Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 12-01-2026

Office for the web in Microsoft 365 now supports applying sensitivity labels with user-defined permissions. This enhancement provides organizations with greater flexibility and control over document access in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for the web.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 468888.

General Availability

• Worldwide and GCC: We will begin rolling out in mid-February 2026 and expect to complete by early March 2026.
• GCCH and DoD: We will begin rolling out in mid-February 2026 and expect to complete by early April 2026.

• Who is affected: All users of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for the web in Microsoft 365.
• What will happen:
  • Users can apply sensitivity labels with user-defined permissions in Office for the web.
  • The experience aligns with the modernized permissions dialog in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Windows.
  • No changes to existing admin policies; feature respects current configurations.

No action is required. The user interface for applying custom permissions is consistent with the modernized dialog in Office desktop apps.

Learn more: 

• Apply sensitivity labels to your files | Microsoft Support
• Let users assign permissions – Restrict access to content by using sensitivity labels to apply encryption | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn
• Sensitivity label capabilities in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – Minimum versions for sensitivity labels in Office apps | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

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

We’re introducing the SharePoint list agent powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot to simplify list creation. This new capability enables users to create SharePoint lists through natural language conversations and automatically convert structured content (such as tables) generated by Copilot into lists.

This message is associated with Microsoft Roadmap ID 534606.

• Frontier Public Preview: We began rolling out in early December 2025 and expect to complete by early January 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late January 2026 and expect to complete by late February 2026.

Who is affected:

• Users with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences, including Copilot Chat in supported apps such as Teams, Outlook, and Word.
• A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required.

What will happen:

• During Frontier Public Preview, the SharePoint list agent will be available as an opt-in feature. Admins must enable it in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• At General Availability, the SharePoint list agent will be installed and ON by default for tenants with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Users will be able to create SharePoint lists directly from supported Copilot-enabled apps.
• The agent supports structured content inputs such as orders, travel requests, invoices, expenses, project items, hiring status, products, and books.
• Admins can disable the agent at any time via the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• Key capabilities include:
  • Effortless creation: Instantly generate lists from Copilot conversations or structured Copilot content in one step.
  • Flexible storage: Save lists to a SharePoint site or your personal OneDrive for Business.
  • Seamless integration: Works across Microsoft 365 Copilot and SharePoint, leveraging enterprise and web data.

Screenshot 1 – SharePoint list agent in the Agent store:

Screenshot 2 – SharePoint list agent in Copilot:

What you can do to prepare 

• Review whether your organization wants to participate in the Frontier Public Preview.
• Communicate this new capability to helpdesk and support teams.
• Update internal documentation if you provide guidance on SharePoint list creation.
• To disable the agent, use the admin toggle in the Microsoft 365 admin center: Settings > Org Settings > Copilot Agents > SharePoint list agent.

Video Overviews in Copilot Notebooks enable users to automatically generate short, narrated video summaries of their Notebook’s content. These videos combine key insights, visuals, and voiceover to create an engaging, visual overview of the entire Notebook.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 511793

Frontier Preview: Rollout began in mid-November 2025 and is expected to complete by late February 2026.

• Who is affected: Users of Copilot Notebook with a valid Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
• What will happen:
  • Users will be able to generate short, narrated video summaries of their Notebook content.
  • Videos will include key insights, visuals, and voiceover.
  • The feature will be enabled by default for eligible users.
  • No changes to existing admin policies are required.
  • No impact to end-user workflow unless users choose to use the feature.

• Review whether your organization wants to participate in the Frontier Public Preview.
• Inform helpdesk and support teams of this new feature.
• Update internal documentation if you provide guidance on Copilot Notebook usage.

Learn more: Frontier: Try what’s next in AI | Microsoft 365 Copilot

Compliance considerations:

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

We’re introducing a new Best Practice Configurations Monitoring Dashboard in the Teams admin center. This dashboard helps administrators monitor their tenant’s adherence to Microsoft-recommended best practices for an optimal collaboration experience in Teams meetings. The first focus area is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) optimization, enabling admins to identify and remediate non-conformance quickly.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 526781.

• General Availability (Worldwide): We will start rolling out in mid-January 2026 and expect to complete by late January 2026.
• General Availability (GCC): We will start rolling out in late January 2026 and expect to complete by early February 2026.

Who is affected: Teams administrators managing meeting experiences across M365 tenants.

What will happen:

• A new Best Practice Configurations Monitoring Dashboard will appear under the Meetings section in Teams admin center.
• The dashboard will:
  • Highlight non-conformance with best practices for VDI optimization.
  • Display subnet/IP details by city for impacted locations.
  • Provide exportable lists of users connected to VDI sessions without media optimization enabled.
• Supported roles for export functionality:
  • Teams Administrator
  • Teams Communications Administrator
  • Teams Communications Support Engineer
  • Teams Telephony Administrator
  • Teams Reader
  • Global Administrator
  • Global Reader
• Note: Export is not supported for admins scoped to an administrative unit.
• No changes to user workflows; this is an admin-only feature.

• No action is required before rollout; the feature will be enabled automatically.
• After rollout:
  • Visit Teams admin center > Meetings > Best Practice Configurations to review dashboard insights.
  • Use export functionality to plan targeted remediation for non-optimized VDI sessions.

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

• Autonomous data agents that can query, update, and evaluate data quality
• Form prediction and autofill
• Support for agentic primitives like Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) collaboration

• Conversation trend analysis: Visualize trends over the last 24 hours or a custom time range, with filters by channel and queue.
• Assignment Performance: Assess time-to-assign and analyze assignment events to identify bottlenecks.
• Non-assignment reasons: View top reasons for non-assignment and drill into specific cases.
• Conversation timeline: Inspect the complete lifecycle of a conversation, including assignment events.
• Representative details: Access representative presence, capacity, and skills at the time of assignment for better routing insights.
• Assignment events: View the skills, presence, and capacity required by the work item, and analyze each assignment attempt to a specific representative with their actual presence, skills, and capacity. Identify if the attempt was accepted, rejected, or not responded to, and understand why a particular representative wasn’t assigned the work item.
• Self-serve troubleshooting: Resolve issues without leaving the Copilot Service workspace app.

• Presence changes
• Unit-based and profile-based capacity changes
• Representative skill changes
• Queue membership changes
• Representative, skill, queue, and capacity profile names with the corresponding IDs
• Assignment ruleset and rule ID matched during the assignment attempt (for custom assignment rulesets)
• Assignment ruleset and rule details (for custom assignment rulesets)

Updated January 2, 2026: We have updated the content and timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

Introduction

We’re introducing support for Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels in OneNote. This update enables users to manually classify and protect OneNote sections using the same compliance standards available across Microsoft 365 apps. Labels can be applied to each OneNote Section, helping ensure sensitive content is encrypted, access-controlled, and aligned with organizational policies. This change supports consistent data protection across platforms and endpoints.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 500020.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCCH, and DoD): We expect to complete the rollout by late January 2026.

How this affects your organization

This update enhances data protection and compliance capabilities by introducing sensitivity labeling to OneNote sections. Admins will gain greater control over how sensitive information is handled within OneNote, aligning it with other Microsoft 365 apps. This is particularly beneficial for organizations in regulated industries, helping mitigate risk and enforce compliance policies across endpoints.

Who is affected:

All users of supported OneNote clients across platforms, including organizations in regulated industries and those with compliance requirements.

What will happen:

• Sensitivity labels will be available in supported OneNote clients:
  • OneNote Win32 (Desktop)
  • OneNote for Web
  • OneNote for iOS
  • OneNote for Android
  • OneNote for Mac
• OneNote for Windows 10 (UWP) will not support this feature.
• Users will be able to manually apply sensitivity labels directly to OneNote sections.
• Labeled sections will be encrypted and access-controlled based on organizational policies.
• Admins can enforce labeling policies and monitor usage via Microsoft Purview.
• Label policies can be scoped using Entra ID group membership.
• Manual Labeling capability will be supported with this rollout. Other Sensitivity Label capabilities such as auto labeling, mandatory labels, default labeling and user defined permissions (UDP) labels will be rolled out at a future date.

What you can do to prepare

To prepare for this rollout:

• Ensure endpoints are using supported OneNote clients: Win32, Web, iOS, Android, and Mac.
• Transition away from OneNote for Windows 10 (UWP), which will not support sensitivity labels.
• No additional setup is required beyond maintaining updated builds.
• Admins may want to validate readiness and communicate expected changes to users.
• Review and update internal documentation to reflect supported platforms.

Learn more: Learn about sensitivity labels | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations

[Introduction]

• Information Management Policies
• In-Place Records Management
• Document deletion policies (deletion only)
• Policies for site closure and deletion (deletion only)

[When this will happen:]

[How this affects your organization:]

• These features will no longer be supported by Microsoft.
• These features may disappear from the user interface (UI).
• Configurations will not be available through UI or programmatically (including enable/disable actions).
• Backend services supporting these behaviors may stop functioning.

[What you can do to prepare:]

Microsoft won’t automatically migrate your older information management and SharePoint records management features in SharePoint Online. If you choose not to migrate to supported features, the older features may no longer be supported.

