Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 21-12-2025

Updated December 8, 2025: We have updated the timeline. 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 January 2026 (previously December 2025). During this period, private channels will continue to operate normally. Admins and compliance managers should complete any required policy changes by October 2025 (previosly September), before the migration begins. Changes to private channel limits and meeting scheduling will follow in February 2026. 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 private channel migration early October 2025 (previously late September) and expect to complete by late January 2026 (previously mid-December 2025). Updated channel limits and meeting scheduling will begin rollout in early February 2026 and we expect to complete by end of February 2026.

[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

Before Migration:

• In Microsoft Purview compliance portal, go to Settings, -> Optical character recognition (OCR), -> Select locations and scope to [1] all users and groups or [2] specific users and groups

After Migration:

Set the settings for “all users and groups” to cover private channels as specific users and groups are not supported.

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 <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.

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.

[Introduction]

We’re refreshing the Chat History landing page filtering experience to make it simpler and more intuitive. This update consolidates filtering options under a single “filter pill,” which is a compact UI element that displays all applied filters in one place, making it easier to manage and clear them quickly.

Screenshot: Select the filter pill to view options for filtering by agents or pages.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out in mid-January 2026 and expect to complete by late January 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: All users who access Chat History.

What will happen:

• Filtering options will now appear under a single “filter pill” for a cleaner interface.
• Users can clear all filters more easily with one action.
• No changes to underlying functionality—this is a UI refresh only.
• The feature will be enabled by default for all tenants.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required.
• Optional: Communicate this UI change to helpdesk staff and end users to reduce confusion.
• Update internal documentation if you include screenshots of the Chat History page.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We’re improving messaging security in Microsoft Teams by enabling key safety protections by default. This update helps safeguard users from malicious content and provides options to report incorrect detections, reducing risk and improving collaboration security.

[When this will happen:]

Starting January 12, 2026, as announced in MC1148540, MC1148539, and MC1147984.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Tenants that have not previously modified messaging safety settings and are still using the default configuration.

What will happen:

• The following settings in Teams admin center Messaging Settings will be turned ON by default:
  • Weaponizable file type protection
  • Malicious URL protection
  • Report incorrect security detections
• End users may:
  • See warning labels on messages containing malicious URLs.
  • Have the option to report false positives.
  • Experience blocked messages if they contain weaponizable file types.
• If you have already customized and saved these settings, your preferences will remain unchanged.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review current values for these settings in Teams admin center > Messaging > Messaging settings > Messaging safety.
• If you do not want the new defaults to apply, adjust settings and click Save before January 12, 2026.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff and update internal documentation if necessary.

Learn more

• Weaponizable File Protection in Microsoft Teams
• Malicious URL Protection in Microsoft Teams
• User experience in Teams – Report Not a Security Concern

[Compliance considerations:]

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

We’re updating Microsoft 365 Copilot image generation experiences by introducing OpenAI’s latest image generation model—GPT‑Image‑1.5—into Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat. This update improves prompt adherence, image editing precision, visual fidelity, and generation speed, enabling users to create higher-quality, more accurate visuals across Copilot Chat entry points and the Create experience in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

• Rollout start (web, Windows, macOS, and mobile): Late December 2025
• Rollout end (web, Windows, macOS, and mobile): Late January 2026
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in mid-December 2025 and expect to complete by late January 2026.

Who is affected:

• Tenants where Copilot image generation experiences are currently available.
• Access level depends on licensing:
  • Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license have priority access.
  • Users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license have standard access, which may vary based on service capacity.
    • Learn more: Standard versus priority access to features in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat | Microsoft Support

What will happen:

• GPT‑4o will be replaced by GPT‑Image‑1.5 for supported Microsoft 365 Copilot image generation scenarios.
• New image generation and supported image editing requests will automatically use GPT‑Image‑1.5.
• No new admin controls or configuration changes are introduced; existing policies continue to apply.

What users may notice:

• Improved instruction following for text-to-image requests.
• More accurate rendering of requested styles, composition, and on-image text.
• More reliable region-specific image editing with fewer unintended changes.
• Higher-quality visuals with more realistic lighting, textures, and composition.
• Faster generation—up to 4× improvement for many prompts.
• More consistent preservation of facial likeness, lighting, and color tone during iterative edits.

