Start with the smallest place that lets people work together. A quick exchange can stay in chat or around a meeting. Create a Team when the work needs a recognizable purpose, recurring participation, shared context, and owners who can maintain it over time.
An app is a tool used to get the work done. Choose it for the task or information the collaboration needs. Teams can make that tool available in a personal view, within a chat or channel, or during a conversation or meeting. An app does not have to be a channel tab.
Start with the information your task needs. Use Copilot Chat for a question, draft, or analysis based on public information or material you provide. Choose the licensed work-context experience of Microsoft 365 Copilot when the work depends on your permitted Microsoft 365 files, email, meetings, or chats across supported experiences.
Consider Autopilot when a process needs continued attention, such as watching project updates and preparing follow-ups over several days. Start with a clear process and an accountable owner. Use Copilot Cowork when you mainly need to assign and review a defined task.
Bookings lets people schedule appointments from available times you define.
Start with Agent Builder (no-code) when a person or small team needs a focused agent around maintained knowledge. Move to Copilot Studio (low-code) when the solution must perform actions, connect to business systems, serve a wider audience, or run through a managed release and support process.
Use Copilot Code when you need custom software and can describe its expected behavior. Start with a small task and test the result. Reuse an existing service when it already meets the need.
A channel is a topic within a collaboration. Create one when the subject deserves its own place for conversation, shared content, and apps. Keep a one-time question or minor activity in an existing channel.
Start with the work
Choose the work pattern first, then check how the experience is funded. An included chat capability, a per-user license, Copilot Credits, and Azure consumption answer different cost questions. The same product can have more than one charging path depending on the user and scenario.
Microsoft Defender services help protect identities, devices, email, apps, and cloud resources.
Use Copilot Cowork when you can describe a result, its boundaries, and how you will review it. Cowork carries out multistep work across apps, files, and connected services. Start with a defined task, such as preparing a project briefing from permitted files, and inspect the result before using it.
Use GitHub Copilot when the job is to write and maintain software with AI assistance. Use Microsoft Foundry when the job is to build and operate an AI-powered application, agent, or model. A development team can use both in the same project.
Microsoft Entra ID is the identity platform behind sign-in, access, groups, and many Microsoft 365 security patterns.
Excel is the Microsoft 365 app for spreadsheets, analysis, models, and structured calculations.
Use Microsoft Forms to collect answers. Decide what happens to each response before you invite people to complete the form.
A modern SharePoint page is a presentation layer. It gives information a useful layout, but much of the information a visitor sees can still live in a library, list, news page, or another system.
Use Microsoft Lists when a team needs to maintain structured records over time. Give each record the fields the team needs to find it, follow its status, and decide when it needs review.
Use Loop while a group is shaping ideas. Choose a shared workspace for ongoing group work, and publish approved information in a managed location.
Microsoft Purview brings data security, data governance, and data compliance solutions together. Use it to apply consistent policy, protection, oversight, and evidence across Microsoft 365 and other supported data sources.
Microsoft Teams is a workspace for people who work together. Start with a chat or meeting for a quick exchange. Create a Team when the collaboration needs a shared purpose, context, and ownership that lasts beyond one conversation.
Use OneDrive for work files that you own, including drafts you share for feedback. Move a file to an owned Team or SharePoint site when colleagues need to maintain it as part of their regular work.
Use Microsoft Planner when a team needs to assign work, set due dates, and follow progress. Choose the plan type from the work the team must manage.
Power BI helps create reports, dashboards, and data models for business insight.
PowerPoint is the Microsoft 365 app for presentations, workshops, and visual storytelling in a deck format.
Treat a shared Copilot app as a maintained team service. Agree access, ownership, support, and budget before colleagues depend on it. Check that the tested app still works after publication.
SharePoint helps people organize, manage, and publish information for its intended audience. Sites, pages, lists, libraries, and permissions give that information a clear home and owner. The audience can be a working Team, a department, or the whole organization.
A SharePoint site is a shared place with a purpose: for example, a department site, a project site, or an intranet area. It contains the information and controls needed for that purpose.
Sway helps create lightweight, web-style stories and presentations.
Viva Engage is a community and employee engagement platform in Microsoft 365.
Opening a SharePoint site starts more than one action. SharePoint identifies the visitor, checks whether they can open the site and page, and lets each web part retrieve content from its configured source.
Word is the primary Microsoft 365 app for documents with rich text, structure, review, and formatting.