Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 10-07-2026

Updated July 9, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

[Introduction]

Agent in Viva Engage communities are now available in Public Preview. Community admins can add agents to communities to help draft answers to questions without best or verified answers based on community content and add context to posts by answering follow up questions using the community’s conversations and SharePoint site and library.

We’re now adding the option for community admins to specify additional SharePoint sites outside the community as grounding sources. The agent will only use sites that community admins select, and it drafts answers from items that community members can view (Read).

We are also adding a new capability: tagging by community members. Tagging by community members enables Microsoft 365 copilot-licensed users to @-mention the community agent in the comments and replies of threads with follow up questions and requests to add context to posts. When tagged, the community agent will reply in the post. Tagging by community members will be enabled by default, but can be disabled by community admins in the agent settings.

[When this will happen:]

• Agents in communities Public Preview: available now
• SharePoint Grounding on Community site and library Public Preview (Worldwide): available now
• Grounding on SharePoint sites and libraries outside the community and tagging by community members Public Preview (worldwide): SharePoint grounding has been completed, while tagging by community members remains in Private preview with expected release to Public Preview still end of July 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We expect to start rolling in September 2026 and complete rollout by end of September 2026.

• Who is affected: Viva Engage community admins and members with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses; Global and Engage admins managing Viva Engage networks
• What will happen:
• During Public Preview:
• Admins can opt their network into the preview via the Engage admin center: Engage admin center > Tenant Settings > Enable Community Agent Public Preview.

Figure i. Add agent to community​

The agent will proactively draft answers to unanswered questions using past conversations.

By default, the agent posts answers automatically.

Admins can configure whether the agent posts answers automatically or only after approval and if tagging by community members is enabled.

Figure ii. Configure the agent’s capabilities and knowledge sources

[Grounding on SharePoint sites outside the community]

• Community admins can add SharePoint sites and libraries outside the community as additional grounding sources (for sites/libraries they administer).
• When an admin adds a site or library, they’ll be prompted to grant the community’s Microsoft 365 group Read access if it doesn’t already have permission.
• The agent only drafts answers using content that all community members can view (Read).
• By default, the agent uses the community’s SharePoint site and library. Any sites outside the community are optional and add to (not replace) the default grounding.

If Require review is enabled, admins and designated experts will be notified when the agent drafts an answer. They can approve, edit, or dismiss the response.

Figure iii. Community admins and experts can review agent suggestions​

If tagging by community members is enabled, then community members can @-mention the agent in messages.

Coming soon (General Availability):

The agent will only use content that all community members can access.

Admins must be owners of the SharePoint sites they wish to configure.

Admins can add additional SharePoint sites to expand the agent’s grounding knowledge.

The agent will be grounded by default on the community’s SharePoint site.

Community members can tag the community agent in community posts.

All Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users will have access to the Community Agent by default.

The Community Agent Public Preview toggle will be retired.

• If participating in preview:
• Opt your network into the preview via the Engage admin center
• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff. 
• Update internal documentation that references Viva Engage Community Agent behavior or setup.
• No action is required at GA; the feature will be on by default.

Learn more: Set up and manage agents in Viva Engage communities | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

Updated July 9, 2026: We have decided not to move forward with GA release at this time. Private Preview will continue as previously communicated. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

Note: You’re receiving this message because you are part of our early access program.

Smart Calendar is the next-generation calendar experience that will be built into Classic Outlook for Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users. It combines the familiar Outlook interface with Copilot-powered intelligence and a modern, responsive design, making time management simpler, smarter, and more intuitive. This calendar will be available for users inside Classic Outlook. Once Smart Calendar is released, users will get an information banner in Outlook Calendar to Try the new app.

This update introduces several key benefits:

• Copilot Intelligence: Prepare, schedule, coordinate, and recap meetings with Copilot assistance.
• Effortless Scheduling: Create meetings using natural language, get smart room suggestions, and receive RSVP recommendations.
• Seamless Coordination: Automatically adjust meetings and rebook rooms when conflicts arise.
• Follow Through: Get concise recaps, transcripts, and actionable follow-ups, even for meetings you missed.
• No Learning Curve: Built directly into Classic Outlook, no separate install required. Smart Calendar coexists alongside the classic calendar.

Smart Calendar helps unlock advanced time management capabilities and realize the full value of your Microsoft 365 Copilot investment. It offers effortless activation and minimal change management for IT teams, operating within Microsoft 365’s existing security, compliance, and data protection boundaries.

[When this will happen:]

• Private Preview: Rollout begins in early November 2025 and completes by end of July 2026 (previously late January)

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected:
• Users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses using Classic Outlook (Win32).
• A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use this feature.
• Some of the features are in early stages of release and may reach you later.

• What will happen:
  • Users will see a banner in Outlook Calendar inviting them to Try the new app.

  

  • Smart Calendar will be available alongside the classic calendar—no replacement or removal.

  

  • Copilot features will assist with scheduling, coordination, and follow-ups.
  • No separate installation is required; Smart Calendar is built into Classic Outlook.
  • Existing admin policies and calendar settings remain unchanged.

Note: You may notice that in some cases the UI currently shows Copilot Calendar instead of Smart Calendar. This is expected during the early rollout phase. The name change to Smart Calendar has already been released and is gradually rolling out to all tenants. Once the update reaches your environment, the UI will reflect the new name. No action is required on your part.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Communicate the upcoming changes and benefits to users with Copilot licenses.
• Ensure eligible users have Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses to access Smart Calendar.
• Encourage users to share feedback for continuous improvement.
• Update internal documentation if you detail calendar features or workflows.

