Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter en blogs updates van 02-11-2024

Updated October 31, 2024: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft SharePoint: Site owners will be able to create font packages and themes for their sites and experiences by combining the branding assets that the organization provides or by creating their own.

The Change the look experience will contain branding created in the SharePoint brand center (or with Microsoft PowerShell) for their organization as well as their own local site branding. These will continue to be previewed and applied via the Change the Look experience for your sites and experiences.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 375500.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early October 2024 and expect to complete by late October 2024.

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out early November 2024 and expect to complete by late November 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

As communicated in MC905757 Microsoft SharePoint: Customize your individual sites and experiences with fonts and themes (October 2024), we are introducing a new site branding feature for SharePoint. We are adding an additional capability to this feature allowing site owners to copy branding assets utilized in another site for use within their site. This will create an independent copy of these site branding assets in the destination site.

Notes:

1. Themes will continue to be inherited from the hub for associated sites.
2. Searching and copying site branding across sites in different geographies is not currently supported.

Site owners will be able to create, rename, and delete themes and font packages (where available in a tenant). This will not have any impact on the themes and font packages provided from the organization or from Microsoft.

Before this rollout: Site owners have limited ability to customize their sites and experiences with branding.

After this rollout, site branding adds an additional option to customize a single site with a unique theme and font package created and managed by the site owners, adding this option to the branding available from your organization and from Microsoft.

Note: Themes will continue to be inherited from the hub for associated sites.

Site owners will be able to create, rename, and delete themes and font packages (where available in a tenant). This will not impact the themes and font packages provided from the organization or from Microsoft.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Admins will need to take no action for this feature to be available. This will be available by default to all site owners without admin action and cannot be disabled.

You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Additional resources

• Site branding – Microsoft Support

We are changing how you enable or disable the new Microsoft Outlook for Windows and Microsoft Outlook for the web.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

We’re changing the OWAEnabled parameter that enables or disables access to user mailboxes using Outlook for the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App or OWA) to block only Outlook for the web and to not affect the behavior of new Outlook for Windows.

You can manage new Outlook for Windows with the OneWinNativeOutlookEnabled policy.

You are receiving this message because our reporting indicates one or more users in your organization may be using the New Outlook for Windows.

Note: We will not change any existing value for the settings, but we will change which setting is checked to see if new Outlook for Windows is allowed to run on that computer. Before this rollout, both OWAEnabled and OneWinNativeOutlookEnabled policies are checked. After this rollout, we will remove the check for OWAEnabled so you can have the chance to enable new Outlook and still disable Outlook for the web if desired.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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 admins about this change and update any relevant documentation.

After this change takes effect, please confirm the OneWinNativeOutlookEnabled policy state for each mailbox. The default value is Enabled.

Learn more

• Enable or disable Outlook on the web access to mailboxes in Exchange Server | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)
• Enable or disable access to the new Outlook for Windows | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)

#newoutlookforwindows

Coming soon for Microsoft Viva Engage: Network admins and corporate communicators will be able to use the new Mute conversations feature to remove individual conversation threads from the Home Feed and email digests.

This feature is part of Engage’s suite of new moderation and digital safety capabilities, following the release of View-only mode and Mute user for network in July-August 2024.

Muting applies to all Engage platforms: Engage on the web, the Engage app in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook, Engage apps for iOS and Android, and Microsoft SharePoint embeds. Network admins and corporate communicators may only mute from the Engage on the web and Teams and Outlook apps. The muted status will appear in all platforms.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 411583.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-November 2024 and expect to complete by late December 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Muting a conversation helps network admins and corporate communicators control which threads receive distribution in the Engage Home Feed and email digests. Muted conversations remain visible in communities and storylines and through search. Feature data are tracked in the Microsoft 365 activity log, showing who muted the conversation, the thread ID of the conversation, and the date/time the conversation was muted.

Network admins and corporate communicators will see an option to Mute conversations in feeds in the three-dot overflow menu in the top right of the conversation card:

Users are not informed when conversations are muted. Network admins and corporate communicators will see evidence of the muted conversation on the conversation card.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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.

