Copilot Group Chat Shuts Down August 18
Ten minutes of downloading today beats finding out next week that a shared file is gone for good.
Founder, Automation Squad ·
The short answer
Microsoft retires Copilot Group Chat from August 18, 2026, along with Mico and Copilot Labs. Your own messages migrate. Files, images and media that other people shared in a group chat do not, and Labs content such as 3D assets and audio clips will not carry forward. Download anything you want to keep first.
The ten-minute Copilot download pass
Work through this before your account updates. It is not reversible afterwards, and there is no bulk export button.
Open Copilot and list every group chat you are in
Copilot → Chats, and filter to group conversations. Work oldest to newest: the old ones are where the forgotten attachments are.
In each chat, download anything someone else contributed
Files, images, audio, links to shared docs. Your own messages migrate; theirs do not. Save to your device or your own OneDrive — not to a Copilot-hosted space, which is the thing going away.
Open Copilot Labs and export every experiment output
3D assets and audio clips generated in Labs will not carry forward. Download each one. Labs is being replaced by Frontier in Copilot and MAI Playground.
Screenshot your Mico customizations if you care about them
Saved colors and other personalizations do not transfer. A screenshot is the only record you will have.
Note anything you could not export, and where it came from
If a colleague shared something you cannot download, message them now and ask for the original — while they still have it in their own chat.
Add the deadline to your calendar
Rollout begins August 18. Microsoft says it rolls out rather than switching off at midnight, so treat the 18th as the last safe day, not the first unsafe one.
Take it with you
COPILOT EXPORT CHECKLIST — do before Aug 18, 2026
Source: https://automationsquad.com/news/copilot-retired-features-august-2026/
[ ] List every Copilot group chat I'm in (Copilot > Chats, filter to groups)
[ ] In each chat, download files/images/audio OTHER people shared
(my own messages migrate; theirs do not)
[ ] Save downloads to my device or my own OneDrive, not a Copilot space
[ ] Copilot Labs: download every 3D asset and audio clip I generated
(Labs content will not carry forward; replaced by Frontier + MAI Playground)
[ ] Screenshot Mico customizations (saved colors etc. do not transfer)
[ ] Message colleagues for originals of anything I couldn't download myself
[ ] Confirm nothing important is left only inside Copilot
WHAT MIGRATES: my own messages and prompts.
WHAT DOES NOT: other participants' messages, images and uploaded media;
Labs-generated 3D assets and audio clips; Mico personalizations.Add the Aug 18 deadline to your calendarReminds you the day before.
Microsoft started merging its two Copilot apps — the consumer one and the Microsoft 365 business one — on August 13, 2026. Several features are being retired along the way, and Microsoft's own support FAQ is unusually blunt about the fact that some of your content will not survive the move.
The facts, from Microsoft's FAQ on retired Copilot features: Group Chat begins rolling out of the product on August 18, 2026. Mico, the animated character in Copilot Voice, retires during August 2026. Copilot Labs is going too, on a timeline that varies by account, with Frontier in Copilot and MAI Playground named as the replacements. On what you actually lose, Microsoft writes that in Group Chat, "messages, prompts, and artifacts from other participants, including images or other media they uploaded, will not be accessible in the migrated chat." Labs content such as 3D assets and audio clips "will not carry forward after your update." Mico customizations, including saved colors, do not transfer either. Microsoft's guidance is one sentence long: save or download anything you want to keep before your account updates.
Automation Squad's take: the retirements themselves are unremarkable — Group Chat and a cartoon assistant were never load-bearing. The part worth five minutes of your attention is the asymmetry in what transfers. Your own messages migrate. The things your colleagues contributed do not. That is precisely backwards from how people use a shared chat: the reason you kept the thread was usually the spreadsheet somebody else dropped into it. Microsoft has published the warning, which is more than most retirements get, but it has not published a bulk export button, so this lands as manual work on whoever notices in time.
Run this now: open Copilot, go to your group chats, and work through them oldest to newest with one question — did anyone else put a file, image, or link in here that I would be annoyed to lose? Download those to your device now, not to a Copilot-hosted space. Then check Copilot Labs for any 3D assets or audio clips you generated and download those the same way. If you customized Mico, screenshot the settings; that is the only record you will have. The whole pass takes about ten minutes and it is not reversible after your account updates.
By the numbers
The data behind the story — figures from cited sources, with our own analysis labelled.
| Group Chat — rollout begins | Aug 18, 2026 |
| Mico (Copilot Voice character) | August 2026 |
| Copilot Labs → Frontier / MAI Playground | Varies by account |
| Other people's messages, images and media in a group chat | Not migrated |
| Labs 3D assets and audio clips | Not carried forward |
| Mico customizations (e.g. saved colors) | Not transferred |
| Your own messages and prompts | Migrated |
Microsoft states rollout dates rather than hard cut-offs, and Labs timing varies by account — treat the earliest date as your deadline, not the latest.
Questions people are asking
- Is Copilot Group Chat being deleted on August 18?
- August 18, 2026 is when the rollout begins, not a hard midnight cut-off. Microsoft describes it as a staged rollout, so your account may change on the 18th or shortly after. Treat the 18th as the last safe day to export rather than the first day things break.
- Will I lose my own Copilot conversations?
- No. Microsoft says your own messages and prompts migrate into the merged app. What does not migrate is content from other participants in a group chat — their messages, images, and any media they uploaded.
- What is replacing Copilot Labs?
- Microsoft names two replacements: Frontier in Copilot, and MAI Playground. Neither carries your existing Labs content across, so anything you generated in Labs — 3D assets, audio clips — has to be downloaded manually first.
- Why are the two Copilot apps merging?
- Microsoft began merging the consumer Copilot app with the Microsoft 365 Copilot business app on August 13, 2026, ahead of a single 'super app'. The retirements are consequences of that consolidation rather than standalone decisions.
Sources
Further reading
- Microsoft Support — FAQ about retired Copilot features — The authoritative list. Check it against your own account before you assume a feature is safe.
Last checked August 15, 2026 against the primary sources above, by Automation Squad Research. Spot an error? [email protected].