Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter en blogs updates van 28-12-2024

Updated December 27, 2024: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience.

A modernized new user experience (UX) for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery will be available in the Purview portal. In this new UX experience, Content Search, eDiscovery Standard, and eDiscovery Premium are unified so that users can now navigate a shared workflow that simplifies the transition between non-premium and premium features. This UX modernization also introduces features that enhance the eDiscovery process. Some of these new features include:

• This new experience enhances Content Search security by placing all searches in an eDiscovery case. eDiscovery administrators and managers will have default access, with the ability to manage membership and control access to content searches. Users who are not eDiscovery administrators or managers will need to request to be added as case member in order to access content search. 
• Enhanced search efficiency with message ID and sensitivity labels for faster access to information.
• Use of the improved search by Sensitive Information Type (SIT) interface for user-friendly selection without manual input.
• Advanced Data Source Mapping allows linking a user’s OneDrive using input such as the user’s mailbox Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) address or user’s name, streamlining data retrieval and management.
• Acceleration through powerful investigation capabilities, such as user’s frequent collaborators, providing a comprehensive view of the user’s networks.
• Data Source Sync: Stay updated with the new Data Source synchronization feature, which allows users to easily track any new or removed data locations, ensuring that eDiscovery investigations remain aligned with the latest data source landscape.
• Introduction of the new visual Statistics allows users to gain insights at a glance (such as Results containing Sensitive Information Types, top communication participants, etc.)  
• Monitor long-running processes with an informed and transparent progress bar with the option to cancel (for certain process types) if needed.
• Obtain a full process report for all actions taken, such as statistics for holds and exports, bolstering the defensibility of your eDiscovery efforts.
• Customize your exports with new settings, including the option to export as a single PST file path truncation and the use of friendly names to make exported data more accessible.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 383744

[When this will happen:]

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

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-February 2025 (previously mid-December) and expect to complete by early March 2025 (previously early January).

[How this will affect your organization:]

The unification of Content Search, eDiscovery Standard, and eDiscovery Premium into a single eDiscovery solution in the new Microsoft Purview portal will necessitate updates to your organization’s training materials and documentation.

Content Search, eDiscovery Standard, and eDiscovery Premium as separate solutions in the compliance portal (left) vs unified eDiscovery experience in the new Purview portal (right)

The deprecation timeline for the classic eDiscovery experience will be announced when the new modernized experience becomes generally available (GA). We will ensure that customers have ample time to transition to the new modernized experience before retiring the classic version.  

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Update internal documentation and provide training to all eDiscovery users in your organization.

Learn more about the new Purview Portal.

Learn more about the modernized eDiscovery (preview) experience: Learn about eDiscovery (preview) solutions | Microsoft Learn 

Updated December 6, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Note: If you are not using frontline worker functionality, you can ignore this message.

Coming soon in the Microsoft Teams admin center: Admins will be able to deploy location-based frontline teams where team membership is automatically managed, and team owners can also add frontline workers or remove them from teams. This rollout will allow admins to take advantage of dynamic rules to keep teams updated as members join and leave the organization and also give team owners the autonomy to manage membership at the team level.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 410774.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, admins are able to:

• Create location-based dynamic frontline teams where team membership is strictly managed with dynamic rules.
• Identify frontliner workers in their organization with a Microsoft Entra attribute and value pairings in the Deploy Teams at Scale tool.
• Assign a single team owner for all frontline teams.

After this rollout, admins will be able to:

• Create location-based frontline teams where team membership is automatically managed with dynamic rules, while respecting manual changes made by team owners.
• Identify frontline workers in their organization with dynamic groups in the Deploy Teams at Scale tool.
• Assign multiple individuals in the organization as team owners of frontline teams.

After this rollout, team owners will be able to:

• Add or remove frontline workers at their frontline locations if they are assigned team owner of their team.

This feature is on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Review the documentation:

• How to find the best frontline team solution for your organization – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn
• Deploy frontline dynamic teams at scale – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Teams frontline usage report – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn

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.

Updated December 27, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon: We are pleased to inform you that Microsoft 365 Copilot will have access to question posts in Microsoft Viva Engage public communities, including Answers, to assist in delivering pertinent responses to users’ inquiries. This message applies to Copilot on the web and Copilot on iOS/Android. A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use this feature.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 408166.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-January 2025 (previously mid-December) and expect to complete by late February 2025 (previously late January).