This feature will be available by default to Engage users with the corporate communicator and network administrator roles.

Learn more: Share and move conversations in Viva Engage – Microsoft Support (will be updated with screenshots at rollout)

Coming soon for Microsoft Viva Insights: Users will be able to request delegate access from a manager. This message applies to the Viva app on the web and the Viva Insights app in Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, Teams on the web, and Teams for iOS/Android.

Before this rollout, Insights managers can assign delegate access to members of their organization. After this rollout, if a manager accepts the delegate access request, the requestor will have the same view of organizational insights as the manager does.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 464174

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early December 2024 and expect to complete by late December 2024.

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

[What you need to do to prepare:]

No admin action is needed to set up this feature, which will be on by default.

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 admins about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Learn more: Delegate access to organizational insights and Copilot Dashboard | Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Forms is updating the end-to-end experience with a new appearance for the portal page, form creation, and response analysis. Users can toggle between upgraded templates as they create their form and then view insights and suggested actions when the responses come in.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 400715.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out late October 2024 and expect to complete by early November 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Employees who use Microsoft Forms will get the new UI experience after release.

In the portal page, templates are organized into four categories – Feedback, Registration, Research, and Quiz. 

As users enter the design page, they’ll find a wide selection of templates displayed in the left-side pane. They can browse and switch between different types/topics. 

In the right-hand pane, from the Style button, the users can select a style from our suggestions or personalize their own. Additionally, they can choose the layout for the cover page of the invitation.

The results page has also has a new design. Users can now quickly analyze responses with charts and graphs, making the data easier to interpret for more effective analysis.

This new feature is available by default.

Learn more: Revamped Forms experience is now available for commercial users.

[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.

In mid-November, Microsoft Copilot will become available to users with an Entra account in Microsoft Teams and Outlook. If pinned, Entra users will be able to access the Microsoft Copilot app directly from the left rail in Outlook and Teams.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 420330

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): The Microsoft Copilot app will be available to pin in Teams and Outlook starting mid-November 2024 and is expected to complete by end of December.

[How this will affect your organization:]

Starting mid-November, Microsoft Copilot admins and users will be able to pin the Copilot app in Teams and Outlook. Copilot will not be pinned by default. If pinned, users will be able to access the Microsoft Copilot app in Teams and Outlook.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Admins can control if Copilot is pinned in Teams and Outlook using the same Copilot pinning control shared previously to pin Copilot in the Microsoft 365 app.

With the pinning control, you have the option to pin or not pin Copilot for your users. If you select to not pin Copilot, you also have the option to allow your users to be notified to make this choice. If no action is taken, Copilot will not be pinned but users will be notified to pin it themselves.

Currently, you can remove access to Copilot in the Microsoft 365 app and copilot.cloud.microsoft as documented in Removing access to Microsoft Copilot. These controls will continue to be respected as the Copilot app rolls out in Outlook and Teams. 

In addition, you will soon be able to block the Copilot app from appearing in Outlook, the Microsoft 365 app and copilot.cloud.microsoft through Microsoft 365 admin center (MAC) and in Microsoft Teams through Teams admin center (TAC) like you would block any other app.

Note: During the rollout, the Microsoft Copilot app will temporarily be available for Semi-Annual Channel users of classic Outlook for Windows. These clients will respect admin and user preferences, but we typically do not show Copilot features in Semi-Annual Channel of classic Outlook for Windows. After customers update to Version 2408 or newer, the Microsoft Copilot app will once again be hidden for Semi-Annual Channel users.

Starting in November 2024, Microsoft Copilot 365 in Glint will support the summarization of employee survey comments. Copilot in Viva Glint is designed to answer questions about your survey comments, acting as your partner for all comment analysis. It can summarize comments, identify key themes, provide summaries by demographics and items, and highlight actions employees are requesting. A Viva Glint license is required to use this feature.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 324079.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We began rolling out late June 2024 and expect to complete by late November 2024.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-November 2024 and expect to complete by late November 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, Copilot will have access to employee survey comments in order to analyze and summarize comments.

