Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 06-11-2025

Updated November 5, 2025: We have updated the timeline for Preview. Thank you for your patience.

In November 2025, we will expand the passkey (FIDO2) authentication methods policy in Microsoft Entra ID to support passkey profiles in public preview. This update will enable granular, group-based control over passkey configurations and introduce new API schema changes.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early November 2025 and expect to complete by late November 2025 (previously early December).

Public Preview (GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-November 2025 and expect to complete by mid-December 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, you’ll be able to apply different passkey configurations per user group. For example, you will be able to:

• Allow the use of specific FIDO2 security key models for user group A
• Allow the use of passkeys in Microsoft Authenticator for user group B

Important: If your organization opts-in to the new admin UX and modifies the Default passkey profile, the new schema will take effect. If you continue using Graph API or third-party tools to modify the policy, the schema will not change until General Availability.

These new settings will be available at Microsoft 365 admin center > Home > Security > Authentication methods > Passkey (FIDO2) settings:

As part of this update in November 2025, if Enforce attestation is disabled, we will start accepting security key or passkey providers using the following attestation statements:

• “none” 
• “tpm” 
• “packed” (AttCA type only) 
• Custom attestation formats ≤ 32 characters 

This will allow a wider range of security keys and passkey providers to be accepted for registration and authentication in Microsoft Entra ID. To compare this upcoming update with the current behavior, refer to Microsoft Entra ID attestation for FIDO2 security key vendors

[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 review your current passkey configuration, notify your admins about this change, and update internal documentation.

Learn more about passkeys in Microsoft Entra ID: Enable passkeys for your organization – Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)

Updated November 5, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

We’re introducing an improvement to configuration profiles in the Microsoft Teams admin center for Android devices. Admins will now have more granular control—only explicitly configured settings in a profile will be applied to devices, preventing unintended changes.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 313800.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

General Availability (DoD): We will begin rolling out early December 2025 (previously early September) and expect to complete by mid-December 2025 (previously mid-September).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, assigning a configuration profile applies all settings—including those left unconfigured—with default values. This sometimes causes unintended changes (such as language or time zone).

After this rollout:

• Only settings explicitly configured in the profile will be applied.
• Settings left as Not configured will remain unchanged on the device.
• This change simplifies bulk management and reduces the risk of overwriting regional or OEM-specific defaults.

The new configuration profile experience will be available by default for admins to configure, as follows:

Create a configuration profile

1. Go to Teams Devices > [device type] > Configuration profiles and select Add.

2. By default, all settings will display as Not configured.

3. Enter a name for the profile and optionally add a friendly description.

4. Configure the settings you want for the profile and select Review changes.

5. In the Review configured settings pop-up, compare and confirm before saving. Select Save.

Assign a configuration profile

1. Go to Teams Devices > [device type]

2. Select one or more devices, and then select Assign configuration.

3. If any selected devices are from OEMs that don’t yet support this feature, you will see a warning in the Assign a configuration pane:

Note:Many OEMs have already implemented support for this feature. We are working with the remaining OEMs to enable it over the next few months. We will publish full OEM support details in the public documentation after the release begins.

4. In the Assign a configuration pane, search for the configuration profile to assign to the selected devices. Select Apply.

Edit a configuration profile

1. Go to Teams Devices > [device type] > Configuration profiles.
2. Select the configuration profile you want to edit.
3. Configure the desired settings and select Review changes.
4. Review and confirm the settings in the pop-up, then select Save.
5. If the profile was already assigned to devices, changes will be applied automatically. If the profile was not already assigned, assign the updated profile to devices as needed.

