Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 01-05-2026

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

[Introduction]

We’re introducing the Agent Dashboard, a new dashboard available as part of Copilot Analytics in Microsoft Viva. This dashboard provides visibility into key agent adoption trends and associated Copilot credit usage. It supports insights into agents used within Microsoft 365 Copilot, which may be:

• Built using Microsoft Copilot Studio, SharePoint, or the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit
• Built by employees, your organization, Microsoft, or Microsoft partners

This release also enhances the Adoption tab of the Copilot Dashboard, allowing users to view agent insights directly and access the Agent Dashboard for deeper analysis.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview (Worldwide): Begins rolling out in early February 2026 (previously January), expected to complete by mid-February 2026 (previously end of January).
• General Availability (Worldwide): Begins rolling out in late September 2026 (previously June), expected to complete early October 2026 (previously end of June).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Leaders, delegates, adoption specialists, and administrators using Microsoft Viva Insights
• Tenants with at least 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses assigned

What will happen:

• A new Agent Dashboard will be available in Viva Insights under Copilot Analytics
• Users will find:
  • Key adoption metrics with historical trends (up to 6 months):
    • Number of active agents
    • Number of active agent users
    • Number of agent responses
    • Copilot credits used
    • Number of users using Copilot credits
    • Percentage of Copilot users using agents
    Screenshot 1: Key adoption metrics with historical trends, including active agents, active users, agent responses, and Copilot credit usage.

    

  • Monthly and weekly user retention trends, with comparison across groups
  Screenshot 2: Monthly and weekly user retention trends, with comparison across groups.

  

  • Top agents based on the following, with the ability to dive deeper into specific agents:
    • Active user count
    • Agent responses
    • Copilot credits consumed
    Screenshot 3: Agent highlights along with a table of top agents, each with active usage metrics and the ability to dive deeper.

    

    Screenshot 4: Individual agent deep dive page with key adoption metrics and trends over time.

    

• Minimum group size threshold must be met for agent activity insights.
• Learn more: Configure manager settings
• The Adoption tab of the Copilot Dashboard will also include:
  • Contextual insights on how Copilot users are leveraging agents and credits
  • Direct entry points to the Agent Dashboard
  Screenshot 5: Entry points to the Agent Dashboard from the Copilot Dashboard Adoption tab, including agent usage and Copilot credit usage insights.

  

  [What you can do to prepare:]

  • Review and assess the impact for your organization
  • Manage access to the Agent Dashboard using VFAM controls at user, group, and tenant levels (nested under Viva Insights Web app VFAM controls)
  • Consider reviewing with your works council
  • Update training and documentation as needed
  • Additional details will be available on MS Learn once this functionality is released, in a separate Agent Dashboard section: Copilot Analytics introduction

  [Compliance considerations:]

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

To streamline data export processes and improve security, Microsoft is retiring the Viva Insights export capability via Microsoft Graph Data Connect (MGDC). This change does not impact other export alternatives via Viva Insights.

• Onboarding of new customers and scenarios to Viva Insights export via MGDC will stop 30 days from this announcement.
• Existing customers will retain access to current MGDC data export pipeline until full retirement. Final timelines will be shared in future communications.

Who is affected: Organizations using Viva Insights export via Microsoft Graph Data Connect.

What will happen:

• Starting in late November 2025, onboarding of new customers and Viva Insights datasets to MGDC will no longer be available.
• Existing users will retain access to current datasets until full retirement.
• Customers are encouraged to transition to supported export alternatives:
• Viva Insights Power BI Connector to Microsoft Fabric
• This connector allows you to export Viva Insights data into Microsoft Fabric for advanced analysis and reporting. Learn more:Export query data using the Power BI connector
• All Viva Insights query types supported: Yes
• Automated exports: Yes
• Row-level data export: Yes
• Charges: Yes (Fabric usage). Learn more: Dataflow Gen2 pricing for Data Factory in Microsoft Fabric
•  Setup: Refer to setup steps outlined in Export query data using the Power BI connector.
• Access query results: Refer to Dataflow Gen2 data destinations and managed settings.
• Flat file export option available.
• CSV Export

Note: Customers who prefer a flat file export can use the CSV export feature. Learn more: Download and import results in Excel.

What you can do to prepare

• If you are an existing MGDC customer, select an alternative export method.
• To offboard from MGDC-based export:
  1. Check access to output folders from previous runs.
  2. Stop and delete all Data Factory Copy activity pipelines.
  3. Delete MGDC app registrations.
  4. MGDC admin should deselect “Viva Insights” from enabled datasets:
     • In Microsoft 365 Admin portal, go to Settings > Org settings.
     • Under Services, select Microsoft Graph data connect.
     • Deselect Viva Insights.

For additional questions, raise a support ticket.

Learn more: 

• Dataflow Gen2 data destinations and managed settings | Data Factory | Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
  
• Dataflow Gen2 pricing for Data Factory in Microsoft Fabric | Data Factory | Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
• Download and import results in Excel – Access query results and modify existing queries | Viva Insights | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn
• Export Viva Insights data using MGDC | Viva Insights | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn
• Export query data using the Power BI connector | Viva Insights | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Express voice enrollment in Microsoft Teams makes registering your voice profile quick and seamless. A voice profile enables features such as voice isolation, speaker recognition, identification in meeting rooms, improved transcripts, and enhanced meeting recaps and insights powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot. If you haven’t enrolled, you’ll receive an in-product prompt to opt in and enroll simply by speaking during a meeting. Admins can enable or disable this feature for their organization.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 537269.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release: Rollout begins early June 2026 (previously early May) and is expected to complete by mid-June 2026 (previously mid-May).
• General Availability: Rollout begins mid-June 2026 (previously mid-May) and is expected to complete by late June 2026 (previously end of May).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Who is affected:

• All commercial Microsoft Teams customers except Education (EDU) tenants.

