Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 28-03-2026

Updated March 27, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction:]

Managing email just got easier. Microsoft 365 Copilot now supports natural language commands to help users pin or unpin important messages, flag or unflag items, mark flagged emails as complete, archive clutter, and mark emails as read or unread. This enhancement is designed to streamline inbox management and help users stay focused on what matters most.

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

Supported platforms: Available via Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat (Work mode). When used within Outlook, it’s supported on Classic and New Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web, Outlook for Mac, and Outlook mobile (iOS and Android).

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview (Worldwide): Rollout begins mid-December 2025 and is expected to complete by early January 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins mid-December 2025 and is expected to complete by mid-February 2026 (previously late January).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Users with Microsoft 365 and Copilot licenses who use Outlook for email management.

What will happen:

• Users can use natural language to
  • Pin or unpin emails.
  • Flag or unflag messages.
  • Mark flagged emails as complete.
  • Archive emails.
  • Mark emails as read or unread.
• These features will be available by default for licensed users.
• No changes to existing admin policies are required.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Ensure users have the appropriate Microsoft 365 and Copilot licenses.
• Communicate this update to helpdesk and support teams.
• Update internal documentation if you detail email management features.
• No additional configuration is required for rollout.
• Review the following support article: Triage Email with Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook – Microsoft Support

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated March 27, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

To help admins detect unusual or potentially risky interactions with external organizations, Microsoft Teams is introducing the External domains anomalies report. This report analyzes cross-tenant communication patterns for your tenant and highlights sudden spikes or abnormal engagement activity. These insights support proactive investigation and help protect your organization while enabling secure external collaboration.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 536572.

[When this will happen]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Rolling out in mid-May 2026 (previously early April) and expected to complete by late May 2026 (previously mid-April).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected:

• Teams administrators can view this report for their Microsoft 365 tenant if their organization collaborates with external organizations.

What will happen:

• A new External domains anomalies report will be available in the Microsoft Teams admin center under Protection reports.
• Admins can select Communication anomalies, choose a date range, and run the report to view results:
• Insights include external domains with unusual communication activity:
  • External domain name
  • Total anomalies detected
  • New 1:1 threads created by that domain
  • New group threads created by that domain
• A Block option is available directly in the report for managing external domains:

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required to access the report.

To receive proactive alerts:

• Enable External domains anomalies alerts in the Teams admin center:
  • Go to Notifications & alerts > Rules.
  • Select External domains anomalies.
  • Set status to Active.
• Specify a Teams channel for notifications if desired.



• Daily alerts will summarize the top five domains with unusual activity.

[Compliance considerations]

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

Updated March 27, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Outlook is adding new Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities that let users create and view Inbox rules using natural language. This update helps users stay organized more efficiently by allowing them to ask Copilot to set up new rules or list existing rules directly in chat, without navigating Outlook settings.

A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to access this new feature.

Supported platforms: Available via Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat (Work mode). When used within Outlook, it’s supported on Classic and New Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web, Outlook for Mac, and Outlook mobile (iOS and Android).

[When this will happen]

General Availability (Worldwide): We began rolling out in early April 2026 (previously early February) and expect to complete by end of April 2026 (previously mid-May).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected: Users with Microsoft 365 and Copilot licenses who use Outlook for email management.

What will happen:

• Users can create new Inbox rules through natural language prompts (for example: “Create a rule to move emails from my manager to a Manager folder.”).

  

• Users can ask Copilot to show their existing Inbox rules, including rule names, conditions, actions, and status.
• Rules created with Copilot operate the same as rules created through Outlook settings:
  • Rules apply only to future incoming messages.
  • Existing messages are not automatically moved or modified.
  • All rules are visible and manageable through Outlook’s native Rules settings.
• The feature is on by default for eligible users and respects all existing Outlook and Exchange policies.

