Microsoft Roadmap, messagecenter en blogs updates van 17-10-2024

Updated October 16, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon: In Microsoft Teams, we are releasing a toggle to disable attendee email notifications for town halls and webinars.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 392826

[When will this happen:]

Targeted Release: We will roll out early October 2024 (previously mid-September) and expect to complete mid-October 2024 (previously late September).

General Availability (Worldwide): We will roll out mid-October 2024 (previously early August) and expect to complete late October 2024 (previously mid-August).

General Availability (GCC): We will roll out late October 2024 (previously early September) and expect to complete early December 2024 (previously late November).

[How this will affect your organization:]

This is useful for organizers who want to send email notifications from third-party platforms. When this toggle is turned on, attendee emails will be enabled and will be sent through the Teams Events email platform. When this toggle is turned off, all attendee emails from the Teams Event Email platform will be disabled. The toggle button will be enabled upon rollout.

With toggle turned on:

With toggle turned off:

[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.

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for new Microsoft Outlook for Windows and Outlook for web: Users will be able to add shared folders to their Favorites list in the top left corner of the screen. This message does not apply to Outlook for Mac or Outlook for mobile devices.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 388913.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early November 2024 (previously early October) and expect to complete by early December 2024 (previously early November). 

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

This new functionality will enable users to add shared folders and individual folders from shared mailboxes to their Favorites. This means that users can easily access important folders from shared resources or individual colleagues, directly from their Favorites. Users can share calendars, or folders that contain mail, contacts, tasks, or notes.

[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.

Learn more: Open and use a shared mailbox in Outlook – Microsoft Support

Updated October 16, 2024. We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

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

Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: Cross-location Shifts is a new feature in the Microsoft Shifts app for Teams that enables frontline managers to offer open shifts across multiple locations in a region so managers can share the labor pool and workers can select available shifts across different locations. This message applies to Microsoft Teams for Desktop, web, Mac and Mobile.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 394351.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before the rollout, frontline managers are not able to not able to offer open shifts across multiple locations in a region.

After the rollout

Benefits of cross-location shifts:

• Optimize the manager’s workforce by balancing the supply and demand of labor across locations in a region.
• Empower your frontline workers by giving them the flexibility to select open shifts at a location that is convenient for them.
• Improve customer satisfaction by ensuring that you have enough staff to serve them.

The cross-location shifts feature requires the following conditions:

• An operational hierarchy must be established for the organization.
• The team should have sister locations.
• Team should have at least one matching schedule group code with other teams

Admins or frontline managers can enable these prerequisites through:

• Defining the operational hierarchy in the Teams admin center, as described in Deploy your frontline operational hierarchy – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn
• Creating schedule group codes via the Graph API, detailed in Create scheduling Group – Microsoft Graph beta | Microsoft Learn

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

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

For reference: Manage the Shifts app for your organization – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Word for the web, Microsoft Excel for the web, and Microsoft PowerPoint for the web: An enhanced File menu, so users can more easily create, open, share, export, and manage files. We have also updated the autosave experience and made file renaming more efficient.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We began rolling out mid-May 2024 and expect to complete by late July 2024.

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, we received feedback from users who were overwhelmed and confused by the file menu and found it difficult to find and use critical commands on the menu. It wasn’t clear to users that their files were autosaved on web apps.

To address this user feedback, we have reimagined the File menu and file renaming to be more intuitive and easier to use.

After this rollout, users can use the File menu to:

• Quickly navigate to the folder where their file is saved from the link at the top of the File menu.
• More efficiently find commands for downloading files as PDFs and other formats at File > Export
• Use Create a copy (formerly called Save as) to save a copy of file online or to a local device
• Use the Move File command to move a file to a different folder
• Explore previous versions of the file with File Version History

Also, users can rename a file by selecting the file name in the title bar near the top of the browser window and entering the new file name:

All changes are available by default to users of Microsoft Word for the web, Microsoft Excel for the web, and Microsoft PowerPoint for the web.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Updated September 25, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: As in the General channel, chat users will have access to contextual information including People, Pinned messages, Shared files and links, and will be able to search from chat. This message applies to Teams for Desktop, web, and Mac.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 398956.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

General Availability (GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-January 2025 (previously early October).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users lacked one place to find contextual information in chat.

