Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter and blogs updates from 22-03-2025

Updated March 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

After this rollout, users will have a new Microsoft Viva Engage experience in Microsoft Teams for iOS/Android. Creating, commenting, and reacting to conversations will be easier than before the rollout.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 475969.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out late March 2025 (previously early March) and expect to complete by mid-April 2025 (previously mid-March).

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

All key existing Engage functionality will be refreshed in the new Engage app:

• Feed: Read and react to top conversations across the organization in different communities and storylines.
• Communities: Join and participate in organization and social communities in the organization.
• Activity notifications: Community announcements, @mentions, and more notifications continue to keep you notified of anything needing your attention
• Leadership corner: Catch up on the latest content posted by organization leaders (if licensed for Microsoft Viva Suite or Microsoft Viva Communications and Communities (C&C))

In the Engage app in Microsoft Teams: Left: The Feed tab. Middle: The Communities tab and Activity notifications. Right: An example of content posted by an organization leader:

For admins:

• There are no changes to the deployment of Engage or the Viva Engage app in Teams with this change.
• This change will work seamlessly and independently with these releases that also affect the Viva Engage app in Teams.
  • Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 474126 / MC978923 Microsoft Viva Engage: New reply and reaction notifications in Microsoft Teams (published January 2025)
  • Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 472914 / MC969448 Microsoft Teams: Viva Engage storyline will be integrated in Teams (published December 2024)
  • Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 481280: Automatic rename of Engage for Teams Frontline Worker SKU users, releasing in April 2025
• Continue to manage the Viva Engage app in Teams from the Teams app center.

For users:

• If users have the Viva Engage app installed in Teams, they will receive this update by default, with no action needed by you.
• With this change, there is no change to the standalone Viva Engage app available in the Android or iOS app stores.
• Existing notification settings in Teams will be respected and will continue to work in a new Conversation view.
• While not all features in the existing Viva Engage app in Teams will be available after this rollout, the functionality continues to be available in other Teams clients, in the Viva Engage apps in the Android and iOS app stores, and in Viva Engage on the web. Missing functionality includes:
  • Searching for content in Viva Engage
  • Delegation (post on behalf of someone, etc.)
  • Community live events
  • iOS only:
    • Answers tab
    • Community details, membership management, and analytics
    • Topics feed
• Storyline will be rolled out with Feature 472914. Before that rollout, users can access another user’s storyline by tapping the header in a storyline post from that user.

[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 and corporate communicators in your organization about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Coming soon: Campaign members and authors will soon be able to collaboratively author their publications in Microsoft Viva Amplify on the web. Coauthoring in Amplify allows campaign members with edit access to work simultaneously on the same document. A page presence indicator will display in the webpart or distribution channels where each participant is working. Each participant’s changes are visible to others. Editors can choose to manually lock the publication to avoid further edits by others, a setting that can be unlocked by the editor or campaign owners.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 413115.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users must check out a publication in edit mode, preventing others from making changes.

After this rollout: Multiple authors can coauthor and edit the same publication simultaneously.

Page presence: A page presence indicator shows the web part or distribution channel being modified by campaign members. Users can select an author’s name in the page presence indicator to go to the relevant distribution channel and location to view changes. Updates to the target audience in the distribution channel can also be made collaboratively.

A publication draft in Viva Amplify with the page presence indicator showing campaign members making changes:

Publishing flow: The publication can be set to publish immediately, be scheduled to publish later, or sent for approval, with warnings if others are still editing. Authors can choose to publish at another time or proceed with publishing, knowing there are edits in progress.

Locking a publication: Editors can lock the publication by selecting the page presence indicator and then selecting Lock publication. This removes all collaborators, leaving the editor as the single author until the publication enters a publishing workflow or the author unlocks it for others to make changes:

This feature 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 might want to notify users, update your user training, and prepare your help desk.

Learn more: Create a publication in Microsoft Viva Amplify – Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout)

Coming soon: Microsoft Teams users will be able to report security risks and concerns with external users outside your organization in one-on-one chats, group chats, and meeting chats. Note: Shared channels are not supported at this time. As an admin, this feature will be available for you to enable it.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 481147.

