Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 05-02-2026

Updated February 4, 2026: This feature has been removed from outlook for iOS and Android in response to user feedback and costs. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

In Microsoft Outlook for iOS/Android, the new priority view will help users find what’s important in their Inbox by highlighting high priority emails and ones that need a reply.

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

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 495261.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out late June 2025 and expect to complete by late December 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, users can enable this feature in Outlook Settings > Copilot > Prioritize > Priority view. Users can choose the number of days of email to be included in this view (from one to three days) and choose if they want to see all emails or just unread emails.

Left: Users who have enabled the Prioritize by Copilot feature can access the new view by tapping the sparkle icon at the top of the message list. Then users can swipe between the two groups of emails: High priority (middle) and Needs replies (right). For each group, users will see a filtered view of their message list to just emails that are high priority or need a reply, respectively. From here, users can take a bulk action on those emails or give feedback on the groups.

This new feature will be available by default for users who have enabled Prioritize by Copilot by going to Settings > Copilot.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified dates with no admin action required before the rollout. Users who have enabled the Prioritize by Copilot feature will start seeing the new view. You may want to notify your users about this change and update your relevant documentation.

Learn more about enabling Prioritize by Copilot: Prioritize my inbox – Microsoft Support

Updated February 4, 2026: We have added additional links. Thank you for your patience.

Agents in OneDrive lets you group files and folders together, so you can ask questions, get summaries, and find key details across your project—without having to reselect items each time. Agents are saved in your OneDrive and can be shared with your team, making collaboration and staying up to date easier. This new capability helps users work more efficiently by turning OneDrive into a workspace for AI-powered project assistance.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 469503.

General Availability (Worldwide): This is now generally available.

Who is affected: Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license assigned to either work or school accounts (Microsoft 365 commercial or education tenants). 

What will happen:

Users will see a new agent option in OneDrive.

How to use Agents in OneDrive:

• Create your Agent: When users first select the Copilot button in OneDrive or the +Create or upload button, a guided experience will introduce agents and walk users through how to create and use them. From there, users can create an agent from their OneDrive using the +Create or upload option and then select the Agent option (screenshot 1):

 

• Alternatively, users can select the files to include in an agent, then choose Create an agent from the Copilot toolbar dropdown menu (screenshot 2):

 

• Access your agent as a file in OneDrive (.agent extension), filter by file type “agent” (screenshot 3):

 

• Open the agent to ask questions and get answers from your documents.
• Edit or update your agent anytime to change its sources, name, or instructions (screenshot 4):

 

• Share your agent with your team to collaborate and keep everyone informed (screenshots 5 & 6):

 

No admin action is required at this time.

You may wish to:

• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff.
• Update internal documentation to reflect the new agent capabilities in OneDrive.
• Encourage users to explore agents to improve project efficiency using AI.
• Review this Blog: Meet Agents in OneDrive: Your AI assistant built with your own content | Microsoft Community Hub 
• Watch this video: Bring insights of your OneDrive files into Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Review documentation at the following links:
  • Get started with OneDrive agents
  • Create and use an agent in OneDrive
  • Find your agent files in OneDrive
  • Share an AI agent in OneDrive

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

[Introduction]

Teams users in tenants with open collaboration policies have long been able to start a chat with anyone who has an email address. However, recipients without a Teams account were previously asked to sign up for one before being able to collaborate. We’re introducing a new capability in Microsoft Teams for certain tenants (see ‘Who is affected’ below) that allows these recipients to join the chat as a guest— no account needed, and as long as it is allowed by the tenant’s existing policy configuration.

This feature will be available across Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, and Android platforms.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 513271.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release: Rollout for users with the aforementioned licenses begun in early November 2025 and was completed in mid-November 2025
• General Availability (Worldwide): May 2026 (previously February)

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

This capability is currently available only to small and medium business customers enrolled in public preview with a Teams Essentials, Business Basic, Business Standard, or Business Premium license. It also only affects organizations with guest chat enabled and that do not limit guest collaboration to specific domains. Organizations without users enrolled in public preview or without users with these licenses may still see this post even if they are not affected.