After this rollout, users can select the new entry point in the top right corner of the chat window to access contextual chat information (People, Pinned messages, Shared files and links). Users can also search the chat and pin multiple messages:

The default state of this feature is on and is accessible to all Teams users (Desktop, web, Mac).

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

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

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Currently, when you share a link with view-only permissions in Microsoft 365 apps, clicking on Copy link defaults to an “Only people with existing access” link that does not always target your intended people.

With this new feature, when you share a link with view-only permissions with other people, those people will now be able to copy that same link directly from the Share dialog when they attempt to share. If your only option to share with others is Only people with existing access, you will be able to send a request to the owner to share this file with specific people directly in the sharing control. The owner of the file will then receive a request and will be able to approve or reject the request.

[When this will happen:]

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

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD): We will begin rolling out late September (previously mid-September) 2024 and expect to late October 2024 (previously mid-October).

[How this will affect your organization:]

With this new feature, anyone who accesses a Microsoft 365 apps file with view-only permissions will see this new experience. 

Learn more: Sharing files, folders, and list items – Microsoft Support (content within will be updated before rollout begins).

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Updated October 16, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

With skin tone settings and reactions in Microsoft Teams, users will be able to set a preferred skin tone for relevant emojis and reactions. Each user can change their own skin tone setting in the Teams app Settings > Appearance and accessibility menu or in the emoji/reaction menu on Desktop or web. The skin tone rollout will apply to emojis and reactions in chats, channels, and meetings on all Teams platforms (Teams for Desktop, Teams for web, Teams for Mac, and Teams Mobile).

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 323766.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

General availability (GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-November 2024 (previously early November) and expect to complete by late November 2024 (previously late October). 

[How this will affect your organization:]

Changing skin tone in the emoji menu in Teams for Desktop:

Changing skin tone in Teams Settings > Appearance and accessibility in Teams for Desktop:

Changing skin tone in Teams Settings > Appearance on Teams Mobile:

The selected skin tone appears in reactions in chats, channels, and meetings:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

We will update this post before rollout with revised documentation.

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for the Microsoft Lists app: Users will be able to reorder List items using drag and drop.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 380183.

[When this will happen:]

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early August 2024 and expect to complete by mid-August 2024.

Standard Release: We will begin rolling out late August 2024 and expect to complete by late October 2024 (previously early October).

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users are not able to drag and drop list items to reorder them.

After this rollout, Users will be able to drag and drop list items.

This feature is on by default and accessible to all Microsoft List app users.

Drag and drop items to reorder your items in Microsoft Lists!

Drag and drop multiple items, too!

[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:

• Microsoft Lists App | Microsoft 365

• Drag and drop to reorder list items – Microsoft Support

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for new Microsoft Outlook for Windows: While offline, users will continue to receive reminders without interruption and can snooze and dismiss reminders.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users were not always able to receive reminders from new Outlook for Windows when offline.

After this rollout, to enable this feature, users will need to make sure Reminders are enabled in Settings:

1. Outlook for Windows > Settings (gear icon in top right of screen) > General > Notifications.
2. Expand the Calendar section and select Reminder as the notification style.

Users can also manually display Reminders from View > Reminders in Mail and Calendar views.

Users can access Reminders on the Outlook’s View tab:

This feature is on by default and available to all new Outlook for Windows users.

[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.

Learn more: Add or delete notifications or reminders in Outlook – Microsoft Support

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

Updated October 15, 2024:  We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

When you open a document, Copilot for Microsoft 365 for Microsoft Word will generate a summary in the window at the top of the Word document. You can hide the summary or open the Copilot chat pane to ask specific questions about the document.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 397096.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Users will see a new UI between the canvas and the ribbon in Word supporting a summary of the document created by Copilot for Microsoft 365. This UI can be collapsed if the user does not want to see the summary.

Fully expanded:

Semi-expanded:

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.

End User documentation:

• Create a summary of your document with Copilot – Microsoft Support

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the content with an End User documentation link. Thank you for your patience.

Note: A Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 license is required to use this feature.

Coming soon to Microsoft Word: When you open a document, Microsoft Copilot will generate a summary in the Word window. You can hide the summary or open the Copilot chat pane to ask specific questions about the document.

This message applies to Word for Windows and Mac desktops.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 399921.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this release: Copilot in Word does not provide a summary when a file is opened.

After this rollout, the Copilot in Word summary will appear at the top of the document. The user can collapse the summary if desired.

