Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 21-03-2025

Updated March 20, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft 365 Copilot: Users will be able to search their past Copilot chat sessions.

A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use this feature. This message applies to the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for Windows desktop and to Microsoft 365 Copilot on the web.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 388371.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early April 2025 (previously early March) and expect to complete the rollout by mid-April 2025 (previously mid-March).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users can only skim and scroll though their Copilot chat sessions to find a desired session.

After this rollout: Users will be able to type keywords to search their chat sessions. As a user begins typing, session results will appear based on the keyword(s), and users can select the session that corresponds to their search.

This change will be on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

If you prefer to disable Copilot Chat for your tenant, review these instructions in Manage Copilot | Microsoft Learn.

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

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

Updated March 20, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

For users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, Microsoft Designer will soon be part of Microsoft 365 Copilot as Copilot suggestions. Copilot users will see suggested ideas from Copilot in addition to the Designer layouts available today to any Microsoft 365 user.

This message explains how to find Designer after the change, for Copilot users. Note: Designer will continue to be available for non-Copilot users, as it is today.

This message applies to Microsoft 365 Copilot on Windows desktop and Mac desktop and to Microsoft PowerPoint on Windows desktop and Mac desktop.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 484843.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): This change will happen automatically with these three builds:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot for Windows desktop build 16.0.18526.20000 (planned for release March 31, 2025)
• Microsoft 365 Copilot for Mac desktop build 16.95.25030315 (planned for release in April) 
• This feature will also be coming to Microsoft 365 Copilot for the web. We will update this post in the future with the build number and release date.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before and after this rollout: How to find Designer in Microsoft PowerPoint

1. On the Home tab of PowerPoint, any Microsoft 365 user can select Designer from the ribbon. Learn more: Get slide design ideas – Microsoft Support. Non-Copilot users will still be able to find Designer in PowerPoint in this way, after this rollout.

After this rollout: How to find Designer in Copilot

1. On the Home tab of PowerPoint, Copilot users will be able to select Copilot from the ribbon.
2. Select Suggestions from the drop-down menu. Before rollout, we will update this post with new documentation.

Copilot users will see suggested ideas from Copilot as well as the familiar Designer layouts available to any Microsoft 365 user. Users will not lose any existing Designer data:

This change will be available by default for those with a Copilot license. Designer will continue to be available for non-Copilot users in PowerPoint as described in this message.

[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 determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Learn more

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

These articles will be updated before rollout begins:

• Use the Designer tool – Microsoft Support
• Create a slide design with Designer – Microsoft Support
• Designer not working – Microsoft Support
• PowerPoint Designer – Microsoft Support
• Troubleshoot Designer in PowerPoint – Microsoft Support
• Creating custom templates that work well with Designer in PowerPoint – Microsoft Support
• Create professional slide layouts with Designer – Microsoft Support
• Get design ideas for slides with PowerPoint Designer – Microsoft Support

Updated March 20, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: We have improved user options for sharing a link for a Teams app or an agent in a chat.

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

A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is not required to share agent links but may be required to install and use the agent.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 483254 and Roadmap ID 483356.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, links to apps and agents will have a new preview card with

• User ratings for users to consider before installing apps or agents in Teams.
• Clear actions like Add (which installs the app or agent) and View details.

This change will be 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.

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

Updated March 20, 2025: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience.

As we continue to enhance OneNote with a unified and modern experience, we want to remind you that OneNote for Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. To avoid disruptions, we strongly urge your organization to fully transition to OneNote on Windows (OneNote M365) and uninstall the legacy application as soon as possible. Migrating ensures continued access to the latest features, security updates, and a modernized experience.

[When this will happen:]

OneNote for Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025.