[What you can do to prepare]

• Ensure users have the appropriate Microsoft 365 and Copilot licenses.
• Communicate this update to helpdesk and support teams.
• Update internal documentation if you detail email management features.
• No additional configuration is required for rollout.
• Review the following support article: Create and view Outlook rules with Microsoft 365 Copilot

[Compliance considerations]

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

Introduction

We’re announcing the General Availability (GA) of Microsoft Purview Posture Reports, which provide out-of-the-box, executive-ready visibility into your organization’s data protection posture across Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention (DLP). This release gives admins unified, near-real-time insights into label usage, DLP activity, posture trends, and risk areas without custom reporting or manual refreshes.

When this will happen:

We will begin rolling out in early February 2026 and expect to complete by mid-February 2026.

How this affects your organization:

Who is affected:

• Admins managing Microsoft Purview Information Protection and Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention.
• Security, compliance, and data governance teams who rely on posture insights or reporting.

What will happen:

• New built-in posture reports will appear in the Microsoft Purview portal under Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention > Posture reports.
• Reports will refresh automatically every hour.
• Admins will gain insights such as:
  • Sensitivity label adoption (labeled versus unlabeled data)
  • Label distribution and autolabeling posture
  • Posture drift through label transitions
  • Most triggered DLP rules, activities, and policies
  • Top users triggering DLP policies
• The feature is on by default for eligible tenants.
• No user workflow changes.

What you can do to prepare:

No action is required.

• Review posture insights in the Microsoft Purview portal under Information Protection or Data Loss Prevention > Posture reports.
• Update internal documentation or reporting processes as needed.
• Inform security/compliance teams of new reporting availability.

Learn more: Microsoft Purview Posture Reports Overview | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations:

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

Updated March 27, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing improvements to the code block experience in Microsoft Teams Compose. These updates make reading, sharing, and referencing code more efficient by adding default line numbers and enhancing keyboard navigation. These changes also support better accessibility and help users who frequently share code in chats or channels.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 554933.

[When this will happen]

• Targeted Release: Rolling out in early May 2026 (previously April) and expected to complete in mid-May 2026 (previously April).
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rolling out in mid-May 2026 (previously April) and expected to complete in late May 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

All users who compose and share messages in Microsoft Teams on Windows, Mac, and Web.

What will happen

Users will see enhancements to the code block experience, including:

• Default line numbers appearing automatically when a code block is inserted, supporting easier line-by-line collaboration and review.
• Improved keyboard navigation within code blocks, allowing users to move more easily through code using keyboard commands, improving overall accessibility.
• Consistent language selection for syntax highlighting; Teams will remember the last language a user selected.
• Support for collaborative editing, with the option to convert a code block to a Loop component before sending.
• Multiple insertion methods remain supported (slash commands, keyboard shortcuts, and Markdown), ensuring familiarity and flexibility for users.
• This feature is enabled by default, and no admin controls or configuration changes are required.

These updates improve the development and engineering collaboration experience in Teams and help achieve better parity with other industry-standard collaboration tools.

[What you can do to prepare]

No admin action is required. 

Optional steps:

• Inform helpdesk or support teams that users may notice changes to how code blocks appear and behave in Teams.
• Update any internal documentation for engineering teams or developer communities that rely on code sharing within Teams.
• Review Microsoft Support documentation for additional user-facing guidance about inserting, formatting, and collaborating on code blocks in Teams.

Learn more:  Use code blocks in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Support

[Compliance considerations]

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

Updated March 27, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We are updating the entry points for Copilot in Word to provide a clearer, more consistent, and more intuitive experience. These changes unify how users access Copilot and introduce Word Agent in the chat pane as the primary Copilot interface. This update improves discoverability, simplifies the user workflow, and creates consistency with other Microsoft 365 apps.

[When this will happen]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in early April 2026 (previously late March) and expect to complete by June 2026 (previously late April).

General Availability (GCC, GCCH and DoD): We will begin rolling out in October 2026 (previously late March) and expect to complete by late October 2026 (previously late April).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

All users of Microsoft 365 apps for Word on Windows, macOS, and Web.

