Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 16-12-2025

Updated December 15, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: In channels, we will rename the Files tab as the Shared tab to enable users to view content shared in posts and content in the document library in one place. Note: The Shared tab in chats will not be affected by this change.

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop and Teams for Mac desktop.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 470597.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, users can still work with files and folders in the Microsoft SharePoint document library linked to the channel. All existing functionality in the Files tab will be available in the In library view of the Shared tab in channels. The In posts view in the Shared tab will display all files and links shared in channel posts:

Users can use the order the files by date using the Recent view and then filter by Files or Links. Before this rollout, this functionality was only available in chats:

Users can use the In posts view to find links:

These changes to channels will be available by default.

Coming soon after this rollout for the In posts view of the Shared tab in channels: Keyword search

[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.

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

Updated December 15, 2025: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. 

 We’re introducing voice chats in Microsoft 365 Copilot. 

This update enables users to interact with Copilot using voice, offering a more natural, hands-free experience. Voice chat in M365 Copilot allows users to brainstorm ideas, explore topics, and quickly search—while being able to interrupt or redirect the conversation at any time. This feature will support productivity and accessibility across platforms.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap 481138.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will start early September 2025 (Previously iOS-only in mid-August) and is expected to complete by end of January 2026. 

[How this will affect your organization:]

Users will see a voice chat icon in the bottom-right corner of the input box when using M365 Copilot. Selecting this icon will start voice conversation with Copilot, enabling a more natural and flexible way to interact with AI. This feature is on by default and does not require admin configuration. 

iOS/Android: 

Web/Windows/Mac: 

[What you can do to prepare:]

This feature will be on by default. No action is required by an admin. It is recommended that you notify your users about this new capability and update internal documentation.  

Updated December 15, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Prompt categories will be available in Microsoft Copilot Dashboard in Microsoft Viva Insights on the web to help you understand key Copilot use cases for your organization. In Microsoft Copilot Chat (work), which is grounded in work data, these prompt categories will include Ask and find, Catch up, Draft and brainstorm, and Other. These metrics will be added to the metrics library in the advanced insights app.

Learn more about Copilot Dashboard licensing requirements in Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers | Microsoft Learn

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 486698.

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out in early September 2025 (previously mid-September) and will complete by late September 2025

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Users enabled to view Copilot dashboard will see these updates:

1. Adoption tab: Prompt categories will be available at Viva Insights > Microsoft Copilot Dashboard > Adoption > Adoption by app > Copilot Chat (work) dropdown:

2. Impact tab: Admins can go to Viva Insights > Microsoft Copilot Dashboard > Impact > Copilot chat card > Explore more button to access the prompt categories as metrics in the Copilot impact trend section and the Comparison between groups section:

This change will be available 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 admins and/or users about this change and update internal documentation.

Review and assess the impact for your organization. You might consider reviewing with your works council and updating your training and documentation as appropriate.

Learn more: Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Microsoft 365 customers | Microsoft Learn

Updated December 15, 2025: We have updated the timing of this change to provide additional time for customers to take action as appropriate. Thank you for your feedback.

We’re making some changes to Exchange Web Services (EWS).

Starting June 30, 2026, we will start to block EWS access for all mailboxes without license rights to EWS. This is another step in our ongoing commitment to enhance the security and control mechanisms of EWS.

[How this will affect your organization:]

The impacted licenses are:

• Exchange Online Kiosk
• Microsoft 365 and Office 365 F1
• Microsoft 365 and Office 365 F3

As stated in the Service Descriptions, these licenses do not provide access to mailboxes via EWS, but these restrictions were never enforced. With this change, EWS access for users with only these license types will be blocked.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

If you wish these users to continue to use EWS, and your users are licensed with one of these noted above, you’ll need to assign a new license, one containing EWS access rights. For example, you could assign an Exchange Online Plan 1 or 2 license, or a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 E3 or E5 license.

Starting June 30, 2026, requests to use EWS without a suitable license will result in a HTTP 403 response.