How this affects your organization:]

• Enhanced Security & Compliance: OneNote for Windows 10 does not support Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) sensitivity labeling, which is essential for securing sensitive data. Users relying on outdated versions will lose access to labeled content.
• New Features & AI-Powered Copilot: OneNote on Windows (OneNote M365) is the future of OneNote, with continuous investment in AI-powered features like Copilot to enhance productivity.
• Improved Performance & Support: The legacy version no longer receives updates or bug fixes, leading to potential performance issues and reduced functionality.
• Faster Sync & Collaboration: Starting June 2025, users of OneNote for Windows 10 will experience slower sync performance, impacting real-time collaboration and multi-device access.
• Uninterrupted OneNote Experience: Beginning July 2025, users of OneNote for Windows 10 will see in-app banners prompting them to switch to OneNote (M365), which could impact their workflows.

[What you can do to prepare:]

Don’t wait until your users face disruptions—migrate them now using our migration guide and script for a seamless transition. An external link was removed to protect your privacy.

Migration guide: OneNote for Windows 10 migration guidance – Microsoft 365 Apps | Microsoft Learn 

For assistance, contact:

• Microsoft Support
• OneNote In-app Support via Help > Support in OneNote on Windows (Win32).

We appreciate your swift action in ensuring a smooth transition.

The existing Reminder feature in new Microsoft Outlook for Windows pops up over the user’s email or calendar to let them know a scheduled event is about to start. We plan to enable the “Automatically dismiss reminders for past events” option for all users, which will stop reminders from popping up for events that have already passed.

You can re-enable your past-due event reminders by visiting Settings > General > Notifications > expanding the Calendar section > and deselecting Automatically dismiss reminders for past events.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out late March 2025 and expect to complete by late April 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out late April 2025 and expect to complete by early May 2025.

General Availability (GCC): We will begin rolling out early May 2025 and expect to complete by mid-May 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

By default, users will no longer receive Reminder notifications for events that have passed.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

You can learn more about the Reminder feature here: Add or delete notifications or reminders in Outlook

#newoutlookforwindows

Viva Learning Search is transitioning to an “intent-based” search from the current “keyword-based” search. As a part of “intent-based” search, Viva Learning will understand the core intent of the user query and show learning results based on user’s intent. Users can interact with Viva Learning Search in their natural language and get relevant content much easier.  Intent-based search personalizes the Search experience for the user. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 479749

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out on mid-March 2025 and expect to complete by late March 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

We’re introducing a new health issue in the Defender for Identity Sensors Health Issues tab to provide better insights into network traffic analysis and sensor configuration for sensors on VMware.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, DoD): We will begin rolling out in mid-March 2025 and expect to complete by late March 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

You may see the following health issue in the MDI Sensors Health Issues tab:

• Network configuration mismatch for sensors running on VMware

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Monitor the Defender for Identity health issues tab for any new alerts and take the recommended actions as necessary.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is continuously working to ensure that our out-of-the-box (OOTB) threat protection capabilities within App Governance are as accurate and effective as possible.

As part of this effort, we will be disabling by default three specific pre-defined policies that have been found to mostly trigger on legitimate activities, rather than alerting on malicious ones. This change is aimed at improving the overall accuracy of our alerts by relying on more accurate sources that provide a comprehensive view of potential attacks, rather than focusing on isolated anomalous activities.

If you prefer to continue receiving these alerts, the option to re-enable them remains available.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High): Rollout is simultaneous to all tenants and will happen on April 21, 2025

[How this will affect your organization:]

These specific pre-defined policies within App Governance will be switched off for all customers by default. The policies being disabled are:

• Increase in data usage by an overprivileged or highly privileged app
• Unusual activity from an app with priority account consent
• Access to sensitive data

This change will reduce the number of alerts triggered by legitimate activities, allowing you to focus on more accurate and relevant security notifications. The remaining policies and our advanced threat detection engines, which are always enabled and running behind the scenes, will continue to provide robust protection by correlating multiple pieces of evidence to identify potential attacks with higher confidence.

If for any reason you prefer to continue receiving these alerts can re-enable the policies via the policy management interface. Additionally, we provide tools for customers to create custom policies tailored to their specific needs. For more details, please refer to the relevant documentation.

For more details, please refer to the relevant documentation: Get started with app policies

[What you need to do to prepare:]

No immediate action is required. However, if you wish to re-enable any of the disabled policies, you can do so through the policy management interface. This will allow you to utilize the full functionality of the policies as you have been up to this point.