What will happen

• The existing Copilot entry point in the left margin will be replaced by a consolidated entry point positioned in a consistent corner location.
• Users will see contextual Copilot entry points when selecting content:
  • Windows and Web: inside the selection floatie
  • Mac: in the right‑click context menu
• Word Agent in the right-side chat pane becomes the primary Copilot experience for prompts and responses.
• All Copilot entry points—consolidated and contextual—will connect to Word Agent to ensure a unified experience.
• There is no change to admin configuration, policy behavior, or Copilot availability settings.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required.

You may optionally:

• Inform your users about the new Copilot access points and updated experience in Word.
• Update internal help content or training materials if you document Copilot entry points.

[Compliance considerations]

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

Updated March 27, 2026: We have updated the timeline to reflect that this feature has launched early. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Microsoft is introducing granular restore capabilities in Microsoft 365 Backup, allowing administrators to browse, search, and restore individual files or folders from restore points for protected SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts. This update helps organizations reduce recovery time and operational impact by restoring only the content that is needed.

Screenshot:  Select the granular restore path when restoring content from a SharePoint site or OneDrive account

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 464991.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in early March 2026 and expect to complete by mid-March 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late March 2026 (previously late April) and expect to complete late March 2026 (previously early May).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Microsoft 365 tenants with Microsoft 365 Backup enabled
• Admins responsible for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business data protection and recovery

What will happen:

• Admins will be able to browse and search restore points for protected SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts.
• Admins will be able to restore individual files or folders instead of restoring entire sites or drives.
• Only admins assigned the SharePoint Backup Administrator role can perform granular restore operations for SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts.
• Existing Microsoft 365 Backup protection policies and restore points are respected.
• This feature is available only to tenants with Microsoft 365 Backup enabled.
• There is no direct impact to users; restore operations remain admin‑initiated.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required to receive this feature.
• Review your current Microsoft 365 Backup coverage for SharePoint and OneDrive to ensure critical workloads are protected.
• Familiarize backup administrators with the granular restore experience once Public Preview begins.
• Update internal recovery procedures or runbooks to include file- and folder-level restore scenarios.
• Inform helpdesk or IT operations teams when granular restores may be appropriate instead of full restores.

Learn more: Restore data in Microsoft 365 Backup | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

Updated March 27, 2026: We have updated the content and timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new capability in Workforce Insights agent that allows organizations to customize how managers are identified. This enhancement uses the SupervisorIndicator attribute from the Microsoft Organizational Data Ingestion System (MODIS) to align Copilot responses, insights, and analytics with your organization’s formal manager definition. This helps ensure accurate and consistent manager‑related metrics without altering your reporting hierarchy or access controls.

[When this will happen]

• Frontier Preview: Rollout begins in early April 2026 (previously late March).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Organizations using Workforce Insights agent with organizational data provided through MODIS

What will happen

• If your tenant already provides the SupervisorIndicator attribute through MODIS, Workforce Insights agent will automatically begin using it to identify managers.
• Many organizations define “manager” differently based on HR policies (for example, including contractors or interns, or excluding certain job families). This capability allows your organization’s definition to take precedence over the default hierarchy‑based definition.
• When SupervisorIndicator is present, it becomes the authoritative signal for manager status used in:
  • manager‑related questions and responses,
  • organizational insights,
  • analytics and metrics (such as manager counts and manager‑to‑IC ratios).
• This change aligns insights and analytics with your HR‑defined manager criteria without impacting:
  • reporting hierarchy,
  • manager–employee relationships,
  • access controls,
  • delegation,
  • privacy enforcement.
• If your tenant does not provide the SupervisorIndicator attribute, manager identification will continue using organizational hierarchy (employees with direct reports).
• The feature is enabled automatically when the attribute is present—no admin toggle is required.

[What you can do to prepare]

If your tenant uses SupervisorIndicator, ask your organizational data admin to:

• Review the values in this attribute to ensure accuracy for Workforce Insights queries.
• Ensure your organization has at least 50 active Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.

No other admin action is required at this time.