What will happen:

• A new voice enrollment experience will be available in Teams.
• Users will receive an in-product prompt to enroll their voice profile by speaking during a meeting.
• The feature will be ON by default for enterprise tenants.
• EDU tenants are excluded from this rollout.
• Admins can disable this feature or manage settings using PowerShell in the PassiveVoiceEnrollment configuration in the csTeamsAIPolicy policy. Refer to Set-CsTeamsAIPolicy (MicrosoftTeams) | Microsoft Learn for more information.
• If your organization previously disabled voice enrollment policies (under the EnrollVoice configuration), that policy will still be in effect and this express enrollment feature will not apply change this value.
• Starting April 20, for all tenants that have set EnrollVoice to disabled, Microsoft will apply the same value to PassiveVoiceEnrollment for consistency.
• To disable voice enrollment entirely for your organization, please make sure both EnrollVoice and PassiveVoiceEnrollment configurations are disabled.
• If you choose to change the default policy setting or disable voice enrollment entirely, users will not be able to fully benefit from features like speaker recognition, transcript attribution, intelligent audio/video experiences, or receive the most insightful meeting recaps and responses from Copilot and agents.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review your organization’s Teams AI policy settings before rollout.
• If you want to disable this feature, update the PassiveVoiceEnrollment configuration using PowerShell.
• Communicate this change to your helpdesk and end users as needed.
• Update internal documentation to reflect this new capability.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated February 11, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing Multi-Select Forward in Microsoft Teams. This feature lets users select up to five messages from a chat or channel and forward them together in one message, preserving context and order. This update addresses customer feedback for easier message sharing and supports better collaboration.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 536997 and is applicable to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, and Teams for the web.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early January 2026 and expect to complete by mid-January 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out early February 2026 (previously mid-January) and expect to complete by mid-February 2026 (previously late January).
• General Availability (GCCH, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-February 2026 (previously early February) and expect to complete by late February 2026 (previously mid-February).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Users of Microsoft Teams for Desktop, Mac, and web

What will happen:

• A new option will be available in the message action menu: Forward > Multiple messages.



• They can select up to five messages and forward them together. 



• Forwarded messages appear bundled in one message, preserving order and context.



• Mobile users can view these messages but cannot forward multiple messages yet. 
• This feature is ON by default.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required before or after rollout.
• Consider notifying your users about this change to help them understand the new behavior.
• Update any internal documentation or training materials that reference message forwarding in Teams.

Learn more: Forward a message in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timing of this change below. Thank you for your patience.

[Introduction]

Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance is undergoing an infrastructure upgrade from January 5 to April 30, 2026, causing temporary processing delays, intermittent errors, and possible outdated report data. Although this migration is planned outside of normal business hours, some production clusters may experience higher loads, potentially causing brief delays in downstream processing. Brief delays in processing may occur during this migration, but no data will be lost.

No action is required, but admins should inform teams about these short-term impacts.

[When this will happen:]

This migration will begin January 5, 2026, and end May 15, 2026 (previously April 30).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:
Admins managing Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance policies and review workflows.

What will happen:

• Updates to policy insights and aggregated counts (New pending today, Total pending, Total resolved) may occur at a slower pace than usual.
• Intermittent errors may occur when reviewing flagged messages.
• Brief delays may be observed between receiving an alert notification and accessing messages for review.
• Certain report views may display outdated data until backlog processing is complete.
• Some export functions, such as exporting reports and files, might be temporarily unavailable.
• No data loss will occur—only temporary slowdowns in processing times.
• Users may experience reduced responsiveness and intermittent instability in the experience.

This maintenance is scheduled outside of normal business hours to minimize impact. However, global organizations may experience some overlap with active hours.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required from administrators; the upgrade will be implemented automatically.
• We recommend informing your administrative and compliance teams about these possible short-term delays.
• If needed, update internal documentation to reflect potential temporary limitations.
• Learn about Communication Compliance.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing Viva Engage communities in Microsoft Teams to make it easier for employees to connect, share, and learn across your organization. This new experience brings discoverable, asynchronous conversations and leadership engagement into Teams—helping employees explore ideas and perspectives beyond project-based collaboration.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 513274.

[When this will happen]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Early June 2026 (previously May) to late July 2026 (previously end of May)

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected: All Microsoft Teams users with access to Viva Engage.

What will happen:

• This feature is available to all Microsoft Teams customers with a standard Microsoft 365 and Teams license and access to Viva Engage. No additional Teams license is required.
• Communities will appear in Teams navigation:
  • Unified view: New section in the Chat app.
  • Split view: New section in the Chats and Channels app.
• Existing Viva Engage community memberships will sync into Teams.
• Favorited communities in Engage will appear in Teams favorites.
• Notifications for announcements and mentions will surface in Teams Activity feed and deep link to the new experience.
• Rich engagement features include:
  • Posting discussions, questions, praise, polls, and announcements (admins only).
  • Reactions, delegated posting (requires setup in Viva Engage), and scoped search.
  • Event participation: ask questions, upvote, view live or replay.
• Admins can manage community settings, membership, and roles directly in Teams.
• Default setting: ON for all tenants.

[What you can do to prepare]

• No immediate action required unless you want to disable this feature.
• To turn off communities in Teams:
  • Go to Teams admin center > Viva Engage settings > Toggle OFF.
• Ensure prerequisites:
  • Viva Engage IPs and URLs are not blocked.
  • Sign-ins for Viva Engage are enabled in Microsoft Entra ID.
  • Users have Microsoft 365 and Teams licenses.
• Consider sharing best practices and customization options with users.
• Coordinate with Viva Engage admins for internal change communications.

Learn more:  

• Getting started with Viva Engage Communities in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Support
• Manage Viva Engage experiences in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams | Micosoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

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

Updated April 29, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new capability that enables users to open Outlook emails directly within any full‑app Microsoft 365 Copilot experience, including Copilot chat. This enhancement helps reduce context switching by allowing users to view referenced emails alongside their Copilot interaction.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• All users who access Microsoft 365 Copilot full‑app experiences, including Copilot chat.