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Endpoint is extending support to Mac devices managed by additional third-party endpoint/mobile device management (MDM) solutions other than the currently supported Jamf and Microsoft Intune.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 484137.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out on mid-April 2025 and expect to complete by late April 2025.

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Now, you can ask questions about images stored in your OneDrive using Copilot. Select up to 5 images and ask questions, like explaining the contents of an image or extracting relevant text from an image. This feature requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and will be available to commercial customers on OneDrive web. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 469499.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will began rolling out in late February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-April 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

• Explain the contents of the image: Users can select an image in their OneDrive and ask questions to get insights. For example, users can ask to describe what the image is or explain the concepts outlined in the image. Users can also ask Copilot to give insights on the selected image.
• Extract content from images: If the selected image has text, users can ask Copilot to capture the content of the image. For example, if the image is of a whiteboard, Copilot can turn the image into notes that users can take action on. 

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically with no admin action required. Please notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate. 

Note: If you are not using frontline worker functionality you can ignore this message.

We are enhancing the default experience for frontline workers by making it easier to connect with their organization and introducing more intuitive app names. These updates include adding the Engage experience into the Tailored Frontline App experience.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 481280.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

The Tailored Frontline App experience is getting an update. Users with an F license within your organization will see a new default Teams experience on desktop, web, and mobile. The new experience consists of two primary changes:

1. The Connections app will now be named ‘Home’ with a new Home icon.
2. The Engage app will now be added to the list of default pinned apps.

These changes will not impact:

• Users with an E, A, or G license.
• Organizations with the Tailored Frontline App experience turned off (on by default).
• A frontline worker that has a custom app setup policy.
• A frontline worker that has an app customization applied to the Connections app and/or Engage app.
• A frontline worker with the Connections and/or Engage app blocked for them or their organization.

These changes will follow the same rules that apply to the Tailored Frontline App experience. The images below depict the new default experience.

Mobile image:

Desktop image:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

You may want to notify your frontline users about this new experience and update your training and documentation as appropriate. If your organization desires a different app experience for your frontline, then we suggest creating a custom app setup policy to reflect your desired apps and their order. Additionally, if your organization desires different app names for the Connections and Engage apps, we suggest creating an app customization for your entire organization or for a specific group of users.

The modern Viva Engage user experience is coming to External Networks starting June 1, 2025, and you will soon be asked to initiate migration. In this communication, you will find high-level details about this change. Subsequent Message center posts will include additional details to plan your migration. 

In addition to the user experience changes, we are building modern external networks on top of native Microsoft 365 services just like your Engage home network experience. This increases the level of compliance and enhances the admin experience by enabling Microsoft 365 admin features that are available on tenants.

IMPORTANT: When requested in future communications, admins must choose to migrate external networks to the modern platform. Failure to respond will result in the legacy external networks being deprecated and deleted.

[When this will happen:]

This retirement will occur on June 1, 2025. 

[How this will affect your organization:]

The impact of this update depends on your usage of external networks. If you use external networks and fail to respond to our requests to migrate legacy external networks to the modern experience, then you will experience data loss. We recommend Engage admins review external network usage in their tenant.

When migrating, you will need to communicate with your users. Users may be from your tenant, other tenants, or be using personal guest accounts. Changes to sign-in may be most visible for users with personal guest accounts.

If you are considering future external network usage, you may want to wait to adopt the modern experience until after April 1st when we release External Networks v2.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Actions you need to take if you want to migrate from the current implementation to the modern one:

1. Identify all your external network usage. As an Engage administrator, you may not currently be an administrator of older external networks associated with your tenant.
2. Use the network data export to download a backup of each of your external networks.
3. Inform users who are using the External Networks that the experience will shift from the current to the new one once the migration is complete.
4. Check the Message center for further updates and links to documentation. We plan to release documentation for supporting the adoption of External Networks v2 before March 31st. We will also post a link to the documentation as an update to this post.

IMPORTANT: If you do not take action by June 1st, we will delete the External Networks as retired.

Learn more: Export and manage Viva Engage data.