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, users can ask Copilot questions about Viva Engage content and Copilot will respond. The Engage content that Copilot can reference is limited to Question posts from public communities, Answers, and Storylines.

In early 2025, we will gradually expand the Engage content sources to include Discussion posts from public communities and Storylines, followed by private communities.

This change will be available by default.

Viva Engage content in M365 Copilot:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Updated December 27, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

The AI and Copilot Resources Provider that powers the out-of-box (OOB) Microsoft Copilot Academy will be visible by default to users who have Copilot licenses. Admins will be able to enable, disable, and apply permissions to the content of this provider.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 412064.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late December 2024 and expect to complete by early January 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

If a tenant has at least one Copilot license, Knowledge admins or Knowledge managers will be able to view AI and Copilot Resources Provider by default under Admin > Manage providers tab. They can delete and reconfigure as needed.

They can also apply permissions to the content of this provider through Admin >Manage permissions > Provider tab. 

• By default, providers content is visible to Copilot licensed users.
• On applying permissions, the content becomes visible to the selected group.
• On removing permissions, the content returns to the default behavior.

Users with Copilot licenses will also be able to search for AI and Copilot Resources content:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: Users can find and add Microsoft 365 Copilot agents to group chats and use the agents to help increase productivity in collaborative scenarios. Users do not require a Copilot license to use this feature. This message applies to Teams on Windows desktop, Mac desktop, and on the web.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 464988.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-February 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, your users can use agents to ask questions about and summarize information in their group conversations. To access the Copilot agents, users can go to the updated group chat participants roster and select Add agents or bots:

The Add agents or bots option opens a contextual view of agents that users can add to the group chat. This view first displays previously installed agents that can be used in the group chat, followed by new agents that can be installed and used in the group chat. For additional agent offerings, users can select Get more apps in the bottom right:

This change will be on by default. If you prefer to disable Copilot for your tenant, review these instructions in Manage Copilot | Microsoft Learn.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanning enables Microsoft Purview | Information Protection to scan images for sensitive information. With this rollout, we will enhance the OCR capabilities to scan for sensitive content in images embedded in other files (such as a .png image file in a Microsoft Word .docx file) with a limit of 20 embedded images scanned per file for Microsoft Exchange Online. Before this rollout, OCR was able to scan standalone images only.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 323899.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by late January 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Optical character recognition (OCR) supports images embedded in Microsoft Office files or archive files in Exchange Online.

Images can be embedded in these Microsoft Office applications:

• Microsoft Word (.docx)
• Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx)
• Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)

Images can be embedded in .pdfs containing searchable text and images.

Images can be embedded in these container files and archive files:

• .rar
• .tar
• .xip
• .7z

After the policy matches, you will see the matches in Alerts, Activity explorer, email incident reports, and content explorer, just as you would for any other matched file.

This change will be available by default for admins to configure. There are no expected changes to the user experience.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. For existing customers using OCR for Exchange workload, by default embedded files will also be scanned by OCR and customers will be billed accordingly per usage. New customers not using OCR can turn on OCR to start using OCR for standalone and embedded file types in Exchange.

Standalone images supported by OCR:

• .jpg
• .png
• .bmp
• .tiff
• .pdf (images only)

Learn more: Learn about optical character recognition in Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)

Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: Meeting participants will be able to share a link to the Meeting recap from the meeting thumbnail in chat and the Recap tab, making it easier to reference and share Meeting recap insights with others. Meeting participants can share the meeting recap link with anyone in their organization. Users who don’t have access to the recording or transcript must request access before they can access the Meeting recap.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 471430.

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop and Teams for Mac desktop.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete by early February 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.

General Availability (GCC High): We will begin rolling out late March 2025 and expect to complete late March 2025.

Sharing a Meeting recap link from the meeting thumbnail:

Sharing a Meeting recap link from the Recap tab:

Shared Meeting recap link in chat:

[How this will affect your organization:]

This change will be available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Learn more: Meeting recap in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout)

We’re updating Microsoft Secure Score improvement actions of Microsoft Defender for Identity to ensure a more accurate representation of security posture. With this rollout, we are adding two new Microsoft Defender for Identity posture recommendations regarding Entra Connect accounts that will be added as Microsoft Secure Score improvement actions:

• Remove unsafe permissions on Microsoft Entra Connect accounts
• Replace Enterprise or Domain Admin Account for AD DS (Active Directory Domain services) Connector account

Your score will be updated accordingly.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by late January 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.