Copilot in Word summary with the View more button:

Copilot in Word summary fully expanded:

This feature is on by default and available to all Word users with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license.

[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.

End User Documentation:

•  Create a summary of your document with Copilot – Microsoft Support

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Microsoft Teams tenants will soon be able to enable verification for anonymous meeting participants via CAPTCHA. This release of CAPTCHA Verification for Anonymous Meeting Participants will be rolling out across Microsoft Teams Desktop, Mobile and Web and will provide additional security against malicious bot and third-party app joins. 

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Tenants can enable anonymous meeting attendee verification via CAPTCHA in the Teams Admin Center. When enabled, any users that join the meeting as an anonymous user will be required to pass a CAPTCHA verification before landing in the meeting (including the meeting lobby, if enabled).

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This feature is off by default and Tenant Admins will need to enable CAPTCHA verification for their tenants through Meeting policies in the Teams Admin Center.

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: A streamlined installation process to simplify how users add an app to Teams. This update aims to reduce friction and improve user engagement with apps by offering a more intuitive process from discovery to use. We’ve reduced the number of steps it takes for a user to install an app and start using it in chats, channels, and meetings. This message applies to Teams on Windows desktop, Mac desktop, and on the web.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: The process to install apps in Teams is more complicated, less intuitive, and has more steps.

After this rollout, installing apps in Teams will be more efficient and user-friendly. The new installation process provides users with a more streamlined approach to using apps in chats, channels, and meetings as well as for personal use. Note: This update does not require you to change current app management practices. Users may notice the streamlined process.

This new process is on by default.

Adding a new app from Apps tab on the left side of Teams, with a single Add or Open button:

For apps that work in chats, channels, and meetings, the user can search for a chat, channel, or meeting where they can use the app or select a chat, channel, or meeting from recommendations based on the user’s recent interactions on Teams:

Note: For all users: If an app already exists as a configured tab in an existing chat, channel, or meeting, selecting the same scope (chat, channel, or meeting) will trigger a new configured tab in that scope. Users can open an existing configured tab in the chat, channel, or meeting by navigating to it in Teams.

Users with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 licenses can start using the Copilot extension in the Copilot app on Teams.

Users with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 licenses who want to install an app with Copilot extensions will be presented the option to Open in Copilot:

Selecting Open in Copilot will take Copilot users to the Copilot app that displays a list of Copilot extensions they can choose to use in their chats, channels, and meetings:

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Admins should ensure that their teams are aware of the new installation process, especially if your organization heavily uses apps on Teams. No specific actions are required from admins, but communicating this change to users may help them take full advantage of the new process.

Documentation for users: Add an app to Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support (will be updated before rollout begins)

Updated October 16, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

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 mid-November 2024 (previously late October).

[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)

Updated October 16, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

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

Coming soon in the Microsoft Teams admin center: Admins will be able to deploy location-based frontline teams where team membership is automatically managed, and team owners can also add frontline workers or remove them from teams. This rollout will allow admins to take advantage of dynamic rules to keep teams updated as members join and leave the organization and also give team owners the autonomy to manage membership at the team level.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 410774.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, admins are able to:

• Create location-based dynamic frontline teams where team membership is strictly managed with dynamic rules.
• Identify frontliner workers in their organization with a Microsoft Entra attribute and value pairings in the Deploy Teams at Scale tool.
• Assign a single team owner for all frontline teams.

After this rollout, admins will be able to:

• Create location-based frontline teams where team membership is automatically managed with dynamic rules, while respecting manual changes made by team owners.
• Identify frontline workers in their organization with dynamic groups in the Deploy Teams at Scale tool.
• Assign multiple individuals in the organization as team owners of frontline teams.

After this rollout, team owners will be able to:

• Add or remove frontline workers at their frontline locations if they are assigned team owner of their team.

This feature is on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Review the documentation:

• How to find the best frontline team solution for your organization – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn
• Deploy frontline dynamic teams at scale – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Teams frontline usage report – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn

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 October 16, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Starting November 11, 2024, and ending January 14, 2025, we will retire the Microsoft PowerPoint QuickStarter feature from Microsoft Office version 2410 for Windows and Microsoft Office version 2411 for Mac. The feature will be unavailable going forward in Office. QuickStarter was never available in PowerPoint for the web.