What will happen:

• Users will be able to open Outlook emails directly from references or sources shown in Copilot chat.
• Emails will open side‑by‑side within the Copilot experience.
• The feature is enabled by default.
• Existing Microsoft 365 permissions and data access models remain unchanged.
• No changes are made to Outlook, Exchange Online, or Copilot admin controls.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No administrator action is required.
• Update internal documentation if needed.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Engage will retire live events powered by Teams Live Events effective May 4, 2026. Existing live events already scheduled will continue to be supported through February 28, 2027. We encourage customers to transition to events in Engage powered by Teams town halls, which offer an improved experience for large-scale digital and hybrid events.

[When this will happen:]

• Effective May 4, 2026: You will no longer have the option to schedule a live event in Engage powered by Teams Live Events.
• Through February 28, 2027: Engage will continue to support any live events powered by Teams Live Events that were scheduled before May 4, 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Organizations using live events in Engage powered by Teams Live Events.

What will happen:

• You will no longer be able to schedule a live event in Engage powered by Teams Live Events starting May 4, 2026.
• Engage will continue to support already scheduled live events powered by Teams Live Events through February 28, 2027.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Migrate to events in Engage powered by Teams town halls.
• Review and update internal documentation to reflect this change.

Explore these resources:

• Organize a Live event with Teams town hall 
• Plan for Teams town halls
• Virtual Events Graph APIs
• Customer Hub events readiness sessions – recommended sessions for Teams live event users transitioning to Teams town halls:
  • What’s new in Microsoft Teams town halls and webinars
  • Migrating from Teams live events to town halls
  • Tips, tricks, and traps for town halls and webinars in Microsoft Teams

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

To help organizations streamline approval workflows and improve governance, users who request a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will be able to submit a business justification with their request. Admins will see this justification during review, enabling faster and more informed decisions while reducing manual follow-ups.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 547731.

[When this will happen]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in May 2026 (previously late April) and is expected to complete in May 2026 (previously late April).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected:

• Users who request Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses
• Admins who review, approve, or manage Copilot license requests

What will happen:

• Users requesting a Copilot license will see a new field to provide a business justification.
• Admins will see the justification as part of the review experience.
• The feature will be on by default with no tenant configuration required.
• Existing license request workflows will continue to function as they do today.
• There will be no impact to the user experience unless they request a Copilot license.
• No changes to admin policies, settings, or reporting.

Screenshot 1 – A license request will be created when the user clicks Request License:

Screenshot 2 – On the next screen, there is an option to provide a business justification for the request; this step is optional:

Screenshot 3 – View of the dropdown menu with business justification options:

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required.

Optional steps:

• Notify helpdesk or approvers about the new justification field.
• Review or update internal documentation as needed.
• If you track license request metadata, ensure your internal workflows and tools account for the justification field.

[Compliance considerations]

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

Updated April 29, 2026: After reviewing customer feedback, we have decided to pause rollout of this change at this time. We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Introduction

To reduce notification noise and improve signal quality, Microsoft will disable Teams Meeting Recording (TMR) expiration notification emails. Customer feedback indicates these emails generate high volume with minimal engagement. Only the email notifications are being removed; recording expiration and deletion behavior remains unchanged.

When this will happen

We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed.

How this affects your organization

Who is affected:

• All Microsoft 365 tenants
• Users who receive Teams meeting recording expiration emails

What will happen:

• Users will no longer receive email notifications when a Teams meeting recording expires.
• Recording expiration and deletion policies remain unchanged.
• No admin action or policy updates are required.

What you can do to prepare

• No action is required.
• Optionally notify users and helpdesk teams of this change.
• Update internal documentation if it references expiration emails.
• Learn more and reply to our survey: Upcoming change: disabling Teams meeting recording expiration notification emails | Tech Community

Compliance considerations

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

Update as of April 30th, 2026 – Admin action is needed and the content has been updated. Thank you for your patience. 

Migration of channels is complete with a few pending channels for which we have shared more information here for admin remediation. Admins must take action within 30 days, by June 5th, 2026, to remediate specific private channel configurations that are currently not eligible for migration. There are two impacted scenarios.

• The first includes private channels with no users, where the roster is empty and the channel is inaccessible to any tenant user.
• The second includes private channels that contain only guest users and no in-tenant owners. In both cases, these channels cannot be migrated in their current state.

To complete migration of these channels, admins are required to add at least one in-tenant user as an owner to each affected private channel by June 5th, 2026. This ensures the channels have valid ownership and meet requirements. If no action is taken by June 5th 2026, impacted channels will be soft deleted and remain recoverable for 30 days. After this period, they will be permanently deleted. All deletions will continue to honor applicable retention policies, legal holds, and compliance requirements.

To identify impacted channels, admins can use the updated powershell cmdlet Get-TenantPrivateChannelMigrationStatus – which now provides per-channel details for channels in the above state. Once identified, admins can use Microsoft Graph APIs to add in-tenant users as channel owners and complete remediation. Please see FAQ below for sample response and additional data.

We are in the process of expanding higher limits for membership and number of private channels in private channels as well as meeting support, targeting completion in May 2026.

New limits for private channels will rollout starting late April 2026. Private channels not yet migrated would not receive new limits until their migration is complete.

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 will begin in early October 2025 and continue through late April 2026 (previously March). During this period, private channels will continue to operate normally. Admins and compliance managers should complete any required policy changes by October 2025, before the migration begins. Changes to private channel limits and meeting scheduling will follow in late April through early May 2026 (previously early April).

As part of this change, newly created private channels will not be created with a document library by default; the root folder is used as a default location for any new files.

[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 April 2026 (previously March). Updated channel limits and meeting scheduling will complete in early May 2026 (previously April). Restricted clouds rollout will begin in April 2026 (previously March).