Reassign a configuration profile

To reassign a configuration profile to the existing assigned devices, without making any changes to settings

1. Go to Teams Devices > [device type] > Configuration profiles.
2. Select the configuration profile you want to reassign.
3. At the bottom of the configuration profile, a Reassign button will appear if the profile was assigned to a device
4. Select Reassign, review the configured settings, and then select Save.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Learn more: The Use configuration profiles section in Manage devices in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)

Updated November 5, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

 What and Why

We’re introducing a new capability that allows users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license to scope and control Copilot Chat responses by selecting specific content sources. This enhancement is designed to improve the relevance and accuracy of Copilot responses by limiting them to user-selected sources, aligning with customer feedback for more transparent and customizable AI interactions.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 496596

Rollout Schedule

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

Impact on Your Organization

• Who is affected:
  • Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
• What will happen:
  • Users will see a new option to select content sources when using Copilot Chat.
  • Copilot responses will be scoped only to the selected sources, improving control and precision.
  • This feature will follow a standard rollout and is enabled by default.
  • There is no impact to admin settings or policies.
  • No changes to existing Copilot behavior unless users actively select sources.

Action Required/Recommendations

• No admin action is required.
• This feature does not impact admin controls or require configuration.
• We recommend:
  • Informing helpdesk staff of this new user-facing capability.
  • Updating internal documentation if you provide guidance on Copilot usage.

Compliance Considerations

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

Updated November 5, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

We’re enhancing the Copilot Studio agents report to provide more actionable insights with weekly data aggregation and active user counts per agent. These updates will help organizations monitor agent performance more frequently and make faster decisions.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 499421

When this will happen

• Public Preview (Worldwide): Begins rolling out in late August 2025 and expected to complete by early November 2025 (previously early September).
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will start in November 2025 and is expected to be complete by end of November 2025.

How this affects your organization

• Existing reports (one-off or recurring) will continue to use monthly aggregation.
• All 1-click and precomputed Copilot Studio agents reports will automatically refresh to a weekly cadence.
• Weekly aggregation enables earlier access to insights. For example, previously a customer with agent usage starting June 6th would need to wait until August to run the report. With weekly aggregation, they can run it by July 12th.
• Reports will now include active user count per agent, helping analysts and leaders better understand agent engagement.
• Users with Insights Analyst or Leader roles can access the report at: https://analysis.insights.cloud.microsoft/Reports

What you can do to prepare

• Review the impact of these changes with your organization and works council if applicable.
• Update training materials and documentation to reflect the new weekly cadence and active user metrics.
• No action is required from Microsoft Viva Insights or Power Platform admins unless specific configuration changes are needed.

Learn more 

• Learn more about the Microsoft Copilot studio custom agents report Power BI report: Copilot Studio agents report | Microsoft Learn 
• Learn how to generate Power BI report templates: Introduction to Power BI templates in Microsoft Viva Insights | Microsoft Learn
• Learn more about Advanced insights app : Introduction to advanced insights | Microsoft Learn 
• Learn more about Microsoft copilot dashboard –Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers | Microsoft Learn 
• Learn more about Microsoft Copilot Studio and way to create an agent:- Overview – Microsoft Copilot Studio | Microsoft Learn 
• Learn more about Microsoft Power Platform admin center (PPAC). PPAC Administrators can take certain actions to disable the connection between Microsoft Copilot Studio and Viva Insights Advanced Insights – Administer Microsoft Power Platform – Power Platform | Microsoft Learn 

Compliance considerations

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

Updated November 5, 2025: This post has been updated to remind customers that this feature is default-on for Copilot Dashboard users with full company-level data access. The export output remains de-identified, with each user represented by a hashed ID. Please review and take any actions as appropriate for your organization. Thank you for your patience.

This MC post is associated with Roadmap ID 500872.

[Introduction:]

To support deeper analysis of Copilot adoption, Microsoft is introducing a new export capability in the Copilot Dashboard. This feature allows dashboard users with company-level access to download de-identified Copilot usage metrics, aggregated by user and week, from the past six months. Organizations can use this data to track adoption trends, optimize licensing, and support AI transformation strategies.

This feature requires at least 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses and applies to the Viva Insights web app.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: Begins in late November 2025, completes by late December 2025.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Begins in early February 2026, completes by late February 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

Copilot Dashboard users with full company-level data access, including senior leaders (as identified in Entra ID), admin-assigned company-level users, delegates with company-level access, as well as global analysts and admins. 