Learn more: 

• Use your organizational data in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn
• Workforce Insights agent | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

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

[Introduction]

Copilot Notebooks enables users to generate Excel spreadsheets directly from the content and references collected in a notebook. Copilot creates a structured spreadsheet based on the notebook’s context, which can then be opened and edited in Excel. This capability streamlines the transition from ideas and source material into a usable spreadsheet by reducing manual setup and formatting.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview via Frontier: Rollout begins in late March 2026 and is expected to complete by late April 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in late May 2026 and is expected to complete by late May 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Users with access to Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Notebooks
• Organizations using Excel in Microsoft 365
• A Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) license is required to use this feature

What will happen:

• Users will be able to generate an Excel spreadsheet from content and references stored in a Copilot Notebook.



• The generated spreadsheet opens in Excel and can be edited like any other Excel file.
• The feature is enabled by default for eligible users.
• Existing Microsoft 365 security, compliance, and Copilot policies are respected.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required.
• Review internal guidance or helpdesk documentation related to Copilot and Excel workflows.
• Consider notifying users that Copilot Notebooks can now generate Excel spreadsheets from notebook content.

Learn more: Get started with Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks | Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction]

Microsoft is improving the custom license request experience for Microsoft 365 Copilot to help organizations better align Copilot license requests with their internal approval workflows. With this update, admins can create Copilot‑specific request policies and tailor guidance by user group, allowing more precise routing and clearer instructions for people requesting a license.

[When this will happen]

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

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Users who request Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses
• Admins who configure license request policies in the Microsoft 365 admin center

What will happen

• Admins will be able to create product‑specific custom license request policies for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Admins can scope policies by user group, such as security groups or Microsoft 365 groups.
• When someone requests a Copilot license, they will see:
  • Admin‑defined instructions.
  • A link to your organization’s internal approval workflow.
• License approvals will continue to occur outside Microsoft systems, using your existing internal processes.
• Existing custom license request behavior will remain unchanged unless an admin updates configuration.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required if you want to continue using your existing configuration.

If you choose to adopt the new capabilities, you can:

• Review your current custom license request policies in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• Decide whether to apply product‑specific or group‑specific policies for Copilot.
• Confirm that internal approval links and instructions are accurate and accessible.
• Communicate these updates to your IT support or helpdesk teams.

Learn more: Manage self-service license requests in the Microsoft 365 admin center | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

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

[Introduction]

The Device Health Reporting Dashboard provides admins with a consolidated view of device health and policy sync readiness across all onboarded Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) devices. It surfaces at-a-glance insights into configuration health, policy sync status, device activity, and Microsoft Defender version distribution, helping admins quickly understand whether devices are healthy and ready to receive policy updates. With built-in drilldowns from summary graphs to device lists, the dashboard enables targeted investigation of unhealthy or non-compliant devices, such as devices that are offline, misconfigured, or running outdated Defender versions, so admins can diagnose issues and take remediation actions without leaving the reporting workflow.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 559267.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: We will begin rollout in late May 2026 and expected to complete by late May 2026
• General Availability: We will begin rollout in late June 2026 and expected to complete by late June 2026

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Microsoft 365 administrators managing Endpoint DLP in Microsoft Purview
• Organizations with onboarded Endpoint DLP devices

What will happen:

• Admins will see a new Device Health Reporting Dashboard in the Microsoft Purview portal.
• The dashboard provides at-a-glance insights into:
• Device configuration health
• Policy sync readiness
• Device activity and connectivity
• Defender version distribution
• Built-in drilldowns allow admins to navigate from summary charts to device-level lists for investigation.
• Admins can quickly identify devices that are offline, misconfigured, or running outdated Defender versions.
• The feature is enabled by default for eligible tenants.
• There is no impact to user workflows.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No action is required.

• The Device Health Reporting Dashboard will be enabled automatically for eligible tenants.
• No additional configuration or onboarding steps are required.
• Once available, access the dashboard directly in the Microsoft Purview portal.
• Consider updating internal admin documentation or operational runbooks to reference the new reporting experience.