What will happen for those who are affected:

• After Teams users start a chat with someone who is not on Teams, the recipient will receive an email inviting them to join the chat as a guest. Only Teams users in your organization can start the chat, as users without Teams accounts cannot initiate chats.
• Chats will remain within your organization’s boundary.
• This feature is enabled by default but will be governed by your organization’s Entra B2B Guest policies and Teams Admin Center Guest Access policies. It will not override any existing policy configurations.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Update internal documentation to reflect this new capability.
• Inform helpdesk and support teams about the change.
• Review the documentation here: Chat with anyone not using Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• To disable the feature, set the UseB2BInvitesToAddExternalUsers attribute of TeamsMessagingPolicy to false. Set-CsTeamsMessagingPolicy documentation here.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

[Introduction]

Microsoft Purview is introducing Classifier Simulation Mode, the first phase of the broader Classifier Health Monitoring Platform. This new capability allows admins to test and validate custom classifiers on production data before publishing. Simulation Mode enables admins to optimize classifier logic before deployment, helping in reducing false positives, scanning latency, and noisy matches. Admins will access simulation controls and classifier health insights directly in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, making it easier to monitor and improve classifier performance in one centralized location.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 523201.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: Rollout begins early March 2026 (previously early November 2025), completes by mid-April 2026 (previously early December 2025).
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins late May 2026 (previously late February), completes by late May 2026 (previously late March).

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Admins managing Microsoft Purview Information Protection and custom sensitive information types (SITs).
• What will happen:
  • By default, the feature will be available to all tenants.
  • Admins will see a new option to simulate a custom classifier before publishing.
  • Simulation is optional — admins can choose to simulate or publish directly.
  • Classifiers published without simulation will still be monitored for performance and flagged if unhealthy.
  • Classifier health insights will be available in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, helping admins identify and remediate inefficient classifiers.
  • Inefficient classifiers may be automatically disabled to maintain system performance.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Admins can begin using Simulation Mode once available; no onboarding or training is required.
• Once the feature is available:
  • Review classifier health insights in the compliance portal.
  • Monitor any SITs flagged as unhealthy and adjust logic as needed.
  • Consider simulating classifiers before publishing to reduce risk of false positives or performance issues.

[Compliance considerations:]

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Non-Microsoft SharePoint Embedded applications now support container archival. This feature helps organizations reduce storage costs by up to 75% by moving large or inactive content to low-cost storage tiers. It also improves Copilot search relevance by prioritizing active content and reducing noise from outdated data.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: Rollout will begin in early February 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-March 2026 (previously late February).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Admins managing SharePoint Embedded applications and developers integrating with SharePoint Embedded APIs.

What will happen:

• New Graph APIs will be available to archive and unarchive containers, enabling integration with your application workflows.



• SharePoint Admin Center will include options to archive and reactivate containers alongside existing container management capabilities.
• Archival support is OFF by default. To enable this functionality, you must opt in using a PowerShell cmdlet.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Enable archival support by running the appropriate PowerShell cmdlet:  
  • For a new container type: Use New-SPOContainerType with the parameter -IsArchiveEnabled. Learn more: New-SPOContainerType (Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell) | Microsoft Learn.
  • For an existing container type: Use Set-SPOContainerType with the parameter -IsArchiveEnabled. Learn more: Set-SPOContainerType (Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell) | Microsoft Learn.
• Update your application to handle archived container status and display appropriate messaging to end users.
• Optionally, expose archival and reactivation options in your application interface.
• Review documentation for Graph API integration and PowerShell cmdlet usage.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Agent Mode in PowerPoint lets you create, edit, and refine presentations through natural conversation, directly in your presentation. You can start a new presentation or build on an existing one, asking Copilot to generate slides, update content, improve layouts, and polish design—while preserving formatting, structure, and branding. Available to Microsoft 365 users.

For Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users, Copilot can also use your files, meetings, emails, and more to help shape content and iterate quickly, and it connects to your brand kit so you can apply branded templates, insert brand‑approved images, and check for brand compliance.

Screenshot – Entry point for PowerPoint Agent Mode

This message is associated with Roadmap IDs 548520 and 548646.

[When this will happen:]
General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin mid-February 2026 and complete by mid-March 2026.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Who is affected:
Users in your organization who use the PowerPoint web application and have Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.

What will happen:

• Users will gain access to Agent Mode in Microsoft 365 Copilot for PowerPoint for the web.
• Users can interact with Copilot Chat to edit and refine presentation content.
• Formatting, structure, and branding will be preserved.
• Users can use Enterprise assets to further enhance the presentation.
• Agent mode is available to all eligible users by default; no action is needed by Admins.
• Note: Agent Mode is part of Copilot Chat within PowerPoint for the web and is not a standalone feature.

[What you need to do to prepare:]
No action is required.

• Communicate availability of Agent Mode to helpdesk staff and users.
• Encourage users to explore the feature to improve presentation workflows.
• Review and update internal documentation if you provide guidance on PowerPoint for the web or Copilot usage.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the timeline. We’ve been notified that some email providers may distrust the DigiCert G1 root on April 15, which could result in broad ecosystem‑wide email impact. To ensure Exchange Online can rotate certificates ahead of this event, customers must trust the DigiCert Global Root G2 certificate authority by March 15 (previously April 30). Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Action might be required to avoid service disruption. To maintain secure and uninterrupted mail flow with Exchange Online, organizations must ensure their servers and clients trust the DigiCert Global Root G2 Certificate Authority (CA) and its subordinate CAs. 