Between now and April 2026, you have the flexibility to migrate your scenarios on your own schedule. To prepare:

• Review current use of legacy features and confirm compliance goals.
• Plan migration to Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management and Purview Records Management.
• Audit retention schedules for duplicates or outdated policies.
• Confirm applicable licenses for Purview features.
• Implement modern features and verify functionality using tools like Policy Lookup.
• Communicate this change to your Data Lifecycle and Records Management teams.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Coming soon for Microsoft Copilot in Teams: Intelligent meeting recap will be able to incorporate content shared on screen into the AI-based summary provided after the meeting, providing a richer and more comprehensive recap of the meeting. Intelligent meeting recap will capture details shown when a participant shares their screen, ensuring those unspoken insights become part of the meeting recap.

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, Teams for the web, and Teams for iOS/Android.

This feature requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 490052.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: Rollout begins in early February 2026 and completes by mid-February 2026.

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in mid-February 2026 and completes by late February 2026. 

[How this will affect your organization:]

Copilot users will receive intelligent recap summaries that incorporate shared-screen content, preserving every detail and its context.

This feature will be available by default with no admin controls.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Learn more: Intelligent recap for Teams calls, meetings, and events – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

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

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

Introduction

We’re introducing new output control features in the Researcher Agent within Microsoft 365 Copilot. These enhancements allow users to customize the length of generated reports and select preferred output formats, improving flexibility and usability.

When this will happen: General Availability (Worldwide):

Rollout will begin in late September 2025 (previously mid-September) and is expected to complete by late January 2026 (previously late October 2025).

How this affects your organization

This update gives users greater control over how research reports are generated and exported.

• Before generating a report, users can now select a desired length (short, comprehensive):

   

• After generation, users can choose from multiple output formats, including exporting to Word:

   

What you can do to prepare

• No action is required at this time.
• Admins may wish to inform users of the new customization options available in the Researcher Agent.

Compliance considerations

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

[Introduction]

As part of our ongoing efforts to simplify and modernize the Viva Connections experience, we will retire the Assignments and Courses adaptive card extensions (ACEs) for Education customers. ACEs are modular components built using the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) that allow developers to create rich, interactive dashboard cards in Viva Connections. These cards surface data and actions from Microsoft 365 services or custom sources, helping users engage with content directly from their dashboard. The equivalent SharePoint dashboard webparts will also be retired. This change is intended to streamline the experience and reduce redundancy across platforms.

[When this will happen:]

• Existing components will reach end of support on June 30, 2026.

• Who is affected: Education tenants using Viva Connections and SharePoint dashboard webparts for Assignments and Courses.
• What will happen:
  • Users and admins will no longer be able to access Assignments and Courses ACE cards in Viva Connections.
  • Equivalent SharePoint dashboard webparts will also be inaccessible.
  • No reporting is available to identify which users are currently using these components.

• No admin action is required.
• Please notify your users about this change.
• Update any internal documentation that references these components.
• Share alternate capabilities with your users, if applicable.

Compliance considerations:

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

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

[Introduction]

To help users better prepare for upcoming meetings, Microsoft is enhancing the Up Next card experience in Microsoft 365. A new Prepare button will replace the Join button up to 5 minutes before a meeting starts, offering a one-tap way to access Copilot’s meeting preparation tools. This update supports improved productivity and readiness, aligning with feedback for more proactive meeting support.

Screenshot 1: Tap Prepare in Up Next.

Screenshot 2: Users can prepare with Copilot Chat.

[When this will happen:]

• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Rollout begins early February 2026 (previously early January) and is expected to complete by late February 2026 (previously late January).

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium license.
• What will happen:
  • The Up Next card will display a Prepare button instead of Join until 5 minutes before a meeting.
  • This button provides quick access to Copilot’s meeting preparation features.
  • No changes to admin settings or policies are required.
  • The feature is enabled by default for eligible users.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required at this time.
• You may wish to:
  • Inform helpdesk and support teams of the upcoming change.
  • Share this support article with users: Prepare for your meeting with Copilot
  • Update internal documentation if you reference the Up Next card or meeting workflows.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

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

[Introduction]

Managers will soon be able to export the default sections from the Executive Summary report in Viva Glint directly into editable PowerPoint slides. This enhancement makes it easier and faster to share and customize reports outside Viva Glint compared to the previous method, which relied on static screenshots.

With this release, the new editable PowerPoint export feature will be available for Executive Summary reports, complementing the Team Summary report export capability introduced earlier.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 499661.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in mid-January 2026 (previously early January) and is expected to complete by mid-January 2026 (previously early January).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Managers and users who access Viva Glint Executive Summary report.

What will happen:

• Native PowerPoint output: Executive Summary reports can now be exported as editable PowerPoint slides, allowing users to leverage built-in formatting and editing tools without needing to manipulate static images.
• Cleaner, customizable presentations: The new format improves layout and reduces whitespace, helping users create polished presentations more efficiently.
• Faster, more reliable export experience: The export process has been optimized for performance, reducing time-outs and improving reliability—especially for large reports with filters and visuals.
• Previous option remains available: The screenshot-based export option remains available for users who require custom PowerPoint template support, which is not yet supported in the new export feature.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required; the feature is on by default.
• Communicate this change to managers and report consumers who use Viva Glint.
• Update internal documentation if you reference report export options.

Learn more: How to Export Report to PowerPoint (will be updated before rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated January 5, 2026: This update serves as a reminder that SharePoint 2013 workflow will retire and stop working in 3 months from now (April 2, 2026).

Since the release of SharePoint workflows, Microsoft has evolved workflow orchestration to not only encompass SharePoint, but all the productivity services you use with Microsoft 365 and beyond. With the continued investment in Power Automate as the universal solution to workflow, Microsoft is retiring SharePoint 2013 workflows.

[When this will happen:]

• Starting April 2nd, 2024, SharePoint 2013 workflows will be turned off for any newly created tenants.
• Starting April 2nd, 2026, Microsoft will remove the ability to run, or create and execute SharePoint 2013 workflows for existing tenants.

[How this will affect your organization]

If your organization still uses SharePoint 2013 workflows, they will no longer function after April 2nd, 2026. We recommend customers to move to Power Automate or other supported solutions.

[What you need to do to prepare]

You will want to notify your users, workflow developers and site owners. Update your user training and prepare your help desk.

For admins

• Use the Microsoft 365 Assessment tool to scan your tenants for legacy workflow usage.
• Review Guidance: Migrate from classic workflows to Power Automate flows in SharePoint
• Review the Power Automate resources as a solution to legacy workflows.

Note: There will not be an option to extend SharePoint 2013 workflow beyond April 2nd 2026.

Learn more:

• Detailed support article with additional resources. 
  

Updated January 5, 2026: This update serves as a reminder that Azure ACS in Microsoft 365 will retire and stop working in 3 months from now (April 2, 2026).

Since the first use of Azure Access Control Services (ACS) by SharePoint in 2013, Microsoft has evolved the authorization and authentication options for SharePoint Online via Microsoft Entra ID (a.k.a. Azure AD). Using Microsoft Entra ID as auth platform for your SharePoint Online customizations will provide your applications the most secure, compliant and future proof model. With our continued investment in Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft is retiring the use of Azure ACS as auth platform for SharePoint Online.

[Key Points:]

• Major: Retirement
• Timeline:
  • Starting November 1st, 2024, new tenants will not be able use Azure ACS.
  • Starting April 2, 2026, Microsoft will remove the ability use SharePoint ACS for existing tenants.
• Action: Review and assess impact

[How this will affect your organization]

If your organization still uses Azure ACS to grant custom developed or third party applications access to SharePoint Online, they will no longer have access after April 2nd, 2026. We recommend customers to update their customizations to use Microsoft Entra ID and ask their solution vendors to do the same.

[What you need to do to prepare]

You will want to notify your Azure ACS users and developers. Update your user training and prepare your help desk.

For admins

• Use the Microsoft 365 Assessment tool to scan your tenants for Azure ACS usage.
• Review the guidance for migrating from Azure ACS to Microsoft Entra ID.
• There will not be an option to extend Azure ACS usage for SharePoint Online beyond April 2nd 2026.

Learn more

• Support update for the retirement of Azure ACS for SharePoint Online in Microsoft 365.

Updated January 5, 2026: This update serves as a reminder that SharePoint Add-Ins will retire and stop working in 3 months from now (April 2, 2026).

Since the release of SharePoint Add-Ins in 2013, Microsoft has evolved SharePoint extensibility using SharePoint Framework (SPFx) enabling you to write applications that can be used in Microsoft SharePoint, Viva Connections and Microsoft Teams. With our continued investment in SharePoint Framework, Microsoft is retiring SharePoint Add-Ins.

[Key Points:]

• Major: Retirement
• Timeline:
  • Starting July 1st, 2024, SharePoint Add-Ins cannot be installed from the public marketplace, also referred to as store by existing tenants. Installation from a private app catalog stays possible.
  • Starting November 1st, 2024, new tenants will not be able use SharePoint Add-Ins, regardless of their origin (public marketplace, private tenant catalog).
  • Starting April 2nd, 2026, Microsoft will remove the ability use SharePoint Add-Ins for existing tenants.
• Action: Review and assess impact

[How this will affect your organization:]

If your organization still uses SharePoint Add-Ins, they will no longer function after April 2nd, 2026. We recommend customers to port their customizations to SharePoint Framework (SPFx) and ask their solution vendors for updated solutions.

[What you need to do to prepare]

You will want to notify your Add-In users and developers. Update your user training and prepare your help desk.