[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.

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 is available for tenants to check whether their migration has started or is completed.

The command will be Get-TenantPrivateChannelMigrationStatus

Sample Response

TenantId                     : <tenantId>

MigrationStatus              : RequiresAdminAttention

MigrationStartTimeStamp      : 2/10/2026 6:48:20 AM

MigrationCompletionTimeStamp :

Details                      : (see parsed JSON below)

Parsed Details JSON

{

  “totalChannels”: 10,

  “migratedChannels”: 6,

  “failedChannels”: 1,

  “ownerlessChannels”: 2,

  “remainingChannels”: 1,

  “ownerlessChannelsDetails”: [

    {

      “channelThreadId”: “<channelId>@thread.tacv2”,

      “teamId”: “<teamId>”

    },

    ]

}

Note: The Details field is returned as a single JSON string. The formatted version above is shown for readability.

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.

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new slash command, /createworkflow, in the Microsoft Teams message compose box. A workflow is an automated process that handles repetitive tasks for users, such as sending notifications, creating tasks, or starting approvals when something happens in Teams. With this update, users can type /createworkflow while composing a message to quickly begin creating an automation, instead of navigating through menus. This change is designed to make workflow creation faster, easier to discover, and more accessible directly from chats and channels.

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, and Teams for the web. It is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 558544.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release (Worldwide): We will begin rollout in late April 2026 and expect to complete by late April 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rollout in mid-May 2026 (previously late April) and expect to complete by complete by late May 2026 (previously mid-May).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:
All Microsoft Teams users.

What will happen:

• Users can create workflows directly from the compose box using the /createworkflow slash command.

Screenshot: Example of the /createworkflow slash command appearing in the Teams message compose box

• The feature is enabled by default.
• No existing admin policies are changed.
• Workflow creation is faster with fewer clicks.
• If the Workflows app is blocked for users, they will see the Create Workflow slash command, however they will not be able to use it and will see the following dialogue:
  

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required.
• Optionally inform users about the new slash command.

Learn more: Use commands in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re releasing an improvement to Microsoft Teams that syncs your recently used emojis and reactions across devices. With this update, users will see the same set of “recently used” emojis when using Teams on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows desktop, and Teams for the web, creating a more consistent and seamless experience when communicating across chats and channels. This enhancement aligns with customer feedback requesting a unified emoji experience across platforms.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 554927.

[When this will happen]

• Targeted Release: We expect to complete rollout by mid-June 2026 (previously mid-May).
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in mid-June 2026 (previously mid-May) and expect to complete in late June 2026 (previously late May).
• General Availability (GCC and GCCH): We will begin rolling out in mid-June 2026 (previously mid-May) and expect to complete by mid-July 2026 (previously mid-June).
• General Availability (DoD): We will begin rolling out in mid-July 2026 (previously mid-June) and expect to complete by late July 2026 (previously late June).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• All Microsoft Teams users across supported clients.

What will happen

• Recently used emojis and reactions will sync across devices.
• Users will see the same “recently used” list regardless of which Teams client they use.
• The feature will be enabled by default; no configuration is required for rollout.
• Existing Teams admin settings and messaging policies will continue to apply.
• There is no impact to message flow, data storage, compliance boundaries, or customer data pathways.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required. This update will roll out automatically.

Admins may optionally:

• Inform helpdesk or support teams about this user experience update.
• Update internal documentation if you reference emoji behavior or Teams UI details.
• Review your Messaging settings and Messaging policies if you manage custom emoji usage.

Learn more about emoji and reaction usage in Microsoft Teams: Send an emoji, GIF, or sticker in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Support

[Compliance considerations]

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

This feature does not introduce new data storage, processing changes, AI/ML capabilities, communication pathways, admin reporting changes, or modifications to Purview‑governed workflows. 

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re improving the Viva Engage experience in Microsoft Teams for iOS by bringing pinned resources and related communities into the Teams mobile app. Pinned resources highlight important links and files within a community, while related communities help users discover other relevant Viva Engage communities. These are two separate features that work together to improve information access and community discovery.

This update aligns the iOS experience with Engage on the web, the Engage mobile app, and Teams for Android, helping users discover important content and related communities more easily—especially those who rely on Teams on iOS as their primary communication tool.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 559107.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Users who access Viva Engage communities in Microsoft Teams on iOS
• Community admins who manage Viva Engage communities

What will happen:

• Users will see pinned resources for a community directly within Teams on iOS.
• Users will see related communities surfaced within the community experience.



• The experience will match what is already available in the Viva Engage mobile app, Viva Engage on the web, and Teams for Android.
• The feature is enabled by default.
• There are no changes to existing admin policies or configurations.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No admin action is required.

• Communicate this update to end users who use Teams on iOS.
• Encourage Viva Engage community admins to review pinned resources and related communities.
• Update internal documentation or helpdesk guidance, if applicable.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re updating the API endpoints used by Microsoft 365 Copilot to align with Microsoft’s ongoing transition to the cloud.microsoft domain. This change improves service reliability and security by ensuring Copilot-connected workloads use modernized Microsoft 365 network endpoints.