Note: Group managers with data access limited to their own teams will not have access to this feature.

What will happen:

• Users will be able to export de-identified, row-level Copilot usage metrics from the dashboard.
• The dataset includes weekly, user-level metrics from the past six months.
• The export supports Copilot usage analysis across apps (such as Word, Excel, Teams), and includes two attributes: Organization, and Job function.
• Organizations can use the data to track usage patterns, generate insights to inform adoption strategies, optimize licensing, and measure ROI.
• The feature is enabled by default for eligible users.
• Admins can manage access via Viva Feature Access Management (VFAM) settings, under Module: Viva Insights; Feature: Copilot Metrics Export.
• No impact to user workflow unless accessed by eligible users.

Screenshot 1 – View of the new Microsoft Copilot dashboard: 

Screenshot 2 – Example of output: 

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review the assignment of the Copilot dashboard users with full company-wide data access and adjust VFAM policies as needed.
• Communicate the upcoming feature to eligible users so they know what to expect.
• No admin setup is required to start using the export.
• Admins can disable the feature at the tenant or group level at any time using VFAM settings.

Learn more: 

Microsoft Viva Feature access management | Microsoft Learn

Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated November 5, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Microsoft is introducing a refreshed user experience for SharePoint document libraries to improve usability and navigation. These updates are based on customer feedback and aim to streamline common actions, enhance visibility of filters and views, and improve folder navigation—all without disrupting existing customizations.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 500870.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release: Begins early November 2025 and completes by mid-December 2025 (previously late November).
• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD): Begins early January 2026 and completes by late January 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected:
  • All users of SharePoint document libraries across Microsoft 365 tenants.
  • Note: Some users may have access to this feature before other users within your organization.
• What will happen:
• Simplified command bar: The command bar has been reorganized for clarity and efficiency. The “New” and “Upload” actions are now combined into a single “Create or Upload” hero button, docked at the upper right.
• Improved breadcrumb navigation: The breadcrumb has been redesigned to make navigating between folders faster and more intuitive. Users can now:
  • See their current folder context clearly.
  • Jump back to any parent folder with a single click.
  • Use the dropdown next to the folder name in the breadcrumb to create folders or upload files directly into the current folder.
  • When at the root of a library, use the “Other Libraries” sub-menu to navigate between libraries in the same site.
• More visible custom views, view creation, and view saving: Custom views and view creation are now displayed more prominently inside pills directly under the breadcrumb. When sorts, filters, or groups are applied but not saved to the view, a visual indicator shows that others won’t see these changes until they’re saved.
• Filter pills: Filter pills provide a faster way to refine your view. Instead of opening the full filter pane, users can:
  • Apply file type filters directly from the pill bar at the top of the document library.
  • See all active filters as pills in this bar.
  • Use the clear button to remove all filters and return to the saved view.
• View options button: Common view customization options are now surfaced under a new “Options” button, including:
  • Layout options
  • Sort and group options
  • Field visibility and formatting
• Command bar custom formatter behavior: Any command configured with the following attributes will now appear in a distinguished area on the far right (or far left for right-to-left locales) of the command bar:
  • "primary": true
  • "position": 0
  Full details are documented here: View command bar formatting documentation
• No impact to other customizations: Other than the command bar custom formatter behavior described above, this change will not affect existing customizations made through SPFX, column formatting, or view formatting.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required to prepare for this change.
• If you use custom command bar formatters, review the updated placement behavior: View command bar formatting documentation.
• Before rollout, we will update this post with new documentation.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We’re updating the data retention policy for Viva Glint to improve consistency and transparency in how customer content is stored. This change aligns with our commitment to data governance and ensures that Viva Glint data remains available for reporting and analysis as long as the subscription is active or per the data retention policy configured for your tenant.