For admins

• Use the Microsoft 365 Assessment tool to scan your tenants for SharePoint Add-In usage.
• Disable SharePoint Add-Ins on your tenant using SharePoint Online Management Shell
• Review the guidance for migrating from SharePoint Add-Ins to SharePoint Framework.
• There will not be an option to extend SharePoint Add-Ins beyond April 2nd 2026.

New: How to disable SharePoint Add-Ins on your tenant

Admins can disable SharePoint Add-Ins with the Set-SPOTenant SharePoint Management Shell PowerShell command.

Connect-SPOService -Url https://<tenant>-admin.sharepoint.com

Set-SPOTenant -IsSharePointAddInsDisabled $true

After SharePoint Add-Ins are disabled, users will not be able to add SharePoint Add-Ins to their sites, and admins cannot add new SharePoint Add-Ins to the tenant and site collection app catalogs. SharePoint Add-Ins already added to sites will stay available and can still be used by the site’s users.

New: SharePoint Add-Ins will not be available from the public marketplace

After July 1, 2024, users browsing the public marketplace (AppSource) will see SharePoint Add-In, but if they select Get it now, a message will explain that SharePoint Add-Ins are retired and cannot be added. If you still require a specific SharePoint Add-In, contact the Add-In creator to understand the possible options.

Learn more

• Support update for the retirement of SharePoint Add-Ins in Microsoft 365.

Updated January 5, 2026: This update serves as a reminder that SharePoint Framework domain isolated web parts will retire and stop working in 3 months from now (April 2, 2026).

After careful consideration and extensive review of usage data and feedback Microsoft has decided to retire the domain isolated web parts feature in the SharePoint Framework (SPFx).

[When will this happen:]

• Starting April 2, 2025, domain isolated web parts will be turned off for any newly created tenants.
• Starting April 2, 2026, Microsoft will remove the ability to use domain isolated web parts for existing tenants.

[How this will affect your organization:]

If your organization still uses domain isolated web parts, after the change has rolled out these will render an error message and stop functioning. We recommend customers to update the impacted web parts as regular web parts and redeploy them.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To understand whether you have installed domain isolated web parts and granted permissions you can verify if the SharePoint admin center API access page contains permissions listed under the Isolated grouping. If you see permissions listed under Isolated then you can use the instructions described on the domain isolated web part retirement page to discover the solutions, their domain isolated web parts and where those web parts are used. This resource will also contain the needed steps to update the web parts to not use domain isolation.

Note: There will not be an option to extend domain isolated web parts beyond April 2, 2026.

Learn more:

• Domain isolated web part retirement page
• Retirement announcement blog post

Updated January 6, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: A new setting that allows users to view incoming calls in a small window in Teams to prevent disruptions. Users will be able to take a call in the small window and continue to see what they were working on before the call.

This message applies to Teams on Windows desktop, Teams on Mac desktop, Teams for the web, and Teams for iOS/Android.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 482747.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early May 2025 and expect to complete by mid-May 2025.

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

General Availability (GCC): We will begin rolling out early April 2026 (previously early February) and expect to complete by mid-April 2026 (previously mid-February).

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Teams users are disrupted by the larger Teams screen when viewing an incoming call.

After this rollout: Teams users can turn on this setting to view calls in a small window. Note that both large and small windows are resizable:

This feature will be on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Updated January 6, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

Copilot in PowerPoint is getting smarter. Soon, users will be able to generate a compelling title, concise summary, or captions for visuals simply by describing what they want in natural language. Copilot will use the context of the slide to generate relevant text, helping users turn ideas into content quickly and efficiently.

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

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap IDs: 513427, 513428 and 513429.

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in mid-January 2026 (previously mid-December 2025) and is expected to complete by mid-February 2026 (previously late December 2025).

• Who is affected: Users of PowerPoint for Windows desktop, PowerPoint for Mac desktop, and PowerPoint Online Web.
• What will happen:
  • A new Copilot dropdown (pen icon) will appear for blank textboxes.
  • Editors will see a prompt box to enter instructions for generating text.
  • The feature will be on by default.

• No admin action is required before rollout.
• You may want to:
  • Notify users about this new capability.
  • Update internal documentation to reflect the change.

Updated January 6, 2026: We are updating this post as a reminder. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction:]

As part of the Microsoft Secure Future Initiative (SFI) and in alignment with the “Secure by Default” principle, we’re retiring the legacy IDCRL (Identity Client Run Time Library) authentication protocol in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. This change helps strengthen your organization’s security posture by enforcing modern authentication standards—OpenID Connect and OAuth—which reduce exposure to outdated and vulnerable authentication methods.

[When this will happen:]

• Starting January 31, 2026: Legacy client authentication will be blocked by default. Organizations may temporarily re-enable it using PowerShell until April 30, 2026.
• Starting May 1, 2026: Legacy client authentication will be permanently blocked and cannot be re-enabled.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Organizations using clients, scripts, or applications that rely on the legacy IDCRL authentication protocol to access SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business.

• Legacy authentication calls using IDCRL will be blocked by default starting January 31, 2026.
• Temporary re-enablement is possible via PowerShell until April 30, 2026.
• After May 1, 2026, IDCRL authentication will be permanently retired and cannot be re-enabled.
• Applications using IDCRL will fail to authenticate unless updated to use modern protocols.

[What you can do to prepare:]

We recommend migrating from legacy authentication protocols to modern authentication as soon as possible. 

To prepare for this retirement:

• Migrate all clients, scripts, and applications to use OpenID Connect or OAuth protocols. 
• Review current configurations for IDCRL authentication.
• Notify IT admins, app owners, and security teams about the upcoming retirement.
• Update internal documentation to reflect the new authentication defaults.
• Use telemetry to identify usage of legacy authentication protocols and monitor migration progress.
• Use PowerShell to manage legacy authentication settings if needed:
  • Set AllowLegacyAuthProtocolsEnabledSetting and LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled to TRUE to temporarily allow legacy authentication until April 30, 2026.
• Learn more:
  • Migrating from IDCRL authentication to modern authentication in SharePoint | Microsoft 365 Developer Blog | Microsoft Dev Blogs
  • Set-SPOTenant (Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell) | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated January 6, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing new features to the Copilot Notebooks module in the following apps:

• M365 Copilot App for Desktop (Windows and macOS)
• M365 Copilot App for Web
• OneNote Win32 (Insiders/Beta ring)

These updates make it easier for users to onboard and find value within Copilot Notebooks by improving navigation, personalization, and AI capabilities.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 516042.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• Frontier Public users with an M365 Copilot license.

What will happen:

• Users will experience a streamlined interface with a persistent navigation pane and chat on the right for optimized notebook workflows.

Screenshot: A view of the new UX, Overview Page, and Suggestions.



• Suggested Notebooks and references will provide personalized recommendations based on projects, graph context, and recent files.
• An automatically generated overview page will summarize the Notebook and key insights, refreshable as new references are added.
• Advanced AI features will expand reference types to include SharePoint folders and OneNote notebooks.
• Features will be ON by default for Frontier Public users starting November 19, 2025.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required for rollout.
• Communicate these changes to helpdesk staff to prepare for user questions.
• Update internal documentation if you detail Copilot Notebook functionality.

Learn more: Get started with Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks (will be updated soon)

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated January 6, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction:]

To help users declutter their calendars, Outlook Mobile now supports hiding declined meetings. This aligns with existing functionality in New Outlook and Outlook for the Web, where users can choose to show or hide declined events. With this update, users can enjoy a simplified calendar experience across devices.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCCH, and DoD): Rollout begins in mid-January 2026 (previously early January) and is expected to complete by mid-February 2026 (previously late January). 

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Users of Outlook Mobile who have enabled “Show declined meetings” in New Outlook or Outlook for the Web.

What will happen: 

• Users will see a new setting in Outlook Mobile to hide declined meetings: 



• This setting provides a cleaner calendar view by removing declined events.
• The feature respects existing preferences set in New Outlook or Outlook for the Web.
• No changes to admin policies or configurations are required.

Learn more: What is the Hide Declined Events Setting? | Microsoft Support

[What you can do to prepare:] 

No admin action is required at this time.

You may choose to inform helpdesk staff or update internal documentation to reflect this new setting.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated January 6, 2026: The rollout for VFAM based exclusion list for Viva insights and Copilot analytics is starting from Jan 6, 2026 and expected to complete by Jan 15, 2026. Exact roll out dates may vary by region. Thank you for your patience.

[Introduction:]

We’re updating how you manage user exclusions in Viva Insights and Copilot Analytics. Starting early January 2026, exclusions will be controlled through Viva Feature Access Management (VFAM) policies instead of the current list-based method in the Microsoft 365 admin center. This new approach lets admins create user-, group-, or tenant-level policies to exclude users from all Viva Insights measurement (Copilot Dashboard, Advanced Insights, Organizational Insights), using the same scalable policy framework as other Viva features.

[When this will happen:]

The VFAM-based exclusion feature will begin rolling out in early January 2026 (previously early December 2025). Exact rollout dates may vary by region.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Admins managing Viva Insights and Copilot Analytics exclusions.

What will happen:

• Existing exclusion lists will be automatically migrated to VFAM; no admin action is required.
• Users already excluded will remain excluded across all Viva Insights experiences.
• VFAM will become the default and only method for managing exclusions.
• Admins will use VFAM policies to configure new exclusions at the user, group, or tenant level.
• The exclusion behavior remains unchanged; only the configuration method is updated.

