30-August-2024 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!
Office 365 Roadmap Updated: 2024-08-30
Additions : 4
Updates : 8
More Details At: www.roadmapwatch.com
Items from the MessageCenter in Microsoft 365
| Microsoft Viva: Create themes for SharePoint and Viva Connections in brand centerCategory:Microsoft VivaNummer:MC876281Status:stayInformed | We’re bringing a new theme creation experience into the Microsoft SharePoint Brand center, allowing you to easily create and manage themes for your sites and related experiences. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 374871. [When this will happen:] Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024. [How this will affect your organization:] With our latest update to the SharePoint Brand center, we are enabling customization through colors. This update introduces a brand color management experience along with a new experience for creating and managing themes for your organization.
The all-new brand color experience allows you to create a standard set of colors for your organization that will be utilized in other experiences. This allows you to seamlessly create and standardize your color options.
You will also be able to create and manage your organization’s themes in the Brand center for SharePoint and Microsoft Viva Connections. With this new theme creation and management experience, you will be able to easily create themes for your organization and make them available in the “Change the look” experience.
Note: Themes previously created with PowerShell will remain outside of this management experience and be managed via PowerShell. [What you need to do to prepare:] To use the new brand color and theme experience, you must have previously enabled the SharePoint Brand center in the Microsoft 365 Admin center. Learn more |
| Microsoft SharePoint: Create themes in Brand centerCategory:SharePoint OnlineNummer:MC876285Status:stayInformed | We’re bringing a new theme creation experience into the Microsoft SharePoint Brand center, allowing you to easily create and manage themes for your sites and related experiences. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 375495. [When this will happen:] Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024. [How this will affect your organization:] With our latest update to the SharePoint Brand center, we are enabling customization through colors. This update introduces a brand color management experience along with a new experience for creating and managing themes for your organization.
The all-new brand color experience allows you to create a standard set of colors for your organization that will be utilized in other experiences. This allows you to seamlessly create and standardize your color options.
You will also be able to create and manage your organization’s themes in the Brand center for SharePoint and Microsoft Viva Connections. With this new theme creation and management experience, you will be able to easily create themes for your organization and make them available in the “Change the look” experience.
Note: Themes previously created with PowerShell will remain outside of this management experience and be managed via PowerShell. [What you need to do to prepare:] To use the new brand color and theme experience, you must have previously enabled the SharePoint Brand center in the Microsoft 365 Admin center. Learn more |
| Microsoft Viva: Introducing custom fonts for Viva Connections DesktopCategory:Microsoft VivaNummer:MC876286Status:stayInformed | The new Microsoft SharePoint brand center is now available in Preview and will soon be GA. The new SharePoint brand center includes custom fonts to express your organization’s brand and creative expression in your Viva Connections Desktop experiences. Once the SharePoint brand center has been enabled in your organization, you will unlock the power of custom fonts within SharePoint and Viva Connections. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 374866. [When will this happen] Public Preview: Available now. We began rolling out in early April 2024 and completed late June 2024. Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024.
[How this will affect your organization:] Before this rollout, custom fonts are only available in SharePoint or Viva Connections Desktop after the admin enables the SharePoint brand center. After the rollout, custom fonts will only be available in SharePoint or Viva Connections Desktop after the admin enables the SharePoint brand center. Your organization’s designated brand manager (the site owner of the SharePoint brand center) will upload, create, and manage your organization’s brand assets, including organization fonts, in the in the Brand fonts library of the SharePoint brand center. After uploading and making a brand font visible for use, the brand manager will be able to create custom font packages to use these fonts in SharePoint and Viva Connections Desktop.
A font package is a combination of two font families that will be applied uniformly as designated by the brand manager using the font package creation tool.
Microsoft provides 8 default font packages with no need to configure a font package in the SharePoint brand center:
NOTE: In multi-geo environments, custom fonts and the SharePoint brand center are configured in the primary geo. Custom fonts will be available in any additional geo where SharePoint Organization Asset Libraries (OAL) are used and Public CDN is enabled. If there are no OAL or public CDN in the geo, the custom fonts feature will not be enabled in the Change the Look for sites in that geo location. Creating a custom font package in the SharePoint brand center app will enable the “From your organization” section of the Change the Look > Font experience.
