Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 20-09-2025

Updated September 19, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: A new setting that allows users to view incoming calls in a small window in Teams to prevent disruptions. Users will be able to take a call in the small window and continue to see what they were working on before the call.

This message applies to Teams on Windows desktop, Teams on Mac desktop, Teams for the web, and Teams for iOS/Android.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 482747.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

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

General Availability: (GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out early June 2025 and expect to complete by early October 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Teams users are disrupted by the larger Teams screen when viewing an incoming call.

After this rollout: Teams users can turn on this setting to view calls in a small window. Note that both large and small windows are resizable:

This feature will be on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Updated September 19, 2025: We have updated the content with additional information OR resources.

Before this rollout, organizers are unable to capture real-time feedback using polls in Microsoft Teams town halls.

After this rollout, organizers with the Teams Premium license will be able to create and share polls in Teams town halls using the Polls app, gathering real-time feedback from participants through multiple-choice questions and other types of polls.

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

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 489808.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out late September 2025 (previously early September) and expect to complete by early October 2025 (previously mid-September).

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, organizers with a Teams Premium license can use the Polls app to gather feedback from attendees in their town halls.

NOTE: The Word cloud option in the Polls app is not available as a poll type. Organizers cannot send polls after the town hall has ended.

This change will be available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

If desired, you can disable the Polls app feature from town halls using this Microsoft PowerShell command:

Set-CsTeamsEventsPolicy -Identity Global -BroadcastPremiumApps Disabled

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

Updated September 19, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon: Videos embedded using the Stream webpart in Microsoft Viva Amplify publications and Microsoft SharePoint News pages will play inline in emails in new Microsoft Outlook for Windows desktop and Microsoft Outlook for the web. Users will be able to watch videos in Outlook without leaving Outlook to watch videos that open in a web browser.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out early July 2025 and expect to complete by late November 2025 (previously early September).

[How this will affect your organization:]

This feature will be on by default.

Learn more about admin controls for this feature in the Limiting who can use the feature section of Embed and play back videos in Outlook and Loop | Microsoft Learn

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Learn more

• Embed and play back videos in Outlook and Loop | Microsoft Learn
• How to insert Stream videos in Loop and Outlook – Microsoft Support

#newoutlookforwindows

Introduction

Microsoft 365 Copilot in PowerPoint will soon support the use of your organization’s branded images when creating slides. By integrating enterprise assets stored in SharePoint Organization Asset Libraries (OAL) or Templafy (third-party solution), users can generate slides that use your brand images.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap IDs 496365, 496366, and 496367.

When this will happen

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

How this will affect your organization

After this rollout, brand managers and admins can connect enterprise image libraries from either SharePoint Organization Asset Libraries (OAL) or Templafy to Microsoft 365 Copilot in PowerPoint. Once connected, users will be able to generate slides using branded images from your organization’s asset library, helping ensure brand consistency.

This feature will be available by default for admins to configure. If no enterprise image library is connected, the option to use branded images will be disabled in the image source menu, and only Microsoft 365 images will be available.

Sharepoint OAL setup

To enable this feature with SharePoint OAL, admins must:

• Create an organization asset library in SharePoint for your company’s brand images.
• Run a Microsoft PowerShell command to connect the image library to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Ensure that images include robust metadata (keywords, titles, and alt-text) to support searchability.

Templafy setup

To enable this feature with Templafy, admins must:

• Have an active Templafy account configured with your company’s brand assets.
• Enable the Microsoft Graph Connector in your Templafy account settings to establish the Copilot connection.
• Ensure that images include robust metadata (keywords, titles, and alt-text) to support searchability.

Once setup is complete, users can select the New Slide Copilot icon in the PowerPoint ribbon, enter a prompt, and choose their preferred image source—either Microsoft 365 images or their organization’s branded image library—via the Image Source menu.

Admins can email [email protected] to request connection of their enterprise assets to Copilot in PowerPoint.

Note: We recommend enabling this feature only if your image library contains more than 1,000 images with robust metadata.

After setup, the option to select branded images from your organization’s library will be enabled when generating slides with Copilot in PowerPoint: 

Copilot in PowerPoint allows users to enter a prompt and choose image sources, including your organization’s branded image library, if connected.: 

What you can do to prepare:

Admins should:

• Notify brand managers of this new capability.
• Decide if you’d like to connect SharePoint OAL or Templafy to Copilot. Email [email protected] to connect enterprise assets.
• If enabled, inform employees that Copilot in PowerPoint can now use organizational images when generating slides.

Learn more: Keep your presentation on-brand with Copilot | Copilot in PowerPoint

Compliance considerations:

Does the change alter how existing customer data is processed, stored, or accessed? – Maybe. If the image libraries contain sensitive or regulated content, enabling Copilot to access and use them could change how that data is accessed and surfaced.

Does the change introduce or significantly modify AI/ML or agent capabilities that interact with or provide access to customer data? – Yes. This feature expands Copilot’s generative AI capabilities by integrating branded image libraries into slide generation.

Does the change provide users any new way of interacting with generative AI? – Yes. Users will be able to generate slides with Copilot that automatically incorporate organizational images, which is a new interaction model.