Screenshot – Viva Feature Access Management feature for Exclusion management:

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No immediate action is required.
• Inform your Viva admins about the upcoming change.
• Once VFAM is live, review your exclusion settings in the Microsoft 365 admin center (under Viva Insights).
• Use the VFAM policy interface for any future updates.

Learn more about VFAM access: Control access to features in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Viva | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated January 6, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new opt-in feature for automatic event-auditing configuration in Microsoft Defender for Identity unified sensors (v3.x). This enhancement simplifies deployment by automatically applying the required Windows event-auditing settings on sensors, reducing manual post-deployment steps and ensuring consistent policy enforcement across all onboarded sensors.

[When this will happen:]

• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCCH, and DoD): The auditing opt-in feature will be available starting mid-January 2026 (previously early January), with rollout expected to complete by end of January 2026 (previously mid-January). Until then, it will remain disabled in the portal.
• Related auditing health alerts will also roll out gradually starting mid-January 2026 (previously early January), completing by end of January 2026 (previously mid-January).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Admins managing Defender for Identity unified sensors (v3.x) in Microsoft 365 tenants.

What will happen:

• A new opt-in setting will be available in both the UI and via Graph API.
• In the UI, this option will appear under Defender for Identity Settings → Advanced features.
• Once enabled, the automatic configuration feature will:
  • For new sensor activations: Automatically apply all required Windows event-auditing settings during activation.
  • For existing onboarded sensors: Automatically apply Windows event-auditing settings only if misconfigured and dismiss related health issues.
• After enabling the toggle, the automatic configuration process may take up to 24 hours to apply across all applicable Identity Unified sensors (v3.x).
• This feature is not enabled by default and requires admin action. No changes will occur unless admins choose to enable the feature.

Relevant auditing configurations health issues covered:

• NTLM auditing is not enabled
• Directory Services Advanced Auditing is not enabled as required
• Directory Services Object Auditing is not enabled as required
• Auditing on the Configuration container is not enabled as required
• Auditing on the ADFS container is not enabled as required

[What you can do to prepare:]

No action is required unless you choose to enable the feature.

If you plan to opt in:

• Review your unified sensor deployment strategy.
• Enable the opt-in setting via the UI or Graph API.
• Communicate the change to relevant IT and security teams.
• Update internal documentation if you track auditing configurations.

Learn more:

• Auditing health alerts documentation
• Configure Windows event auditing
• Configure audit policies for Windows event logs

[Compliance considerations:]

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

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

[Introduction]

Managers will soon be able to export the default sections from the Executive Summary report in Viva Glint directly into editable PowerPoint slides. This enhancement makes it easier and faster to share and customize reports outside Viva Glint compared to the previous method, which relied on static screenshots.

With this release, the new editable PowerPoint export feature will be available for Executive Summary reports, complementing the Team Summary report export capability introduced earlier.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 499661.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in mid-January 2026 (previously early January) and is expected to complete by mid-January 2026 (previously early January).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Managers and users who access Viva Glint Executive Summary report.

What will happen:

• Native PowerPoint output: Executive Summary reports can now be exported as editable PowerPoint slides, allowing users to leverage built-in formatting and editing tools without needing to manipulate static images.
• Cleaner, customizable presentations: The new format improves layout and reduces whitespace, helping users create polished presentations more efficiently.
• Faster, more reliable export experience: The export process has been optimized for performance, reducing time-outs and improving reliability—especially for large reports with filters and visuals.
• Previous option remains available: The screenshot-based export option remains available for users who require custom PowerPoint template support, which is not yet supported in the new export feature.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No admin action is required; the feature is on by default.
• Communicate this change to managers and report consumers who use Viva Glint.
• Update internal documentation if you reference report export options.

Learn more: How to Export Report to PowerPoint (will be updated before rollout)

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Introduction

As of January 9, 2026, you may experience issues deleting Copilot Notebooks if a recent fix has not yet rolled out to your tenant. In early December, we identified a problem where the asynchronous deletion of folders in SharePoint Embedded was not being invoked, causing deletion failures. This fix is now being deployed, and we want you to be aware of the current state and upcoming resolution.

Tenant-owned Loop workspace SharePoint Embedded (SPE) containers may also experience these deletion failures. These issues will not be resolved with the initial fix rollout. However, you can mitigate them by excluding the affected containers from Microsoft Purview retention policies, as described in the steps below.

When this will happen:

• The initial fix begins rolling out January 9, 2026.
• Full worldwide rollout is expected by January 31, 2026.
• After this rollout, we’ll evaluate if additional fixes are needed.

How this affects your organization:

• Who is affected: Tenants using Copilot Notebooks stored in SharePoint Embedded.
• What will happen:
  • If the fix hasn’t reached your tenant, deleting Copilot Notebooks may fail.
  • After January 31, deletion should work as expected.
  • If issues persist after January, report via a support ticket.

What you can do to prepare:

• Work with IT admins to:
  • Exclude personal containers from retention policies.
  • Remove sensitivity labels or content triggering retention policies.
• If a notebook is on Preservation Hold:
  • Sign in to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
  • Navigate to Solutions > Data Lifecycle Management > Retention policies.
  • Locate the policy applying the hold to the affected SharePoint site or container.
  • Edit the policy to remove the hold or exclude the container from the policy.
  • Save changes and allow time for propagation before retrying deletion.
• Temporarily disable retention policies for affected SharePoint sites and SharePoint Embedded containers:
  • Sign in to Microsoft Purview portal > Solutions > Data Lifecycle Management > Policies > Retention policies.
• Learn more about retention policies and removing holds

Compliance considerations:

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

Introduction

Connectivity changes between cmdlets and Microsoft 365 services like SharePoint and Exchange now require a new parameter for improved security and modern authentication. Starting Jan 31, 2026, Admins must use Exchange Online PowerShell v3.9.0 or later and include the -EnableSearchOnlySession parameter when running Connect-IPPSession to execute Data Lifecycle Management cmdlets.

When this will happen:

Enforcement begins January 31, 2026.

How this affects your organization:

• Who is affected: Admins using Data Lifecycle Management cmdlets in Security & Compliance PowerShell.
• What will happen:
  • You must use Exchange Online PowerShell v3.9.0 or later.
  • You must include the -EnableSearchOnlySession parameter when running Connect-IPPSession.
  • This applies to the following cmdlets:
    • New-RetentionCompliancePolicy
    • Set-RetentionCompliancePolicy
    • New-RetentionComplianceRule
    • Set-RetentionComplianceRule
  • No impact for users accessing Data Lifecycle Management through the Purview portal.
  • Cmdlets remain incompatible with Certificate-Based Authentication (CBA).

What you can do to prepare:

• Update scripts and workflows to include the -EnableSearchOnlySession parameter.
• Ensure your organization is using Exchange Online PowerShell version 3.9.0 or later.
• For more information, visit: Learn about Data Lifecycle Management solutions in Microsoft Purview.

Compliance considerations:

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

We’re introducing a new Slack to Microsoft Teams migration tool to help organizations seamlessly transition collaboration from Slack to Teams. This tool enables administrators to migrate content from Slack public and private channels into Teams shared, public, and private channels, reducing complexity and improving continuity.

• Targeted Release: Rollout begins in early December 2025 and completes by late January 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in late January 2026 and completes by early March 2026.

Who is affected: Microsoft 365 administrators managing Teams and Slack migrations.

What will happen:

• A new Slack to Teams migration tool will appear in the Migration and imports page of the Microsoft admin center.

Screenshot 1: On the setup page, users can specify a Slack export file and select a workspace to migrate.



Screenshot 2: On the migration page, users can run migration tasks and monitor their execution status.



• Admins can:
  • Review Slack channels eligible for migration.
  • Migrate Slack channel content to Teams channels.
• Initial release supports Slack channel content only; future updates will expand to other Slack content types.
• No changes to existing Teams functionality.
• Feature is available by default; no opt-in required.

• No action is required before rollout.
• If planning a migration:
  • Review Slack channels for migration readiness.
  • Communicate this change to IT and helpdesk teams.

Learn more: Migrating from Slack to Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Expected with Intune’s February (2602) service release, we are introducing two new role-based access control (RBAC) permissions for Managed Home Screen to enhance role capabilities and streamline device management workflows. Additionally, these roles will be included in the School Administrator and Help Desk Operator built-in roles:

• TemporarilySuspendManagedHomeScreen
• RestoreManagedHomeScreen

[How this will affect your organization:]

Admins assigned to the School Administrator and Help Desk Operator roles will automatically gain access to the two new RBAC permissions. This may expand their ability to manage Android devices using Managed Home Screen, depending on how your organization uses these roles.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

No admin action is required. However, we recommend reviewing your role assignments and informing admins of the expanded permissions. Update any internal documentation or training materials as needed.

If you want to take advantage of the new permissions to add granularity to your roles, stay tuned to What’s new in Intune for the release.

[Introduction]

To streamline and modernize the Sway experience, Microsoft is retiring the Sway Windows desktop application (Win32 client) effective June 1, 2026. This change aligns with our efforts to simplify app management and encourage use of the web-based version, which offers the same capabilities with improved accessibility and support. Users can access all current and future Sway features, as well as their content, through the browser interface at sway.cloud.microsoft.

[When this will happen:]

• Retirement date: June 1, 2026

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

• All users who currently use the Sway Windows desktop application (Win32 client).
• Admins responsible for managing Microsoft Office installations and user training materials.