[Compliance considerations:]

Updated July 8, 2026: We have updated the content and timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

We’re introducing My Team audiences and expanded targeting capabilities in Viva Engage to help leaders communicate with the employees in their organization and tailor messages to relevant teams, departments, locations, or groups. My Team provides a ready-to-use, automatically maintained audience based on the organizational hierarchy, so leaders can reach the employees who report up to them, including both direct and indirect reports. This audience helps unlock and improve leadership experiences across Viva Engage, making Storyline Announcements, audience analytics, Leadership Corner, and feed and digest distribution more relevant with less setup.

Leaders and delegates can use My Team as-is, review its membership, or further customize and save it as a reusable audience across leader communication experiences. For Storyline Announcements, they can also define recipients at the time of publish, choosing My Team, a saved audience, or a custom audience built using organizational attributes such as department, job title, or country; existing groups like M365 Groups, distribution lists, or security groups; and individual users by name. Together, My Team and flexible targeting make leader communications more relevant, scalable, and easier to manage – with a dynamic default audience and precise targeting for relevant employee groups.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 499895.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview (Worldwide): Begins mid-November 2025 and completes by mid-March 2026 (previously early February).
• General Availability (Worldwide): Begins early November 2026 (previously late-July) and completes by late November 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Leaders and delegates using Viva Engage Storyline Announcements in tenants enrolled in public preview.

What will happen:

• This capability is being introduced as part of the public preview for Viva Engage. During this phase, leaders and their delegates can actively experiment with flexible audience targeting for Storyline Announcements—defining a custom audience at the time of posting, rather than relying solely on pre‑configured Leader Audiences.
• Audiences can include organizational attributes (such as reporting structure, country, department, job title), existing groups (Microsoft 365 Groups, DLs, SGs), or individual users.
• Notifications and delivery channels (Teams, email, Viva Engage Inbox) remain unchanged for recipients.
• No dependency on IT or advance audience setup—leaders can act immediately when communication needs arise.
• Available only in public preview; functionality and targeting options may evolve before general availability.
• Admins should ensure organizational attributes in Entra ID or Organizational Data in Microsoft are accurate to support successful targeting.
• Available platforms: Desktop and web.
• Licensing requirements: This feature requires a premium license available through Viva or Communications and Communities (C&C). Availability may vary depending on your organization’s Microsoft 365 licensing agreement.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No admin action is required for rollout. To prepare, you may want to:

• Validate organizational attributes (reporting structure, country, department, role, job title) in Microsoft Entra ID or Organizational Data in Microsoft.
• Confirm leader and delegate assignments to ensure the right people can use Storyline Announcements and the new targeting control.

Learn more:

• Use your organizational data in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated July 9, 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 September 2026 (previously July) and expect to complete in September 2026 (previously July).

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 July 9, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new co-branding capability that will allow organizations to display a branded footer at the bottom of the Chat screen in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. This update will enable admins to add their organization’s logo to their users’ Microsoft 365 Copilot app, helping users confirm they are using their trusted, work-managed Copilot experience.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 555852.

[When this will happen]

• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-July 2026 (previously end of June) and is expected to complete by end of July 2026 (previously early July).

[How this will affect your organization]

Who is affected

• All Microsoft 365 tenants using the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

What will happen

• Admins will be able to upload a logo in the Microsoft 365 admin center to customize the footer in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
• The footer will display an “Approved by [Logo]” indicator to help users confirm they are in an organization-approved Copilot environment: 

  

• Only the logo from your organization’s theme configuration will be used; other theme elements will not be applied in this release.
• This feature will be off by default and will require admin configuration.
• There will be no user impact unless an admin enables the footer.

[What you can do to prepare]

No action will be required unless you want to enable the branded footer.

Admins who want to configure this feature should:

• Review and verify your organization’s theme configuration in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• Upload the logo you want to display in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app footer once rollout begins.
• Use the existing theme management flow to apply co-branding once the feature is available.

For configuration guidance: Customize the theme for your organization | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

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

Updated July 9, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[What and Why:]

Beginning in mid-August 2026, Microsoft 365 Copilot will be able to answer user questions using Power BI reports and semantic models for customers enrolled in Frontier. Copilot will ground responses in Power BI data, including scenarios where users share a specific report and scenarios where Copilot finds the right report automatically. The experience is built to work within existing security and permission models.

[Rollout Schedule:]

Starting mid-August 2026, data answering capabilities grounded in Power BI content will be available in Frontier tenants:

• Frontier Private: Mid-August, 2026 (applied to TAP, TAP Subset, and AIX00)
  
• Frontier Public (Entra): Mid-August 2026 to late August 2026

[Impact on Your Organization:]

• Who is affected: Organizations using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Power BI that are enrolled in Frontier
• Platforms/Services: Microsoft 365 Copilot, Power BI, Microsoft Fabric
• Licensing requirements:
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) license is required to use this feature.
  • Use of Fabric content, including Power BI reports, will be subject to the usual Power BI licensing to view content in the service.
  • Users are not required to have access to Fabric Copilot. 
• What will happen:
  • Users can ask Copilot questions grounded in Power BI reports and semantic models.
  • Responses respect existing Power BI and Microsoft 365 permissions.
  • The feature is enabled by default. Admins can disable the feature through the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • To generate responses, Microsoft 365 Copilot will search and retrieve data stored in Fabric, which means user query data from Microsoft 365 Copilot will be shared with Fabric. Fabric operates separately from Microsoft 365 Copilot and is subject to different commitments. Data processed in Fabric is subject to Fabric’s Product Terms. 

Screenshot: Before and after improvement in Copilot responses with Power BI data grounding:

• No action is required.
• Admins can disable the feature in the Microsoft 365 admin center. At the time of release, this control will be available on the Copilot settings page under the setting Fabric data in Microsoft 365 Copilot.  

[Compliance considerations:]

Updated July 8, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[What and Why:]

OneDrive is transitioning to the cloud.microsoft domain. Users will start seeing new URLs shown in the examples below as a part of their OneDrive experiences. Existing links continue to work — both domains will operate side by side indefinitely. 

