Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter en blogs updates van 05-04-2024

Updated April 4, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Users can soon find all of their emojis, GIFs, and stickers in a combined picker in Microsoft Teams.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 84023

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out in early December 2023 (previously late November) and expect to complete rollout by late January 2024 (previously mid-December).

Worldwide: We will begin rolling out in early April 2024 (previously mid-March) and expect to complete rollout by late April 2024.

GCC, GCC High, DoD: We will begin rolling out in early May 2024 (previously early April) and expect to complete rollout by late June 2024 (previously late May).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Users can find emojis, GIFs, and stickers combined in one menu under the smiley face icon. All the fun content will remain as normal for users to add in their messages.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

There is nothing you need to do to prepare.

Updated April 4, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Teams Compose is the heart of collaboration, where all Teams messages flow each month. It’s also the gateway to a wealth of features, from Copilot to Files, Loops, Video, and Platform Apps. 

While Teams’ capabilities have grown by leaps and bounds, the compose experience has remained largely unchanged. This update addresses usability, scalability, and information density challenges. We’ve simplified the compose experience, enhancing usability for various rich authoring scenarios, establishing scalable patterns for all compose actions, and optimizing it for your everyday needs. Get ready to enjoy a more seamless and efficient collaboration experience! This is for the new Teams experience only.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 123486

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early-December 2023 and expect to complete by mid-December 2023.

Worldwide: We will begin rolling out mid-April 2024 (previously early April) and expect to complete by late April 2024 (previously late March).

GCC, GCC High and DoD: We will begin rolling out in early May 2024 (previously early April) and expect to complete rollout by late June 2024 (previously late May).

[How this will affect your organization:]

All Teams users will still be able to do everything they have previously done in Teams, but now, accessing these features will be easier and clearer.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

No changes are required to prepare for this change.

Updated April 3, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Today, our experience focusses on letting users create team at the top level, with channel creation as a per team level option. Looking at the user behavior here, users end up creating more teams, where it could have been channels within teams, leading to team proliferation and difficulty in managing teams. To address this, we are looking to promote channel creation.

For users to collaborate effectively, they need to set-up the right collaboration space. Channels being the main hub of collaboration, we made it easier for users to create channels. With the channel creation option elevated to the top, users can now create the appropriate collab space by picking between team or channel. They will be able to host the channel into a team of their choosing.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 163363

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early January 2024 and expect to complete by mid-January 2024.

Worldwide, GCC, GCC High and DoD: We will begin rolling out mid-February 2024 and expect to complete by mid-April 2024 (previously late March).

[How this will affect your organization:]

End-users will now be able to go to + button in the teams and channels list to create a channel, which they can host in a channel of their choice. 

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Ask users to pick the right team they want to host channels in, while creating channels from + button. 

Updated April 3, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Tags will now be supported in private channels in Microsoft Teams. Users can now use tags to @ mention groups of people in private channels.  

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 373545

[When this will happen:]

Preview: We will begin rolling out mid-February 2024 and expect to complete by late February 2024.

General Availability: We will begin rolling out late February 2024 and expect to complete by mid-April 2024 (previously late March).

[How this will affect your organization:]

End users will now be able to use tags in Microsoft Teams private channels. 

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Learn more about managing who can create and manage tags within your tenant.

To help end users learn more about using tags, direct them to the Using tags in Microsoft Teams documentation. 

Updated March 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

This new Microsoft Teams feature for Town Hall empowers organizers, presenters, and even external presenters to engage in private discussions before, during, and after their virtual events. This functionality facilitates real-time collaboration, whether prepping pre-event, coordinating seamlessly during presentations, or debriefing post-event, this feature is your ultimate tool for driving impactful and successful virtual events.

On the Town Hall Scheduling form, the event organizer must define their presenters and external presenters for this exclusive group chat to be created. After the event is created, the organizer can access this chat before/after the event from the Town Hall Scheduling form, the Teams Calendar, or the event’s Details page. Presenters (and external presenters from guests and federated tenants) can access this chat before/after the event from the Teams Calendar or the event’s Details page. This chat will appear in their chat pane. During the event, organizers, presenters, and external presenters (including anonymous presenters) can access this chat from within the in-meeting chat by selecting the tab for Organizers and Presenters.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 377303

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out mid-May 2024 (previously late March) and expect to complete by early June 2024 (previously early April).

Worldwide: We will begin rolling out early June 2024 (previously early April) and expect to complete by late June 2024 (previously mid-April).

[How this will affect your organization:]

This feature will automatically be available in Microsoft Teams when it is released. When a Town Hall is created with presenters and external presenters defined on the Scheduling form, the chat for organizers and presenters will be created and available to use. 

Image 1: Organizers can automatically send a message to their event’s co-organizers and presenters from the Town Hall Scheduling form.

Image 2: Before the Town Hall starts, organizers, co-organizers, and presenters can view this chat on their Chat list and send messages. 

Image 3: During the Town Hall, organizers, co-organizers, and presenters can access the Organizers and Presenters tab and send messages.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This feature will automatically be available in Microsoft Teams when it is released. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

Coming soon to public preview, Microsoft Copilot for Security is embedded in Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management to summarize alerts and help accelerate data security investigations.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 389147.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out early April 2024 and expect to complete by late April 2024.

General Availability: We will begin rolling out early May 2024 and expect to complete by late May 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Copilot in Insider Risk Management summaries help investigators quickly gain context into key details, like user intent and timing of risky activities that may lead to a data security incident, enabling you to tailor your investigation with those specific dates in mind and quickly pinpoint key risks.