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

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, Teams users can hover on a chat message, select the three-dot menu, and then select Report message to report a message-based security concern when chatting or meeting with users outside their organization:

This feature will be available by default for admins to configure.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Review your existing reporting configuration in the Teams admin center > Settings & policies > Global (Org-wide default) settings > Report a security concern and enable the new feature if you want your users to take advantage of it:

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.

Learn more: User reported message settings in Teams – Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout begins)

The Interpreter agent allows each user to enable real-time speech-to-speech interpretation in multilingual Teams meetings so they can speak and listen in the language of their choice, instantly overcoming language barriers. 

Users can opt-in to have Interpreter simulate their voice, helping others identify them more easily and follow the conversation more naturally. Alternatively, users can opt to choose from a set of default voices.  

Whether you’re collaborating with global teams or engaging with international clients, the Interpreter agent ensures everyone can speak, listen, and understand without barriers – making meetings more accessible and engaging. 

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

For users:

• When using the Interpreter agent for the first time, users need to set up their preferred interpretation settings, including: 
  • Language selection: Choose the language you want to listen to. 
  • Audio volume balance: Adjust the ratio between original and interpreted audio. 
  • Voice preference: Decide whether to use their own simulated voice or one of the default voices for interpretation. 
• Once set up, these preferences will make future meetings smoother and more intuitive, ensuring a better experience.
• Since different languages have unique speech structures, grammar rules, and sentence orders, the interpreted audio may arrive at slightly different speeds.  
• Interpreter works best in structured conversations where one person speaks at a time for longer periods. To ensure a smooth and clear conversation, participants may need to pause briefly after someone speaks, allowing the translation to fully process before responding. This helps maintain accuracy and ensures everyone stays on the same page.  
• Interpreter is not optimized for meetings with rapid exchanges, interruptions, or overlapping dialogue, since the translation may take longer than the original speech, which can make it harder to follow the conversation and respond naturally.  
• Interpreter is currently available during scheduled or channels meetings in Teams. Support for calls (VoIP, PSTN), town halls, or Teams Rooms is not currently available. 

[What you need to do to prepare:]

For IT administrators:

• Feature control & customization: Admins can manage access to the Interpreter agent and configure the default behavior of voice simulation for users via PowerShell. 
• License requirement: To participate in the public preview and use Interpreter in Teams meetings, users must have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Any users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license can enable Interpreter during a meeting. Beyond preview access, additional licensing details will be communicated prior to general availability.

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 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon: Microsoft Teams meeting organizers can make the list of breakout rooms visible to all meeting participants and allow them to choose which room to join. Enabling this setting in breakout rooms allows participants to move freely from one room to another, simplifying breakout room coordination for meeting organizers and participants. This message applies to Teams for Windows, Mac, and the web.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 121269.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early January 2025 (previously early December) and expect to complete by mid-December 2024 (previously mid-December).

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out mid-January 2024 (previously mid-December) and expect to complete by late January 2025 (previously early January).

General Availability (GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out early February 2025 (previously early January) and expect to complete by late April 2025 (previously late February).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Only the meeting organizer can assign meeting participants to breakout rooms. Participants cannot move between rooms.

After this rollout: Meeting participants can select their breakout rooms of choice if the meeting organizer selects this option during setup.

Organizers can look for the new feature under the breakout rooms panel when setting up breakout rooms:

This feature is on by default and accessible to all meeting participants on the affected platforms if enabled by meeting organizers.

[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.

Updated March 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

 We are proactively opting tenants out of the rollout that were detected as sending high volumes of emails exhibiting multiple From addresses without a Sender address header. These exempted senders will only be able to send emails exhibiting multiple From addresses without a Sender address header to recipients belonging to the same tenant as the sender. We will provide a subsequent update by the end of May 2025 (previously end of March) with an updated timeline for tenants that are opted out.

We’re going to start gradually dropping messages that have multiple From addresses (also known as P2 From headers) without a Sender header from being processed via Exchange Online, please review the section “When this will happen” for rollout timeline information for your tenant.

If we see significant traffic exhibiting multiple From addresses (P2 From headers) without a Sender header in your tenant in the month of September, we will send you a Message Center Post by October 15th alerting you and providing some sample message IDs.