Learn more: Update to EWS Access for Kiosk / Frontline Worker Licensed Users 

• Batch start time
• Batch stop time
• Batch throttling
• Batch failure
• Batch queue
• Batch threads

Exchange Online ActiveSync Device Support Update

We’re making a change to improve security and reliability in Exchange Online. Starting March 1, 2026, devices using Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) versions lower than 16.1 will no longer be able to connect to Exchange Online. EAS 16.1 was introduced in June 2016 and provides enhanced compatibility and security.

When this will happen:

This change begins taking effect on March 1, 2026.

How this affects your organization:

Who is affected: Organizations using mobile devices with native email apps to access Exchange Online mailboxes via EAS protocol. Apple devices added support for EAS 16.1 in iOS 10 and are unlikely to be affected. The Gmail app and Samsung Mail will have updated versions available before the deadline. For other apps you should contact your device or application vendor if they are using EAS versions lower than 16.1. 

What will happen:

• Devices running EAS versions lower than 16.1 will no longer connect to Exchange Online.
• Devices using Outlook Mobile are not impacted because they do not use EAS.
• This change applies only to Exchange Online, not Exchange Server.

What you can do to prepare:

• Verify that all mobile devices and applications are updated to EAS version 16.1 or higher before March 1, 2026.
• Admins can generate a report of devices using older EAS versions with the following PowerShell command:

Get-MobileDevice | Where-Object {($_.ClientType -eq 'EAS' -or $_.ClientType -match 'ActiveSync') -and $_.ClientVersion -and ([version]$_.ClientVersion -lt [version]'16.1')} | Sort-Object UserDisplayName | Select-Object UserDisplayName, UserPrincipalName, DeviceId, DeviceModel

• Communicate this change to your helpdesk and end users and ask them to update if possible.
• Update internal documentation as needed.
• For assistance, contact your device or application vendor.
• Learn more: Exchange ActiveSync in Exchange Online

Compliance considerations:

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

Introduction

We’re retiring the Designer bot and Designer banners in Microsoft Teams to streamline image generation capabilities. Moving forward, Copilot in Teams will provide enhanced image generation features, where we will continue to invest and improve functionality.

When this will happen:

Retirement begins mid-January 2026 and completes by February 27, 2026.

How this affects your organization:

• Who is affected: All Microsoft Teams users who currently use Designer bot or Designer banners.
• What will happen:
  • Users will no longer be able to install or use the Designer bot in Teams chat.
  • Users will no longer be able to create channel announcement banners using Designer.
  • Users can generate images using Copilot in Teams instead.
  • No admin configuration changes are required.

What you can do to prepare:

• No admin action is required; this change happens automatically.
• Recommended steps:
  • Notify your users about the retirement of Designer bot and banners.
  • Update internal documentation to reflect this change.
  • Share guidance on using Copilot in Teams for image generation.

Learn more: AI Image Generator in Copilot

Compliance considerations:

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

[Introduction]

We’re introducing a new Permissions report in the SharePoint admin center under Data access governance. This report helps SharePoint admins quickly identify which sites a specific user can access, including whether access is granted directly or through group membership. This feature supports investigations and permission reviews, especially before assigning Copilot licenses.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 492621.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCCH, DoD): Rollout begins mid-December 2025 and completes by mid-January 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: SharePoint administrators managing site permissions and access.
• What will happen:
  • A new Permissions report will be available in the SharePoint admin center under Data access governance.

  

  • The report lists all SharePoint sites a user can access, including whether access is full-site or limited to sections.
  • Access details include whether permissions were granted directly or via group membership.
  • This feature is enabled by default; no additional configuration is required.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review your current site permissions configuration to understand potential exposure.
• Notify your SharePoint administrators about the new portal-based access report.
• Update internal documentation and workflows to reflect this change.

Learn more: Discover sites accessible by a given user with the snapshot report

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We’re retiring the Featured Links capability on the SharePoint Start Page due to low adoption. This change helps streamline SharePoint experiences and reduce complexity for admins and end users. Alternative options, such as global navigation links or Resources in Viva Connections, provide more consistent ways to highlight important content.