This update is part of a previously announced Microsoft domain unification initiative across Microsoft 365 services. This update does not introduce changes to the Microsoft 365 Copilot user interface and will not impact user experience, provided your environment follows published Microsoft 365 and Copilot network configuration requirements.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): Rollout will begin in late April 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-May 2026 (previously late April).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Microsoft 365 administrators managing network configurations for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Organizations using custom firewall, proxy, or endpoint filtering configurations within their tenant environment that restrict or interfere with WebSocket (WSS) connections

What will happen:

• APIs used by Microsoft 365 Copilot will transition from the legacy office.com domain to the cloud.microsoft domain.
• This change occurs at the service infrastructure level and is not visible to users.
• No changes to the Microsoft 365 Copilot user interface or workflows are expected.
• The change is enabled by default and cannot be disabled
• If your organization has followed previously published Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot network connectivity requirements:
  • No action is required
  • No service impact is expected
• Organizations that restrict access to the cloud.microsoft domain or restrict WSS connectivity may experience Microsoft 365 Copilot performance or reliability issues

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Confirm that traffic to *.cloud.microsoft is included in your Microsoft 365 endpoint allow list.
• Verify that WSS connections to *.cloud.microsoft destinations are not blocked or interfered with.
• Exempt traffic to *.cloud.microsoft from intrusive network actions such as:
  • TLS decryption
  • Packet inspection
  • Network-level DLP
• Review Microsoft 365 network connectivity guidance:
  • Microsoft 365 endpoints
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot connectivity requirements
• Communicate this change to your networking and helpdesk teams.
• Run the Microsoft 365 Copilot Network Connectivity Test: Microsoft 365 Copilot Network Connectivity Test.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated April 30, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

To support deeper analysis of Copilot agent adoption and usage across your organization, Microsoft will introduce a new export capability in the Agent Dashboard. This feature will allow eligible users to download de‑identified Copilot agent usage data for analysis, helping organizations track adoption trends, optimize licensing, and support AI transformation strategies, while maintaining existing privacy and access controls. User identifiers are removed from the output.

This feature will require at least 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses and will apply to the Viva Insights web app.

This message is related to Roadmap ID 560538. 

[When this will happen]

• Public Preview: We will begin rolling out in late May 2026 and expect to complete rollout by early June 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late September 2026 (previously late July) and expect to complete rollout by early October 2026 (previously late August).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Agent Dashboard users with full company‑level data access, including:
  • Senior leaders (as identified in Microsoft Entra ID)
  • Admin‑assigned company‑level users
  • Delegates with company‑level access
  • 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

• Eligible users will be able to export de‑identified, user‑level Copilot agent metrics and agent attributes aggregated by user and week, for up to the past six months. User identifiers are removed from the output.
• The export will include multiple data tables, such as:
  • Copilot agent metadataincluding agent name, creator type, and publishing source
  • Copilot agent usage metrics, including the number of responses generated
  • Copilot agent credit usage and user retention metrics
  • People metadata, including organization and function type
• By default, this feature will be ON for all eligible users.
• Admins will be able to manage or disable the feature at the tenant or group level at any time using Viva Feature Access Management (VFAM):
  • Module: Viva Insights
  • Feature: Agent Metrics Export
• There will be no impact to user workflows unless the feature is accessed by eligible users.

Screenshot – View of the Agent Dashboard:

[What you can do to prepare]

• No action is required to enable this feature.
• If you do not want this feature enabled by default, you can disable it at the tenant or group level using Viva Feature Access Management (VFAM).
• Review which users have full company‑level access to the Agent Dashboard.
• Communicate the upcoming change to eligible users so they understand the new export capability and its intended use.

Learn more:

• Connect to the Agent Dashboard | Viva Insights | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn
• Delegate access to the Copilot Dashboard, Agent Dashboard, and Copilot insights | Viva Insights | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn
• Manage settings for the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard, Agent Dashboard, and Viva Insights web app | Viva Insights | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn
• Using Entra ID data – Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers | Viva Insights | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn
• Viva features management – Control access to features in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

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

• Paginated (RDL) reports, including reports that use Power BI datasets as a data source or require multi-resource tokens.
• Reports backed by data lake-based semantic models, where v2 tokens are required to include dataset and identity permissions in the embed token.
• Multi-artifact embedding scenarios, where a single token can grant access to multiple reports and datasets, enabling more app-like analytics experiences inside Power Pages.

• Set an expiration date on any message in your journeys (emails, text messages, push notifications, or custom).
• Choose from different expiration options (no expiry, expiration based on a date and time, or a trigger).
• Review analytics to understand which customers didn’t receive messages due to expiration dates.

• Tracks when interactions enter and exit queues.
• Calculates wait time, service level, and abandonment for each queue segment.
• Preserves metric accuracy during cross-queue transfers.
• Surfaces customer wait times after transfers, offering deeper insights than session-level metrics.
• Evaluates service adherence at every queue entry.

• Administrators and supervisors can retrieve the wait time metric through the Agent Availability APIs, enabling Copilot Studio agents or custom logic to decide whether to escalate, defer, or route conversations based on real-time queue conditions.
• The system computes the average wait time using an exponential moving average algorithm, giving more weight to recent connected conversations and automatically excluding abandoned ones.

• Tab-based navigation: Organize related analyses into separate tabs within a single workspace, maintaining context while exploring different perspectives or process segments.
• Flexible layouts: Arrange tiles in customizable grid layouts, allowing you to position process maps, charts, tables, and metrics exactly where you need them for optimal visibility and comparison.
• Powerful tiles: Choose from a comprehensive library of visualization and analysis components—process maps, variant analysis, performance metrics, attribute breakdowns, case lists, and statistical views.
• Unified filtering: Apply filters once and have them cascade across all tiles in your workspace, ensuring consistency and enabling rapid scenario comparison without manual reconfiguration.

• Evaluate voice-driven agent experiences using the same framework you use for chat.
• Apply consistent quality measurement across agent modalities (voice and text).
• Reduce effort when validating voice agents by evaluating transcribed interactions instead of handling audio directly.

• Address average wait time issues without the need for engineering or support.
• Understand why average wait time was or wasn’t displayed to a customer.
• Compare estimated average wait time vs actual experienced wait times for accuracy validation.
• Monitor real-time average wait time per queue to detect performance degradation early.

• Establishing baseline guidelines and guardrails: You can define standard operating procedures, compliance rules, and best practices within an agent configuration. These guardrails ensure that all cloned or shared agents maintain your organization’s standards for prospect engagement.
• Cloning agents: You can duplicate an existing Sales Development agent to create a new instance with identical capabilities and settings. This allows you to quickly deploy multiple agents with the same configuration across different territories, product lines, or business units without manual reconfiguration.
• Sharing and re-assigning agents: You can transfer ownership or share access to configured agents with other people in your organization. This enables centralized configuration management where subject matter experts can set up agents that others will use for outreach.