With this release custom fonts will be supported in:
Custom fonts will be on by default when the SharePoint brand center is enabled. [What you need to do to prepare] Learn more: SharePoint Brand Center – SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | 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. |
| Microsoft Viva Connections: Manage your organization’s brand in the new Brand centerCategory:Microsoft VivaNummer:MC876287Status:stayInformed | We’re introducing new branding and management capabilities that you can use to improve consistency across your sites and pages. Our new SharePoint brand center will create a centralized branding management application that will empower your brand managers or designated users to empower site owners to create and manage the brand assets needed to customize SharePoint and Viva Connections.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 374861. [When this will happen:] Public Preview: Available now. We began rolling out in early April 2024 and completed late June 2024. Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024. [How this will affect your organization:] The SharePoint Brand center allows you to manage your organization’s brand assets in a single location. To enable the new Brand center, the global administrator will need to perform a set of steps in the Microsoft 365 admin center to create/activate the Brand center app. The Brand center app requires the use of public content delivery network (CDN). The Brand center administrative experience will identify the site containing your organization’s current organization asset libraries (if used) and use this site as the basis for your Brand center. If you are not using the organization asset library feature, you will be prompted to create a new site to be identified as your Brand center. Once you enable the SharePoint Brand center for your organization, this will enable the custom fonts feature to be used within SharePoint and Viva Connections. To enable the SharePoint Brand center, the global administrator will need to perform a few steps in the Microsoft 365 admin center to create/activate the Brand center app. The steps required depend on your current tenant configuration. Option 1: Your tenant does not currently use the SharePoint Organization Assets feature. For this scenario, the global administrator will need to perform the following steps to create the Brand center app.
Option 2: Your tenant uses the SharePoint Organization Assets feature with private CDN. For this scenario, the global administrator will need to perform the following steps to create the Brand center app.
Option 3: Your tenant uses the SharePoint Organization Assets feature with public CDN. For this scenario, the global administrator will need to perform the following steps to create the Brand center app.
Once you have completed the setup of your SharePoint Brand center, you can manage access to the Brand center app by customizing the site permissions of the Brand center site. Site owners will have access to the Brand center app. Copy and share the link to the Brand center site/app to your site owners to unlock your Brand asset management for your organization. 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. |
| Microsoft SharePoint: Manage your organization’s brand in the new Brand centerCategory:SharePoint OnlineNummer:MC876288Status:stayInformed | Our SharePoint Brand center will create a centralized branding management application that will empower your brand managers or designated users to empower site owners to create and manage the brand assets needed to customize SharePoint and Viva Connections.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 124838. [When this will happen:] Public Preview: Available now. We began rolling out in early April 2024 and completed late June 2024. Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024. [How this will affect your organization:] The SharePoint Brand center allows you to manage your organization’s brand assets in a single location. To enable the new Brand center, the global administrator will need to perform a set of steps in the Microsoft 365 admin center to create/activate the Brand center app. The Brand center app requires the use of public content delivery network (CDN). The Brand center administrative experience will identify the site containing your organization’s current organization asset libraries (if used) and use this site as the basis for your Brand center. If you are not using the organization asset library feature, you will be prompted to create a new site to be identified as your Brand center. Once you enable the SharePoint Brand center for your organization, this will enable the custom fonts feature to be used within SharePoint and Viva Connections. To enable the SharePoint Brand center, the global administrator will need to perform a few steps in the Microsoft 365 admin center to create/activate the Brand center app. The steps required depend on your current tenant configuration. Option 1: Your tenant does not currently use the SharePoint Organization Assets feature. For this scenario, the global administrator will need to perform the following steps to create the Brand center app.
Option 2: Your tenant uses the SharePoint Organization Assets feature with private CDN. For this scenario, the global administrator will need to perform the following steps to create the Brand center app.
Option 3: Your tenant uses the SharePoint Organization Assets feature with public CDN. For this scenario, the global administrator will need to perform the following steps to create the Brand center app.
