23-January-2025 Below you will find a collection of news published yesterday. This news consists of Microsoft’s Roadmap when it is updated it will be below with items. Then there will be a section with the message center, if there is anything new there, this will be automatically included. And it contains a piece from blogs that I follow myself and would like to share with you. If I miss something in the blogs that do have an RSS feed, please let me know.
This entire post was automated via Microsoft Flow
have fun reading!
The blogs of this day are:
Office 365 Roadmap Updated: 2025-01-23
Additions : 10
Updates : 4
More Details At: www.roadmapwatch.com
Items from the MessageCenter in Microsoft 365
| Microsoft Forms | Data sync to Microsoft Excel: Support for migrating from the older solution to the new solutionCategory:Microsoft FormsNummer:MC855685Status:stayInformed | Updated January 21, 2025: The deprecation for old data sync solution will start from Jan 20th, 2025. For GCC, the deprecation will start from Feb 13th, 2025. After the old data sync solution has been deprecated, existing Excel workbooks using the old data sync solution will no longer receive new responses. Users can still migrate these existing Excel workbooks to the new data sync solution to receive new responses when needed.
The old data sync solution deprecation only impacts commercial users. As communicated in MC816207 Microsoft Forms now supports live data sync to Microsoft Excel with more functionality (July 2024), Microsoft Forms is introducing a new data sync solution with higher reliability to sync Forms response data to Microsoft Excel for the web. Before this rollout. Forms supported an older version of live data sync to Excel. The older version of live data sync will be replaced by the newer solution on January 13, 2025 and for GCC on February 13, 2025. This message describes the support that we will provide for migrating from the older solution to the newer solution. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 410988. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide): Support for migrating the older data sync to the new solution will begin rolling out in late October 2024 (previously early October). We expect to complete by late November 2024 (previously early October). General Availability (GCC) Support for migrating the older data sync to the new solution will begin rolling out in mid-January 2025 (previously early January). We expect to complete by late January 2025 (previously mid-December 2024). [How this will affect your organization:] Users who rely on the older version to sync data from Forms to Excel will need to manually update the data sync to the new solution before January 13, 2025 (previously October 20, 2024). After this date, existing Excel files with the older data sync will be retained but will no longer receive automatic data updates from Forms. The older version of the data sync exists in two types of Forms:
For these two types of Forms, we will provide this support to migrate to the new solution:
For workflows that connect to Excel data from Forms responses (such as Power Automate workflows), users will need to update the workflow to the Forms connector for new response updates. Learn more: Create an automated workflow for Microsoft Forms – Microsoft Support Note: The new data sync can only be triggered in Excel for the web. If users want to receive new Forms response data in the Excel desktop app, open the file in Excel for the web, and then wait for the desktop app file to sync from the web file. (Support for other versions of Excel is in progress.) The new data sync solution will be on by default and available to all Forms and Excel for the web customers. Notification in Forms to update workbook to continue syncing with Forms: Notification in Excel for the web to update the data sync to new solution: Excel workbook is successfully updated to new solution:
[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) Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat available in Teams and OutlookCategory:Microsoft 365 suite Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365)Nummer:MC922627Status:planForChange | Updated January 22, 2025: Microsoft Copilot for Entra account users is M365 Copilot Chat. Thank you for your patience. In mid-January, 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. On Teams Mobile, the pinned app will show up in the top header. Microsoft Copilot will also become available in the Store for users to add on their own, managed by the same admin settings used for app availability today. Outlook Mobile will have Copilot show up in the tab bar starting in February. 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. In addition, users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will have Copilot automatically pinned in the left rail in Teams, along with the Copilot chat that is automatically pinned in the Teams Chat pane for them today. 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 install and pin in Teams and Outlook starting late January 2025 (previously mid-January) and is expected to complete by late February 2025 (previously late January). General Availability (Worldwide): The Microsoft 365 Copilot app will be pinned by default in the Teams left rail staring late January 2025 (previously mid-January) and is expected to complete by late February 2025 (previously late January).