• Identified customer intent
• Drafted response content
• Proposed field updates
• Recommended follow-up or resolution actions

• Offloads master planning from the main ERP database, reducing SQL load and system contention during planning runs.
• Boosts performance, turning hours-long runs into minutes, even for large datasets, by leveraging a scalable, multi-tenant cloud service.
• Supports ad-hoc and on-demand planning, enabling near real-time updates during business hours instead of waiting for nightly batch jobs.

[Introduction]

We are introducing the AI Reader role for Agent 365 in Microsoft 365 Copilot. This role provides read-only access to agent usage, health, and configuration without requiring Global Administrator permissions. It enables administrators to monitor and report on Agent 365 while maintaining separation of duties and preventing configuration changes.

[When this will happen]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out this feature in early May 2026 and expect to complete by early May 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft 365 tenants using Agent 365
• Users assigned the AI Reader role
• Administrators who manage role assignments for Agent 365

What will happen

• A new AI Reader role will be available in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• Users assigned this role can view agent usage, health, and configuration.
• Users assigned this role cannot make changes or perform administrative actions.
• The AI Reader role is not assigned by default and must be explicitly assigned.
• Existing roles, permissions, and policies are not changed.
• There is no impact to user workflows.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required if your organization does not need read-only visibility into Agent 365.

If you plan to use this role:

• Identify users who need read-only visibility, monitoring, or reporting access without administrative privileges.
• Assign the AI Reader role to those users.

To manage role assignments:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center using a Global Administrator or User Administrator account.
2. Go to Roles > Role assignments.
3. Select AI Reader.
4. Review current assignments and add or remove users as needed.

Learn more: About administrator roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center | Microsoft 365 admin center | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn 

[Compliance considerations]

[Introduction]

We are introducing a new dedicated License Requests page in the Microsoft 365 admin center to help administrators more easily discover, review, and manage Microsoft 365 Copilot license requests submitted by users. This update improves visibility and discoverability of license requests.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in mid-May 2026 and expect to complete by late May 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late May 2026 and expect to complete by early June 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Global admins
• License admins
• User admins
• Organizations using Microsoft 365 Copilot license request workflows via Microsoft 365 Admin Center

What will happen:

• A new page will be available at: Microsoft 365 admin center > Billing > License requests.



• Admins can also find the page via global search using “License requests.”
• Admins will be able to:
  • View submitted Microsoft 365 Copilot license requests.
  • Review and manage requests in a centralized location.
• The feature will be on by default after rollout.
• There are no changes to:
  • Existing role-based access or permissions.
  • User request submission experience.
  • Custom license request policies.
• Organizations using custom policies that redirect requests to external systems:
  • Will continue using their existing workflows.
  • Will not see those requests in the new page.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required.
• After rollout:
  • Navigate to Billing > License requests in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • Review internal processes for handling license requests.
  • Optionally update internal admin documentation or helpdesk guidance.

[Compliance considerations:]

Introduces a new centralized page that improves visibility into license request activity, which may support admin tracking and reporting workflows.

[Introduction]

We are retiring the Together mode meeting view in Microsoft Teams. This retirement reduces the number of available meeting layouts and allows Microsoft to focus development on the Teams gallery. The gallery is the default meeting view across Teams clients and will remain the primary multi-participant layout for meetings.

[When this will happen]

• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Retirement will begin in early June 2026 and is expected to complete by late June 2026.

Dates are subject to change based on safe deployment progress.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft Teams tenant administrators
• Meeting organizers and participants who currently use Together mode
• Organizations using custom Together mode scenes

What will happen

• The Together mode option will be removed from the View menu in Teams meetings.
• Custom Together mode scenes and seat assignment functionality will be retired.
• The gallery view will be the primary multi-participant layout for meetings.
• There is no admin policy or setting available to retain or re-enable Together mode.
• There is no impact to meeting creation, joining, or core meeting functionality aside from the removal of Together mode.

[What you can do to prepare]

No admin action is required for this change. We recommend the following steps:

• Notify meeting organizers and users who regularly use Together mode about the retirement.
• If your organization uses branded meeting visuals, deploy organization-approved background images through the Teams admin center.
• Update internal documentation or training materials that reference Together mode to recommend alternative layouts such as gallery, pin, or spotlight.
• Prepare helpdesk staff to address user questions related to the removal of Together mode.

[Compliance considerations]

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

[Introduction]

Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations (DSI) is adding support for custom examination focus areas. This feature will empower admins to tailor examinations to their specific needs based on the type of investigation being performed and the types of information they want to prioritize. This capability extends DSI’s existing AI‑powered deep content analysis used to identify data security risks.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 560598.

[When this will happen]

• Public Preview: Rollout begins in mid‑May 2026 and is expected to complete by mid‑June 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in mid‑June 2026 and is expected to complete by late June 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft 365 admins and investigators using Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations
• Tenants with access to DSI

What will happen

• Admins can create custom examination focus areas when running Data Security Investigations.
• Custom focus areas allow investigations to prioritize specific types of sensitive information relevant to the investigation.
• AI-powered deep content analysis uses these focus areas to surface potential data security risks more efficiently.
• The feature is available by default to eligible tenants once rolled out.
• Existing DSI permissions, policies, and workflows are respected.
• There is no change to user workflows unless an admin runs an investigation using custom focus areas.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required before this feature rolls out.

You may want to:

• Review how your organization currently uses Data Security Investigations.
• Update internal investigation playbooks or documentation to include custom examination focus areas.
• Inform security and compliance teams about the new capability.