• Copilot Studio sends published custom copilot agent data and aggregated metrics on a daily basis to M365.
• Viva Insights uses this data to generate an aggregated tenant level report.
• The report includes aggregated copilot agents’ usage data, business impact and ROI analysis.
• Analysts can drill down to specific agents to view detailed usage and ROI information such as estimated hours saved, revenue increase, cost reduction, etc.

Updated September 19, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Introduction

Users can now listen to podcast-style audio overviews of PDFs, Word documents, and Notebooks—making it easier to consume content on the go. These overviews feature two-host narration and can be customized on the Create experience, including options for length, speaker voices, and more.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in late September 2025 (previously mid-September) and is expected to complete by mid-October 2025 (previously late September).

How this affects your organization

This feature enhances document accessibility and flexibility for users who prefer audio content. Only users with a Copilot license will be able to generate audio overviews. 

This feature is on by default and does not require admin configuration.

What you can do to prepare

No action is required at this time. You may wish to inform users with Copilot licenses about this new capability and encourage adoption for productivity and accessibility benefits.

Compliance considerations

No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.

Updated September 19, 2025: We have updated the content with additional information OR resources.

This feature is designed to support specialized roles—such as legal, investigative, or moderation teams—where exposure to sensitive content may be necessary. It enables these users to reason over sensitive content using Copilot Chat while maintaining organizational safeguards.

This feature requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 499809.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in late September 2025 (previously early September) and is expected to complete by late September 2025 (previously early September).

How this affects your organization

This update allows organizations to assign a new policy that enables specific users—such as those in legal or compliance roles—to interact with sensitive content in Copilot Chat. By default, this feature is turned off and will not affect users unless the policy is explicitly assigned.

Admins will see a new policy setting in the Microsoft 365 admin center (shown below), which enables assignment of harmful content access in Copilot Chat.

Admin UX for assigning harmful content access policy in Microsoft 365 Copilot:

For users who are assigned the policy:

• A new option will be available in Copilot Chat that allows them to disable harmful content protection for a specific conversation.
• The default setting is RAI-protected, and users must explicitly turn off protection per conversation.

What you can do to prepare

No action is required unless your organization wants to enable this capability for specific users. Admins can assign the policy to appropriate users based on role requirements. For more information, refer to the Microsoft 365 Copilot documentation (link to be added when available).

Compliance considerations

No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.

Updated September 18, 2025: We have updated the timing and content below with additional information. Thank you for your patience.

In response to customer feedback, we are introducing enhanced flexibility, greater scalability, and streamlined compliance management for private channels in Microsoft Teams.

Note: It is important for compliance managers to review and take appropriate action before migration starts for these changes to private channels.

[What’s changing?]

Private channels will transition use a channel mailbox instead of individual user mailboxes.

Organizations with compliance policies (retention, legal hold, data loss prevention, or eDiscovery) for private channels must review these policies and must apply policies to the Microsoft 365 group for the channel’s team before migration begins to ensure continuity of the policy for a private channel. Existing policies will continue to apply to user mailboxes; post-migration, new data will be governed by policies on the group. Note that policies applied to the team’s group can apply to all channels in the team.

After the transition to updated private channels in your organization, private channels will be updated as follows.

1. Private channels are no longer limited to 30 per team. Instead, private channels can be added up to the limit of 1000 total channels per team.
2. Private channels can now have up to 5000 members, instead of 250.
3. Meetings can now be scheduled in private channels.
4. Compliance policies for private channels are part of the team’s group policies instead of the individual user level.

The migration of private channels to the updated capabilities will begin in early October 2025 and continue through December 2025. During this period, private channels will continue to operate normally. Admins and compliance managers should complete any required policy changes by September 20, 2025, before the migration begins. Migration can start or end at different times for each tenant during the rollout period. To track progress, a new PowerShell command will be available for tenants to check whether their migration has started or is completed. This post will be updated soon with details on the PowerShell command.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early October 2025 (prevously late September) and expect to complete by mid-December 2025.

[Action required by compliance managers and admins]

1. Purview eDiscovery and Legal Hold

With this change, private channel data will move from user mailboxes to the group mailbox, aligning with how shared channels data is stored. Previously, legal holds were applied to user mailboxes since private channel data resided in each member’s mailbox. Post-migration, the latest version of private channel message data from each user’s mailbox is moved to the private channel’s group mailbox. Message edits and deleted messages will not be copied into the group mailbox.

Note: For users on hold, copies of message edits and deleted messages will remain in the user’s preserved library folder until the hold expires, while the latest version of private channel message data from each user’s mailbox is copied to the private channel’s group mailbox.

Before migration

If a legal hold exists for a private channel, admins must also apply the policy to the team’s group, in addition to the policy already applied to users’ mailboxes, in order for a hold to apply to new data generated and stored in the private channel’s mailbox. Note that policies applied to the team’s group can apply to all channels in the team.



Screenshot 1: Setting up a new hold in Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

After migration

For existing holds admins will need to ensure that the hold is applied to the user mailbox as well as the new group mailbox, in order for a hold to apply to existing and new message data. Any new legal holds will need to be applied to the group.