Screenshot: The Featured Links option set for retirement appears at the bottom left in this image.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Retirement begins early March 2026 and will complete by late June 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected: All organizations using Featured Links on the SharePoint Start Page or SharePoint mobile app.

What will happen:

• Admins will no longer be able to create, edit, update, or access Featured Links.
• Existing Featured Links will be removed from the SharePoint Start Page and SharePoint mobile app.
• No impact to other SharePoint navigation features or Viva Connections resources.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Review any existing Featured Links and plan alternative navigation options.
• Consider using global navigation links or Resources in Viva Connections to highlight important sites and content.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk and SharePoint site owners.
• Update internal documentation if it references Featured Links.

Learn more: Add featured links to the SharePoint start page

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We’re introducing the ability to display a customized message or hyperlink in the toast notification shown when an Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy is triggered. A toast notification is a small, temporary message that appears on the user’s screen when an Endpoint DLP policy is triggered. It will include the customized hyperlink you configure. This enhancement helps organizations provide clear guidance or direct users to internal resources when a policy blocks or restricts an action.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 526789.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this affects your organization:]

• Who is affected: Admins managing Endpoint DLP policies in Microsoft Purview.
• What will happen:
  • Admins can add a customized hyperlink when creating or editing an Endpoint DLP policy.

  

  • This hyperlink will appear in the toast notification shown to users when the policy is triggered. 
  • The feature is available in Microsoft Purview compliance portal and requires Endpoint DLP client version 4.18.25110 or higher.
  • No changes to existing DLP enforcement or policy logic.

[What you can do to prepare:]

• Ensure Endpoint DLP clients are updated to version 4.18.25110 or higher.
• Review your Endpoint DLP policies and decide if you want to include customized hyperlinks for user guidance.
• Communicate this change to your helpdesk or compliance team.

[Compliance considerations:]

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

Introduction

Find meetings and everything connected to them in seconds with Calendar Search in Microsoft 365 Copilot. This feature makes it effortless to locate any meeting, even if you only remember a few details. Just type what comes to mind, like “last week’s design review,” “budget sync with marketing,” or “next quarterly planning session,” and Copilot instantly finds the right event.

Copilot doesn’t just show you the meeting invite. It brings together the full context: who attended, what was discussed, what files were shared, and what follow-ups were assigned. Whether you’re preparing for an upcoming meeting or trying to recall what was decided in a past one, Copilot gives you a complete, connected view—all from a single search bar.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 501454.

When this will happen

Public Preview (Worldwide): Rollout began in early October 2025 and is expected to complete by late November 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout began in early October 2025 and is expected to complete by late December 2025.

How this will affect your organization

• Find any meeting in seconds, even from fuzzy memory. Users can search naturally (e.g., “last week’s design review,” “budget sync with marketing,” “next quarterly planning session”) and immediately surface the right event.
• See the full picture in one place. Beyond the invite, Copilot Search brings together who attended, what was discussed, files shared, and follow‑ups captured, making both meeting prep and post‑meeting recall dramatically faster.
• Less time hunting, more time doing. Teams spend fewer cycles digging through mail, calendars, and chats. Because results are tenant‑aware and permission‑trimmed by default, employees only see what they’re already allowed to see.

What you need to do to prepare

• Confirm licensing and availability
  • Calendar search is part of Microsoft 365 Copilot Search. If users have the appropriate Copilot licenses assigned, the experience is enabled—no additional setup required.

• Validate data governance and privacy settings
  • Ensure your existing Microsoft 365 protections (Sensitivity labels, DLP, retention, eDiscovery) align with how you want meeting content (invites, chats, transcripts, shared files) to be discoverable in search. Copilot Search adheres to Microsoft 365 Copilot security.
  • If your organization uses Teams meeting transcription or recording, verify those policies and retention settings so that transcripts and recordings are available (or excluded) per policy.