We are doing this to comply with RFC 5322 (https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5322#section-3.6.2) which mandates the Sender header to be present and contain a single address if the From header has more than one address. Noncompliance with this could be exploited by attackers, allowing them to impersonate a sender address by misleading the client into using the From header to determine the sender instead of the Sender header.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out April 15, 2025, and expect to complete by May 15, 2025.

GCC High, DOD: We will begin rolling out July 1, 2025, and expect to complete by August 1, 2025.

We are delaying the rollout start date in order to provide more time to customers for investigating messages exhibiting multiple P2 From Addresses without a Sender Address. 

Most of the traffic exhibiting multiple P2 From Addresses without a Sender Address will be inbound spam destined for your tenant sent by malicious spammers on the internet.

Some customers are sending legitimate emails with this malformed header configuration. On October 15, we sent a targeted MC post to customers showing high volumes of messages exhibiting multiple P2 From Addresses without a Sender Address as they may be impacted by this change.

For investigating if you will be impacted by this change, focus your investigation on messages sent using On Premises Inbound Connectors to Exchange Online. Authenticated mail submission is not impacted because submitting messages like this using those submissions are not allowed (Graph, Outlook clients, SMTP AUTH Client Submission).

[How this affects your organization:]

If email clients including devices and applications that you use to send messages, do so using multiple From addresses but without a Sender address header after the change starts rolling out to your environment, you will get an NDR error code 550 5.1.20 “Multiple From addresses are not allowed without Sender address.

[What you can do to prepare:]

When this change is in effect, if you need to send a message that has more than one email address in the From field, make sure that you have a single email address in the Sender header.

If you expect this change to cause any issues for your organization, please share that feedback.

Updated March 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

We are excited to announce a new capability in the Microsoft Teams admin center designed to ensure that device operations are non-disruptive for Android-based Teams devices.

This new feature allows software updates, restarts, and configuration updates to occur only when the device is idle (not busy), preventing any disruptions during meetings or calls. Device admins will now have the ability to manage these operations without affecting end-user experience, ensuring smoother and uninterrupted device usage.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 418120.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out late February 2025 and expect to complete by early April 2025 (previously early March).

[How this will affect your organization:]

This change will significantly enhance the user experience by ensuring that device operations such as software updates, restarts, and configuration updates are carried out only when the device is idle. This means meetings or calls will no longer be interrupted by these operations. This change will be applicable for Teams Rooms on Android, Panels, Phones, and Displays.

This change will require an update for Teams app and the Teams admin agent app to take effect. We will update this message closer to the release date with details about the required versions.

With this change, the following device operations will automatically function in a non-disruptive way:

• Software update
• Device restart
• Configuration update

This change will be applicable for operations created by administrators manually from Teams admin center or the Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal, as well as those being carried out automatically.

How this will work:

At the time of execution, the device status is checked. The execution goes forward only if the device is free (no ongoing meeting or call) and has no upcoming scheduled event on the calendar.

A few minutes before the execution starts, the device shows a notification for the end-users, informing them that the operation is about to start. The device users get an option to Postpone the execution if they want to use the device.

The execution of the operation does not start if the device is busy, or has upcoming scheduled events on the calendar, or the end-user has opted to postpone the execution. The device status is checked at regular intervals for a safe window for execution.

The status of the operation is available in Teams admin center. Admins can view the details on the device page under the History tab.

This ensures that the end-users do not face any disturbance while they are using Teams devices.

Additional aspects

There could be scenarios where the devices are extremely busy thus delaying the execution of the operation. Administrators will have an option to decide the execution approach if the execution is unable to start even after 24 hrs. There are two options:

• The operation is cancelled after having tried for 24 hrs. There will be no impact on the device. If the administrator created this operation, they can come back can create it again. This is the default behavior.
• The operation is force-executed after having tried for 24 hrs. This option will execute the operation, but the status of the device will not be checked at this point. This may cause some disruption if the device is in use.

The option to cancel or force the execution of the operations after the 24-hr search of a safe-execution window can be configured from Teams admin center through the Configuration profiles.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

The changes will take effect automatically after updating the devices to the required Teams app and Teams admin agent versions. The updates will happen automatically, but admins can choose to update manually also. The details about the required versions will be announced closer to the release date. Refer to Update Microsoft Teams devices remotely – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn for more details about updating devices.