[When this will happen:]

The new data retention policy for Viva Glint is effective immediately.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: All Microsoft 365 tenants using Viva Glint who do not have any data retention policy currently configured for their Viva Glint data. No action is required from your organization at this time if you already have a data retention policy currently configured for your Viva Glint data. Your currently configured data retention policy remains unaffected. 
• What will happen: Viva Glint will retain Customer Data for the duration of the term of the services specified on the ordering document and in accordance with the Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA). Viva Glint Customer data is defined as the data that Customer uploads or otherwise provides to Microsoft in connection with its use of the Viva Glint service. This data is held indefinitely as long as the tenant maintains an active Viva Glint subscription or till the tenant chooses to delete their data. You can also request your Viva Glint data be retained for a limited time, with a service request. In order to get your data retention policy configured for your Viva Glint instance, please submit a support request.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required from your organization at this time if you already have a data retention policy currently configured for your Viva Glint data. Your currently configured data retention policy remains unaffected. 
• You may want to review your organization’s data retention policy for Viva Glint. In order to get your data retention policy configured for your Viva Glint instance, please submit a support request.
• This change does not alter user workflows or admin experiences.

Learn more: Data residency for Viva Glint

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction:]

We’re introducing a simplified external collaboration (EC) admin experience in Microsoft Teams to help administrators manage external collaboration settings more efficiently. This update introduces two predefined collaboration modes—Open and Controlled—as well as a Custom mode for organizations with unique requirements. The new experience provides a streamlined interface in the Teams admin center (TAC) for configuring external collaboration policies across chats, calls, meetings, Teams, and channels (including shared channels).

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: Rolling out mid-November 2025; expected completion by mid-November 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): Rolling out late January 2026; expected completion by early February 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Admins managing Microsoft Teams external collaboration settings.

What will happen:

• A new admin experience will be available in Teams admin center (TAC).
• Admins can choose from three collaboration modes:
• Open (Mode 1):
  • Enables chats, calls, and meetings with all external domains and Teams personal accounts using federation or external access.
  • Allows Teams and channels collaboration with Microsoft and non-Microsoft partners using B2B collaboration and B2B direct connect.
• Controlled (Mode 2):
  • Aligns with current defaults for enterprise and EDU tenants.
  • Enables chats, calls, and meetings with all external domains using federation or external access.
  • Blocks collaboration in shared channels.
• Custom:
  • Provides full control over each external collaboration setting.
  • Allows manual configuration of org-wide external collaboration policies across chats, calls, meetings, Teams, and channels (including shared channels).
  • Changes in Custom mode apply only to Global org-wide policies and settings; they do not affect custom policies.
• Existing settings will remain unchanged unless modified by the admin.

Screenshot 1 – A new external collab section and overview page that shows external collab settings at a glance:

Screenshot 2: Manage external collab settings using a guided simple UX:

[What you can do to prepare:]

No action is required at this time. Admins may choose to explore the new interface once available to review and adjust external collaboration settings. For more information, refer to the Teams admin center documentation once the update is live.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction:]

We are introducing inline file upload protection for Microsoft Edge for Business to help prevent data leakage when users upload files to consumer generative AI (GenAI) apps in the browser. This complements the existing text upload protections available today for unmanaged GenAI apps and can be layered with Endpoint DLP protections. With this update, admins can detect and enforce inline protections on file uploads in Edge for Business. Policies can target file-specific conditions such as file size, file type, and sensitive information types, enabling organizations to audit or block activities for users on Intune-managed Windows devices.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 518642.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: Begins mid-November 2025; expected to complete by early December 2025.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Begins early December 2025; expected to complete by late December 2025.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Admins managing Microsoft Purview DLP policies and Edge for Business on Intune-managed Windows devices.
• What will happen:
  • Admins can extend existing Purview collection and DLP policies to include file upload protection for unmanaged GenAI apps.
  • Inline protections are built directly into Edge for Business.
  • Automated behaviors will block use of unprotected browsers for users included in blocking policies.
  • Policies can be configured based on file size, type, and sensitivity.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required before rollout.
• Review your current collection and DLP policies.
• Update policies to include file upload conditions if needed.
• Inform your Security and Edge admins about this enhancement.