As part of this transition, OneDrive URLs will change: 

• Previous domain: contoso-my.sharepoint.com/
• Unified domain: onedrive.cloud.microsoft/

This change aligns OneDrive with the broader Microsoft cloud domain strategy, creating a more consistent and recognizable experience across Microsoft 365 services. This update simplifies how users identify trusted Microsoft endpoints while maintaining compatibility with existing URLs and integrations.

[Rollout Schedule:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in end of July 2026 (previously early July) and expect to complete by early August 2026 (previously late June).

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected:

• All users accessing OneDrive
• Admins managing Microsoft 365 environments, network configurations, and custom solutions

Platforms/Services:

• OneDrive(web primarily)

What will happen:

For users: 

• Users will start seeing the cloud.microsoft domain in their OneDrive experiences (e.g., onedrive.cloud.microsoft instead of contoso-my.sharepoint.com).  
• When users access content from geos different than their own, they will see a globe icon. 
• No changes to file access, sharing, or collaboration functionality.  
• The previous domain and unified domain will continue to exist side by side. Existing links will continue to work.  

For admins: 

• No changes to admin functionality. 
• The SharePoint URLs used for file storage and APIs remain unchanged (e.g., contoso-my.sharepoint.com continues to work for API calls).
• Important: Organizations with custom solutions that rely on OneDrive URL patterns should review those dependencies. Official Microsoft APIs (Microsoft Graph) will continue to function without changes. Custom solutions that parse or hardcode browser URLs may require updates. 

What is NOT changing: 

• Existing links and bookmarks will continue to work. Links to previous domains are backwards compatible and will remain supported.
• There are no forced redirects from legacy URLs. Both domains will work side-by-side during and after the transition.
• SharePoint site URLs (e.g., contoso.sharepoint.com) are not affected by this change.
• Microsoft Graph APIs and other official APIs are not changing.
• File ownership, permissions, and sharing settings are unchanged. 
• Consumer OneDrive URLs are not changing at this time and remain on live.com domain 

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No immediate action is required, but we recommend the following:

• Review any custom solutions that depend on OneDrive URL patterns.
• Ensure network rules allow traffic to *.cloud.microsoft.
• Update internal documentation and training materials with the new URL format.
• Prepare helpdesk teams for user questions about URL changes.
• Educate users to recognize the cloud.microsoft domain as trusted

Optional administrative considerations:

• Review tenant allow list settings for external sharing
• Evaluate Tenant Restrictions v2 if applicable to your organization
• Consider upcoming capabilities such as anonymous link controls

Learn more: Configure Tenant Restrictions – Microsoft Entra ID – Microsoft Entra External ID | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated July 9, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[What and Why:]

Microsoft Teams is updating the new Events scheduling experience to ensure that Events continue to respect the existing CsTeamsEventsPolicy. With new Events templates, organizers will see a new option called Optimize for large audience. When enabled, the event uses the familiar Teams town hall attendee experience—designed for large audiences—so events can scale beyond 1,000 attendees while continuing to follow your organization’s policy settings.

[Rollout Schedule:]

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

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected:

• Teams admins managing CsTeamsEventsPolicy
• Organizers scheduling Events, including town halls and webinars, using the new Events templates
• Any event over 1,000 attendees (Optimize for large audience will be automatically enabled) or any event where Optimize for large audience is enabled

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft Teams (Events scheduling experience)
• Teams admin policies / PowerShell (CsTeamsEventsPolicy enforcement)

What will happen:

• A new Optimize for large audience option will be available in new Events templates.
• When Optimize for large audience = ON, organizers may scale their event beyond 1,000 and the attendee experience will be optimized for large audiences: attendees can pause and rewind live content, attendees cannot turn on their camera or mic on demand, and attendees will utilize the eCDN if applicable. This is similar to the current Town hall attendee experience today.
• Events over 1,000 attendees will have Optimize for large audience automatically turned ON.
• When Optimize for large audience = ON, the event will respect all town hall settings in CsTeamsEventsPolicy, including AllowTownhalls, TownhallEventAttendeeAccess, AllowedTownhallTypesForRecordingPublish, TownhallChatExperience, RecordingForTownhall, TranscriptionForTownhall, TownhallMaxResolution, HighBitrateForTownhall, and UseMicrosoftECDN.
• When Optimize for large audience = OFF, the event will be governed by webinar policy settings.
• Town hall template events will follow town hall settings unless Optimize for large audience is turned OFF.
• Webinar template events will follow webinar policy settings unless Optimize for large audience is turned ON.
• All other non–town hall / non-webinar policy settings will continue to apply to Events, including the Registration setting.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No action is required if you want Events to behave the same way your organization currently uses town halls and webinars.

• Review CsTeamsEventsPolicy to ensure town hall and webinar settings align to your organization’s intended experience—especially if you run events near or above 1,000 attendees.
• Notify helpdesk and event support teams of the policy enforcement behavior to reduce scheduling-related tickets.

Learn more: Set-CsTeamsEventsPolicy | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before GA rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated July 9, 2026: We have updated this post as a reminder. Thank you for your patience. 

[What and Why]

As announced in the What’s New (June Edition), we have been rolling out first-factor system-preferred authentication in the Microsoft-managed state.

System-preferred authentication in Microsoft Entra ID now applies to both first-factor and second-factor authentication when the setting is in the Microsoft managed state.

The system evaluates which credentials are registered for the user and selects the highest-ranked method for each authentication step, prompting the user to sign in with the most secure available method.

[Rollout schedule]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning late June 2026 and expected to complete by late July 2026

[Impact on your organization]

Who is affected

• Organizations whose system-preferred authentication setting is in the Microsoft managed state.
• If your setting is in the Enabled or Disabled state, first-factor sign-in behavior remains unchanged and there is no impact from this update.