What will happen:

• The Sway Windows desktop app will be retired and no longer available for use after June 1, 2026.
• Users will continue to have full access to Sway via the browser at sway.cloud.microsoft.
• No changes will be made to existing Sway content; all content remains accessible via the web interface.
• There is no impact to Sway features or functionality—only the desktop app is being retired.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff.
• Encourage users to transition to using Sway via their web browser at sway.cloud.microsoft.
• Update any internal documentation, training materials, or helpdesk guidance that references the Sway Windows app.
• No admin configuration changes are required.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

• Evaluation criteria: Supervisors can create a form with questions, answer choices, scoring metrics, and detailed instructions to automate quality evaluations.
• Evaluation plan: Supervisors establish plans that define when and how interactions are evaluated. They can select evaluation frequency, apply specific criteria, and configure thresholds and notification preferences to ensure systematic, real-time assessments.

• Allows you to set behavior based on queue volume.
• Prevent duplicate callback requests from the same phone number.
• Define deduplication logic using combinations of: Caller phone number (C2), Channel phone number and Queue ID.
• Configurable caller experiences when a duplicate is detected: Option to end the call or play a custom message in a loop.
• Specify the phone number to initiate the callback from.

[Introduction]

Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance is undergoing a scheduled infrastructure upgrade. Although this migration is planned outside of normal business hours, some production clusters may experience higher loads, potentially causing brief delays in downstream processing. Brief delays in processing may occur during this migration, but no data will be lost.

[When this will happen:]

This migration will begin January 5, 2026, and end February 28, 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

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

What will happen:

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

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

[What you can do to prepare:]

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

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Updated January 6, 2026: To ensure the best customer experience we have decided not to proceed with the rollout of this limit. Please see https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/exchange/exchange-online-canceling-the-mailbox-external-recipient-rate-limit/4483498 for more information. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your patience.

Important update regarding the cloud hosted Mailbox External Recipient Rate Limit: In order to reduce the impact on customers, Microsoft has again decided to delay the rollout of the cloud hosted Mailbox External Recipient Rate Limit (MERRL) by ~six months. The MERRL will go into enforcement in April 2026 for trial tenants and new tenants if the tenant is provisioned on/after April 1st, 2026. In April 2026, the Exchange Admin Center Report will be available for tenant admins to review Sender mailbox data on external recipient volume. In October 2026, the MERRL will go into enforcement for all cloud hosted mailboxes in the WWMT environment including existing tenants.

Please refer to the ACS email documentation (Prepare an email communication resource for Azure Communication Services – An Azure Communication Services concept article | Microsoft Learn) or reach out to your Microsoft account team for further support in this journey.

Please note: We have made the decision to not proceed with this change for DoD, GCC, or GCC High organizations at this time. We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed. The External Recipient Rate Limit will only apply to WWMT/Production. 

Please refer to the ACS email documentation (Prepare an email communication resource for Azure Communication Services – An Azure Communication Services concept article | Microsoft Learn) or reach out to your Microsoft account team for further support in this journey. 

________________________________________

Today, we are announcing that, beginning in April 2026 (previously October 2025), Exchange Online will begin enforcing an external recipient rate limit of 2000 recipients in 24 hours.

Exchange Online does not support bulk or high-volume transactional email. We have not enforced limiting of bulk email until now, but we plan on doing so with the introduction of an External Recipient Rate (ERR) limit. The ERR limit is being introduced to help reduce unfair usage and abuse of Exchange Online resources.

[When this will happen:]

The new ERR limit will be introduced in 2 phases:

Phase 1 – Starting April 1, 2026, (previously October 2025) the limit will apply to cloud-hosted mailboxes of trial tenants and all tenants created after this date. 

Phase 2 – Starting October 1, 2026, (previously April 2026) we will start applying the limit to cloud-hosted mailboxes of existing tenants. 

[How this will affect your organization:]

Exchange Online enforces a Recipient Rate limit of 10000 recipients for cloud-hosted mailboxes. The 2000 ERR limit will become a sublimit within this 10000 Recipient Rate limit. There is no change to the Recipient Rate limit, and both of these will be rolling limits for 24-hour windows. You can send to up to 2,000 external recipients in a 24-hour period, and if you max out the external recipient rate limit then you will still be able to send to up to 8,000 internal recipients in that same period. If you don’t send to any external recipients in a 24-hour period, you can send to up to 10,000 internal recipients.

For example:

• You use a cloud-hosted mailbox to send to 1,000 external recipients and 2,000 internal recipients at 6:00AM on Day 1, for a total of 3,000 recipients. You then send to another 1,000 external recipients at 8:00AM on Day 1. Because you sent to 2,000 external recipients, you will be blocked from sending to external recipients until 6:00AM on Day 2. During this period, you are able to send to up to 6,000 internal recipients, but for this example, let’s assume that you don’t.
• At 6:00AM on Day 2, the 1,000 external recipients and 2,000 internal recipients sent at 6:00AM on Day 1 will no longer count toward the 24-hour limit calculation. Thus, from 6:00-8:00AM on Day 2, you can send to up to 9,000 total recipients (e.g., 9,000 internal or 8,000 internal plus 1,000 external).
• If you don’t send to any internal or external recipients during this period, then at 8:00AM on Day 2 you can again send to 10,000 recipients total with up to 2,000 of them being external recipients.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

If you have a cloud-hosted mailbox that needs to exceed the ERR limit, you can move to Azure Communication Services for Email, which is designed specifically for high volume email sent to recipients external to your tenant.

Updated January 7, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

Copilot in PowerPoint is getting smarter. Soon, users will be able to generate a compelling title, concise summary, or captions for visuals simply by describing what they want in natural language. Copilot will use the context of the slide to generate relevant text, helping users turn ideas into content quickly and efficiently.

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

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap IDs: 513427, 513428 and 513429.

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in end of February 2026 (previously mid-January) and is expected to complete by end of March 2026 (previously mid-February).

• Who is affected: Users of PowerPoint for Windows desktop, PowerPoint for Mac desktop, and PowerPoint Online Web.
• What will happen:
  • A new Copilot dropdown (pen icon) will appear for blank textboxes.
  • Editors will see a prompt box to enter instructions for generating text.
  • The feature will be on by default.

• No admin action is required before rollout.
• You may want to:
  • Notify users about this new capability.
  • Update internal documentation to reflect the change.

Updated January 7, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

“Hey Copilot” to start voice in Copilot on Windows devices

[Introduction]

Starting late November 2025, we’re introducing a new hands-free way to activate voice in Microsoft 365 Copilot on Windows devices. Users will be able to start a voice chat with Copilot by saying “Hey Copilot”. To end the conversation, users need to press the “Dismiss/X” button in the voice chat controls. In the future, users will be able to end the chat with a voice command. This allows users to stay in the flow of work, without switching apps or windows, while getting assistance from Copilot using voice.

Important: The “Hey Copilot” feature is off by default.

Users can manually enable the feature by going to Settings > Quick view in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app and turning on the Listen for “Hey Copilot” toggle. When on, this capability operates locally on the device and only activates by “hearing” the trigger word “Hey Copilot” without recording or storing any conversation. Text transcripts from voice conversations with Copilot are stored and managed in the same way as text conversations in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. No user or Copilot audio is stored. For more information about data retention for Copilot, see Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 497848.

[When this will happen]

Preview (Frontier): Begins rolling out at the end of November 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): Begins rolling out in February 2026 (previously late December 2025) and expected to be generally available by end of February 2026 (previously late January).

[How this will affect your organization]

• Users will be able to start a voice conversation with Copilot hands free, saying “Hey Copilot” once turned on.
• The “Hey Copilot” feature is off by default and must be turned on by users in Copilot settings.
• When on, this capability operates locally on the device and only activates by “hearing” the trigger word “Hey Copilot” without recording or storing any conversation.
• There is no admin control to disable this feature by an admin at a tenant or group level.
• Voice in Microsoft 365 Copilot is currently available only for Copilot licensed users and this feature will be available only to those same users.
• Activation respects organizational compliance boundaries and only responds when explicitly called.
• To mute or end the conversation, the user must click to “Mute” or “Dismiss” as needed. At that point, Copilot stops listening. Copilot will end the session after 60 seconds of inactivity, giving users a notice after the first 30 seconds. 
• The feature will not activate if audio from another app is on or when the user’s device is locked.
• This feature is supported in English only, but once activated, users can have conversation in any language Copilot that supports.

[What you need to do to prepare]

This feature will roll out default off but users will be prompted in product to try this feature by turning it on in the Copilot settings.

To enable, users need to go to Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices and enable it in settings and ensure that microphone permissions and device settings are compatible with voice activation

• Review how privacy and security of organizational data is protected when using this feature: Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Communicate the availability and benefits of this feature to your users.
• Remind users to ensure that microphone permissions and device settings are compatible with voice activation.

[Learn more]

How “Hey Copilot” voice chat wake word works in Microsoft 365 Copilot – Microsoft Support

Frequently asked questions about voice features in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Get started with voice features in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Updated January 7, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

We’re introducing cross-tenant group synchronization, a new capability that enables organizations to synchronize security groups across Microsoft Entra tenants. This feature simplifies collaboration scenarios by allowing shared access to resources across tenants while maintaining centralized group management. It also streamlines administration of multiple tenants by centralizing group membership control, reducing duplication and manual overhead. The new group sync functionality will be part of the Microsoft Entra ID Governance / Microsoft Entra Suite license. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 518221.