The content summarization feature must be configured by Glint company admins in the Glint web app. Copilot in Viva Glint defaults to Off for all user roles, including company admins. Every user who should have Copilot enabled needs to be placed into a user role category with that permission.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

The Copilot feature in Viva Glint reports

Log in to the Glint dashboard and select the Copilot button:

Navigate to Reports in the top menu bar and use Copilot in Viva Glint for a specific report:

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date. 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

• Introduction to Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Glint (preview) | Microsoft Learn
• Deployment and administrator setup for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Glint (preview) | Microsoft Learn
• Administrator enablement for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Glint (preview) | Microsoft Learn
• Data, privacy, and security compliance for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Glint (preview) | Microsoft Learn
• How managers use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Glint | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Glint-FAQs (preview) | Microsoft Learn

We will remove the EnableHoldTheFile group policy for Microsoft OneDrive from the Microsoft 365 admin center.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 429875.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, if a tenant has disabled EnableHoldTheFile and users experience file conflicts, Microsoft OneDrive automatically creates a copy of the file in conflict. When tenants disable EnableHoldTheFile, users may have to manage hundreds of conflicts because OneDrive automatically copies a file instead of allowing users to choose to merge conflicts.

After this rollout, the EnableHoldTheFile group policy will be removed and the experience associated with the EnableHoldTheFile group policy will be enabled for all tenants. If a user opens a Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file and there is a conflict that requires user input to resolve, the user will be given the option to choose the file variation to keep. If the conflict cannot be resolved, a banner will display to either Save a Copy of the file or Discard Changes if the user doesn’t care about the changes that were made.

User notification to choose the file variation to keep in PowerPoint:

User notification to Save a Copy or Discard Changes in PowerPoint:

User notification to Save a Copy or Discard Changes in Word:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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, especially if the policy was disabled, and update any relevant documentation.

Learn more: IT Admins – Use OneDrive policies to control sync settings – SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn (direct link to the section called Allow users to choose how to handle Office file sync conflicts)

The In development for Microsoft Intune page in our documentation has been updated.

How does this affect me?

The In development page provides a list of features in upcoming releases of Microsoft Intune to assist in your readiness and planning. The list has now been updated. You’ll start seeing these changes in the next month or in a subsequent release.

What do I need to prepare for this change?

You can inform your IT staff and helpdesk of the upcoming changes listed on this page. Plan to update your user guidance, if you feel any of these features would be important to your users.

Additional Information

Intune In development

Coming soon: New security features for Microsoft Loop for organizations that have enabled sensitivity labels (also known as Microsoft Information Protection or MIP).

Before this rollout, Microsoft Loop supports users or admins adding item-level sensitivity labels on all .loop files (including Loop components, Loop pages, and Copilot pages) in the Microsoft Loop app (on the web and for iOS/Android) and new Microsoft Outlook for Windows and Outlook for the web, classic Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, Outlook on Android and iOS.

With this rollout, we will support:

• Sensitivity labels on Loop workspaces at the storage container-level. Note: Sensitivity labels are also known as Microsoft Information Protection (MIP).

Coming in future rollouts:

• Item-level sensitivity labels in Loop components and collaborative meeting notes in Microsoft Teams (on the web, on Windows desktops, and on iOS/Android)

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 111225.

[When this will happen:]

Container-level Sensitivity Labels for Loop workspaces: General Availability (Worldwide): We began rolling out late October 2024 and expect to complete by early November 2024 (Loop app for the web)

Container-level Sensitivity Labels for Loop workspaces: General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in November 2024 and expect to complete by early December 2024 (Loop apps for iOS/Android)

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, container-level sensitivity labels on Loop workspaces will be available by default.

Admins do not need to do anything to prepare for this rollout. If your tenant has sensitivity labels configured at the item-level for Files, you or your users will be able to apply these labels to all Loop files (including Loop components, Loop pages, and Copilot pages). If your tenant has sensitivity labels enabled for Groups & sites, then you or your users will be able to apply these labels and policies to your Loop workspaces.