Learn more:

• Collection policy reference – Collection policies | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn
• Data Loss Prevention for Cloud Apps in Edge for Business | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn
• Data Loss Prevention policy reference | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn
• Help prevent sharing via Microsoft Edge for Business to unmanaged AI apps from managed devices | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction:]

To improve clarity and alignment with user expectations, Microsoft Teams is updating the sender email addresses used in notifications related to team and channel membership actions. These changes help ensure recipients can better identify the source of notifications and reduce confusion caused by generic sender addresses.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): The rollout began and was completed in early November 2025.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: All Microsoft 365 tenants using Microsoft Teams.
• What will happen:
  • The sender email for team membership additions will change from [email protected] to the email address of the team owner who added the member.
  • Private team join request notifications will now come from [email protected].
  • Rejection notifications for private team join requests will also use [email protected].
  • Shared channel membership notifications will now come from [email protected] instead of [email protected].

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required. This change will roll out automatically.
• Inform helpdesk staff of the updated sender addresses to avoid confusion or misclassification of emails.
• Update internal documentation if it references sender email addresses for Teams notifications.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction:]

Audio summaries help users absorb content quickly, but they’ve traditionally been passive, one-way experiences. Listeners can’t clarify, explore, or dive deeper without breaking flow — forcing them to pause, switch modes, and manually search for answers. Based on feedback for more dynamic and immersive audio experiences, Microsoft is introducing real-time voice interactions in Podcast. The new interactive podcast feature transforms this into a dynamic, conversational experience, where users can join the hosts’ discussion of their document, ask questions in real time, and uncover insights naturally — staying immersed while gaining understanding faster.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 523206.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in late November 2025 and is expected to complete by late December 2025.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Customers with Copilot licenses who generate audio overviews.
• What will happen:
  • Users will be able to join podcast conversations and ask questions in real time.
  • The feature enhances document-based podcasts with interactive voice capabilities.
  • The feature will be ON by default for eligible users.
  • No changes to existing admin policies are required.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff.
• Update internal documentation if you reference podcast or audio overview features.
• For more information, refer to upcoming documentation in the Microsoft Learn portal.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction:]

Read Aloud is evolving from a passive listening tool into an interactive experience. By integrating Copilot Q&A, users can now ask questions and refine their understanding of document content in real time—without interrupting their workflow. This enhancement supports accessibility, improves comprehension, and helps users stay focused while gaining insights faster.

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

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 523205.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in late November 2025 and is expected to complete by late December 2025.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: All users of Read Aloud in Microsoft 365. Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription will receive the enhanced experience.
• What will happen:
  • Users with Copilot will see a new interactive voice-driven Read Aloud experience.
  • The entry point remains the same as classic Read Aloud.
  • Users without Copilot will continue to use the classic Read Aloud functionality.
  • No changes to admin policies or configurations are required.
  • The feature is enabled by default for eligible users.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required.
• Notify your users about the upcoming change.
• Update internal documentation if you reference Read Aloud functionality.
• If you manage helpdesk communications, consider sharing a short blurb about the new experience.

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction]

As part of Microsoft 365’s broader security initiative to deprecate High Privilege Access (HPA), Viva Amplify is transitioning from App tokens to post-transformed user Protected Forwarded Tokens (PFT) for the Teams distribution channel. This change enhances security by reducing the risk of token misuse and unauthorized access, aligning with Microsoft’s commitment to a more secure publishing experience across services.