[How this will affect your organization:] Starting mid-January, Microsoft Copilot admins and users will be able to pin the Copilot app in Teams and Outlook. Copilot will not be pinned by default for users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. If pinned, users will be able to access the Microsoft Copilot app in Teams and Outlook. If your admins or users previously chose to pin Microsoft Copilot across the M365 app, Teams, and Outlook before pinning was released on Teams and Outlook, Microsoft Copilot will be retroactively pinned for them there. Microsoft Copilot will also be added to the Store for users to add on their own. For licensed users, Microsoft 365 Copilot has already been installed, and users can open it from the Store. Finally, in Teams, users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will be able to access Copilot in the left rail as a pinned app by default, along with the Teams Chat pane where they can find it today. On Teams Mobile, users can access Copilot in the top header, and on Outlook Mobile in the tab bar. [What you need to do to prepare:] Admins can control if Microsoft Copilot is pinned in Teams and Outlook using the same Copilot pinning control shared previously to pin Copilot in the Microsoft 365 app. Admins can also pin Microsoft Copilot in Teams by adding Copilot to Pinned apps in app Setup policies and assigning the policies to unlicensed users in Teams admin center. 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. Users can unpin Copilot in Outlook. Users can unpin Copilot in Teams if User pinning is enabled in app Setup policies. 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 be able to allow and block the Copilot app from appearing in Outlook, the Microsoft 365 app and copilot.cloud.microsoft through Microsoft 365 admin center (MAC) like you would manage availability for any other app. These controls are already provided today for Microsoft Teams through Teams admin center.
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| (Updated) New Service in your Microsoft 365 subscription: Org ExplorerCategory:Microsoft 365 for the web Microsoft VivaNummer:MC939925Status:planForChange | Updated January 22, 2025: We have updated the content. Thank you for your patience. Your Microsoft 365 subscription is being updated with a new service in your Outlook: Org Explorer. This organization chart helps your visualize your company’s internal structure and discover connections, roles, and responsibilities among you and other people across teams. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 421191. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide) for new Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Web, and Outlook for Mac: We will begin rolling out late February 2025 (previously mid-January 2025) and expect to complete by mid-April 2025 (previously late February). General Availability (Worldwide) for classic Outlook: We will begin rolling out late February 2025 (previously mid-January 2025). Note: The access to Org Explorer will depend on which Outlook service platform the user is using. Therefore, we recommend you switch to the new Outlook for Windows or Outlook for web to have early access to this new feature. [How this will affect your organization] Once the new service is available for your organization, you can access the Org Explorer app via Outlook as below: Is a Viva license still required to access Org Explorer? After the rollout in January 2025, Org Explorer will not require a Viva premium license. [What you need to do to prepare] There is no action required now. The documentation of Introducing Org Explorer is going to be updated soon for additional information regarding Org Explorer. |
| (Updated) Microsoft Teams: Adding “Service level” to real-time metrics for the Queues appCategory:Microsoft TeamsNummer:MC975306Status:stayInformed | Updated January 22, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience. Coming soon to Microsoft Teams: In the Queues app, we will include Service level in the real-time metrics. Authorized users will be able to review the Service level metric and adjust staffing accordingly. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 472023. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early March 2025 (previously mid-February) and expect to complete by late March 2025 (previously late February). [How this will affect your organization:] Teams admins need to turn on the service level and set target time in the admin portal – Voice App policy.