Example of an Alert summary:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

• You must have a Copilot for Security license configured for your tenant and proper permissions given to users who will leverage the alert summary feature. Permissions to access Copilot for Security:
• You can access the Insider Risk Management solution in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
• You have one of the Copilot for Security access permissions.

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management correlates various signals to identify potential malicious or inadvertent insider risks, such as IP theft, data leakage and security violations. Insider Risk Management enables customers to create policies based on their own internal policies, governance and organizational requirements. Built with privacy by design, users are pseudonymized by default, and role-based access controls and audit logs are in place to help ensure user-level privacy.

Coming soon: Microsoft Purview capabilities in Microsoft Copilot for Security will enhance the efficiency of security incident investigations, significantly cutting down on the time required and revealing key insights that might otherwise go unnoticed.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 389143.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability Worldwide: We will begin rolling out early April 2024 and expect to complete by late April 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

With Microsoft Purview capabilities in Copilot for Security, your security teams gain unprecedented visibility across the security data. The user insights from Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management allow your security team with Insider Risk Management role permissions to quickly gain context on the risk associated with users involved in a security incident. Example:

• You can ask about the risk associated with a user involved in an incident.
• You can request a summary of an alert from Copilot to help you determine a course of action.
• You can access details about the user’s activities, including their operations and actions over a specific time frame, identifying instances of data leakage or exfiltration, analyzing sequential activities performed by the user, and detecting any signs of anomalous or unusual behavior.

Learn more:Microsoft Purview prompts and promptbooks in Copilot for Security.

Example showing the prompt and response from Copilot about the risk associated with a user:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To access Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management capabilities in Copilot for Security:

• You must comply with licensing requirements and permissions for Microsoft Copilot for Security. Learn more: Microsoft Security Copilot documentation | Microsoft Learn
• Your organization should be enrolled in Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management, and you need to have the Insider Risk Management role permissions to access the data.

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management correlates various signals to identify potential malicious or inadvertent insider risks, such as IP theft, data leakage, and security violations. Insider Risk Management enables customers to create policies based on their own internal policies, governance, and organizational requirements. Built with privacy by design, users are pseudonymized by default, and role-based access controls and audit logs are in place to help ensure user-level privacy.

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your admins about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

Learn more:

• Microsoft Copilot for Security is generally available on April 1, 2024 | Microsoft Security Blog
• Microsoft Purview prompts and promptbooks in Copilot for Security
• Microsoft Security Copilot documentation | Microsoft Learn

Coming soon: IT admins will be able to receive notifications from The Microsoft Edge management service (EMS) for extension installation requests. This opt-in feature will deliver notifications via email with the option for daily, weekly, or monthly delivery.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 382635.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We began rolling out late March 2024 and expect to complete by late March 2024.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-April 2024 and expect to complete by late April 2024.

This rollout is not tied to a specific Edge release version.

[How this will affect your organization:]

End users will not be affected by this update.

IT admins must opt in to receive the notification. If opted in, admins will receive email notifications when they have requests for extension installations.

Example notification email:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

For IT admins who do not want to opt in to receive these notifications, nothing is needed.

You may want to notify your admins about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

For IT admins wishing to opt-in to receive these notifications, the following steps need to be taken:

1. In EMS, go to a configuration profile.
2. On the Extensions tab, select Requests.
3. Select Manage request settings and set the value to Enabled.
4. Check the box for Notify me about incoming requests by email.
5. Enter the email address where you would like to receive the notifications.
6. Set the frequency for the email notifications (daily, weekly, or monthly).
7. Select Save.

Learn more: Microsoft Edge management service | Microsoft Learn

In Microsoft Teams, we are delivering new enhancements to the presenter window that is shown while screensharing. 

The presenter window now shows up to four meeting participants (both video and audio), active speakers, raised hands and reactions, and a preview of shared content.

Meeting notifications are surfaced to the central area of the screen for easier awareness and consistent windowing behavior.

These enhancements improve awareness and visibility of what’s going on in your meeting and make it easier to engage with other attendees while screensharing. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 383653

[When this will happen:]

Preview: We will begin rolling out mid-May 2024 and expect to complete by late May 2024.

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD): We will begin rolling out late May 2024 and expect to complete by mid-June 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

When sharing the Microsoft Teams screen or content, the presenter will now be able to better keep track of the participants’ activity during a meeting by using an extended presenter window.

Presenter Gallery

[What you need to do to prepare:]

No action is needed to prepare for this change. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

Microsoft Intune is introducing news ways to help protect organizations, drive productivity and simplify IT and Security operations with Microsoft Copilot.

Copilot in Intune, an embedded experience in Intune admin center, is available in public preview as of April 1, 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Microsoft Copilot in Intune provides AI powered insights to resolve end user issues faster and ensure policies and settings are configured to optimize business outcomes. Currently, Copilot in Intune can help you with the following scenarios:

• Policy and setting management 
• Device details and troubleshooting

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Copilot in Intune is powered by Microsoft Copilot for Security. To learn how to access Copilot capabilities in Microsoft Intune:

• Learn more about Microsoft Copilot for Security
• Get started with Copilot for Security
• Learn about Copilot in Intune

Note: If you are an Early Access customer for Copilot for Security, your program license will continue through the six-month duration from when you started. Your tenant admin has the option to migrate to the generally available product experience or remain on the early access product experience.

At the end of your six-month Early Access license, your Copilot for Security license will expire, and you will need to purchase Security Compute Units (SCUs) to continue using Copilot for Security.

• Read the official announcement and examples at Windows known issues and product lifecycle in Graph API. 
• Join us for a webinar on April 23, 2024. 
• Visit the official documentation to learn more about Windows updates API.