[How this will affect your organization:]

You are receiving this message because our reporting indicates your organization may be using this PowerPoint QuickStarter feature for Windows or Mac desktops.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

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

Updated October 16, 2024: We have updated the timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams:

• An updated view of all teams on one Your teams page.
• An updated Manage Team > Channels page, helping team owners and team members to filter, search and manage channels in the team from one page. Team members will be able to navigate to the list of channels from the Your teams page with a single click.

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

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 411779.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, Team owners and members can hover on the team name on the left side of Teams, select the three dots, and go to Manage team to individually manage the team and its channels. Team owners and members can see all the teams they belong to from the Your teams page. Selecting a team on the Manage teams page takes Team owners and members to the team’s General channel.

The Manage team page with the Channels tab open: Access this page from the three dots next to the team name in the left panel in Teams:

The Your teams page shows all teams you belong to. Access this page from the three dots in the upper right corner of the left panel in Teams:

After this rollout:

• Team owners and members will be able to view their teams from the Your teams page, and access channels in each team. To navigate to the Your teams page, select Your teams and channels from the three dots in the top right corner of the left panel:

• Team owners and members can select a team name to review the channels in the team and choose channels of interest to show in Teams:

• Team owners and members can search and sort on the Your Teams page or hide all channels. When all channels of a team are hidden, the team will not show in the Teams and channels list on the left side of Teams.
• Team owners and members can also view the channels in the team from the Manage Team > Channels page, and show channels of interest by filtering, sorting, and searching for channels in the team from one page.

These features 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 Team owners and members about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon to Microsoft Viva: Pulse admins can adjust Viva Pulse notification settings for users in their tenant by setting the notification delivery methods where users receive Pulses. For example, admins can turn off the capability for Pulse notifications to be delivered through the Microsoft Teams Activity feed, which means that users will only receive Pulse survey notifications in email and Teams Chat. This rollout applies to Viva Pulse on the web and to the Viva app in Microsoft Teams.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 408163.

[When this will happen:]

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, it is not possible for Pulse admins adjust Pulse notifications for users in their tenant.

After this rollout, Pulse admins can adjust how users receive Pulse notifications (Email, Teams Activity feed, and Teams chat) at Viva Pulse > Manage > Notifications:

This feature is on by default

[What you need to do to prepare:]

As a reminder, if users in your tenant want to receive Teams Chat notifications from Viva Pulse, please ensure that you install the Viva Pulse Teams app for users in your tenant through a Teams app setup policy or encourage users to download the Viva Pulse Teams app from the Teams app store.

Learn more: Set up the in-app Viva Pulse experience | Microsoft Learn

Updated October 16, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. We will not be rolling this out to organizations in GCC High or DoD during the timeline outlined below. We will communicate via Message center when we are ready to proceed. Organizations in GCC High and DoD can safely disregard this message. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: When users join a Teams meeting with their laptop in bring your own device (BYOD) meeting rooms, they will appear in the In-room participant section of the roster, which enables individual identification and meeting intelligence capabilities. As communicated in MC814577 (Updated) Microsoft Teams: Roster grouping for in-room participants through Proximity Join for Teams Rooms on Windows (July 2024), we will launch this same experience in September 2024 for joining a nearby meeting with a Microsoft Teams Room and a companion device.

Unique to BYOD meeting rooms, the roster group will be displayed as Meeting space if the connected device is NOT identified in the Teams Pro Management Portal (PMP). If the device is identified in the PMP, the roster group will display the configured meeting room name.

This message applies to Teams for Windows and Mac desktops.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 413711.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users joining a Teams meeting from a BYOD meeting room will be displayed as an individual participant in the Participants roster. Room node treatments will only be applicable to users joining from a Microsoft Teams Room.

After this rollout, this update will be available by default for all users joining a Teams meeting from a BYOD meeting room. After joining, in-room participants will automatically be grouped under the room node on the Participant roster. The two scenarios in which in-room participants can be ungrouped from the room node are:

• Raised hand: We will continue to follow the sequential order of raised hands on the roster. In-room participants who use their companion device to raise their hand will appear on the roster in the order in which they raised their hand.
• Role assignment: For changes in roles (presenters and attendees), in-room participants can be broken up and placed in the appropriate category on the roster. (This is an existing feature before this rollout.)

In both scenarios, room information will be listed below participant name.