• Public Preview: Rollout begins in late January 2026 and completes by late January 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Rollout begins in late April 2026 and completes by late April 2026.

• Who is affected: Admins managing Microsoft Entra tenants who want to enable cross-tenant group synchronization.
• What will happen:
  • No impact unless you opt in during Public Preview.
  • Admins can enable synchronization by updating attribute mappings.
  • Cross-tenant access policies in the target tenant must allow group synchronization.

• Identify groups that require synchronization into other tenants.
• Collaborate with admins of other tenants to align on supported scenarios and business processes.
• Review and update attribute mappings and cross-tenant access policies as needed.

Learn more: Configure cross-tenant synchronization – Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn

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

Updated January 7, 2026: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

• Information Management Policies
• In-Place Records Management
• Document deletion policies (deletion only)

[When this will happen:]

[How this affects your organization:]

• These features will no longer be supported by Microsoft.
• These features may disappear from the user interface (UI).
• Configurations will not be available through UI or programmatically (including enable/disable actions).
• Backend services supporting these behaviors may stop functioning.

[What you can do to prepare:]

Microsoft won’t automatically migrate your older information management and SharePoint records management features in SharePoint Online. If you choose not to migrate to supported features, the older features may no longer be supported.

Between now and April 2026, you have the flexibility to migrate your scenarios on your own schedule. To prepare:

• Review current use of legacy features and confirm compliance goals.
• Plan migration to Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management and Purview Records Management.
• Audit retention schedules for duplicates or outdated policies.
• Confirm applicable licenses for Purview features.
• Implement modern features and verify functionality using tools like Policy Lookup.
• Communicate this change to your Data Lifecycle and Records Management teams.

[Compliance considerations:]

• Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) report in Windows Autopatch 
• Microsoft Intune Suite capabilities included in Microsoft 365 plans 
• Hardware-accelerated BitLocker 
• Secure Boot certificate update resources 
• Optimized multimedia call redirection on Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 
• Native NVMe support in Windows Server 2025 
• Additional improvements released in December 

• Windows IT Pro Blog 
• Microsoft Intune Blog 
• Microsoft Intune Customer Success Blog 
• Microsoft Security Blog 
• Windows 11 update history 
• Windows Server update history 

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

Introduction

We’re introducing a new request and approval experience in the Microsoft 365 admin center for Microsoft agents. This update enables users to request access to agents—even those currently unavailable due to your organization’s configuration—directly from the Agent Store.

You can manage these requests centrally from the Copilot > Agents & connectors page in the Microsoft 365 admin center, streamlining access control and improving visibility into user interest.

Note: This request flow applies exclusively to agents built by Microsoft and does not extend to other agents available in the store.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 494809.

When this will happen

Rollout will begin early February 2026 (previously early January) and completes by end of February 2026 (previously end of January).

How this affects your organization

This update enhances flexibility and transparency in agent access management:

• Admins retain full control over access decisions and benefit from:
  • Centralized management of agent access requests.
  • Granular control to approve or reject requests at the individual user level.

This feature is on by default and requires no configuration to enable.

What you can do to prepare

No setup is required—this feature will roll out automatically.

To prepare:

• Visit the Copilot > Agents & connectors page in the Microsoft 365 admin center to view and manage agent access requests.
• Approve or reject requests based on your organization’s policies.

Compliance considerations

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

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

Introduction

We’re introducing a new way to build automations in SharePoint using Workflows—the same fast, intuitive experience available in the Teams Workflows app. This update simplifies automation across SharePoint, Teams, and Microsoft 365, helping users streamline tasks like notifications, approvals, and file actions with just a few clicks.

Powered by Power Automate, Workflows offers a consistent experience across platforms and reduces the complexity of previous automation methods.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 491632 and MC1121517.

When this will happen

• Targeted Release: Begins early February 2026 (previously early January); expected completion by end of February 2026 (previously end of January).
• General Availability: Begins early March 2026 (previously early February); expected completion by end of March 2026 (previously end of February).

How this affects your organization

As part of this update, list and document libraries will have a new Workflows button on the command bar menu. We’ll also be consolidating the existing Automate and Integrate menus into a single menu dropdown.

Figure i. Updated Workflows button on the command bar menu

The new Workflows experience introduces:

• A streamlined interface for creating automations directly in SharePoint lists and libraries, Teams chats, and channels.
• A redesigned template library for faster discovery of common workflows.
• Natural language-to-flow capabilities to describe automation goals.
• A Madlib-style editor for easy customization using plain language and dynamic placeholders.

Figure ii. Workflows experience opening in a SharePoint list

Figure iii. Creating a new Workflow from a template in a SharePoint document library

Workflows is powered by Power Automate and retains enterprise-grade reliability, security, and extensibility. Existing workflows and compliance processes remain unaffected. The feature is on by default and requires no admin configuration.

What you can do to prepare

No admin action is required at this time. However, you may:

• Inform users about the new Workflows experience in SharePoint.
• Update existing training and documentation that used the Integrate menu and Power Automate to create flows
• Reassure users that existing Power Automate workflows and policies will remain unchanged.
• Learn more:
  • Browse and add workflows in Microsoft Teams (will be updated before WW rollout)
  • Create a flow for a list or library (will be updated before WW rollout)

Compliance considerations

This feature leverages the Default Environment in Power Platform, if your organization has specific controls or environment policies, Workflows experiences in Teams & SharePoint will be included in those policies.

Updated January 8, 2026: We have updated this post as a reminder. Thank you for your patience. 

[Introduction]

This message is a follow-up notice to retire the legacy CDN domain publiccdn.sharepointonline.com. After this rollout completes, content referenced via the legacy domain will no longer be accessible, and users will receive 404 errors when trying to access resources hosted on the legacy domain.

[When this will happen:]

[How this affects your organization:]

• Organizations using SharePoint Online with applications, scripts, or configurations that hardcode the legacy CDN domain.
• Developers using SharePoint Framework (SPFx) with hardcoded cdnBasePath values.
• Admins who have configured domain-based allow lists in their network settings.

What will happen:

• The legacy domain publiccdn.sharepointonline.com will be retired.
• Any content referenced via the legacy domain will return 404 errors.
• The same resources remain available through the new CDN domain public-cdn.sharepointonline.com.
• The legacy domain previously served as an automatic hosting endpoint for SharePoint resources.
• The 404 error does not indicate data loss—only the access path is affected.
• Hardcoded references to the legacy domain will fail once the domain is retired.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review your applications, scripts, and configurations for any hardcoded references to publiccdn.sharepointonline.com.
• Update affected components to use supported and dynamic endpoints to ensure continued functionality.
• For SPFx applications:
  • If using an external CDN, it’s fine to update the cdnBasePath.
  • If relying on automatic hosting through the Microsoft 365 Public CDN, do not hardcode cdnBasePath—leave it unchanged, shown in the code snippet box below. For more details, refer to Update your solution project for the CDN URLs.

{
  "cdnBasePath": "<!-- PATH TO CDN -->"
}

• Ensure public-cdn.sharepointonline.com is included in your domain-based allow lists.
• Validate your updates before March 31, 2026 to prevent potential service disruptions.
• Monitor network traffic and optionally block requests to the legacy domain to confirm that content hosted through the CDN continues to function properly.
• Learn more: Overview of the SharePoint Framework

[Compliance considerations]

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

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a private chat feature for organizers, co-organizers, and presenters in structured meetings and webinars in Microsoft Teams. This separate chat enhances collaboration by allowing key participants to communicate privately before, during, and after the event, without involving attendees. Additionally, we are unifying backroom chat behavior in town halls to ensure consistent functionality across all structured meetings. Currently, backroom chat behavior varies depending on whether streaming chat is enabled for town halls and whether the organizer has a Teams Premium license. This update removes that inconsistency.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 392328 and applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, Teams for the web, Teams for iOS/Android, MTR-W and MTR-A devices.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release: Rollout begins in early March 2026 (previously early February) and is expected to complete by mid-March 2026 (previously mid-February).
• General Availability (Worldwide and GCC): Rollout begins in mid-March 2026 (previously mid-February) and is expected to complete by late March 2026 (previously late February).

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Admins managing Microsoft Teams meetings, webinars, and town halls.

What will happen:

• New private chat for organizers, co-organizers, and presenters: This chat is separate from attendee chat and is available before, during, and after the event.
• Unified backroom chat policy for town halls: The default setting will be ON for all town halls, regardless of streaming chat availability or license type.
• Existing town halls will adopt the new policy once meeting options are updated.
• If admins turn the backroom chat policy OFF, previously enabled town halls will lose access after update.
• Non-TPre town halls (those without a Teams Premium license) will have backroom chat ON by default after rollout and update.

Two potential impacts:

• If an admin explicitly turns the new backroom chat policy OFF, any already-scheduled town hall that previously had backroom chat ON will lose access once the meeting options are updated.
• For non-TPre town halls where backroom chat was previously OFF, it will switch to ON by default after the rollout and a meeting options update.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review your Teams meeting policies and decide whether to enable private chat for organizers and presenters.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff and event organizers.
• Update internal documentation to reflect the new backroom chat behavior.
• If you want to disable backroom chat, adjust the policy in the Teams admin center.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

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

[Introduction]

We are pleased to announce that SharePoint Online Management Shell now supports App-Only Certificate-Based Authentication. This update addresses the business need for secure, unattended automation in environments where (for example) Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is enforced. With this enhancement, customers can run automation scripts using app identities, ensuring compliance with security policies while maintaining operational efficiency.