Users can now share the contact information in the Teams channel to make it easy for others to reach out to collaborators.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 375627.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC High, GCC, DoD): This feature update is now available.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Users can now easily obtain contact information for users in Teams channels by simply hovering over the contact to view their details in the Profile Card.

For more information, see Share a contact in a chat or channel.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically with no admin action required. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

• Default environments without premium licenses will be impacted by this process.
• Environments with M365 Agents or Planner activity will be out of scope.
• Admins will receive two notifications prior to the default environment being deleted for inactivity.
• Inactive default environments will be deleted after 30 days of inactivity.
• Any activity in the default environment within 30 days of the notifications will reset the inactivity period.
• When an inactive default environment is deleted, a new replacement default environment will be created without Dataverse, with an option to add Dataverse later.
• Deleted default environments may be recovered within 7 days.

• Automatic deletion of Power Platform environments
• Definition of user activity
• Licensing agreement

Updated March 20, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

In Microsoft Teams, users will be able to add their own custom emojis and reactions by uploading an image or GIF file, and their emojis and reactions will be accessible to all users in the tenant alongside the standard Teams emojis and reactions. Up to 5,000 custom emojis can be added per tenant.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 80659.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early July 2024 (previously late June) and expect to complete by mid-July 2024 (previously early July).

Worldwide: We will begin rolling out early August 2024 (previously mid-July) and expect to complete by early September 2024 (previously late July).

GCC: We will begin rolling out early March 2025 and expect to complete by mid-March 2025.

GCC High: We will begin rolling out mid-March 2025 and expect to complete by late March 2025. 

DoD: We will begin rolling out late March 2025 and expect to complete by early April 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

This new custom emojis and reactions feature will be turned on by default. Users in the tenant will be able to upload emojis that are visible to the whole tenant. You can pre-emptively turn this feature off or restrict users who can create new emojis via the Teams Admin Center controls described below.

How do I use this feature?

Custom emojis and reactions will be found in the emoji and reaction menus in the Custom category. Users with upload abilities can add new content through the plus (+) button. Users with delete abilities can right-click any custom emoji to delete. Please note that deleted emojis may take up to 24 hours to reflect for all users in the tenant. Deleted emojis may take up to 24 hours to reflect for other users.

How do I manage this feature?

This feature can be managed through the Teams Admin Center. Admins will have access to the following controls:

• Turn the feature on/off for the whole tenant via the Messaging Settings page (on by default).
• Set which users can create new emojis via the Messaging Policy groups (on for all users by default).
• Set which users can delete emojis via the Messaging Policy groups (off for all users except admins by default).

The Teams Admin Center controls will be made available in early June. We recommend adjusting your settings as needed prior to the Targeted and Worldwide Releases in late June 2024 to ensure that they are in place when the feature rolls out.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This feature is on by default. If you would like to turn the feature off, please use the provided setting in the Messaging Settings page:

Messaging Settings

This feature allows all users to create new emojis by default and only allows admins to delete emojis by default. If you would like to adjust emoji creation and deletion permissions, please make the appropriate changes through the Messaging Policy groups:

Emoji Creation Setting (enabled for all users by default)

Emoji Deletion Setting (only enabled for admins by default)

Additional feature capabilities:

View custom emojis in the emoji menu

Press the plus (+) menu to select an image to upload

Set a name for your emoji

Right-click on an emoji to delete or to see the creator

Updated March 20, 2025: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience

Note: Users with EDU licenses assigned will not receive this change. 

Based on Admin feedback, we are updating the behavior for automated hiding of inactive channels to be opt-in (suggestions) only. With this update, Teams will offer users suggestions on channels that are inactive, and the user is prompted to review their inactive channels and hide them only if they choose. The settings are also updated to reflect this opt-in workflow. There are no changes to the on-demand hiding process.

This feature is enabled for Targeted Release, and we will roll out to General Availability later this year in 2025. 

In the interim, we are disabling the current generally available version of the feature which requires users to opt-out as well as the settings, for all users. Please note that all users in the public or general ring will not see the setting or have any of their channels hidden automatically. We will re-introduce the updated feature later this year in 2025. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 325780.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out mid-July 2024 and expect to complete later in 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide) and all clouds: We will begin rolling out later in 2025.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users had to manually manage their relevant channels list by hiding inactive and irrelevant channels.