[Compliance considerations:]

This update introduces a new Microsoft Purview reporting dashboard that enhances how admins monitor Endpoint DLP device health and policy sync readiness.

[Introduction]

Purview Information Protection admins can now exclude modern Microsoft 365 groups and scope sensitivity label policies to dynamic and non-mail enabled security groups. These capabilities give admins more flexibility, expanding policy targeting beyond individual users and mail-enabled groups. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 558685.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: We will begin rolling out late April 2026 and expect to complete by mid-May 2026.
• General Availability: We will begin rolling out late May 2026 and expect to complete by late May 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Information Protection admins managing sensitivity label publishing policies

What will happen:

• Admins can exclude modern Microsoft 365 groups from label publishing policies
• Admins can include non-mail-enabled security groups, including dynamic security groups
• Existing policies and configurations remain unchanged
• No user impact unless admins update policy scope

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required
• Optionally review and update label publishing policies to take advantage of expanded scoping

Learn more: Create and publish sensitivity labels | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction]

We’re updating the Viva Connections experience in the Microsoft Teams mobile app to provide a more modern, streamlined navigation that is easier to use across all devices. This update simplifies how users move between sections and improves discoverability, while keeping all existing functionality intact.

[When this will happen:]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in early April 2026 and is expected to complete by late April 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• All users who access Viva Connections in the Microsoft Teams mobile app (iOS and Android).

What will happen:

• The Teams mobile Viva Connections experience will move from a three-tab layout (Dashboard, News, Resources) to a pill-based navigation model.
• Users will switch between Viva Connections sections using pill-shaped navigation controls at the top of the experience.
• In the News experience:
  • The Unread and Saved for later pills will be replaced with:
    • An Unread toggle
    • A Saved for later button
• There is no change to functionality or content—only the navigation and layout are updated.
• The update is enabled by default and applies automatically.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required to enable this update.
• Optionally, inform helpdesk staff and update internal documentation that references the previous navigation.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We’re rolling out new community membership management and trusted‑answer capabilities in the Viva Engage mobile experience for iOS and Android, available in both the standalone Viva Engage app and the Viva Engage app in Microsoft Teams. These updates extend existing web functionality to mobile, enabling more consistent community governance and moderation across devices and allowing key actions to be completed without switching to a desktop experience.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 532722 and 537270.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins late March 2026 and is expected to complete by late April 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Organizations using Viva Engage communities
• Community admins and designated experts
• Users accessing Viva Engage on iOS or Android (standalone app or within Microsoft Teams)

What will happen:

• Community admins can manage community members directly from mobile, including adding or removing members
• Community admins can assign or remove community admin roles from mobile
• Community admins can assign or remove expert roles from mobile



• Eligible roles can mark verified answers from mobile devices



• Users will see community expert indicators and verified-answer indicators in conversations
• The feature is enabled by default and respects existing role-based permissions
• No tenant-level configuration or policy changes are required

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required to enable this feature
• Review current community admin and expert role assignments to ensure they align with your governance model
• Inform community admins and moderators that these moderation and role-management tasks are now available on mobile
• Update internal documentation or helpdesk guidance if you document Viva Engage moderation workflows

Learn more:

• Learn more about Viva Engage | Microsoft Learn
• Introducing Community Experts in Viva Engage
  
• Introducing Verified Answers in Viva Engage
• Manage a community in Viva Engage | Microsoft Support

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction]

Microsoft Teams is retiring CAPTCHA for meeting join to improve accessibility, reduce join friction, and modernize protections against automated participants. This change follows the release of a new, default‑on capability that detects external meeting assistant bots and provides organizers with increased visibility and control during the meeting join process, as previously announced in Message Center post MC1251206 (Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 558107).

To ensure a smooth transition:

• The new bot detection capability will be released and available to customers before CAPTCHA deprecation occurs.
• There will be no gap where meetings are left without baseline bot protection.
• CAPTCHA will be removed from meeting join flows and admin surfaces only after the new capability is fully in place.