[When this will happen:]

This feature is now generally available. Minimum version of SPO Management Shell required for this is 16.0.26712.12000

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: SharePoint administrators and automation engineers using SharePoint Online Management Shell for scripting and automation.

What will happen:

• Customers can now authenticate scripts using app identities registered in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), instead of user credentials.
• This enables seamless execution of unattended scripts, even when MFA is enforced.
• We expect most scenarios to work with App-Only authentication. However, there could be rare cases where an API needs an explicit user token for security reasons. In such cases, tenant admins should use interactive flows with admin/user credentials. Feel free to reach out to us if needed.

[What you can do to prepare:]

Follow these one-time steps to register your app and enable certificate-based authentication:

1. Step 1: Register the application in Microsoft Entra ID.
2. Step 2: Assign API permissions to the application:
   • Tenant Admin APIs allow App-Only permissions for SPO resources using the Sites.FullControl.All App-only scope.
   • We are in the process of supporting more granular scopes for tenant APIs. For up-to-date information, refer to SharePoint Admin APIs Authentication and Authorization.
   • You can assign permissions by:
     • Selecting and assigning API permissions from the portal.
     • Assigning admin role to the service principal in optional.
     • Modifying the app manifest to assign API permissions (required for Microsoft 365 GCC High and DoD organizations).
   • Learn more: Step 2: Assign API permissions to the application
3. Step 3: Generate a self-signed certificate or obtain one from a certificate authority.
4. Step 4: Attach the certificate to the Microsoft Entra application.

Once these steps are completed, update the Connect-SPOService line at the beginning of your scripts to use the app identity instead of user credentials. For examples, refer examples 7, 8, and 9 in this article: Connect-SPOService (Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell).

[Compliance considerations:]

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

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

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new capability in Microsoft 365 Copilot chat that allows users to RSVP to meetings directly within the chat experience. This enhancement simplifies meeting management by enabling quick responses such as Accept, Decline, Tentative, Follow, or Remove canceled meetings—all without leaving Copilot chat.

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC and DoD): Rollout will begin by mid-January 2026 (previously early January) and is expected to complete by mid-February (previously end of January).

• Who is affected: Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
• What will happen:
  • Users can RSVP to meetings directly from Copilot chat:

  

  • Supported actions include Accept, Decline, Tentative, Follow, and Remove canceled meetings: 

  

  • This feature will be ON by default for all tenants.
  • No admin configuration is required; existing policies remain unchanged.

• No action is required from admins.
• Communicate this new capability to your helpdesk or end users if needed.

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

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

[Introduction]

To help organizations streamline compliance efforts across multi-cloud environments, Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is introducing AI Powered Regulatory Templates. This feature enables customers to convert complex regulatory PDF documents into actionable controls, making it easier to create assessments, identify compliance gaps, and implement controls. This enhancement aligns with customer feedback requesting simplified regulatory mapping and automation.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 523209.

[When this will happen:]

• Public Preview: Rollout begins mid-November 2025; expected to complete by end of November 2025.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins early August 2026 (previously mid-January); expected to complete by late August 2026 (previously late January).

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected:
  • Admins using Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager to manage regulatory compliance.
  • Organizations operating in multi-cloud environments seeking to automate compliance assessments.
• What will happen:
  • A new option will be available to convert regulatory PDF documents into templates.
  • These templates can be used to create assessments within Compliance Manager.
  • There is no impact to existing workflows or data processing.
  • The feature is additive and does not require changes to current configurations.
  • The feature will be available by default once rolled out.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required to enable this feature.
• Once available, you may:
  • Use the new template creation option to streamline assessment setup.
  • Review internal documentation if you maintain guidance on regulatory assessments.
  • Share this update with compliance teams to explore its benefits.

Learn more: Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager

[Compliance considerations:]

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

If you have already set up multi-factor authentication, thank you. No further action is needed at this time. If you have not, please read on.

As part of our ongoing commitment to advancing cybersecurity across our company and products, last year, starting February 2025, Microsoft began requiring all users to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) when signing into the Microsoft 365 admin center. Starting February 9th 2026, Microsoft will continue to ramp up enforcement, and users will be unable to sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center without successfully completing MFA.

Implementing MFA in the Microsoft 365 admin center significantly reduces the risk of account compromise, prevents unauthorized access, and safeguards sensitive data. By adding an extra layer of protection beyond standard username and password authentication, MFA makes it harder for attackers to steal data and prevents unauthorized access from phishing, credential stuffing, brute force, or password reuse attacks.

Take action now

Global admins: To set up MFA in your organization now, visit the MFA setup guide at aka.ms/MFAWizard or refer to Set up multifactor authentication for Microsoft 365

Users accessing the Microsoft 365 admin center: Check your verification methods and add one if needed by going to aka.ms/mfasetup.

How this will affect your organization

MFA will need to be enabled for your tenant to ensure admins are able to sign-in to the Microsoft 365 admin center. Note that the following Microsoft 365 admin center URLs are impacted by this change:

• https://portal.office.com/adminportal/home
• https://admin.cloud.microsoft
• https://admin.microsoft.com

What to do to prepare

• If you have not already, set up MFA as soon as possible to avoid sign-in issues once mandatory MFA enforcement is rolled out to your organization.
• If you have already set up MFA, no action is required. It is recommended that you verify that all users accessing the Microsoft 365 admin center have added a verification method to their account (such as a Microsoft Authenticator).
• Global admins: To set up MFA in your organization now, visit the MFA setup guide at aka.ms/MFAWizard or refer to Set up multifactor authentication for Microsoft 365.
• Users accessing the Microsoft 365 admin center: Check your verification methods and add one if needed by going to aka.ms/mfasetup.

For more information, refer to the FAQs in the blog post here.

Additional info URL (i.e., link to relevant support doc):

https://aka.ms/mfasetup

Multifactor authentication for Microsoft 365 – Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

Set up multifactor authentication for users – Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

[Introduction]

We’re excited to announce the rollout of a new built-in role-based access control (RBAC) role in the Microsoft Teams admin center called Teams External Collaboration Administrator. This role provides targeted administrative capabilities for managing external collaboration settings (Federation) in Teams, enabling organizations to delegate responsibilities securely without granting full Teams admin permissions.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late January 2026 and expect to complete by mid-February 2026.

[How this will affect your organization:]

• Who is affected: Admins who manage external collaboration settings in Microsoft Teams.
• What will happen:
  • A new RBAC role, Teams External Collaboration Administrator, will be available.
  • Key capabilities include:
    • Manage external access settings for federated domains.
    • Manage External Access Policies to allow or disallow external domains.
  • Role limitations:
    • No access to the Teams admin center portal; management is only through PowerShell.
    • Assignment to Administrative Units is not supported.
  • Global admins can assign or unassign this new RBAC role from the Microsoft Entra admin center or Microsoft 365 admin center.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified dates with no admin action required before the rollout.
To prepare:

• Notify your Global admins about the availability of this new role.
• Update internal documentation and training materials to reflect the new role and its capabilities.
• Learn more:
  • Use Microsoft Teams administrator roles to manage Teams – Microsoft Learn
  • Microsoft Entra built-in roles – Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

Starting January 25, 2026, all new reports created in the Power BI service will use the Power BI Enhanced Report format (PBIR) by default. Existing reports will automatically convert to PBIR when edited and saved. Power BI Desktop will adopt PBIR as the default format with the March 2026 release.

The PBIR format is designed to improve source control compatibility and enable modern development practices such as continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). It also supports collaborative development and allows AI agents and scripts to programmatically create, edit, and manage Power BI reports. Learn more in the PBIR documentation.

[When this will happen:]

January 25, 2026

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Power BI developers using the Power BI Project (PBIP) file format and Fabric Git integration.
• What will happen:
  • Report metadata will now be saved in PBIR format, replacing the previous PBIR-Legacy format that relied on a single JSON file.
  • PBIR is more compatible with source control systems, improving versioning and collaboration.
  • Users working with PBIX files will not see changes in their workflow, but report metadata inside PBIX will also use PBIR.
  • PBIR remains in Preview; this update makes PBIR the default before general availability (planned for later in 2026).
  • Admins can opt out during the Preview by disabling the tenant setting: “Automatically convert and store reports in the Power BI enhanced metadata format (PBIR).”

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No immediate action is required unless you want to opt out.
• If opting out, disable the Admin Tenant Setting in the Power BI Admin portal.
• Review internal documentation and update any references to report metadata formats.
• Communicate this change to your Power BI development teams.

Learn more: Microsoft Power BI Updates Blog: PBIR will become the default Power BI Report Format – Get Ready for the Transition

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[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 late February 2026.

[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.

• Copilot Control: Add a Copilot control to a canvas app (preview)
• Copilot Answer Control: Overview of Copilot answer control for canvas apps
• Custom Copilot: Enable a custom Copilot to a canvas app

Updated January 7, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon: Users will be able to automatically see their automapped calendars when toggling from classic Microsoft Outlook to new Outlook for Windows. This message applies to classic Outlook for Windows desktop and new Outlook for Windows desktop.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 415168.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out in early February 2026 (previously early January) and expect to complete by late February 2026 (previously late January).

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, users were not able to see their automapped calendars when toggling from classic Outlook to new Outlook.

To access an automapped calendars, users can go to Microsoft Outlook > Calendar icon on left of screen > My Calendars > Automapped calendar.