Learn more: 

• Learn about Data Security Investigations | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn
• Use examination tools – Use AI analysis in Data Security Investigations | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

[Introduction]

Microsoft 365 Copilot will begin using content from private communities and private events as grounding sources to generate responses. This change helps Copilot provide more relevant and context-aware answers by incorporating content that users already have access to, while continuing to respect existing permissions and security controls.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 515144.

[When this will happen]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out this feature in May 2026 and expect to complete the rollout by late June 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected:

All Microsoft 365 tenants using Microsoft 365 Copilot

What will happen

• Microsoft 365 Copilot may reference content from private communities and private events when generating responses.
• Users will only see content they already have permission to access:

   

• Sensitivity labels applied to the source content will be displayed alongside Copilot citations, when applicable.
• The feature is enabled by default and cannot be turned off.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required.

You may want to inform administrators, compliance teams, or helpdesk staff that Copilot can now reference private community and event content while continuing to honor existing permissions and sensitivity labels.

[Compliance considerations]

[Introduction]

To improve file reliability and alignment with common customer workflows, Microsoft Teams is updating the default file open preference for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Users who previously selected Teams as their default file opening option will now default to Desktop app or Web app instead. This change reflects customer feedback and ongoing improvements to file performance and consistency across Microsoft 365.

[When this will happen]

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

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

Users in Microsoft 365 tenants who previously set Teams as their default app for opening Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files.

What will happen

• The default file open preference will change from Teams to Desktop app or Web app.
• This change applies automatically; no admin configuration is required.
• Users can manually change their file open preference back to Teams at any time from their Teams settings.
• There is no change to file storage location or permissions.

First run experience dialog shown to users when the updated default file open preference takes effect:

[What you can do to prepare]

• No admin action is required.
• Consider notifying helpdesk staff and end users about the change to reduce support requests.
• Optional internal message you can reuse:
  • “If you notice Office files opening in Desktop or Web instead of Teams, this is an expected update. You can change your preference anytime in Teams settings.”

[Compliance considerations]

[Introduction]

We’re expanding access to the AI Assistant in the Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal so more IT admins can quickly get answers about their rooms and devices. Previously available only to Global Admins, the AI Assistant will now be accessible to all portal roles while continuing to enforce existing role-based access control (RBAC). This helps admins get faster insights without increasing access or visibility beyond what they already manage. This update is rolling out as a Public Preview starting the week of April 23, 2026, with General Availability planned for May 2026.

[When this will happen]

• Public Preview: Rolling out in late April 2026, with completion expected by early May 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rolling out in late April 2026, with completion expected in early May 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• IT admins and operators with access to the Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal
• Microsoft 365 tenants using Teams Rooms Pro

What will happen

• The AI Assistant will be available to all Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal roles, not just Global Admins.
• The feature is enabled by default for eligible tenants.
• AI Assistant responses are RBAC-enforced, meaning:
  • Users only see data for rooms and devices they already have permission to manage.
  • No cross-scope or elevated visibility is introduced.
• No changes are made to existing portal roles or permissions.

What the AI Assistant can do at launch:

• Answer questions about room and device inventory (for example, firmware versions or device counts).
• Provide tenant-level summaries and reporting-style insights within the user’s permitted scope.
• Offer product knowledge and setup guidance (for example, how-to questions).

What the AI Assistant does not do at launch:

• Make configuration changes or take actions on devices.
• Run multi-step diagnostics or automated troubleshooting.
• Automatically remediate issues.
• These capabilities are planned for future phases.

Additional capabilities are planned for future updates.

[What you can do to prepare]

• No action required. 
• Review existing Teams Rooms Pro portal role assignments if you want to control who can access the AI Assistant.
• Consider informing helpdesk or operations teams that AI Assistant access is expanding to additional portal roles.

[Compliance considerations]

[Introduction]

Meetings as references in Copilot Notebooks bring Microsoft Teams meeting content into the notebook experience, enabling users to ground Copilot on the discussions, decisions, and context that drive their work. By adding meetings as knowledge sources, users can connect transcripts, notes, chats, and shared content directly to their projects—enriching notebooks beyond files alone and improving downstream outputs such as presentations and briefs. This enhances productivity and decision-making by connecting conversational context with existing documents, while continuing to respect existing access controls and organizational data governance policies. Available in Copilot Notebooks for licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) users.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Users with access to Copilot Notebooks in Microsoft 365
• Organizations using Microsoft Teams meetings with transcription or recording enabled
• A Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) license is required to use this feature

What will happen:

• Users can incorporate Teams meeting content (for example, transcripts, chat, and shared materials) into Copilot Notebooks as references.
• Copilot will generate insights and content grounded in meeting context.
• The feature will be on by default where Copilot Notebooks are available.
• Access to meeting content will respect existing user permissions for the meeting and related files.
• Existing Teams meeting policies, retention settings, and organizational data governance controls are respected.
• There is no change to user workflow unless meetings are added as references.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No additional admin setup is required.
• Admins should ensure Teams transcription and recording policies and meeting access permissions are configured appropriately for their organization’s governance requirements.
• Confirm meeting access permissions align with organizational governance policies.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff and Copilot users.
• Update internal documentation for Copilot Notebooks usage, if applicable.

Learn more:

• Manage Teams recording policies for meetings and events – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Admins- Manage transcription and captions for Teams meetings | Microsoft Learn
• Before General Availability rollout, we will update this post with new documentation.

[Compliance considerations:]

[Introduction]

Microsoft will expand AI model options in Microsoft 365 Copilot. With this change, organizations will be able to enable Anthropic models alongside OpenAI models when users edit documents with Copilot in Microsoft Word. This update provides administrators with additional configuration options for AI model providers while maintaining Microsoft’s existing security, privacy, and compliance commitments.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 558440.

