Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter en blogs updates van 05-09-2024

Updated September 4, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

In Microsoft Purview, audit search provides your organization with access to critical audit log event data, allowing you to gain insight and further investigate user activities. The Microsoft Purview Compliance portal’s audit search UI currently includes several search fields (i.e., date range, activities, workloads, users, etc.) to facilitate the retrieval of relevant logs. With a recent update, we have added four additional fields to the audit search UI.

These four fields are described below:

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 384092.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out early November 2024 (previously mid-August) and expect to complete by early December 2024 (previously mid-September).

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Security admins in your organization who use audit in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal will be able to use these four additional fields to retrieve relevant audit logs.

[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 as appropriate.

Additional resources

• Search the audit log | Microsoft Learn

Updated September 4, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Microsoft 365 is upgrading its search functionality by phasing out certain aspects of Natural Language (NL)-Based Search support. However, the standard keyword-based search functionality will remain unchanged and will continue to be the primary method for accessing information within Microsoft 365 products.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this affects your organization:]

How will these changes impact the way I search in Microsoft 365?

Moving forward, you will need to use specific keywords to search for information. For instance, NL queries like “emails from John about planning” will no longer work as expected. Instead, this type of query will retrieve any email containing the words ‘John’ and ‘planning’.

Keyword searches, search filters, and selected natural language queries for emails, files, calendar items, and acronyms will continue to be supported.

Which Microsoft 365 products are affected by these changes?

The affected products include Outlook Desktop (OD), Outlook Mobile (OM), Outlook Web Access (OWA), Teams Desktop (TD), Teams Mobile (TM), SharePoint (SPO), OneDrive for Business (ODB), Microsoft Search on Bing (MSB), and Microsoft Search on office.com (MSO). 

[What you can do to prepare:]

Are there any tools available to help me transition from NL-based to keyword-based searches?

Yes, you can utilize search filters provided within each Microsoft 365 product to refine search results. For example, within Outlook applications, using the ‘From’ filter will automatically populate the search bar with the phrase “from:” followed by a person’s name (which can also be manually entered). This action, such as entering “from:John Carter,” will refine the search to display only emails received from that specific person (e.g., “John Carter”).

For further details, please refer to the Updates to natural language-based search in Microsoft 365 documentation.

Coming soon to new Microsoft Outlook: Users will be able to share Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint files stored on their device (not stored in a cloud like Microsoft OneDrive) from new Outlook for Windows.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 397094.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, users are only able to see old Outlook for Windows when they try to share a Word, Excel or PowerPoint fie.

After this rollout, when users want to share a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file that is saved to their device (not stored in a cloud like Microsoft OneDrive), the user can right-click the file name in File Explorer, select Share, and select new Outlook for Windows to email the file.

This option is on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Coming soon to Microsoft Purview: Information Protection’s Advanced Message Encryption will provide email encryption capability in Microsoft Exchange Online and will be integrated with Message Recall for email stored in a cloud mailbox and sent within an organization. Users with a license for Microsoft 365 E5 or Microsoft Office 365 E5 will be able to use the new Microsoft Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web to recall encrypted email from their Sent folder. The same behaviors for unencrypted email apply to encrypted email, as described in Exchange Online Message Recall Updates – Microsoft Community Hub.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 413431.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users with one of the specified licenses are not able to recall encrypted email from their Sent folder. The Message recall control is greyed out.

After this rollout: Users with one of the specified licenses will be able to select an encrypted email in the Sent folder to recall the message.

This feature will be on by default for users with one of the specified licenses.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Learn more

• Exchange Online Message Recall Updates – Microsoft Community Hub
• Work with Cloud-based Message Recall | Microsoft Learn (will be updated before rollout)

The new Groups experience will become the default groups experience in Microsoft Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Group users won’t have access to the old Groups experience in the left navigation pane below the primary mailbox level after this change. Users can access the new Groups experience by going to the navigation bar on the left margin and selecting the Groups icon below the People icon or by clicking on the Groups button below primary mailbox.  

Groups management in the people module will be deprecated, but users can continue to complete Groups management tasks in the new Groups experience

Please note that users who wish to continue accessing Groups in Primary Mailbox can do so by favoriting a group (right-click on the respective group > Add to favorites).

About the new Groups experience

Outlook now has a new home for Microsoft 365 Groups – one central destination for users to connect, communicate, and collaborate with their teams. This new Groups experience includes the following benefits: 

• New Group Home: Users can now stay updated on their groups, including recent files across the groups, and quickly access frequently used groups and find new ones based on their interests. 
• Users can find quick links to get to files, emails, events, and member management for Groups from the Groups Home itself. 
• Once inside a specific Group, users can create, consume, and share information related to a group, as well as manage events and members efficiently in fewer clicks. 
• Users can find recommended actions including member approval and storage management across the Groups Home 

Users can navigate to the individual group from the left navigation or the recent groups. For more information, see Try the new Groups in Outlook. 

[What you need to do to prepare:] 

You may want to notify users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate. 

For more information about Microsoft 365 Groups in Outlook, see Get started with Microsoft 365 Groups in Outlook. 

FAQs 

1. Is there any functionality difference in the new Groups experience? 

All the functionality of the old Groups experience is present in new Groups as well as a few additional features including recommended actions for owners and recent files across Groups. 

2. Can I access Groups in primary mailbox still? 

Users can favorite a group and continue to access Groups in primary Inbox

3. How to access new Groups experience. 

In Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows, new Groups can be accessed from the Navigation Bar on the left margin, typically below the People icon or by clicking on the Groups button below primary mailbox.  

4. Is this change applicable to classic Outlook for Windows as well? 

No, this change only impacts Outlook on the web and the new Outlook for Windows. There are no changes in other clients including classic Outlook for Windows. The new Groups experience is not available in Mac.  

Note: This update 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.