Admins should familiarize themselves with the new controls available in the Teams admin center. They should ensure that they configure the settings appropriately to suit their organization’s needs. Additionally, it’s recommended to communicate these changes to end-users, so they are aware of the improved experience and new notifications they might receive regarding device operations.

We believe this feature will greatly improve the reliability and user experience of Teams devices in your organization.

For any clarification, feel free to reach out to Microsoft Support.

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

Updated March 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Updated February 26, 2025: We have started the rollout of Teams SMS in Calling Plans for US (incl. Puerto Rico) and Canada customers. This capability would enable customers to send and receive SMS natively in Teams.

We are first releasing the SMS experience in Teams Admin center to allow admins to get started with the Brand and Campaign approval process. Following this, we will start to release Teams client which is expected to be fully released by first week of March. Below please find the documentation for reference.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: We will roll out SMS chat in calling plans for customers in the United States and Canada. This capability would enable customers to send and receive SMS natively in Teams. This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, and Teams for iOS/Android.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 470999.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Admins can enable SMS for users who have calling plans. Users will start to see PSTN (public switched telephone network) contacts in various search areas to start a SMS chat in Teams.

This change will be available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date. However, to enable numbers with SMS, admin action is required for 10DLC (10-digit long code). We will be enabling the admin experiences and Teams experiences by the specified date. 

Documentation for reference: 

• Planning for SMS in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Create a Brand for SMS in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Set up a Campaign for SMS in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Enable and manage SMS in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Example privacy policy and terms and conditions template – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft’s SMS Messaging Policy – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Send and receive SMS in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support

Updated March 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: Users will have a new Tag mentions filter in the Activity feed to see their tag mentions in their chat and channel messages. The existing @Mentions filter allows users to catch up quickly on personal mentions.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 470598.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

This change will be available by default. There are no tenant level settings. Defaults will not change.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

User documentation: Explore the Activity feed in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout)

Updated March 21, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: Organizers of town halls and webinars will be able to select and assign presenters to also moderate the Q&A, allowing them to manage and publish questions asked during the event. This feature lets organizers make changes to the group of moderators at any time (before or during the event), and it is available to all users organizing a town hall or webinar.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 469492.

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

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out late February 2025 and expect to complete by early April 2025 (previously early March).

[How this will affect your organization:]

This feature is supported for presenters with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AAD) IDs. Presenters using consumer domains (such as live.com or gmail.com) are not supported.

Meeting organizers can enable this feature in Meeting options while setting up the event or during the event.

This feature will be available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before or after 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: Q&A in Microsoft Teams meetings – Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout)

Updated March 21, 2025: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience.

We are excited to announce new updates to the academies in Microsoft Viva Learning, with powerful new admin features to elevate learning experiences for users and enable organizations to create tailored, engaging academies for their teams. Admins will be able to:

• Group learning paths under multiple layers.
• Add logo and background image
• Customize academy components (Featured set and Learner profile card)

This feature will be available users with a Microsoft Viva Suite or Viva Learning premium license.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 334010.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before the rollout, academies have these challenges:

• Content organization is limited to a flat hierarchy.
• Only eight learning paths are visible at a time, with the rest hidden
• Thumbnails, ratings, view counts, and other visual signals for learning paths are absent, reducing discoverability.
• Learning path names are cut off, affecting readability and clarity.

Admins will be able to duplicate Sections and Sub-sections as part of Academy 2.0. This will help admins save time, ensure consistency, enable easy customization, and scale content efficiently.

This rollout addresses these challenges. This is how existing academies will look after the rollout:

After the rollout, admins will have enhanced capabilities to:

1. Create multi-layer structures: You can group learning paths under sections and subsections for better organization and navigation:

2. Add branding: Personalize your academies by adding logos and background images to reflect your organization’s identity:

3. Customize academy layout components: Modify components like the Featured set and Learner profile card to maximize content focus and screen space. You can remove the Featured set and Learner profile card:

You can remove only the Learner profile card and keep the Featured set:

Note: Changes to a published academy go live instantly. Please exercise caution when updating or adding layers.

These changes will be available by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Learn more: Manage academies in Viva Learning | Microsoft Learn (will be updated on the day the rollout begins)

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.