Organizations that rely on custom certificate trust stores, disabled Windows CTL updates, or older runtime environments might be impacted and may need to update their trusted certificate chains.

[When this will happen:]

Organizations must complete required certificate trust updates before March 15, 2026 (previously April 30).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

This change applies to all organizations (Worldwide, GCC, GCC‑High, DoD) that:

• Send or receive email with Exchange Online and
• Either:
• Your organization has disabled the Windows CTL Updater feature that by default downloads the Certificate Trust List (CTL).
  • The CTL contains trusted and untrusted root certificates. Learn more: Certificates and trust in Windows.
  • This scenario may apply if your organization maintains its own set of trusted Root and Intermediate Certificates via Group Policy or via a redirected Microsoft Automatic Update URL. Learn more: Configure trusted roots and disallowed certificates in Windows.
  • You can determine whether the Windows CTL Updater feature is disabled by reviewing the Who needs to take action section of this Microsoft guidance: Trust DigiCert Global Root G2 Certificate Authority to Avoid Exchange Online Email Disruption.
• You use older or custom application environments such as:
• Legacy Java/JDK/JRE runtimes
• Embedded systems and appliances
• Custom or outdated Linux images
• Air‑gapped systems
• Third‑party email gateways or security appliances that perform certificate chain validation

This change applies to any system performing full certificate chain validation against Exchange Online, including Exchange Server, security appliances, and third-party email gateways. If you use third-party email appliances, please contact the vendor directly for support.

Windows systems with the CTL Updater enabled (default) do not require action.

What will happen:

If the DigiCert Global Root G2 certificate or required intermediates are missing or cannot be retrieved during TLS negotiation:

• Outbound email clients may:
• Refuse to send email when strict certificate validation is enforced
• Fall back to unencrypted SMTP if allowed
• Inbound SMTP connections from Exchange Online may fail or be delayed
• Email flow reliability may be reduced
• Systems not using up‑to‑date certificate chains may be unable to validate TLS certificates presented by Exchange Online

If your organization already maintains the current Office 365 certificate chains, no impact is expected.

[What you can do to prepare:]

Required actions:

If your environment has disabled Windows CTL updates or relies on older/custom runtimes, complete the actions outlined in the What you must do section of: Trust DigiCert Global Root G2 Certificate Authority to Avoid Exchange Online Email Disruption

Specific actions include:

• Review whether Windows CTL Updater is disabled in your organization.
• Confirm whether SMTP servers, security appliances, and gateways fully trust the DigiCert Global Root G2 CA and subordinate CAs.
• Ensure outdated or custom runtimes (Java, Linux, embedded systems, etc.) include the required certificates.
• Contact your third‑party email appliance vendor if they manage certificate chains.
• Update internal documentation and inform helpdesk teams as required.

No action required if:

• You are using Windows systems with CTL Updater enabled (default behavior), and
• Your organization already trusts the latest Office 365 certificate chains.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

Original: Please do not paste images here. Attach your high-resolution PNGs to the No Reply confirmation email. Thank you!

We are reiterating the guidance for connector settings to ensure customers are using healthy configurations. The key problematic configurations we are seeing are:

1. When a tenant has an Inbound connector of type OnPremises and the connector does certificate-based authentication using a certificate with a subject/SAN for a domain that is NOT an Accepted Domain of the tenant.
2. When a tenant has an Inbound connector of type OnPremises and the connector does IP-based authentication, but the IP is used by other tenants On-Premises servers to connect to Exchange Online.

These anti-patterns typically occur when you are using a 3rd party service to relay email through Exchange Online but could also occur if your organization has a single on-premises Exchange Server connecting to multiple Exchange Online tenants.

These configurations can cause incorrect mail flow because Exchange Online is a multi tenant service and relies on message attribution to determine which tenant an incoming message belongs to. When messages are received through an Inbound connector of type OnPremises, attribution is determined using the following priority order:

1. The domain on the TLS certificate presented by the sending server
2. The P1 MailFrom (envelope sender) domain
3. The P1 RcptTo (recipient) domain

[How this will affect your organization:]

We may perform internal changes, such as tenant moves, without notice, which can impact mail flow if a tenant has a bad connector configuration. This means a misconfigured connector that works today may unexpectedly stop working.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

If you have a single on-premises Exchange Server connecting to multiple Exchange Online tenants, your on-premises Exchange environment must use a unique client certificate to send to each unique Exchange Online tenant belonging to your organization. You must configure a unique Send Connector on-premises for each unique tenant in Exchange Online that you want to route on-premises traffic to: Send connectors in Exchange Server | Microsoft Learn. You should also prioritize configuring Inbound connectors of type OnPremises in Exchange Online to use certificate-based authentication, rather than IP based . For best performance, Exchange Online tenants Inbound connector’s should reference the unique client certificate dedicated for that connector path.