Platforms and services

• Microsoft Entra ID
• System-preferred authentication
• User sign-in experiences

What will happen

• For tenants in the Microsoft managed state, the system applies credential ranking to both first-factor and second-factor authentication.
• When a user signs in, the authentication process checks which authentication methods are registered and prompts the user with the most secure method according to the system-defined order.
• The method order is dynamic and can update when users register more secure authentication methods, such as a passkey, or as Microsoft updates credential rankings based on evolving security guidance. For example, if a user has both a password and a passkey registered, Microsoft Entra may prompt the user to use the passkey at their next first-factor sign-in instead of the password.
• To sign in using a different option, users can always cancel and choose another available sign-in method.

Behavior by setting state:

• Microsoft managed: The system applies credential ranking to both first-factor and second-factor authentication.
• Enabled: Credential ranking applies only to second-factor authentication. First-factor sign-in behavior remains unchanged.
• Disabled: System-preferred authentication is not applied.

Note: This prompt does not mean the user is being asked to complete multifactor authentication (MFA) when MFA is not required. With this update, Microsoft Entra can prompt users to use their most secure available credential at first-factor sign-in instead of defaulting to a password. Some methods, such as passkeys, certificate-based authentication, or Microsoft Authenticator, can satisfy first-factor sign-in requirements and may also satisfy MFA requirements when MFA is required. The goal is to use the strongest available credential consistently, not to add an extra MFA prompt.

[What you need to do to prepare:] 

Review whether you want system-preferred authentication to apply to first-factor authentication in your tenant: 

• If you want the credential ranking applied to both first-factor and second-factor authentication, leave the setting in the Microsoft managed state. No action is required.
• If you do not want system-preferred authentication to apply to first-factor authentication, change the setting from Microsoft managed to Enabled. The Enabled state applies system-preferred logic only to second-factor authentication and leaves first-factor sign-in behavior unchanged.
• Consider notifying users that they may be prompted with a different, more secure sign-in method at first-factor sign-in and remind them that they can always cancel and choose another available sign-in method.
• Update internal sign-in documentation and support guidance accordingly.

Learn more

• General Availability – System-preferred authentication expanded to first-factor in Microsoft Entra ID – What’s New (June 2026 Microsoft Entra Blog) | Microsoft Entra releases and announcements | Microsoft Learn
• System-preferred authentication | Authentication | Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

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

[What and Why:]

Microsoft is expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks to support TXT (.txt) and RTF (.rtf) files as reference sources. This update enables users to bring a broader range of text-based content—such as transcripts, meeting exports, developer notes, and AI-generated outputs—into a single AI-powered workspace. By grounding Copilot in more contextual information, this enhancement strengthens productivity and enables more comprehensive insights, summaries, and content generation.

[Rollout Schedule:]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins early July 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-July 2026.

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: Users with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Copilot Notebooks

What will happen:

• Users can upload and use TXT (.txt) and RTF (.rtf) files as notebook references.
• Copilot can analyze and use content from these files alongside other supported formats.
• The feature will be available by default once rolled out.
• Existing Microsoft 365 security, compliance, and data governance policies continue to apply.
• No changes to existing workflows—this is an additive enhancement.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No action is required.

Recommended actions:

• Inform users about support for TXT and RTF files in Copilot Notebooks.
• Update internal training or adoption materials to reflect expanded file support.
• Review internal governance policies if needed to ensure appropriate use of text-based content in AI workflows.

[Compliance considerations:]

[What and Why]

Microsoft is introducing Copilot-enhanced topic assignment in Viva Glint to improve the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of employee feedback categorization. Copilot will help identify relevant topics in survey comments, enabling organizations to gain richer insights from employee feedback. Microsoft is also expanding the standard topic taxonomy with five new topics: Psychological Safety, Artificial Intelligence, Privacy & Data Use, Hybrid Work, and Ethics. This feature is controlled by the existing Viva feature access management (VFAM) toggle for Copilot in Viva Glint; there is no separate feature-level toggle for Copilot-enhanced topic assignment. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 553224.

[Rollout Schedule]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning late July 2026; expected to complete by late July 2026

[Impact on Your Organization]

Who is affected:

• Organizations using Microsoft Viva Glint
• Microsoft 365 administrators
• Viva and Glint administrators
• Survey program managers, analysts, and leaders
• Users of ad-hoc and recurring surveys

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft Viva Glint
• Microsoft Copilot in Viva Glint
• Employee feedback reporting and analytics

What will happen:

• Copilot will improve topic assignment for employee feedback comments.
• Five new standard topics will be added:
  • Psychological Safety
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Privacy & Data Use
  • Hybrid Work
  • Ethics
• The existing Glint Copilot VFAM toggle controls feature availability.
• No separate toggle exists for Copilot-enhanced topic assignment.
• If the VFAM toggle is enabled, the feature becomes available to applicable users.
• If the VFAM toggle is disabled, there is no change to the current experience.
• The feature cannot be independently scoped to selected users.
• At launch, these enhancements will apply only to ad-hoc and recurring survey types. Support for always-on survey types will follow in a later release.

[Action Required / Recommendations]

• Review the current Glint Copilot VFAM toggle setting.
• Determine whether Copilot in Viva Glint aligns with organizational governance requirements.
• Coordinate with privacy, HR, legal, and governance stakeholders before enabling the feature.
• Inform survey administrators and analysts about the upcoming changes.
• Update internal documentation and support processes if applicable.
• Assess the impact of the new topics on reporting and analysis practices.

Learn more: Manage Viva Glint Copilot Access in Microsoft 365 Admin Center | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance Considerations]

[What and Why:]

We’re updating the Notebooks experience in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app to help users keep project work organized across conversations. Notebooks bring chats, generated content, and reference materials together in a lightweight, persistent workspace so users can stay in context and move work forward. This update supports personal and team productivity by making it easier to continue work across Microsoft 365 Copilot and OneNote. The existing Notebooks experience in OneNote remains unchanged.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 566318.