This change will be available by default. [What you need to do to prepare:] This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date and admin can turn on the feature in the admin portal 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: Manage Queues app for Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn |
| Power Apps – Fill forms faster with smart pasteCategory:Power AppsNummer:MC975778Status:stayInformed | We are announcing the fill forms faster with smart paste feature for Power Apps. This feature makes it faster and easier for users to fill forms based on text content from any source. Users can copy the content, smart paste by selecting a button (or using the keyboard shortcut), and receive inline suggestions within the form based on the copied content. This preview feature will be enabled for all Dynamics 365 model-driven apps in monthly channel environments starting February 1, 2025. How does this affect me? Users can select the smart paste button or use the keyboard shortcut to receive suggestions for fields. The suggestions appear inline in their model-driven app’s form based on text they’ve copied. The user can choose to accept or ignore the suggestions. This new smart paste option makes it easier and faster to enter data in forms. What do I need to do to prepare? This message is for awareness and no action is required. |
| (Updated) Microsoft Lists: Admin control to hide real-time list collaborators at site collection levelCategory:SharePoint OnlineNummer:MC982551Status:planForChange | Updated January 22, 2025: We have updated the content Thank you for your patience. Coming soon to Microsoft Lists: A new admin control in Microsoft PowerShell to hide real-time Microsoft Lists collaborators at the site collection level. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide): Available now (since early December 2024). [How this will affect your organization:] In MC891238 Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Teams: Update on new Microsoft Lists rollout (published September 2024, updated November 2024), we rolled out the ability for users to see who is collaborating with them in real time. Before this rollout and by default, Lists shows real time collaborators next to Filtering and Grouping actions (in the upper right of the screen) and at the list-item level.
After this rollout: Based on customer feedback regarding privacy, admins can run the PowerShell command This admin control to hide collaborators is available by default for admins to configure. [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:
Learn more: Set-SPOSite (Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell) | Microsoft Learn |
| Power Platform – Manage system views with security role public previewCategory:Power PlatformNummer:MC985395Status:stayInformed | We are announcing the Managing system views with security role feature preview for Dataverse security in Power Platform. This preview will allow administrators to manage which system views to show on the table form list based on the user’s security role. This preview will be rolled out globally from February 3, 2025, through February 6, 2025. How does this affect me? Previously, the list of system views shown on each table form list is fixed for all users who have access to the table. As the list of system views can be long for some of your tables, they might not be applicable to users based on their role. This preview allows administrators to manage which system views to show on their table form list based on the user’s security role assignment. What do I need to do to prepare? This message is for awareness and no action is required. If you would like more information on this preview, please refer to Manage access to public system views. |
| Power Apps – Update your firewall rules to add the new telemetry endpoints by February 20, 2025Category:Power AppsNummer:MC985408Status:planForChange | We are in the process of updating client telemetry endpoints. These endpoints allow Microsoft to gather telemetry to support customers in resolving issues. What action do I need to take? Due to this change, we are requesting that you please ensure that you update your firewall rules to include the following endpoint by February 20, 2025: *.events.data.microsoft.com. Why is this action needed? We are planning to deprecate the old client telemetry endpoints, which is estimated to be completed by February 28, 2025. If action is not taken, Microsoft will not be able to gather telemetry and aid customers in future support tickets. For more information about what endpoints are required to be allowlisted by your firewall from Microsoft, please consult our documentation Power Apps system requirements and limits – Power Apps. |
| General Availability of Direct Routing Phone Number InventoryCategory:Microsoft TeamsNummer:MC985472Status:planForChange | We are excited to announce the public release of Direct Routing (DR) Inventory for all Microsoft Teams Phone customers. This feature allows you to manage both assigned and unassigned DR phone numbers within Microsoft Teams Phone Number management. It simplifies managing and assigning DR phone numbers via Teams PowerShell cmdlet. The feature is also current in preview in Teams Admin Center and will be released to all customers in mid-February 2025. This new feature introduces a change in behavior for unassigned Direct Routing phone numbers in Teams Phone Number management. When unassigned, a Direct Routing phone number will no longer be removed from the Teams telephone number management storage. If for any reason you do not wish to keep the Direct Routing phone numbers in Microsoft’s Teams telephone number management storage, please use New-CsOnlineTelephoneNumberReleaseOrder to release the unassigned Direct Routing phone numbers. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We have already rolled out the feature and available for use via Teams PowerShell cmdlets. [How this will affect your organization:] When unassigned, a Direct Routing phone number will no longer be removed from the Teams telephone number management storage. If for any reason you do not wish to keep the Direct Routing phone numbers in Microsoft’s Teams telephone number management storage, please use New-CsOnlineTelephoneNumberReleaseOrder to release the unassigned Direct Routing phone numbers. [What you need to do to prepare:] No action required. Please review the details of this feature in our public documentation. Detailed instructions on how to use these cmdlets are provided in New-CsOnlineDirectRoutingTelephoneNumberUploadOrder, New-CsOnlineTelephoneNumberReleaseOrder, and Get-CsOnlineTelephoneNumberOrder |
