar-based route into Copilot, rather than the end of Copilot-assisted file search altogether.
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