[Rollout Schedule:]

General Availability Worldwide: Rollout will begin in early August 2026 and is expected to be complete by mid-August 2026.

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will see Notebooks in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app after rollout reaches your tenant.

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot app
• OneNote
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks
• Supported Microsoft 365 content created from Notebooks, including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, Copilot Pages, and other supported objects

What will happen:

• Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will see Notebooks in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
• The existing Copilot Notebooks entry point and existing Notebook data remain in place.
• Notebooks in OneNote are unchanged.
• Notebooks stay in sync between the Microsoft 365 Copilot app and OneNote.
• Users can open and continue working with Notebooks in either the Microsoft 365 Copilot app or OneNote.
• Content created from a Notebook, including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, Copilot Pages, and other supported objects, remains associated with that Notebook.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No admin action is required.

We recommend that you:

• Inform helpdesk and support teams that licensed users may see Notebooks in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app beginning in early August 2026.
• Update internal user guidance if your organization documents Microsoft 365 Copilot or OneNote Notebooks experiences.

[Compliance considerations:]

[What and Why:]

We are introducing a reliability improvement to Dynamic Distribution Groups (DDGs) in Exchange Online. To prevent unnecessary duplication and reduce administrative overhead, Exchange Online will block the creation of new DDGs that are exact duplicates of existing ones. This prevents redundant groups from quietly accumulating and counting toward your organization’s DDG limit without adding any capability. 

[Rollout Schedule:]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning late July 2026 and expected to complete by early August 2026
• General Availability (GCC): Beginning early August 2026 and expected to complete by early August 2026
• General Availability (GCC High): Beginning early August 2026 and expected to complete by mid-August 2026
• General Availability (DoD): Beginning mid-August 2026 and expected to complete by late August 2026

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected:

• Exchange administrators managing Dynamic Distribution Groups
• Organizations using automation or scripts to create DDGs

Platforms/Services:

• Exchange Online
• Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
• Exchange Online PowerShell (New-DynamicDistributionGroup)

What will happen:

• Creation of a new DDG will be blocked when all of the following are identical to an existing DDG:
  • Recipient filter
  • Delivery management settings
  • Message approval (moderation) settings
  • Delegation settings
  • Message visibility settings
• When this occurs, the system will return an error indicating that a matching Dynamic Distribution Group already exists.
• If any one of these settings differs, the new DDG is not a duplicate and can be created normally.
• In most cases, you can use the existing DDG instead of creating a new one.
• Existing DDGs are not affected and will continue to function normally.
• This change is enforced at creation time only (no retroactive changes).

[Action Required / Recommendations:]

• No action is required for most organizations.
• Review scripts or automation that create DDGs to handle duplicate failures gracefully.
• Review existing DDGs using Reports > Mail flow > Dynamic distribution group report in EAC.
• Communicate this change to Exchange administrators.

Learn more: Create and manage dynamic distribution groups in Exchange Online

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[What and Why]

Microsoft is introducing GitHub Copilot spend and usage insights in Microsoft Viva Insights. This feature helps organizations understand GitHub Copilot adoption and credit consumption so they can make informed decisions about AI investments and usage.

Eligible managers with manager-scoped access, Insights Analysts with global partition, and Global Administrators can view GitHub Copilot usage and consumption insights in Viva Insights.

During Public Preview, this feature is disabled by default. Insights Administrators and AI Administrators can choose to enable the experience.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 566470.

[Rollout Schedule]

• Public Preview: Began in early July 2026 and expected to complete in early July 2026

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected

• Managers with at least five direct reports who have scoped access to Viva Insights
• Insights Analysts
• Global Administrators
• AI Administrators
• Organizations using GitHub Copilot and Microsoft Viva Insights

Platforms/Services

• Microsoft Viva Insights
• AI Cost Dashboard
• GitHub Copilot

What will happen

• GitHub Copilot spend and usage insights will be available in Microsoft Viva Insights.
• Eligible managers will be able to view GitHub Copilot credit consumption and usage insights for their scoped organizations.
• Insights Analysts with global partition, and Global Administrators will be able to view tenant-wide GitHub Copilot credit consumption and usage insights.
• The feature will be disabled by default during Public Preview.
• Insights Administrators and AI Administrators can opt in to enable GitHub Copilot insights in the AI Cost Dashboard.
• Organizations will continue to control access and visibility through existing Viva Insights privacy settings, role-based access controls, and configuration options.

Screenshot 1 – Privacy settings:

Screenshot 2 – AI Cost Dashboard:

[Action Required/Recommendations]

No action is required to receive this update. Because this feature is disabled by default during Public Preview, organizations should consider the following actions before enabling it:

• Review Viva Insights privacy and access settings related to manager-scoped access.
• Review and validate membership of users assigned the Insights Analyst role.
• Determine whether your organization will participate in the Public Preview.
• Update internal documentation, governance guidance, and support materials as needed.
• Review MC1400825 for role management and access controls.
• Communicate the change to Viva Insights administrators and AI governance stakeholders.

[Compliance considerations]

No compliance considerations have been identified at this time. Organizations should evaluate the feature against their own compliance, privacy, and governance requirements before enabling the Public Preview.

• A unified outbound and inbound document model (based on international standards such as UBL and PEPPOL).
• A standardized submission and response pipeline and API for e-invoicing documents and related statuses.
• A clear extensibility model that allows external ASPs, ISVs, Microsoft partners, and customers to implement their own integrations without requiring Microsoft to build or maintain provider-specific connectors.

• Support for multiple service providers under a consistent integration model.
• Faster onboarding of new providers and markets.
• Reduced vendor lock-in for customers.
• Better alignment with country-specific regulatory requirements without Microsoft acting as an authorized e-invoicing service provider.