This feature is on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Learn more

• The section called Use the shared calendar from the shared mailbox in Open and use a shared mailbox in Outlook – Microsoft Support
• Definition of automapping: Remove automapping for a shared mailbox – Outlook | Microsoft Learn

#newoutlookforwindows

Updated January 9, 2026: We have updated this post to reflect timeline updates. Thank you for your patience. 

We will retire the Microsoft Lens app from iOS and Android in a phased approach starting January 9th, 2026. We recommend users to use the scan capability in the OneDrive app.

This change applies to the Microsoft Lens mobile app on iOS and Android.

How this affects your organization

The app will be removed from the stores on February 9, 2026. Users who already have the app downloaded on their devices can continue to use the scanning capability in the app until March 9, 2026. After that, users will no longer be able to create new scans in the app. Users can continue to access their previous scans from MyScans in the app after the change while they still have the app on their devices, although this capability will not be supported by Microsoft. Please note that users need to be signed into your last active account on the Microsoft Lens app to access past scans.

What you can do to prepare

This change will happen automatically on the specified dates above. No admin action is required. Please notify your users of this change, update any internal documentation, and encourage users to use the OneDrive app for their scanning needs.

For more information, read the support article. 

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

We’re improving the quarantine experience in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to deliver greater clarity, visibility, and ease of use for administrators. These updates include backend enhancements for improved durability and consistency as well as experience updates to list messages in quarantine by individual recipients to simplify navigation and management.

• General Availability (Worldwide and GCC): We will begin rolling out in early January 2026 (previously early November 2025) and expect to complete by end of March 2026 (previously end of February).
• General Availability (GCCH and DoD): We will begin rolling out in early January 2026 (previously early December 2025) and expect to complete by end of March 2026 (previously end of February).

• Who is affected: Administrators managing quarantined messages in Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
• What will happen:
  • Quarantined messages will now be listed by individual recipient instead of grouped by multiple recipients.
  • Backend enhancements will improve durability and consistency.
  • Existing quarantine release cmdlets will all remain functional. Administrators should be cognizant that `ReleaseToAll` now applies to a single user as aggregation has been removed. Admins must release messages for each intended mailbox individually.
  • No changes to end-user experience.

Screenshot 1 – Updated quarantine view showing individual recipients listed separately in the Recipient column:

Screenshot 2 – Existing quarantine view showing multiple recipients in the Recipient column:

What you can do to prepare:

• Review your organization’s quarantine release practices.
• Update any internal documentation to reflect the new recipient-level view.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk or support teams as needed.
• Learn more: 
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365 overview | Microsoft Learn
  • Manage quarantined messages and files as an admin | Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations:

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

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

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new preview experience in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for Android that allows users to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files and interact with them using Copilot Chat. For editing actions, the Microsoft 365 Copilot app will transition to the fully featured standalone Word, Excel, or PowerPoint apps. This change positions Microsoft 365 Copilot as your AI-first productivity assistant, bringing together activity across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 apps.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 518290.

[When this will happen] 

• Mid-November 2025: Users may begin seeing prompts to install the standalone Word, Excel, or PowerPoint apps when attempting to edit those file types in Copilot.
• Mid-December 2025 – End of January 2026: Previewer experience rollout begins and is expected to complete by end of January 2026 (previously mid-January).

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected: 

• All users of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Android.
• Tenant admins responsible for app deployment and mobile productivity.

What will happen: 

• Copilot Preview Experience: Users can open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in the Copilot app on Android and use Copilot Chat for summaries and insights.
• Editing Files: Editing will require switching to the standalone Word, Excel, or PowerPoint apps. Users will be prompted to install or open these apps.
• Teams, OneDrive, Outlook app integration: These apps on Android will continue to show users previews of Office files. Editing will redirect users to the respective standalone apps. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app will no longer handle file open and edit operations from Teams, OneDrive or Outlook.
• File Management: File search remains available in Copilot. Advanced management will require the standalone OneDrive app.
• Document creation: Users can create documents via chat in Copilot. Viewing remains in-app; editing transitions to standalone apps.
• Offline access: Offline viewing will only be available in the standalone Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive apps. “Make Available Offline” is being removed from Copilot.
• PDF workflows: No changes; PDF handling continues as before.
• Folder browsing: Folder browsing from OneDrive, SharePoint, or third-party hosts will no longer be supported in Copilot.
• Protocol URLs: Opening documents via protocol URLs will require the standalone apps.
• Third-Party hosts: Adding third-party host accounts to Copilot will no longer be supported.

[What you can do to prepare]

Tenant admins should:

• Plan deployment of the standalone Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps to support file editing.
• Deploy the standalone OneDrive app to enable file and library management.
• Communicate to users that editing and template creation will require switching to standalone apps.
• Update internal documentation to reflect this workflow change.

[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 January 8th, 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

• Common Log File System (CLFS) Authentication Mitigation
• CLFS Authentication Mitigation – Frequently asked questions (FAQ)​​​​​​​

Microsoft is introducing a new paid Extended Service Term (EST) to give customers additional time at the end of a subscription term to make the right subscription choices for their business without any service disruption.

Customers who don’t choose to renew their subscription by the renewal date will now have the ability to select a paid Extended Service Term (EST) option. This replaces the previous option of an automatic grace period that will be retired.

[Your Options at Subscription End:]

When a subscription reaches the end of its term, customers now have three options:

1. Renew on time
   • Renew (with or without changes to subscription terms) before the end date to continue service without interruption.
2. *New* Extend service with a paid Extended Service Term (EST)
   • Monthly, paid extension to maintain service while finalizing renewal plans
   • Can be canceled or converted back to a standard subscription at any time
   • Prorated charges—pay only for days used
   • Pricing is 3% higher than the standard monthly rate
   • Seats and service level cannot be changed while in EST
3. Cancel at term end
   • No additional charges
   • Service ends immediately at term end
   • Customer data is retained for 90 days, then deleted

These options provide a clear, predictable experience at expiration, making it easier to renew, temporarily extend service without disruption, or cancel

[Who This Applies To:]

This change applies to Online Services subscriptions governed by the Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA).

• Customers who purchase directly through Microsoft will make changes through the Microsoft Admin Center or, where applicable, through their Microsoft sales specialist.
• Customers who purchase through a Channel Sales Partner (CSP) have the same options and will work with their partner to select the appropriate action at expiration.

[When This Takes Effect:]

• Customers who purchase directly through Microsoft: Applies to subscriptions purchased or renewed on or after February 9, 2026.
• Customers who purchase through a CSP partner: Applies to subscriptions with expiration dates on or after April 1, 2026 (confirm impacted subscriptions with your partner). 

To improve security and user experience, Teams Mobile users on Android and iOS will soon be able to choose which browser opens non‑Office and PDF links. This update encourages the use of Microsoft Edge—which supports Single Sign-On (SSO), Copilot, and enhanced security—while still allowing users to choose their preferred browser.

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in February 2026 and is expected to complete by late February 2026.

General Availability (DoD, GCC, and GCCH): Rollout will begin in late February 2026 and is expected to complete by late February 2026.

During rollout, we will monitor user satisfaction (DSAT), Microsoft Edge installation rates, and retention.

[How this affects your organization]

Who is affected: All users of Microsoft Teams Mobile on Android and iOS.

What will happen:

• When users tap a non‑Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or PDF link, a pop-up will appear at the bottom of the screen (a bottom sheet) prompting them to choose a browser.
• If Microsoft Edge is not installed and the user selects Edge, they will be prompted to download it.
• A new Links in Teams setting will appear in Teams Mobile settings:



• This feature will be enabled by default for all tenants.

Admins can manage this feature using PowerShell:

• Policy name: TeamsMobilityPolicy
• Attribute:LinksInTeams
• Allowed values:
  • OfferBrowserOptions — enables the feature
  • UseSystemDefaults — disables the feature

[What you can do to prepare]

IT Admins:

• Review and configure the LinksInTeamsattribute under TeamsMobilityPolicy via PowerShell.
• Update internal documentation and notify helpdesk teams about the new browser-selection experience.
• If your organization prefers to disable this feature, set LinksInTeams to UseSystemDefaults.

Users – To change your preferred browser:

1. Tap your profile icon in the upper-left corner of the Teams Mobile app.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Links in Teams.
4. If Microsoft Edge is not installed and selected, you will be prompted to download it.

[Compliance considerations]

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

[Introduction]

We’re making changes to modern eDiscovery Content Search case. Starting February 16, 2026, Content Search cases will no longer support review sets or case-level data sources. These capabilities will remain available in dedicated non-Content Search eDiscovery cases.

[When this will happen:]

This change will begin rolling out on February 16, 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: Organizations using eDiscovery Content Search case in Microsoft Purview.

What will happen:

• Users may notice that review sets and case-level data source options are no longer available in the Content Search case when this change is implemented.
• Users who require review, filtering, tagging, analytics, or other advanced review capabilities may no longer be able to perform these actions in Content Search case after this change.
• Existing searches and direct exports in Content Search cases will not be affected.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• No action is required if you use Content Search cases only for search and direct export.
• We recommend users move review activities to dedicated eDiscovery cases for investigations that are not Content Search cases.
• If your workflow requires review sets or case-level data sources:
  • Create a separate eDiscovery case for investigations.
  • Add data sources and review sets in that case to continue your end-to-end eDiscovery workflow.
• Learn more: Learn about eDiscovery solutions | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

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