If you need to use a third-party add-on service to process email messages sent from your organization and then relay through Exchange Online, the third-party service must support a unique certificate for your organization, and the certificate domain (in Subject name or SAN) must be an accepted domain of your organization. In addition, you must update your Inbound connector of OnPremises type to use the unique certificate domain, via property TlsSenderCertificateName. An example of this scenario is your organization using a third-party CRM cloud service to send emails on behalf your organization to mailboxes of your company or other external users. To learn more, see Scenario: Integrate Exchange Online with an email add-on service.

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We are introducing a new Microsoft Purview Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) role—Purview Agent Deployment—and adding it to several existing Purview built‑in role groups. This update enables analysts who intend to work with Purview agents to also deploy them directly without requiring administrator involvement. This change improves onboarding efficiency and supports broader adoption of Purview’s AI‑powered agent capabilities.

This post is related to Roadmap ID 551147.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Who is affected:
Admins and analysts who intend to use Microsoft Purview agents or manage Purview role groups.

What will happen:

• The new Purview Agent Deployment role will be added to these built‑in role groups:
  • Compliance Administrator
  • Data Security Management
  • Information Protection
  • Information Protection Analysts
  • Information Protection Investigators
  • Insider Risk Management
  • Insider Risk Management Analyst
  • Insider Risk Management Investigator
  • Purview Agent Management
• The Purview Agent Management role group will continue to include Purview Content Analyst role and maintain access to Posture agent capabilities.
• Users assigned to these role groups will be able to deploy, use, and manage Purview agents end‑to‑end, including:
  • Data Security Triage Agent (DLP)
  • Data Security Triage Agent (IRM)
  • Data Security Posture Agent (DSPM)
  • Future agents as released
• No default data access permissions are changed.
• No additional visibility into customer content is added.
• Organizations can optionally enforce separation of deployment vs. analysis roles using custom role groups.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Analysts assigned to built‑in Purview role groups will automatically be able to deploy agents.
• If restricting agent deployment:
  • Create a custom role group without the Purview Agent Deployment role.
  • Assign analysts accordingly.
• Ensure custom groups include the Purview Agent Deployment role only where intended.
• Review and update internal RBAC documentation, training, and onboarding materials.

Learn more: Roles and role groups in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

• Current Channel

[When this will happen:]

We'll be gradually rolling out this update of Microsoft 365 Apps to users on that update channel starting February 3rd, 2026 (PST).

[How this will affect your organization:]

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

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

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

• Current Channel

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.

[Introduction]
We’re retiring the OneView and TrueTime features from Outlook Web App (OWA). OneView allows users to connect personal email accounts—such as Outlook.com, Gmail, or other IMAP accounts—to their work mailbox in OWA, providing a unified view of multiple inboxes. TrueTime allows users to view personal and work calendars together in OWA for consolidated scheduling. Once these features are retired, users will no longer be able to connect personal accounts or view personal calendar information inside OWA.

[When this will happen:]
This retirement will begin in early March 2026 and complete by late June 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Users who currently use OneView or TrueTime in OWA.
• Users who have connected work and personal accounts within OWA.

What will happen:

• OneView and TrueTime features will be removed from OWA.
• Users will no longer be able to connect or access personal accounts within OWA.
• Existing connected accounts will be automatically disconnected.
• Users must manually schedule corresponding events across calendars if needed.
• No admin configuration changes are required; the retirement occurs automatically.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required.
• Notify your users about this retirement.
• Update internal helpdesk guidance and documentation.
• Direct users who need multi-account support to Outlook for Windows or Mac.

[Compliance considerations:]
No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.

Updated February 4, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Purview | Data Lifecycle Management: Admins will be able to apply a retention policy or retention label in Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft SharePoint for files that have not been accessed by anyone in your organization for a specified period of time. This message applies to retention for Microsoft 365 file types. We will support other file types (non-Microsoft 365) in a future rollout.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 472030.

[When this will happen:]

Preview: We will begin rolling out late May 2026 (previously late January) and expect to complete by mid-June 2026 (previously late June)

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out late June 2026 (previously mid-January 2026) and expect to complete by mid-July 2026 (previously late July)

[How this will affect your organization:]

This feature will help delete obsolete data, which will improve the quality and relevance of Microsoft 365 Copilot responses.

This feature will be available by default.

After the rollout, admins can use the retention control When items were last accessed when configuring labels and policies.

Retention settings page in Purview with the new “last accessed” option for retention policies:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

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