| Microsoft Clipchamp: Reduced file sizes for Microsoft Teams meeting recordings exported from ClipchampCategory:Microsoft Clipchamp Nummer:MC985477Status:stayInformed | Customers have asked us to reduce the size of the Microsoft Teams meeting recordings when exported from Microsoft Clipchamp. Due to the way Clipchamp encodes the files, the file size of these exports can be larger than the original files. To address this issue, we implemented an algorithm to optimize the Teams meeting recording videos without compromising quality. After this rollout, meeting recordings exported from Clipchamp will be efficiently compressed, making them easier to store and share. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide): Available now. We began rolling out early January 2025 and completed in mid-January 2025. [How this will affect your organization:] 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 or after the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation. |
| Microsoft 365 admin center: AI administrator role authorization to manage Copilot settingsCategory:Microsoft 365 suite Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365)Nummer:MC985479Status:stayInformed | The Copilot page in the Microsoft 365 admin center is the central place to manage Microsoft 365 Copilot settings in your organization. The AI administrator role will authorize users with this role to update all settings within the Settings section of the Copilot page. Note: Image is meant to be representative of Copilot settings. Copilot settings in your tenant may vary based on product and feature eligibility. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): We will begin rolling out early January 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025. [How this will affect your organization:] Users with the AI administrator role will be authorized to update all settings in the Copilot page in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Additional information:
This feature 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.
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| Microsoft 365 Copilot: New custom engine agentsCategory:Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365)Nummer:MC985480Status:planForChange | We are thrilled to announce the upcoming rollout of custom engine agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot. These agents are specialized agentic solutions that can be built on any large language model (LLM), toolchain, or orchestration tool tailored for specific domain or tenant workflows. This feature is already supported in Microsoft Teams and will be available after this rollout in Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat (BizChat). To access custom engine agents, your organization will need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 474439. [When this will happen:] Public Preview: We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete in mid-March 2025. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late March 2025 and expect to complete by early April 2025. [How this will affect your organization:] Custom engine agents will empower your organization to create highly customized agentic experiences that leverage your own AI systems and orchestrators. This means you can design unique prompts, connect to any LLM, and integrate these custom agents with Microsoft 365 Copilot. After this rollout, all users or specific users will be able to access the agents, provided the agents have been enabled and deployed in the Microsoft 365 admin center > Copilot tab. Creating custom engine agents Eligible users, or those designated by you, will have the capability to create agents using Microsoft Copilot Studio for low-code tools or the Microsoft Teams Toolkit in Microsoft Visual Studio for pro-code solutions. Users can access Copilot Studio only if you have enabled the Microsoft Power Automate free license for them. Developers can also use the Teams Toolkit in Visual Studio and the Teams AI Library for pro-code solutions to build these agents from scratch. Deploying custom engine agents All the familiar admin deployment and management controls in the Microsoft 365 admin center for declarative agents will seamlessly transition to custom engine agents: Admin controls in the Microsoft 365 admin center for a published custom engine agent:
Custom engine agents created using Copilot Studio can be deployed by users for their individual work-related tasks. Also, users have the flexibility to share these agents with internal teams, contingent on the settings you configure in the Microsoft 365 admin center > Teams applications > Shared Copilot applications. Organization-wide sharing requires admin approval through the Microsoft 365 admin center. Custom engine agents created or updated using the Teams Toolkit in Visual Studio and the Teams AI Library requires admin approval and admin deployment in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Provisioning a customer engine agent in the Microsoft 365 admin center > Integrated apps:
[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
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| Microsoft 365 Business Chat: Use “Continue to Outlook” to set up a meeting in Microsoft OutlookCategory:Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365)Nummer:MC985481Status:stayInformed | Coming soon to Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat (BizChat): When a Business Chat user requests to schedule a meeting with someone using natural language, Business Chat will offer an option to Continue in Outlook. This message applies to Business Chat on Windows and Mac desktops and Microsoft Outlook for the web. A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use this feature. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by late January 2025. [How this will affect your organization:] After this rollout, when a user selects Continue in Outlook, the user will be taken to their Calendar in Outlook on the web to schedule the meeting. This change will be available by default. Image caption: In Business Chat, a user requests to schedule a meeting. Business Chat responds, suggesting the user continue the task in Outlook and providing the Continue in Outlook button:
[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. |
| Microsoft Teams: More predictable recording experience with Who keeps recordingCategory:Microsoft TeamsNummer:MC985482Status:stayInformed | We will be adding a new in-product message to display the recording owner’s information. This feature is especially important to our users when the person who starts the recording is different from the recording owner, participants will be able to reach out to the correct recording owner as needed. [When this will happen:] General availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early March 2025 and expect to complete by late March 2025. [How this will affect your organization:] This feature provides an in-product message in the chat that displays the recording owner’s information, making it easier for participants to reach out to the correct recording owner when needed.
We understand the importance of governance and predictability in managing recordings, which is why we have rolled out Recordings saved to Organizers OneDrive in GCC, GCCH, and DOD. By default, the recording saves to the organizer’s OneDrive, even if the organizer did not attend the meeting or event. Co-organizers have the same editing permissions as organizers for recording files. When the organizer doesn’t have a OneDrive account such as meetings scheduled using a shared mailbox, we will have a fallback logic to go through Organizer -> Co-organizer (s) -> Initiator -> Async Media Storage (AMS).
[What you need to do to prepare:] Ensure -MeetingRecordingOwnership is set to MeetingOrganizer, which is the default value. When the organizer doesn’t have a OneDrive account such as meetings scheduled using a shared mailbox, fallback logic is to automatically enable Organizer -> Co-organizer (s) -> Initiator -> Async Media Storage (AMS) to determine the recording owner. The Who keeps recording feature will help you identify the recording owner in any situation.
You can find more information by visiting related documentation to understand convenience recording in Teams meeting experience: |
| Microsoft Graph: New default passcode in the Create Meeting APICategory:Microsoft 365 suiteNummer:MC985483Status:planForChange | Before this retirement, when creating an online meeting using the Microsoft Graph API, admins or users can choose whether to require a passcode. If no value is specified, the default behavior does not require a passcode. After this update: For enhanced security, users will still have the option to specify whether a passcode is required when creating a meeting. If no value is specified, the default behavior will require a passcode for the meeting. Effective February 24, 2025, the default value of the Update your applications Review and update any applications that use the Create onlineMeeting API and passcode to ensure they account for the new default behavior. Looking ahead In October 2027, we will remove the option to specify the need for passcodes. This change will ensure that all meetings are consistently secured with passcodes. This final step will simplify the meeting creation process and provide an additional layer of protection for users. We will remove the |
| Microsoft Teams: Additional work information in people search resultsCategory:Microsoft TeamsNummer:MC985484Status:stayInformed | Multi-tenant organization (MTO) users will be able to see additional work information in people search results. With this feature, MTO users will be able to see the company name and department name of a user in people search results, helping users to make sure they are communicating with the right people. [When this will happen:] General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out early February 2025 and expect to complete by late February 2025. [How this will affect your organization:] Tenant admins who have MTO enabled will be able to toggle this feature on and off in the Teams admin center. Toggle behavior:
Instructions to toggle:
a. Switch the toggle to on to enable the ability to see company name and department name in results. b. Switch the toggle to off to disable the ability to see company name and department name in results. For more information, see Set up a multitenant org in Microsoft 365. [What you need to do to prepare:] Tenant admins will need to complete cross-tenant synchronization and sync the company name field in order to take advantage of this feature. For more information, see Synchronize users in multitenant organizations in Microsoft 365. |