What does not change:

• No change to admin controls or governance settings.
• Compliance, security, and privacy commitments remain the same.
• Customer data handling, storage locations, and processing paths are unchanged.
• Existing Copilot image safety and compliance controls continue to apply.

• No action is required. Eligible tenants will automatically receive this update during the rollout window.
• If helpful for internal readiness, you may:
  • Inform helpdesk or support teams of expected improvements in image quality and editing behavior.
  • Review Copilot image governance documentation as needed.

Additional resources:

• Introducing OpenAI’s GPT‑Image‑1.5 in Microsoft Foundry | Microsoft Community Hub
• Understanding foundation model changes in Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft Community Hub

No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.

[Introduction]

As AI agents become deeply embedded in enterprise ecosystems, they are evolving beyond simple tools or workflows into an autonomous digital workforce. These agents can interpret user intent, access and manipulate enterprise data, execute actions on behalf of users, and even make real-time decisions. In many ways, they operate like human insiders only with machine-speed data processing capabilities.

To govern and protect these agents effectively, organizations require visibility into their activities, contextual understanding of their actions, and the ability to flag or block risky behavior. Now, Insider Risk Management can be extended to detect and remediate potentially risky agent activities.

Features:

• Copilot Studio & Azure AI Foundry Integration: Detect potentially risky activities of agents hosted on Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, and Agent 365 platforms
• Risky AI Usage Policies: Define and enforce policies specific to AI agents accessing sensitive data or performing high-risk actions.
• IRM for Agent Users: Extend IRM in Purview to govern agent-driven workflows and protect organizational data.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 516032.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: We will begin rolling out early December 2025 and expect to complete by mid-January 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early December 2026 and expect to complete by late December 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

On the Overview page in the Insider Risk Management solution, you will be able to access the overall risk profile of agents deployed in your organization.

The Risky Agents policy will be automatically deployed for all agents hosted on Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry across your organization. Alerts from this policy will be generated when an agent’s activity exceeds the thresholds configured in this automatically deployed Risky Agents policy. These alerts can be found under Agents > Alerts on the left pane.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review the public facing documentation to learn more about this exciting new offering: Learn about Insider Risk Management policy templates | Microsoft Learn
• Review the new Insider Risk Management interface in the Microsoft Purview portal, which now includes separate sections for Users and Agents.
• Review and tune the Risky Agents policy based on your organization’s requirements.
• If you don’t wish to track agent activities, you can delete the automatically deployed Risky Agents policy. 

Learn more:

• Help dynamically mitigate risks with Adaptive Protection | Microsoft Learn
• Create and manage Insider Risk Management policies | Microsoft Learn
• Learn about Insider Risk Management policy templates | Microsoft Learn

Introduction

To maintain stability and ensure an uninterrupted holiday period, all firmware and app auto‑updates for Teams Android devices—including Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android (MTR-A), Teams Panels, and Teams Phones—will be paused from December 20, 2025, through January 12, 2026.

This pause applies only to auto‑updates delivered via the Teams admin center (TAC).

Admins can continue to perform eligible manual updates in TAC as usual. For more details on manual updates, refer to our public documentation: Update Microsoft Teams devices remotely | Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn.

When this will happen

Worldwide and GCC: Auto‑updates for Teams Android devices will pause on December 20, 2025, and resume after January 12, 2026.

How this will affect your organization

• Who is affected: Admins managing Teams Android devices via TAC.
• What will happen:
  • Auto‑updates for firmware and apps will be paused during the specified holiday period.
  • Manual updates can still be performed in TAC.
  • After January 12, 2026, updates will resume following standard ring-based rollout logic:
    • Devices in validation and general rings will receive updates published within the last 45 days.
    • Devices in the final phase will receive updates only after 45 days from the published date.

What you need to do to prepare

• No action is required before the pause begins.
• Review how updates will resume after January 12, 2026, so you can plan accordingly.

Compliance considerations

No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.