[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 October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

The Universal Print anywhere feature offers customers Pull Print queue functionality through Microsoft Universal Print. This feature allows admins to configure one or more virtual printer queues and map any number of registered printers in Universal Print to these virtual printer queues. The goal is to simplify the end-user’s experience as the user only needs to know the one printer for their region/location and can walk up to any physical printer near them to securely release their print jobs.

Universal Print anywhere is initially paired with the Secure release with QR code functionality. Additional secure release options will be made available in the future.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 395937.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out late November 2024 (previously early October) and expect to complete by late December 2024 (previously late October).

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

This is a new feature, and we do not expect any impact on your existing use of Universal Print.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Admins should set aside some test printers that are configured with Secure release with QR code. Additionally, admins should make sure the mobile Microsoft 365 app is installed on their mobile devices through the mobile device’s application store/marketplace and the appropriate organization user account is configured in the Microsoft 365 app.

Updated October 15, 2024: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

We are excited to announce two new features in the Teams Store that will help users discover and adopt apps in Microsoft Teams. These enhancements are designed to streamline how users find and engage with apps in Teams. This message applies to Teams on the web and Teams for Windows and Mac desktops.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout: Users do not have good visibility into the apps that are preinstalled by admins, and many apps are lost in the three-dot menu on the left side of Teams. We provide recommendations for apps that are popular in a user’s tenant. In large tenants, these recommendations are not as helpful, because they are not personalized for each user.

After this rollout, the key updates to the Teams Store in the left of Teams will be:

1. Added by your org: You can preinstall a curated collection of apps through policy settings in the Teams admin center. This collection will appear in a dedicated section of the Teams Store called Added by your org to help ensure that any app installed through the Teams admin center or Graph APIs is easily accessible users, for better visibility and usage of key tools. Learn more: Preinstall Teams apps for your org users – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn. Note: The Added by your org section will not appear if admins take no action.
2. Trending with your peers: Personalized app recommendations will appear to users in a dedicated section of the Teams Store based on the apps used by their frequent collaborators, making it easier for users to discover apps relevant to their daily workflows.

Admins can configure the collection of apps in Teams admin center > Teams apps > Setup policies > App setup policies > Global > Installed apps:

The user view of Added by your org in the Teams Store:

The user view of Trending with your peers in the Teams store.

These features are on by default.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Review the apps currently preinstalled through policy settings in the Teams admin center. Ensure that critical apps are installed and available for discovery in the new Added by your org collection in the Teams Store. You do not need to take any action for the Trending with your peers section in the Teams Store.

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.

Note: If your organization does not use macOS, you can safely disregard this message.

Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Office for macOS Version 16.91 only load dynamic libraries that are codesigned with a valid Apple Developer ID. As a result, Office add-ins or Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers that rely on unsigned or ad-hoc-signed dynamic libraries don’t work as intended.

However, most dynamic libraries used with Office apps are already codesigned, so this change is unlikely to affect most users.

In this message, when non-Microsoft products is mentioned, it specifically refers to products and applications that enhance or extend Office functionality (like add-ins or integrations). This doesn’t include all non-Microsoft software installed on your device.

[When will this happen:]

This change is expected to be live in production in mid-November 2024.

[How this affects your organization:]

Reason for the change:

Microsoft requires executable code from non-Microsoft products be codesigned with a valid Apple Developer ID. This requirement ensures that only verified and properly signed code runs within Office applications, promoting code integrity and compliance with macOS development standards.

Workflow changes for users:

If your workflow uses unsigned dynamic libraries within Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for macOS, it no longer works as intended. You need to get an updated version of the product from the original software developer.

[What you can do to prepare:]

Actions required for developers:

If your product uses dynamic libraries, make sure they’re codesigned with an Apple Developer ID. Unsigned or ad-hoc-signed libraries are no longer allowed to load into Office app processes. For more information on the Apple Developer program and tools, see the Apple Developer Program. Office applications support libraries codesigned for distribution through any Apple-supported distribution mechanism, including direct download by your customers.