• Track adoption and engagement per product and per app, flow, and agent.
• Identify most-used apps, flows, and agents.
• Identify app, flow, and agent creators of the most-used resources.
• Understand where usage exists, including environments and products, and how it’s trending.

[What and Why]

To provide a more consistent and user-controlled experience across Microsoft 365 Copilot, we’re expanding the existing Web content preference to additional Copilot experiences and moving the preference within Settings. Previously, the ability to enable or disable web search was only available to Microsoft 365 Copilot users in the Work tab. With this update, users of both Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat can control web content grounding across their available Work and Web experiences through a persistent preference that follows them across supported Copilot clients. This supports our Enterprise-ready AI vision by providing a consistent, policy-respecting experience while giving users more control over how Copilot generates responses.

[Rollout Schedule]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will start in mid-July 2026 and is expected to complete by late July 2026.

[Impact on Your Organization]

Who is affected

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat users
• Microsoft 365 Copilot users
• Organizations that allow web search in Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Organizations using Copilot across Work and Web experiences

Platforms/Services

• Microsoft 365 Copilot (web, desktop, mobile)
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat (web, desktop, mobile)

What will happen

• The existing Web content setting will move to Settings > Personalization > Advanced Settings.
• Users will be able to enable or disable web search from a centralized settings experience.
• This capability is expanding to both Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat users across the Work and Web experiences.
• The user’s preference will be stored as a persistent setting and applied across supported Copilot clients and devices.
• The preference will continue to be honored wherever the setting is supported.
• Existing administrator web search policies remain in effect.
• If an administrator disables web search through policy:
  • The Web content setting will not be available to users.
  • Web content grounding will remain disabled.
• The feature is available by default only where web search is already permitted by tenant policy.
• No changes are required to existing administrative controls.

[Action Required / Recommendations]

No action is required.

We recommend administrators:

• Review existing Copilot web search policies and confirm they align with organizational requirements.
• Notify help desk and support teams that the Web content setting has moved.
• Update any internal documentation or training materials that reference the previous setting location.
• Communicate the expanded availability of the setting to users if your organization provides Copilot adoption guidance.

Learn more:  Data, privacy, and security for web search in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance Considerations]

[What and Why:]

Microsoft is retiring the Surveys agent and transitioning customers to a unified, Copilot-powered experience within Microsoft Forms. This change streamlines form creation, data collection, and analysis into a single, integrated experience—improving productivity and providing more advanced AI-driven capabilities without requiring additional licensing. Users can continue their workflows seamlessly while benefiting from enhanced Copilot features built directly into Forms.

[Rollout Schedule:]

• Retirement completion: August 31, 2026 (removal from Agent Store)

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: All users who currently use the Surveys agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Microsoft Forms (Web)

What will happen:

• The Surveys agent will be retired and removed from the Agent Store.
• Users will be redirected to Microsoft Forms when accessing Surveys agent.
• Copilot capabilities for surveys will continue within Microsoft Forms via the dynamic action button.
• Existing forms created through Surveys agent will remain accessible in Microsoft Forms.
• Users will retain access to their past Surveys agent conversation history in Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• No changes to licensing or permissions are required.
• The new experience is enabled by default; no admin configuration is needed.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

• No action is required.
• Inform users about the transition to avoid confusion when redirects occur.
• Update internal documentation referencing the Surveys agent.
• Prepare helpdesk teams for potential user questions during the transition period.

Learn more:

• Evolving the Copilot experience in Microsoft Forms
• Message Center post MC1229954

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[What and Why:]

Microsoft is introducing the ability for users to set and edit their work location directly from the Outlook Mobile calendar. This enhancement supports hybrid work by making it easier for users to communicate where they are working from on a given day. By improving visibility into colleagues’ work locations during scheduling, this feature helps teams collaborate more effectively and make better-informed decisions about meetings.

[Rollout Schedule:]

• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Rollout begins mid-July 2026 and is expected to complete by late July 2026.

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: All users with access to Outlook Mobile.

Platforms/Services:

• Outlook Mobile (iOS and Android)

What will happen:

• Users will be able to set or update their work location (office or remote) directly from their Outlook Mobile calendar.
• Work location can be set as a one-time change or as an exception to existing hybrid work settings.
• Updated work locations will be visible to colleagues when scheduling meetings.
• The feature will be available by default once released.
• Existing calendar workflows remain unchanged aside from the added location option.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

• No action is required.
• Consider informing users about this new capability.
• Update internal documentation if applicable.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[What and Why:]

Outlook for Mac is introducing enhanced paragraph formatting options to improve email composition. This update provides users with greater control over alignment, indentation, and spacing, helping create clearer and more professional communications and improving overall productivity.

[Rollout Schedule:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Rollout begins in mid-July 2026; expected to complete by late July 2026

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: All users of Outlook for Mac

Platforms/Services: Outlook for Mac (desktop)

What will happen:

• Users will have access to richer paragraph formatting options while composing emails.
• A new Paragraph Options pane will be available from the line spacing menu.
• Users can adjust alignment, indentation, and spacing more precisely.
• The feature will be enabled by default.
• Existing formatting options will remain available and be extended.

[Action Required / Recommendations:]

• No action is required.
• Consider informing users about enhanced formatting capabilities.
• Update internal documentation if applicable.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[What and Why:]

We are introducing a new task details side pane in Microsoft Planner that enables users to view and edit task details without leaving their Board, Grid, or My Tasks view. This update improves productivity by reducing context switching and allowing faster task updates.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 566866.