[When this will happen]

• Early May 2026: The Require verification by participants (CAPTCHA) policy will be locked and can no longer be enabled.
• Late July 2026: CAPTCHA policy removed from PowerShell.
• Late August 2026: CAPTCHA policy removed from the Teams Admin Center UI.

Note: Dates are subject to change based on the release of bot identification (MC1251206/Roadmap ID 558107). 

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft Teams tenant administrators
• Meeting organizers with anonymous or external participants

What will happen

• The CAPTCHA meeting policy will be retired and removed.
• CAPTCHA challenges will no longer appear during meeting join.
• A new, default‑on bot detection capability will provide baseline protection.
• Detected bots will require organizer approval to join meetings (recommended default).
• There will be no gap in bot protection during the transition.

[What you can do to prepare]

• No immediate action is required.
• Review the new meeting policy when it becomes available in the Teams Admin Center.
• Keep the default setting that requires organizer approval for detected bots.
• Update internal documentation or helpdesk guidance related to meeting join and lobby controls.

[Compliance considerations]

• Admin control introduced: A new meeting policy governs how detected external bots are handled during meeting join.

[Introduction]

We’re improving the Microsoft 365 group creation and editing experience in My Groups to give group owners more control and clarity from the start. The updated experience lets you configure key group, email, and security settings so your group works the way you expect.

With this update, group owners can:

• Set group usage guidelines, email aliases, and sensitivity labels
• Configure Exchange settings such as sending welcome emails, subscribing members to conversations, and showing the group mailbox and calendar in Outlook
• Control who can send emails to the group, hide the group from the global address list, and allow or block external senders
• Enable security group functionality when needed

This streamlined, self‑service experience helps ensure Microsoft 365 groups are created with the right defaults and policies.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability: We will begin rolling out in late March 2026 and expect to complete rollout by early April 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Users who are allowed to create or edit Microsoft 365 groups using My Groups
• Admins managing Microsoft 365 groups, Exchange Online, Microsoft Entra ID, and Microsoft Purview policies

What will happen:

• Users / group owners:
• Users will see additional configuration options during Microsoft 365 group creation and editing in My Groups
• The experience provides greater visibility into how the group will behave once created or edited

• Admins:
• There is no change to existing tenant‑level policies or controls
• All settings exposed during group creation continue to respect Microsoft Entra ID, Exchange Online, and Microsoft Purview configurations
• The feature is enabled by default and does not require admin configuration
• There is no impact to existing Microsoft 365 groups
• This update may reduce follow‑up support requests related to group misconfiguration

[What you can do to prepare:]

No action is required to prepare for this change.

If desired, admins can:

• Review existing Microsoft 365 group creation, naming, sensitivity label, and Exchange policies to ensure they align with organizational guidance
• Inform group owners that additional configuration options will be available during group creation and editing in My Groups
• Update internal documentation or help desk guidance related to Microsoft 365 groups

Learn more: Set up self-service group management – Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We are expanding Microsoft Planner integration in Microsoft Teams by enabling Planner tabs in Shared and Private channels. This change allows teams to plan and track work directly within the channel where collaboration occurs, including scenarios that require restricted membership or cross-organization collaboration.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins mid-May 2026 and is expected to complete by late May 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Microsoft Teams users working in Shared or Private channels
• Microsoft 365 administrators managing Teams and Planner

What will happen:

• Users can add Planner as a tab in Shared and Private channels using the + (Add a tab) experience.
• Users can create a new plan for the channel or add an existing plan associated with that channel.



• Planner inherits channel permissions and Microsoft 365 compliance controls.
• The feature is enabled by default and requires no admin configuration.
• There is no change to Planner behavior in standard channels.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No admin action is required.

• Update internal Teams and Planner documentation.
• Inform users that Planner is available in Shared and Private channels.
• Review governance policies related to Teams and Planner usage.

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction]

Today, IT admins can enable or disable third‑party model providers, such as Anthropic and xAI (US only), at the tenant level in the Microsoft Admin Center. With this update, admins will be able to assign access to a third‑party model provider to specific users or groups within the tenant.