For complete eDiscovery, include both the private channel’s users’ mailboxes and the team’s group mailbox to retrieve pre-migration messages, message history, and post-migration new content.



Screenshot 2: Configuring an eDiscovery search in Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

2. Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

With this change, private channel messages will be included as a part of the DLP policy scoped to the private channel’s team’s group, as opposed to the user mailbox.

Before migration

Admins must modify the “Teams chat and channel messages” policy for private channels to add the team’s group containing the private channel, in addition to the user mailbox, in order to include new private channel messages in a policy. Note that policies applied to the team’s group can apply to all channels in the team.

After migration

Ensure that “Teams chat and channel messages” policy for private channels is scoped to the team’s group containing the private channel.



Screenshot 3: Configuring a data loss prevention policy in Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

3. Purview Retention Policy

After this change, creation of new private channel-specific policies will not be possible in the Purview portal. Instead, “Teams channel messages” policies applied to the team’s group will now include private channels. Existing private channel policies will remain in effect and preserve all held message data in user mailboxes. Editing of existing policies will not be supported but policies can be removed.

Before migration

Apply current private channel retention policies (previously on user mailboxes) to Teams channel messages to include the team’s group, in order to include new private channel messages in a policy. In Microsoft Purview compliance portal, go to solutions > Data Lifecycle Management > Retention policies. Note that policies applied to the team’s group can apply to all channels in the team.

After migration

If the parent team’s group retention policy differs from the private channel’s policy, create a new or equivalent policy to ensure consistent retention.



Screenshot 4: Configuring “Teams channel messages” for a retention policy in Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

4. Microsoft policies for Optical Character Recognition



Optical character recognition (OCR) is managed via Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy. Before migration, modify the corresponding DLP policy that needs be applied for OCR to private channels and change locations to all users and groups.

Frequently asked questions

1. How can admins identify a user’s private channel memberships?
   • Use Teams Admin Center under team settings, or run PowerShell: Get-TeamChannelUser to list members.
2. When is compliance manager action required?
   • If a policy (legal hold, eDiscovery, retention, DLP) applied to a user’s mailbox, in order to include private channel messages, differs from the team policies for the team hosting the private channel. Policies must be applied to the team’s group in order to include new private channel messages in a policy. Note that policies applied to the team’s group can apply to all channels in the team.
   • During eDiscovery for users on hold or during migration, search both user mailbox and group mailbox for complete data on a private channel.
3. What if no action is taken?
   • User-level policies will not apply to a private channel’s new message data. Team-level policies will apply to private channels.
4. Why isn’t Microsoft automatically applying policies from user mailboxes to a private channel’s team?
   • Tenant admins and compliance managers must assess and apply policies as needed. Group policies apply to all channels in the Team. Some user mailbox policies are intended for all of a user’s messages, and some are intended for private channel messages. Each organization must review and decide on policies.
5. Is there any impact to end users?
   • During migration, users may see duplicate search results in Teams searches—both links will navigate to the same content in Microsoft Teams.
6. When will migration happen for my tenant and how long will it take?
   • Migration can start or end at different times for each tenant during the rollout period and can take some weeks depending of the tenant. To track progress, a new PowerShell command will be available for tenants to check whether their migration has started or is completed. The command will be:

     Get-TenantPrivateChannelMigrationStatus -TenantId

Please refer to this blog post for more information: New enhancements in Private Channels in Microsoft Teams unlock their full potential 

We appreciate your attention to this important update.

Updated September 19, 2025: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience.

Introduction

We are introducing a new capability in Microsoft Teams external collaboration that allows Teams administrators to specify which users or groups within the organization can interact with specific external domains. This enhancement provides more granular control over external collaboration, enabling scenarios such as piloting with select departments, restricting high-risk roles, or enabling broader federation where appropriate.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 501275.

When this will happen

Targeted Release: Begins early September 2025 and completes by mid-September 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): Begins late October 2025 and completes by mid-December 2025.

How this affects your organization

Previously, external access settings could only be configured at the tenant level, with policy-level settings limited to either inheriting tenant settings or blocking all external domains. With this update, you can assign custom external access policies to users or groups with five configuration options:

• Use organization settings: Inherits the tenant’s default external access configuration
• Allow all external domains: All external organizations are trusted
• Allow only specific external domains: Only domains in the allow list are trusted
• Block only specific external domains: Domains in the block list are restricted; all others are trusted
• Block all: All external domains are blocked for users assigned to this policy

Users assigned a custom policy may interact with different external domains than those defined in the organization-wide settings.

What you can do to prepare

Administrators should begin identifying users and groups that require differentiated external access and plan pilot scenarios accordingly.

During the public preview, configuration must be done via PowerShell using the following cmdlets:

• Set-CsExternalAccessPolicy
• Set-CsTenantFederationConfiguration

Note: Changes made through these cmdlets will not be reflected in the Teams admin center UI during the Targeted Release.

Once the feature reaches general availability, the Teams admin center UI will support these configurations, allowing policy management via both PowerShell and the UI.

Learn more:

IT Admins – Manage external meetings and chat with people and organizations using Microsoft identities – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn  

Compliance considerations