[Rollout Schedule:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in late July 2026; expected to complete by mid-August 2026

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: All users with access to Microsoft Planner

Platforms/Services:

• Planner on the web
• Planner in Microsoft Teams

What will happen:

• Users will be able to open and edit task details in a side pane while keeping their main view visible.
• Supported task fields include assignees, due dates, status, notes, checklists, and attachments.
• The system will remember each user’s preferred experience (side pane or dialog) across sessions.
• On smaller screens, the experience will automatically switch to dialog mode.
• Existing workflows remain unchanged; users can continue using the dialog experience if preferred.
• The feature will be enabled by default for all users.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No admin action is required.

Recommended actions:

• Inform users about the new side pane experience to reduce confusion.
• Update internal training materials and documentation if applicable.
• Prepare helpdesk teams for potential user questions about the new experience.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[What and Why:]

Microsoft is making backend changes to the calendar services that support the Microsoft Teams mobile calendar experience. To help maintain uninterrupted calendar functionality in Teams, organizations that use Exchange Web Services (EWS) application access policies may need to update their EWS allow list or block list configuration. This change helps ensure continued calendar access in Teams as service dependencies are updated.

[Rollout Schedule:]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in early August 2026 and is expected to complete by early August 2026.
• General Availability (GCC, GCC High, DoD): Rollout begins in mid-August 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-August 2026.

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected:

• Admins who manage Exchange Online organization configuration and Microsoft Teams calendar access.
• Organizations that use EWS application access policies such as AllowList or EnforceBlockList.

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft Teams mobile calendar
• Exchange Online
• Exchange Web Services (EWS)
• PowerShell administration

What will happen:

• Microsoft Teams calendar functionality will depend on updated backend support that uses Exchange.
• If your organization uses EWS access controls and the required Teams user agents are not configured correctly, Teams mobile calendar functionality may be affected.
• No end-user setting changes are required.
• Admin action may be required before rollout to avoid calendar disruptions.
• This change is not user-configurable and is managed at the tenant level by admins.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

Action is required. Review your EWS application access configuration before rollout begins in early August 2026.

• Check your current configuration:

Get-OrganizationConfig | Select Ews*

• If EwsApplicationAccessPolicy = EnforceBlocklist, ensure the following user agents are not present in EwsBlockList:
  • Microsoft%20Teams/*
  • okhttp/*
• If EwsApplicationAccessPolicy = AllowList, ensure the following user agents are included in EwsAllowList:
  • Microsoft%20Teams/* (iOS)
  • okhttp/* (Android)
• If needed, add the required user agents:

Set-OrganizationConfig -EwsAllowList @{add="okhttp/*"}
Set-OrganizationConfig -EwsAllowList @{add="Microsoft%20Teams/*"}

• Admins can also scope EWS access policies to individual mailboxes or groups as needed. For example:

  Set-CasMailbox -Identity "[email protected]" -EwsAllowList @{add="Microsoft%20Teams/*"}

  To review mailbox-level configuration:

  Get-CasMailbox -Identity "[email protected]"

• Complete validation before the August 2026 rollout.
• Notify helpdesk teams of potential Teams mobile calendar impact if configuration is not updated.
• Update internal documentation as needed.

[Compliance considerations:]

[What and Why:]

Organizations need more than usage metrics to understand Copilot adoption—they need clear insight into employee experience and perceived value. This update brings detailed Viva Pulse survey results directly into the Copilot Dashboard, enabling leaders to measure adoption, readiness, impact, and business value. By centralizing rich survey insights, admins and change leaders can make data-driven decisions to improve Copilot adoption and scale AI transformation with confidence.

[Rollout Schedule:]

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

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: 

• Admins with access to the Copilot Dashboard
• Copilot adoption leaders
• Change-management teams using Viva Pulse surveys

Platforms/Services:

• Copilot Dashboard (web)
• Microsoft Viva Pulse

What will happen:

• Viva Pulse survey results will now appear directly in the Copilot Dashboard.
• Admins will see detailed survey insights instead of only an average score.
• New visualizations will include:
  • Open-text responses (verbatims)
  • Multiple choice distributions
  • Matrix heatmaps
  • Ranking tables
• Results can be filtered by job function and organization.
• Built-in survey templates include adoption, readiness, impact, and business value.
• Feature is enabled by default for users with dashboard access.
• There are no changes to existing workflows or survey processes.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No action is required.

However, we recommend that you:

• Review which admins and stakeholders have access to the Copilot Dashboard.
• Inform Copilot adoption and change-management leads about the enhanced reporting capabilities.
• Incorporate new survey insights into your Copilot adoption strategy and reporting.
• Update internal documentation or adoption playbooks if applicable.

Learn more: Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before GA rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

[What and Why:]

Microsoft is introducing proactive push notifications in the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app for common productivity workflows such as Your Day at a Glance and Items waiting for you. These notifications bring together insights from emails, Teams activity, and files so users can quickly review priorities and outstanding work without manually checking multiple apps. This enhancement supports personal productivity by helping users stay informed and take action directly from their mobile devices using Copilot’s contextual understanding.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 560339.

[Rollout Schedule:]

• Public Preview (Worldwide): Rollout begins mid-July 2026 and completes by mid-August 2026
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins mid-August 2026 and completes by mid-September 2026

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected: Users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses who have enabled notifications from the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Mobile (iOS and Android)

What will happen:

• Users will receive proactive push notifications from the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app.
• Notifications will include scenarios such as:
  • Your Day at a Glance – personalized summaries of emails, Teams activity, and files.
  • Items waiting for you – a summary of open action items.
• Selecting a notification will open the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app with a pre-run prompt and response.
• The experience uses Copilot memory to deliver contextual, personalized insights.
• The same prompts will also be available within the app as suggested prompts.
• The feature is enabled by default for users who have both a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and mobile app notifications enabled.

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No admin action is required.

You may consider the following:

• Inform helpdesk and support teams about new Copilot mobile notifications.
• Update Copilot adoption and training materials to include this capability.
• Communicate to users that opening notifications launches a Copilot-generated response in the mobile app.
• Review internal notification or mobile device policies if applicable.