This update is related to MC1193920, which announced that Anthropic models would be enabled by default for many customers in certain Copilot experiences and offered under the Microsoft Product Terms and Data Protection Addendum (DPA) as a Microsoft subprocessor.

This message corresponds to Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 557371.

[When this will happen]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late April 2026 and expect to complete in late April 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Organizations that use or plan to use third‑party model providers in Microsoft 365 Copilot and in Copilot Studio
• Admins who manage access in the Microsoft Admin Center, Power Platform Admin Center (PPAC), or Copilot Studio

What will happen

• Admins will see a new control in the Microsoft Admin Center that allows assigning a third‑party model provider to specific users or Entra ID groups.
• The setting will apply at the provider level, not at the individual model level.
• Assignments will be enforced consistently across the Microsoft Admin Center, PPAC, and Copilot Studio.
• The control will apply to subprocessors and independent processors for all current and future third‑party model providers.
• Admins can add up to any combination of 999 groups and users; nested groups are supported. 

[What you can do to prepare]

• Review your existing settings for Anthropic and xAI (US only) in the Microsoft Admin Center.
• Update user or group assignments to align with your internal governance policies.
• Update any existing agents and experiences that may be impacted when model access is limited by Entra ID security groups.
• Communicate any planned changes to your helpdesk or impacted user groups.
• Update internal documentation where you track AI access or model provider settings.
• Review Microsoft documentation on managing third‑party model providers when it becomes available.

Learn more:

• Anthropic as a subprocessor for Microsoft Online Services | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn
• Choose an external model as the primary AI model | Microsoft Copilot Studio | Microsoft Learn
• Enterprise data protection in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA) | Licensing Resources and Documents | Licensing | Microsoft
• Product Terms | Licensing | Microsoft

[Compliance considerations]

[Introduction]

We’re expanding Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat to help organizations prevent sensitive data from being sent to external web search. This enhancement introduces real‑time DLP evaluation for prompts containing sensitive information types (SITs), ensuring Copilot and Microsoft 365‑published agents avoid using sensitive content for external web queries. When blocked, Copilot will still respond based on internal Microsoft Graph grounding if licensed.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 548671.

[When this will happen]

• Public Preview: Rollout begins in late March 2026 and completes in late April 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in late June 2026 and completes in late July 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Organizations using Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Chat, and Copilot Studio agents published to Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Admins who manage DLP policies in the Microsoft Purview portal

What will happen

New DLP control for Copilot web search

• DLP policy creation will include a new option to restrict Copilot from performing external web searches when a prompt contains selected SITs.
• When triggered, Copilot:
  • Will not send content to external web search.
  • Will continue responding using internal Microsoft Graph data sources, if your licensing allows.

New investigation and monitoring experiences

• Alerts triggered by this policy will appear in DLP Alerts (if alerts are enabled).
• Activity Explorer under DLP and DSPM for AI will include Copilot‑related actions for monitoring and analysis.

Policy management updates

• The DLP policy page may display new recommendations related to this feature.
• Available in the Microsoft Purview portal and editable by:
  • Admin roles listed in Permissions – Create and deploy data loss prevention policies, and
  • Data Security AI Admins.

Default state

• The feature becomes available automatically.
• Organizations must opt in by creating or updating a DLP policy.

Screenshot 1 – Choose M365 Copilot and Copilot Chat as the policy location:

Screenshot 2 – New DLP protection to restrict Copilot from performing web searches:

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required for enablement. To begin using the feature, admins can:

• Create or update a DLP policy for Microsoft 365 Copilot in the Purview portal.
• Review current DLP configurations to understand potential impact.
• Ensure the admin account includes the required roles described in Microsoft Learn.
• Notify IT, security teams, or helpdesk staff about the new capability.
• Update any internal documentation related to AI governance, DLP, or Copilot usage.

Learn more:

• Learn about data loss prevention | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn
• Learn about using Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention to protect interactions with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn
• Permissions – Create and deploy data loss prevention policies | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]