Learn more:

• Manage Microsoft 365 Copilot Search | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft 365 Copilot Search | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations

Introduction

We’re excited to announce that Microsoft Teams now supports apps in Private channels. This update enables richer collaboration scenarios across teams and organizations by allowing users to add and use apps—including bots, tabs, and message extensions—directly within Private channels. This change aligns with customer feedback requesting more consistent and flexible app experiences across collaboration spaces. Support for apps in Private Channels follows the same model as that for shared channels, ensuring a unified experience for users and developers.

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 518215 and applies to Teams for Windows desktop and Teams for Mac desktop.

When this will happen:

• Targeted release: Rollout begins mid-January 2026, and we expect to complete by late January 2026.
• General availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins late February 2026, and we expect to complete by late March 2026.

How this affects your organization:

Who is affected:

• All Microsoft Teams users who participate in Private Channels
• Admins managing Teams app policies
• Developers maintaining Teams apps

What’s changing:

• Apps can now be added to Private Channels. Previously, only a limited set of tabs were supported.
• This feature is available by default.
• All apps marked to work in Private and Shared Channels will be available.
• Channel owners or members can add apps to a Private Channel, with new governance and consent controls.
• A new channel setting allows owners to control who can add apps.
• Apps must be explicitly added to each channel; installing at the team level will no longer apply to Shared or Private Channels.

  Screenshot 1: Apps must be added per channel. Users are prompted for consent when interacting with an app that hasn’t been added. Apps are available through all standard discovery entry points.

  

  Screenshot 2: Manage apps in your channels from the new Apps tab in Manage channel settings.

  

•  Guest users can use supported apps depending on app and admin settings.
• Only apps updated by developers to support Private Channel functionality and allowed by admins will be available.
• Support for apps in Private Channels will follow the same model and require similar updates.

What you can do to prepare:

Admins:

• Review your Teams app policies and ensure required apps are updated for Private Channel support.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk staff.
• Update internal documentation if you detail this feature.
• Confirm that apps used in Private Channels are permitted by your organization’s app governance policies.

• Update your app manifest to include supportsChannelFeatures: tier1 as part of the latest manifest version.
• Use channel-specific APIs for membership, storage, and permissions. Do not assume team membership equals channel membership.
• Review and update Resource-Specific Consent (RSC) permissions if required.
• Test your app in Private Channels and with different user roles (internal, guest) to validate functionality.
• For apps with advanced scenarios (e.g., file access, cross-channel data, custom permissions), review the full developer guidance for targeted updates.

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

[Introduction]

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

This message is associated with Roadmap ID 537269.

[When this will happen:]

• Targeted Release: Rollout begins early February 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-February 2026.
• General Availability: Rollout begins mid-February 2026 and is expected to complete by end of February 2026.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Who is affected:

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

What will happen:

• A new voice enrollment experience will be available in Teams.
• Users will receive an in-product prompt to enroll their voice profile by speaking during a meeting.
• The feature will be ON by default for enterprise tenants.
• EDU tenants are excluded from this rollout.
• If your organization previously disabled voice enrollment policies, this feature will not apply.
• Admins can manage this setting using new PowerShell cmdlets under the PassiveVoiceEnroll configuration in the csTeamsAIPolicy policy.

[What you can do to prepare:]

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

[Compliance considerations:]

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

[Introduction]

We’re making Copilot Chat availability state transparent in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. Users blocked by Admin policy from Integrated apps will now see Chat in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app navigation. Their access will remain restricted, and their default landing page stays on Search. When these users access Chat in Microsoft 365 Copilot, a message will notify them that Chat is unavailable.  

Screenshot 1: User experience in the M365 Copilot app for a user blocked from accessing Copilot

Users ineligible for Copilot due to age, region, or environment won’t see Chat in the app navigation. If users attempt to access the Chat URL directly, a pop-up message will appear letting them know they are not eligible to use Copilot.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability: Rollout will begin in late January 2026 and complete by late February 2026.