[Compliance Considerations:]

[What and Why]

We are introducing prompt injection protection for email in Microsoft Defender for Office 365. This capability detects and blocks malicious prompt injection content embedded in email messages that attempt to manipulate AI assistants and agents. It helps protect enterprise data by identifying attacks designed to exfiltrate information, discover tools, or expose system prompts. High confidence threats are automatically quarantined before they can be processed by AI powered workflows. This enhancement strengthens enterprise ready AI security and aligns with evolving threat patterns.

[Rollout Schedule]

• Public Preview: Beginning early July 2026 and expected to complete by early September 2026
• General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning early September 2026 and expected to complete by early September 2026

[Impact on Your Organization]

Who is affected

• Organizations with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5

Platforms and services

•  Exchange Online, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Defender XDR services

What will happen

• Emails identified as prompt injection will be classified as High Confidence Phish.
• A new Detection Technology value called Prompt Injection Protection will be applied.
• High confidence threats will be automatically quarantined.
• The feature is enabled by default for eligible tenants.
• Existing policies and workflows remain unchanged.
• These detections will appear within existing threat investigation and reporting experiences in Microsoft Defender.

[Action Required / Recommendations]

No action is required.

Recommended actions:

• Review your submission and quarantine workflows.
• Use the Microsoft Defender submission process if false positives occur.
• Use Tenant Allow Block List if needed to manage exceptions.
• Inform your security and helpdesk teams about the new detection category.

Learn more: Prompt injection protection in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Microsoft Defender | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

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

[What and Why]

Microsoft Entra ID is retiring Custom Controls in Conditional Access and replacing them with External MFA, a generally available, standards-based integration for third-party multifactor authentication (MFA) providers.

External MFA provides a more modern, supported, and standardized authentication experience while enabling organizations to continue using approved third-party MFA solutions with Conditional Access policies. This change helps improve long-term supportability, security, and interoperability.

[Rollout Schedule]

Key dates:

• September 2026: Administrators will no longer be able to create new Custom Controls or modify existing Custom Controls in Conditional Access policies.
• May 2027: Custom Controls will be fully retired and no longer supported.

[Impact on Your Organization]

Who is affected

• Organizations currently using Custom Controls in Microsoft Entra Conditional Access policies.
• Administrators responsible for Microsoft Entra ID and Conditional Access management.
• Organizations not using Custom Controls are not affected and do not need to take action.

Platforms/Services

• Microsoft Entra ID
• Conditional Access
• Third-party MFA providers integrated with Microsoft Entra ID

What will happen

• Existing Custom Controls will continue to function until retirement in May 2027.
• Beginning in September 2026, administrators will no longer be able to create new Custom Controls or modify existing Custom Controls.
• After retirement in May 2027, Custom Controls will no longer be supported.
• Organizations using Custom Controls must migrate affected Conditional Access policies to External MFA before retirement.
• No impact is expected for organizations that do not use Custom Controls.

[Action Required]

If your organization uses Custom Controls, action is required before May 2027.

Recommended actions:

• Review your Conditional Access policies and identify any policies that use Custom Controls.
• Configure your third-party MFA provider as an External Authentication Method.
• Update affected Conditional Access policies to use the standard Require multifactor authentication grant control.
• Validate authentication flows and confirm successful migration to External MFA.
• Remove all Custom Control references after migration is complete.
• Review the migration guidance: Migrate from custom controls to external multifactor authentication

Consider communicating this change to your identity, security, and help desk teams to ensure migration activities are completed before the retirement date.

Learn more: Migrate from custom controls to external multifactor authentication | Conditional Access | Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance Considerations]

[What and why]

We are improving the OneDrive sync experience on Windows desktop to provide clearer, more actionable guidance when file and folder paths exceed the supported 520-character limit. The updated experience will show exactly how many characters a path exceeds the limit and will provide a guided flow to rename or move affected items so they can sync successfully.

This improvement addresses a common OneDrive sync issue by reducing user confusion, minimizing workflow disruption, and helping users resolve errors faster.

This update is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 557563.

[Rollout schedule]

• General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning late July 2026 and expected to complete by mid-August 2026

[Impact on your organization]

Who is affected

• All users of the OneDrive sync client on Windows desktop

Platforms and services

• OneDrive for Business (Windows desktop sync client)

What will happen

Max path errors are one of the most commonly reported issues by OneDrive sync users. Currently, when a file or folder path exceeds the 520-character sync limit, the error message only states how many characters the path exceeds the limit and asks users to shorten it. In addition, File Explorer limitations may prevent users from renaming paths over 260 characters, and the sync client may stop syncing until the issue is resolved.

As part of this improved error experience, when users encounter max path errors, the sync client will continue running and users will be guided through a custom rename and move experience.

With this update:

• The sync client will continue running when users encounter max path errors
• Users will be guided through a custom rename and move experience to resolve issues directly

The rename experience will:

• Show the number of over-limit characters
• Highlight which items in the path can be renamed
• Allow renames even when the path exceeds 260 characters

The move experience will:

• Show over-limit character counts in a guided interface
• Display warning dialogs for over-limit shared items in OneDrive
• Display warning dialogs for over-limit items in shortcuts

These enhancements are designed to reduce troubleshooting time and improve the overall sync experience.

[Action required and recommendations]

No admin action is required. This update will be automatically available through the OneDrive sync client.

You may want to:

• Inform your helpdesk and support teams about the improved error messages, as this update should reduce max-path-related support tickets.
• Update internal documentation for resolving OneDrive sync issues if applicable.

Learn more

• Fix paths that are too long to sync in OneDrive | Microsoft Support
• Restrictions and limitations in OneDrive and SharePoint | Microsoft Support

[Compliance considerations]

No compliance considerations identified. This update does not change how customer data is stored, processed, or accessed.