Steps for admins:

• Verify Deployed non-Microsoft Products: Check if you have any non-Microsoft products deployed to your users. These products often:
  • Extend Office functionality by adding menu or ribbon controls.
  • Communicate with other applications to share content with Office.
  • Support external data connections such as ODBC.
• Confirm codesigning compliance: Make sure that any non-Microsoft products follow best practices and codesigned any dynamic libraries included in their products. If any libraries aren’t codesigned, contact the product developer for updates.
• Monitor system logs: Inspect the system console logs for Library Load Constraint Rejection messages. These messages from macOS identify any dynamic library that the OS rejects from loading into an Office app process.
• Consider proactively blocking all non-Microsoft libraries: To block these libraries, set the Office preference DisableVisualBasicExternalDylibs to true using Mobile Device Management (MDM) software. For more information, see the Apple Platform Deployment guide.

Warning: Blocking all non-Microsoft libraries from running within Visual Basic macros is a significant action and should only be considered if absolutely necessary for your organization’s requirements on macOS computers.

Copilot agents are rolling out to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers now

[When this will happen:]

As part of the new Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2 features we announced last month, Copilot agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot are rolling out now, with 100% availability targeted by end of November.

[How this will affect your organization:]

With this release, individuals in your organization can use the no-code agent builder within BizChat at Microsoft365.com/chat or in Teams to create simple Copilot agents using natural language instructions and grounding documents stored in SharePoint. These agents honor the same security and information protection policies as Microsoft 365 Copilot more broadly.

Administrators can manage the agents published to their organization using Integrated Apps in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center in the same way they can manage other Integrated Apps. For more information, see: Manage Copilot agents in Integrated Apps – Microsoft 365 admin

[What you need to do to prepare:]

To make this functionality available to users within your organization, simply assign those users a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

Coming soon for Microsoft SharePoint Online: Content export for SharePoint Embedded (SPE) containers. As an admin, you can now add guest app permissions to enable third-party tools to operate on SPE content. Please review MC897562 Introducing Guest App Permission Management for SharePoint Admins (September 2024) for the timeline for releasing guest app permissions and how to enable guest access.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization]

Before this rollout: It is not possible for admins to export Loop content from SPE containers.

After this rollout

• This change enables you to perform compliance or governance workflows using third-party tools on your organization’s data.
• After you add guest app permissions in your tenant, you can export and use Microsoft Purview eDiscovery on Copilot Pages and any Loop content from Loop workspaces stored in SPE containers using the Purview tool or the Microsoft Graph API.
• Microsoft introduced Copilot Pages in September 2024, a dynamic canvas for team collaboration in Microsoft 365 Copilot. These pages are stored in SPE containers. A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use this feature.
• No change after this rollout: We will continue to support the offline export of Loop content (Pages and components) through the eDiscovery (Premium) workflow using the Microsoft Purview tool and through a third-party graph API. The export can be requested in the original .loop format (or .html format, which can be viewed offline).
• The export and eDiscovery review flows will continue to be available for Microsoft Loop components created in Teams, Outlook, and Word for the web and now includes content in SPE, such as Copilot Pages. We have built on existing functionality.

The new 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. 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

• Summary of compliance capabilities for Loop experiences | Microsoft Learn
• Overview of the eDiscovery (Premium) solution in Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

Coming soon to new Outlook for Windows: Apps and add-ins will be supported for all accounts added to new Outlook, and the user’s view of these apps and add-ins will dynamically change to the active identity.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 412936.

[When this will happen:]

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

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

Before this rollout, new Outlook for Windows supports apps and add-ins for the user’s primary account only. Users currently see no add-ins for secondary accounts.

After this rollout, available add-ins and modules in Outlook will dynamically change to reflect what is available in the context of a selected message or user account.

Admins will no longer need to ensure an account is marked primary for add-ins to function. Users will not lose any functionality with this change, but additional add ins available to the account may appear in non-primary account contexts.

This feature 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. 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.

#newoutlookforwindows

With this feature, sensitive data in files that are stored in network shares and mapped network drives will be protected by Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies across Mac endpoints.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 410397.

[When this will happen:]

Public Preview: We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete by mid-February 2025.

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

[How this will affect your organization:]

After this rollout, you can configure DLP policies to prevent your users from taking egress actions such as copy to USB, copy to clipboard, and more for sensitive files stored on network shares. This brings protection for sensitive content on files in network shares with the same protection behavior as a file on mounted hard drive. You will also an alert once any policy is matched against such actions. You can also configure exclusions for certain network shares if you desire.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Get started with Data Loss Prevention in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

Learn more: Configure endpoint DLP settings | Microsoft Learn