[When this will happen]

• General Availability (Worldwide):
  • Rollout will begin in mid-May 2026.
  • Rollout will complete by late May 2026.
• Regional availability and default state
  • EU, EFTA, and UK: Anthropic models will be available but disabled by default and must be explicitly enabled by an administrator.
  • All other regions: Anthropic models will be enabled by default.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft 365 tenants using Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium)
• Users who edit documents in Microsoft Word using Copilot
• Administrators who manage Copilot and AI provider settings

What will happen

• Anthropic will be available as an AI provider operating as a Microsoft subprocessor.
• Users will be able to select Anthropic models in addition to OpenAI models when using Copilot in Word:

   

• For tenants outside the EU, EFTA, and the UK, Anthropic models will be enabled by default.
• For tenants in the EU, EFTA, and the UK, the feature will be off by default and require explicit admin enablement.
• Administrators can enable or disable Anthropic at any time at the tenant level.
• Existing Microsoft 365 Copilot security, compliance, and governance controls will continue to apply.
• There is no change to the user experience unless Anthropic is enabled (or remains enabled by default, depending on region).

[What you can do to prepare]

• If your tenant is in the EU, EFTA, or the UK and you plan to enable Anthropic:
  • Review your organization’s AI governance, privacy, and compliance requirements.
• If you want to manage or change availability of Anthropic models:
  • In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Copilot → Settings → View all.
  • Select AI providers operating as Microsoft subprocessors.
  • Under Available subprocessors for your organization, choose Anthropic and select Enable or Disable.
• Communicate this upcoming change to your security, compliance, and helpdesk teams.
• Update any internal documentation related to Copilot AI model usage.

[Compliance considerations]

• Track the operational health of their resources.
• Configure custom thresholds and get notifications when metrics for their resources pass specific thresholds.
• Detect health degradations faster by using one-hour metric aggregates (for supported metrics).

• October 2025: The policy, “Remove default Microsoft Store packages from the system”, first became available.
• March 13, 2026: The expanded policy became available to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels.
• April 2026 Windows non-security update: The expanded policy is broadly available for use with Group Policy and custom OMA-URI. 
• Future releases: Additional Intune capabilities are coming.

• Dynamically remove apps from managed Windows 11 devices
• Policy-based removal of pre-installed Microsoft Store apps
• Policy-based in-box app removal
• ApplicationManagement Policy CSP

View and manage available AI features in one place.
• Enable and configure agents per environment with guided setup.
• Set agent guardrails and usage limits.
• Stay aligned with tenant-level Copilot and agent governance.
• Access AI optimization and insights.
• Self-serve with embedded knowledge and compliance resources.

• Enable the feature in Project parameters.
• Select Enable Customize Task Pane to access the functionality.

Updated January 20, 2026: We’ve updated how Teams meeting join links appear in meeting invites. As part of the broader rollout of the new, shorter meeting URL format, meeting invites now display the full join link directly instead of a labeled “Join the meeting now” hyperlink. This improves link consistency, reliability across clients and email applications, and makes copying and sharing the link easier. This update does not change meeting functionality or attendee experience. Existing Teams and Outlook clients continue to support the new link format.

Please note that information about meeting link expiry changes related to this rollout has been added.

We are reducing the length of Microsoft Teams meeting URLs for easier sharing. This rollout applies to all Microsoft Teams platforms (Teams for iOS, Android, Mac, Teams devices, desktop, and web).

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 381953.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out mid-February 2025 (previously mid-January) and expect to complete by late February 2025 (previously late January). Only Meet Now use cases (except Meet Now in chats and channels) will be affected in this timeframe. There will be no impact on the scheduled meetings in this phase.

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out January 2026 (previously mid-May 2025) and expect to complete by end of January 2026 (previously late May 2025).  

General Availability (GCC High, DoD):  We will begin rolling out February 2026 (previously early August 2025) and expect to complete by end of February 2026 (previously late October 2025).

[How this will affect your organization:]

The new URL syntax is: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/<meeting_id>?p=<HashedPasscode>

To make meeting URL shorter, we are removing several parameters such as tenant ID, conversation ID etc. This change serves two main goals: 1) improving usability of URL during sharing and 2) making the URL more secure and less susceptible to malicious attacks.

Here are some details about how meeting links work and when they expire:

1. In case the meeting organizer gets removed from the tenant, the links to the meetings scheduled by them automatically expire.
2.  MeetNow meetings expire 60 days after creation. Learn more about expiration timelines for different types of meetings.

With the Short Meeting URL release, expiration limit will be applied to all newly created links.

Once the change to Short Meeting URL is released, all newly created meetings will expire as described in the documentation: 60 days after meeting ends for scheduled meetings and 60 days after creation for MeetNow meetings. Once this expiry period is over, in case someone clicks the link (e.g. outside of Teams app OR in the meeting details inside Teams calendar section), they will be unable to join the meeting.

Note: Old links created before short meeting URL release will continue working as it previously was (user will be able to join even after the documented expiry limits).

The reason why we are making this change is simple: security is our topmost priority. Maintaining a high security level is essential to protect sensitive data, prevent financial losses, ensure business continuity, and meet compliance and legal obligations. It is a critical aspect of modern digital life and business operations. This adjustment is designed to enhance the security of Teams meeting links, thereby better safeguarding the customer tenant. We want to be on par with modern security standards, that’s why the new behavior is a step in the right direction that we must take. It’s not possible to keep the current behavior. If you think it breaks some of your business processes, please leave comment to the MC post and describe your case there.

Recommendations in case the meeting link has expired:

For meeting organizer: We recommend scheduling a new meeting. If the meeting organizer got removed from the tenant someone else should reschedule their meetings from scratch.

For participant: Please reach out to the meeting organizer and ask them to reschedule the meeting or send you an updated link.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

You may want to check if you have any integrations that use parameters from URL. After the rollout, the URL will only contain the meeting ID. Parameters such as tenant ID, organizer ID, conversation ID and message ID will not be in the URL.

You may inform meeting organizers from your tenant who use expired meeting links, or you may want to make a tenant-wide announcement about this change.

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