After this rollout in 2025: Manage preferences for automated suggestions via Teams Settings 

If users prefer to manage channels manually, they can opt out of the auto-suggestions process. Simply go to Teams settings, select General, and toggle off “Suggestions for hiding inactive channels.” 

Hide inactive channels on demand when needed 

Users can manually view which channels are inactive and choose to hide some or all of them whenever you need. This can be done from Settings, under General, by clicking the “Get Suggestions” button. Note that this action can be performed once every 24 hours. 

Automated suggestions of inactive channels

With this, Teams will suggest channels that have been inactive for the user. Once the inactive channels are identified, the user is notified with the coach mark message, “Looks like you haven’t visited some channels lately. Hide them to help you focus.” 

The user can select Review and Hide to see the details and decide which channels they would like to hide. The user can choose not hide any channels by selecting Not Now.

If a user has less than or equal to 25 shown channels, no channels will be suggested for that user. This feature is on by default and all Teams users on the affected platforms will have access to it.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Admins need to be aware of this feature, but no additional action is needed.  

Updated March 20, 2025: We would like to inform you that the general availability and other releases of this feature will be delayed. New timelines for release will be communicated in due course. In the meantime, this feature will be rolled back for about a month from the current target releases.

Now users can quickly review files in Microsoft Teams chat and channel conversations using the file preview option. Using preview, users will be able to consume the file within the flow of work, minimizing the context switch and potentially enhancing the efficiency for the users. 

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 421188.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed.

General Availability (GCC): We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed.

General Availability (GCC High): We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed.

General Availability (DoD): We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed.

[How this will affect your organization:]

The stage 1 release of this feature will enable previews for single file attachments in Teams messages, starting with PDF files and gradually extending the support for other popular formats such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and later Microsoft Excel. The preview option for files in messages with multiple files will be supported in subsequent releases.  

This new feature is available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically with no admin action required. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

Updated March 20, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

As a part of modernizing our search extensibility platform, we are retiring the support for federated search providers in Microsoft Search. We are announcing the retirement of Microsoft Dataverse and Microsoft Dynamics 365 results in Microsoft Search (Learn more: Dataverse and Dynamics 365 federated search provider for Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn). The Dynamics 365 federation provider is used by organizations to surface Dataverse content (enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management data) in enterprise search endpoints like Microsoft Office.com, Microsoft SharePoint home and Microsoft Bing.com. These providers are configured by Search admins in the Microsoft 365 admin portal. (Microsoft 365 Search and Intelligence admin portal)

[How this will affect your organization:]

You are receiving this message because our reporting indicates your organization has enabled Dynamics 365 federated search. The feature is accessed through the Data sources tab in the Microsoft 365 Search and Intelligence admin portal.

[When this will happen:]

The Dynamics 365 federation provider will be removed starting late February 2025 and ending in late March 2025 (previously early March). After the feature retires, it will not return results on the Dynamics 365 search vertical.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To surface Dynamics 365 content in enterprise search endpoints like Microsoft365.com (Office.com), SharePoint Home and Bing.com, use Microsoft Graph connectors. Learn more: Microsoft Graph connectors overview for Microsoft Search | Microsoft Learn. You can build a custom connector to index Dynamics 365 content. Content ingested through Graph connectors will be searchable on all enterprise search endpoints and Microsoft 365 Copilot for licensed users and following your organization’s policies. For details on index quota limits, refer to the Learn more section in this message.

This change will happen automatically by the specified date. No admin action is required. Please notify your users about this change and update relevant documentation.

Learn more

• Dataverse and Dynamics 365 results in Microsoft Search | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Graph connectors overview for Microsoft Search and Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft Learn
• Use the Microsoft Graph connectors API – Microsoft Graph v1.0 | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Graph connectors SDK overview – Microsoft Graph | Microsoft Learn
• Index quota for Microsoft Graph connectors | Microsoft Learn