Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 06-03-2026

Updated March 5, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

We’re introducing the ability for organizations to customize Microsoft 365 profile cards by adding up to 10 custom properties sourced from external systems such as HR platforms. This enhancement helps enrich user profiles with relevant organizational details, improving discoverability and context for collaboration.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 529851.

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

Who is affected: Microsoft 365 tenant admins managing user profile cards

What will happen:

• You can add up to 10 custom properties to profile cards using Microsoft Graph People connectors.
• Properties can be sourced from external systems (such as HR platforms).
• This feature is OFF by default and requires admin configuration to enable.
• Admins can configure visibility, display name, and icon for each property in Microsoft 365 admin center under: Settings > Org settings > People settings > Profile > Person info on profile cards 

  

• Once enabled, properties appear in the Contact Information section of profile cards in Outlook Web:



• Changes may take up to 24 hours to propagate across profile cards.
• Future updates will include direct ingestion from SAP SuccessFactors and Workday connectors.

• Review external systems for properties you want displayed on profile cards.
• Ingest these properties using a Microsoft Graph People connector.
• Configure visibility and enable properties in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff and update internal documentation if needed.

Learn more: Microsoft 365 Copilot connectors for people data | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations

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

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

[Introduction]

We are introducing a new SharePoint experience that includes a redesigned SharePoint app bar, a refreshed SharePoint start page for finding sites, content, and news, and support for AI-assisted creation, management, and discovery features. The new experience applies to all SharePoint users. Some capabilities in this experience use AI. Access to those capabilities requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 547732.

Before the new experience rolls out broadly, it will be available as a public preview. During the preview period, administrators can enable the experience for their tenant to evaluate the changes and prepare users. When enabled during preview, the experience applies to all users in the tenant. Users may opt out of the new experience during the preview period.

When the public preview ends, Targeted Release rollout will begin, followed by General Availability (GA). Starting with Targeted Release, the new SharePoint experience will automatically apply to all tenants and users. Any tenant-level preview settings or individual user opt-outs configured during the preview period will be overridden, and no tenant or user controls will remain.

[When this will happen]

• Public Preview: Rolling out in early March 2026; expected completion by late April 2026.
• Targeted Release: Rolling out in late April 2026; expected completion by early May 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Rolling out in early May 2026; expected completion by late May 2026.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

• All SharePoint users
• Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will have access to AI capabilities included in this experience.
  

What will happen

When the new experience is enabled—either during preview or as part of the Targeted Release and General Availability (GA) rollout—users will see an updated SharePoint app bar that introduces entry points for discovering content, publishing communications, and building SharePoint solutions.

The updated app bar includes:

Discover

A refreshed start experience to find relevant sites, content, and news.

Publish 

A unified publishing hub that brings together pages, news, and campaign-style communications powered by Amplify.

Build 

A centralized place where makers can create and manage SharePoint sites, lists, libraries, and AI-powered agents from a single surface.

The app bar will also include:

• OneDrive – Provides quick access to files.
• Home – Appears when a Home site with global navigation is configured in the tenant.

Additional updates include:

• Updated page, news, library, and list experiences with improved content visibility
• Neutral theming applied across SharePoint product surfaces (site-level branding remains unchanged)

[What you can do to prepare]

If you plan to enable the preview experience:

• Enable the setting in the SharePoint admin center: Settings → SharePoint → New SharePoint Experience
• Review documentation: Enable the new SharePoint experience (preview) | SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | SharePoint | Microsoft Learn
• Review changes to the SharePoint navigation experience, including the new app bar: SharePoint App Bar
• Communicate expected UI changes to helpdesk teams and users before enabling the preview.
• Update internal documentation that references SharePoint navigation or app bar elements.

[Compliance considerations]

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

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

[Introduction]

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

[When this will happen]

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

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected

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

What will happen

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

[What you can do to prepare]

No action is required.

You may optionally:

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

[Compliance considerations]

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

• Enable notification toggles in the wrap wizard for both Android and iOS platforms.
• Create a new project in your Firebase console (Google Firebase).
• Register your apps in Firebase by creating both an Android app and an iOS app under the messaging section.
• Add platform details by selecting the platform and entering your app’s bundle ID (ensure the package name matches your app’s bundle ID exactly).
• Download configuration files – Firebase provides a google-services.json file for Android and a google-services.plist file for iOS.
• Upload configuration files to the notification step in the wrap wizard.
• Complete the wrap process – the remaining steps will work automatically to generate your APK or IPA file.
• Set up Power Automate flow to send notifications by creating an HTTP request action that calls the Firebase API.
• Configure trigger conditions in Power Automate (for example, when a record is created or updated in Dataverse).
• Extract recipient email address from the triggered record in your Power Automate flow.
• Include Firebase API credentials by storing the API key as a secret value in Power Automate.
• Define notification content including title, body, and target topic in your HTTP request.
• Test notifications using Firebase’s notification composer in the console before deploying to production.
• Target specific users by sending notifications to their email-based topic or target all app users by selecting the appropriate user segment option.

Updated March 5, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Manage retention and deletion workflows for user-owned Loop workspaces such as Copilot Pages and the Loop personal workspace when users leave the organization.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 421612

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Once available, admins will be able to manage retention and deletion workflows for user-owned Loop workspaces such as Copilot Pages and the Loop personal workspace when users leave the organization. Updates will include the ability to provide temporary access to other employees or administrators to save important data before deletion policies take effect.

More details will become available closer to the release date.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

There is nothing you need to do to prepare. These changes will roll to your tenant automatically.