Applying a sensitivity label to a Loop workspace:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

• Use sensitivity labels with Microsoft Loop | Microsoft Learn
• MC736437 Microsoft Loop: Guest Sharing (March 2024)

Windows Autopatch will update the ‘Modern Workplace – Autopatch Client Setup’ script. Currently this installs the application ‘Microsoft Cloud Managed Desktop Extension’, which powers the post-device registration readiness checks.

We are upgrading this client to improve scalability and performance. We would install a new application named ‘Windows Autopatch Client Broker’ as part of the same script on the device.

[When will this happen:]

We will roll out the application gradually, starting early December through mid-late December. At a future date, the current application, ‘Microsoft Cloud Managed Desktop Extension’, will be deprecated, replaced by the new application, ‘Windows Autopatch Client Broker’.

[How will this affect your organization:]

The new application is intended to replace the existing application on Windows Autopatch devices. This is for scalability and performance efforts by Windows Autopatch. We are continuously looking to improve this functionality. There is no immediate impact to your environment.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To ensure the new application runs successfully, ensure that the new endpoint, device.autopatch.microsoft.com, is added to your allow list. For more information, see Configure your network | Microsoft Learn

We will begin rolling out these changes to your tenant starting early December, through mid-late December. If you have any questions or concerns, or need assistance, file a service request by visiting the Microsoft Intune admin center.

We are making changes to system generated emails from SharePoint workflows and alerts display names. Note: this is a continuation of MC711021 (January ’24).

To align system generated emails with best practices, SharePoint Online workflow and alert emails will be displayed as “SharePoint Online”. There is no change to the underlying sending email address, [email protected].

If your organization uses the “Send email notifications from your domain” feature, the email address will comply with your configured domain.

[When this will happen:]

We are continuing the rollout and expect complete by late November 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

If your users have Outlook rules or other processes surrounding the email display name only, those will need to be updated accordingly. Existing policies and rules utilizing the email address will not be affected.

Additionally, if you’re calling the “SendEmail” API or calling SharePoint workflow or alert services via CSOM or REST API’s those emails will follow the new display convention as well.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Inform users of the potential change in their workflow and alert processes from SharePoint.

Before this rollout, guest sharing for Microsoft Loop components, pages, and workspaces is available for tenants that have not configured sensitivity labels, as communicated in MC736437 Microsoft Loop: Guest Sharing (March 2024). After this rollout and the rollout of Microsoft Information Protection for Loop workspaces, B2B (business to business) guest sharing for Loop workspaces, pages, and components will be available for all tenants, including those who have configured sensitivity labels, subject to admin policy. If admins configure the policy, users will be able to share Loop workspaces, pages, and components with people outside of your tenant. This message applies to Loop on the web and on iOS/Android devices.

This message is related to MC923176 Microsoft Loop: Sensitivity labels at the container level (November 2024).

Note: Loop will respect your Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft SharePoint sharing settings. If your tenant does not allow sharing with guests, then it will prevent guest sharing of Loop workspaces, pages, and components as well.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out in early November 2024 and expect to complete by early December 2024.

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, if admins have configured Microsoft SharePoint for B2B guest sharing, users in your organization will be able to share Loop workspaces, pages, and components with people outside of your tenant. Users can share pages and components with the People you choose option. Guest users cannot create workspaces.

The user experience: The Share button in the top left of the Loop app:

Sharing menu with option to share workspace, page, or component:

Copy link dialog box with the Settings icon:

Sharing dialog box with People you choose selected:

Admins: You can configure sharing of Loop workspaces, pages, and components with guests by enabling these policies in Microsoft SharePoint admin center > Policies > Sharing:

1. Set the organization-level external sharing settings for to allow content to be shared with New and existing guests or Existing guests.
2. Enable the B2B collaboration with external guests. Learn more: Overview: B2B collaboration with external guests for your workforce – Microsoft Entra External ID | Microsoft Learn

Learn more:

• Guest/external sharing: Overview of Loop workspaces storage and permissions | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)
• Summary of governance, lifecycle, and compliance capabilities for Loop (direct link to section that says Loop workplace sensitivity labels are not available; will be updated before rollout)

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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.