Note: To provide the recommendation as quickly as possible, we will introduce it to your environment at the earliest opportunity, rather than on the regular monthly schedule.

[How this will affect your organization:]

These new security posture reports are related to Entra Connect server and will be available only if your tenant has a Defender for Identify sensor installed on the Entra Connect server. This update is available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before or after the rollout. Your score will be updated accordingly.

Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your admins about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Microsoft recommends reviewing the improvement actions listed in Microsoft Secure Score. We will continue to add suggested security improvement actions on an ongoing basis.

Coming soon to new Microsoft Outlook for Windows: Users will be able users will be able to move, copy, delete, flag/unflag, mark as read/unread, and set categories for email in an Outlook Data File (.pst or Personal Storage Table file). Also, users will be able to create, delete, move, and rename folders in .pst files. Future releases of new Outlook will expand the support for .pst file capabilities.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 473995.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early March 2025 and expect to complete by late March 2025.

General Availability (GCC): We will begin rolling out late March 2025 and expect to complete by late April 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Outlook Data File (.pst) support will be enabled by default in new Outlook for Windows. If you want to block or limit Outlook Data File support, set the OutlookDataFile mailbox policy. Learn more: Set-OwaMailboxPolicy (ExchangePowerShell) | Microsoft Learn

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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.

Before rollout, we will update this post with revised documentation.

#newoutlookforwindows

Coming soon to new Microsoft Outlook for Windows: Users will be able move (drag and drop) emails from an Outlook Data File (.pst or Personal Storage Table file) to a mailbox and vice versa. Future releases of new Outlook for Windows will expand the support for .pst file capabilities.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 473993.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early March 2025 and expect to complete by late March 2025.

General Availability (GCC): We will begin rolling out late March 2025 and expect to complete by late April 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Outlook Data File (.pst) support will be enabled by default in new Outlook for Windows. If you organization wants to block or limit Outlook Data File support, set the OutlookDataFile mailbox policy. Learn more: Set-OwaMailboxPolicy (ExchangePowerShell) | Microsoft Learn

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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.

Before rollout, we will update this post with revised documentation.

#newoutlookforwindows

Starting in mid-January 2025, Microsoft Copilot in Edge will introduce support for page summarization and contextual queries to the Work tab for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat. With this feature, users can ask Copilot contextual queries such as “summarize this page.” This feature will also include contextual prompt suggestions to help users ask relevant questions about open pages in Edge. Page summarization and contextual prompt suggestions will be accessible for users when using Copilot through the Edge side pane.

A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use this feature.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 468884.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by late January 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, Copilot may have access to a user’s page context when a user sends contextual prompts to Copilot in Edge in the side pane when a webpage or PDF is open.

The page summarization feature will be available by default when it rolls out in late-January. It can also be configured by admins.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

The existing EdgeEntraCopilotPageContext policy is available now for you to manage whether your users have access to page context while using Copilot in Edge across Copilot Business Chat and Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection. Before this rollout, the policy only applied to the Web tab of Business Chat and to Copilot with enterprise data protection. After this rollout, the EdgeEntraCopilotPageContext policy will include the Work tab of Business Chat. If the policy is not configured, users can enable or disable Copilot’s access to page context in their Copilot settings.

If you prefer to disable Copilot Chat for your tenant, review these instructions in Manage Copilot | Microsoft Learn.

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date. Review your current configuration to determine the impact on your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Learn more

• The section called What’s the difference between Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot? in Overview of Copilot | Microsoft Learn
• Enterprise data protection in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft Learn

Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: Users will be able to set their preference for how their cloud-hosted Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint files should open when they select links for these files from Teams. The new setting (open in a browser, desktop app, or directly in Teams) will extend to links selected in other Microsoft365 apps, starting with classic Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, for greater consistency across apps.

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 471000.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out late February 2025 and expect to complete by early March 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early March 2025 and expect to complete by mid-March 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, user can set the file open preference in Teams by following instructions in Open file links directly in Microsoft 365 desktop apps from Teams and classic Outlook – Microsoft Support. Users will be still able to set separate file open preferences for Teams only.

File open preference will apply to Word, Excel and PowerPoint links selected from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams for Windows desktop, and classic Outlook.

This change will be available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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