Understanding key terms:

• High privilege access (HPA) authentication grants first-party applications broad access to customer data in Microsoft 365. In some scenarios, HPA includes the ability to impersonate any user in Microsoft 365 and has proven susceptible to abuse and exploit. HPA deprecation is a Microsoft 365-wide security initiative to harden server-to-server (S2S) patterns such as app-only calls accessing customer content, and to move them to a constrained access model such as app+user. A call is considered HPA if it’s using app-only access to customer content that the caller does not own or manage.
• Protected forwarded token (PFT) is a convertible token representing the authenticated user context (user claims or assertions) which can be transformed one way. Its primary purpose is to allow mid-tier services to accept a pre-transformed PFT token and send it to other services without the risk of the service replaying the token back to them.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release: Rollout begins in early November 2025; expected to complete by mid-November 2025.
• General Availability: Rollout begins in mid-November 2025; expected to complete by late November 2025.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Organizations using Viva Amplify to publish content via the Teams distribution channel.
• What will happen:
  • Viva Amplify will stop using App-only tokens for Teams publishing.
  • The system will now use post-transformed user PFT tokens to authenticate publishing actions.
  • There is no change to the user experience in Teams.
  • No configuration changes are required for tenants.
  • Existing publishing workflows remain unaffected.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required.
• Review and update any internal documentation or help resources that reference Viva Amplify’s publishing authentication model.
• Communicate to helpdesk or support teams that no user-facing changes are expected.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We’re retiring the ability to create App-V packages for Microsoft 365 Apps starting January 13, 2026. This change aligns with our focus on modern deployment methods and continued investment in Click-to-Run, which offers improved performance, reliability, and supportability.

What is App-V?

[When this will happen:]

This change will take effect on January 13, 2026. After this date, new versions of the Office Deployment Tool will no longer support App-V packaging for Microsoft 365 Apps.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Organizations that use the Office Deployment Tool in packager mode to create App-V packages for Microsoft 365 Apps.
• What will happen:
  • The Office Deployment Tool will no longer support creation of App-V packages using the /packager argument after January 13, 2026. (Example: setup.exe /packager packageconfig.xml)
  • Existing App-V packages will continue to function, but no new packages can be created using updated tools.
  • Organizations using Click-to-Run are not affected.
  • No changes will occur for organizations that do not use App-V for deployment.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review your deployment strategy before January 13, 2026.
• Transition to Click-to-Run deployment, which remains fully supported.
• Update internal documentation and deployment scripts to reflect this change.
• Communicate this change to IT and helpdesk teams.
• Learn more about Click-to-Run deployment: Create an App-V package for Microsoft 365 Apps

[Compliance considerations:]

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

We’re introducing more flexible and precise audience targeting in Viva Engage, starting with Storyline Announcements. This update allows leaders and their delegates to define a custom audience at the time of posting—without relying on pre-configured Leader Audiences. Audiences can include organizational attributes (such as reporting structure, country, department, job title), existing groups (Microsoft 365 Groups, DLs, SGs), or individual users by name. This flexibility enables more timely, targeted communication, helping leaders reach the right people with the right message. Notifications and delivery channels (such as Teams, email) will continue to follow existing Storyline Announcement behavior, ensuring a seamless experience for recipients.

This feature is ideal for leaders who want to tailor communications to specific departments, locations, or existing groups, enhancing relevance and engagement across the organization.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 499895.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview (Worldwide): Begins mid-November 2025 and completes by early February 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Begins early February 2026 and completes by early March 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Leaders and delegates using Viva Engage Storyline Announcements in tenants enrolled in public preview.

What will happen:

• This capability is being introduced as part of the public preview for Viva Engage. During this phase, leaders and their delegates can actively experiment with flexible audience targeting for Storyline Announcements—defining a custom audience at the time of posting, rather than relying solely on pre‑configured Leader Audiences.
• Audiences can include organizational attributes (such as reporting structure, country, department, job title), existing groups (Microsoft 365 Groups, DLs, SGs), or individual users.
• Notifications and delivery channels (Teams, email, Viva Engage Inbox) remain unchanged for recipients.
• No dependency on IT or advance audience setup—leaders can act immediately when communication needs arise.
• Available only in public preview; functionality and targeting options may evolve before general availability.
• Admins should ensure organizational attributes in Entra ID or Organizational Data in Microsoft are accurate to support successful targeting.
• Available platforms: Desktop and web.
• Licensing requirements: This feature requires a premium license available through Viva or Communications and Communities (C&C). Availability may vary depending on your organization’s Microsoft 365 licensing agreement.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No admin action is required for rollout. To prepare, you may want to:

• Validate organizational attributes (reporting structure, country, department, role, job title) in Microsoft Entra ID or Organizational Data in Microsoft.
• Confirm leader and delegate assignments to ensure the right people can use Storyline Announcements and the new targeting control.

Learn more:

• Use your organizational data in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

On December 13, 2025, you may encounter issues if you haven’t updated your analytic rules, automation rules/playbooks, workbooks, hunting queries, or custom integrations to be precedence-aware for account entity naming. We’ve standardized the account entity naming logic in Microsoft Sentinel incidents and alerts, where the account entity naming priority is: UPN prefix → name → display name. Please update your queries and automations to use the new precedence pattern.

You are receiving this message because our reporting indicates your organization may be using Microsoft Sentinel incidents, alerts (AlertV3), or related automation.

[When this will happen:]

December 13, 2025

[How this will affect your organization:]

If you don’t fix this problem, these queries, automations, dashboards, and reports that reference account names may be affected:

• Analytics (KQL) that filter by, join on, or normalize account names
• Automation rules & playbooks (e.g., Logic Apps) that map Account.Name or compare it to other identity fields
• Workbooks & dashboards that show account name or aggregate by that value
• Hunting queries that coalesce or parse account identity fields
• Any users or systems relying on display name as the account identifier

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To fix this problem you need to update your KQL queries and automation logic to use the new precedence-aware pattern for account entity naming. Specifically, use a coalesce pattern (e.g., coalesce(Name, DisplayName)) wherever you reference the account name, and validate your workbooks, dashboards, and playbooks against the new logic. Test changes in a nonproduction workspace before rollout.

We've released updates to the following update channel for Microsoft 365 Apps:

• Current Channel

[When this will happen:]

We'll be gradually rolling out this update of Microsoft 365 Apps to users on that update channel starting November 4th, 2025 (PST).

[How this will affect your organization:]

If your Microsoft 365 Apps clients are configured to automatically update from the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN), then no action is required.

If you manage updates directly you can now download this latest update and begin deployment.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To get more details about this update view the following release notes:

• Current Channel

• Wait for Group Policy to refresh in the background, then restart the affected devices. 
• To force a single device to update its Group Policy settings, open a Command Prompt window on the device, and then run gpupdate /force. After the command runs, restart the device. 

• Windows release notes on the Windows update history sites, such as the Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows Server update history pages. Scroll down to the Known issues in this update section. 
• Windows release health dashboard. This site provides links to all Windows release notes for currently supported Windows versions. 
• Windows release health section on the Microsoft 365 admin center. You can also sign up for Windows release health notifications. 

Updated November 5, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon: Users will be able to automatically see their automapped calendars when toggling from classic Microsoft Outlook to new Outlook for Windows. This message applies to classic Outlook for Windows desktop and new Outlook for Windows desktop.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 415168.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out in early December 2025 (previously early November) and expect to complete by early January 2026 (previously late November 2025).

General Availability: We will begin rolling out in early January 2026 (previously early December 2025) and expect to complete by late January 2026 (previously late December 2025).  

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, users were not able to see their automapped calendars when toggling from classic Outlook to new Outlook.

To access an automapped calendars, users can go to Microsoft Outlook > Calendar icon on left of screen > My Calendars > Automapped calendar.

This feature is on by default.

[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.

Learn more

• The section called Use the shared calendar from the shared mailbox in Open and use a shared mailbox in Outlook – Microsoft Support
• Definition of automapping: Remove automapping for a shared mailbox – Outlook | Microsoft Learn

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