Once you have completed the setup of your SharePoint Brand center, you can manage access to the Brand center app by customizing the site permissions of the Brand center site. Site owners will have access to the Brand center app. Copy and share the link to the Brand center site/app to your site owners to unlock your Brand asset management for your organization. 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. |
| Sensitive meetings to be excluded from Viva Insights metricsCategory:Microsoft VivaNummer:MC876291Status:stayInformed | End-users of Outlook have the ability to set a meeting to have a ‘Private’ or ‘Confidential’ sensitivity level in order to protect the information of a meeting they consider sensitive. To ensure that these meetings cannot be analyzed, Viva Insights would remove these meetings from metric computation. [When this will happen:] We will begin rolling this out in mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024. [How this will affect your organization:] As this change begins rolling out, your organization will see the following updates:
[What you need to do to prepare:] No action needed from your organization. You may consider updating your training and documentation as appropriate. |
| Microsoft classic Viva Engage: Inline PDF viewing in external networks and non-connected communities retires Sept 30Category:Microsoft VivaNummer:MC876292Status:planForChange | Starting September 30, 2024, classic Microsoft Viva Engage users in external networks and communities not connected to Microsoft 365 groups will need to download PDFs attached to Viva Engage threads to view them. [How this will affect your organization:] User interface changes 1. The Immersive view will display a generic preview with the message, “No preview available – click to download”:
2. The File view (Go to file > File view) will display a generic preview with the message, “No preview available – click to download”:
Features that will stay the same 1. As creators upload PDF files to their threads, they will continue to see the PDF thumbnail:
2. The PDF thumbnail will continue to be displayed in feeds:
[What you need to do to prepare:] No action is required. We encourage you to inform your users of these changes. Admins of classic Viva Engage networks are strongly encouraged to upgrade the network to Native Mode that allows users to continue reading PDFs inline, because all communities are connected to Microsoft 365 groups that support inline viewing experiences. Learn more: Overview of Native Mode for Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn |
| Microsoft Dataverse – Service Update 9.2.24084.00000 for EURCategory:Microsoft DataverseNummer:MC876938Status:stayInformed | We have a minor service update planned for your Microsoft Dataverse environment hosted in EUR. This service update will occur within your region’s scheduled maintenance timeline, on the scheduled date listed for Microsoft Dataverse. How does this affect me? The version number for your Microsoft Dataverse environment will update to version 9.2.24084.00000 or higher. There is no expected degradation to service performance or availability, however, during this maintenance window users may see short, intermittent impact such as transient SQL errors or a redirect to the login screen. What action do I need to take? This message is for awareness and no action is required. |
| Power Automate – Create and publish UI elements collections in desktop flows announcementCategory:Microsoft Power AutomateNummer:MC876960Status:stayInformed | We are announcing the Create and publish UI elements collections in desktop flows feature. This feature allows you to create, share, and import collections of UI elements in Power Automate desktop flows. This feature will reach general availability on September 30, 2024. How does this affect me? This feature will allow you to utilize a collection of UI elements with centralized oversight and control. These UI elements collections can be shared among users and integrated into various desktop flows as reusable modules. This feature allows updates to the UI elements collection to propagate to all desktop flows linked to the collection within the same environment. What do I need to do to prepare? This message is for awareness and no action is required. For more information on this feature, please visit Create and publish UI elements collections in desktop flows. |
| Power Automate – Enable application lifecycle management for customized process mining Power BI reportsCategory:Microsoft Power AutomateNummer:MC876976Status:stayInformed | We’re excited to announce the ALM feature for customized process mining Power BI reports. This allows you to move all your process mining entities, such as dataflow connections and custom metrics, and Power BI reports between environments or workspaces. This feature is now generally available. How does this affect me? The feature enables ALM for customized process mining Power BI reports. It addresses a significant gap where users previously couldn’t perform ALM on their customized reports when transferring from one workspace to another. This gap could have led to inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and wasted time for business process analysts who had to recreate reports manually. What do I need to do to prepare? This message is for awareness and no action is required. For more information on this feature, please visit Application lifecycle management in Process Mining overview. |
| The August 2024 Windows non-security preview update is now available for Windows 10, version 22H2Category:WindowsNummer:MC877053Status:stayInformed | The August 2024 non-security preview update is now available for Windows 10, version 22H2. Information about the contents of this update is available from the release notes, which are accessible from the Windows 10 update history page. To learn more about the different types of monthly quality updates, see Windows monthly updates explained. To be informed about the latest updates and releases, follow us on X @WindowsUpdate. Highlights for the Windows 10, version 22H2 update:
For instructions on how to install this update, see the KB for your OS listed below:
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| Get started with August 2024 improvements in Windows 11Category:WindowsNummer:MC877054Status:stayInformed | If you’re an IT professional or decision maker, start using the newest Windows 11 capabilities with helpful tips and actionable steps summarized in one place. Read this month’s recap of improvements in Windows security, device and update management, Windows Server, productivity, and collaboration. Get started with the new Windows 365 features and offerings, security improvements, as well as solutions for specific scenarios in Windows Autopatch, Microsoft Intune, and app management, among others. Additionally, find preview opportunities for Windows Server 2025 hotpatching, the new Windows App, and other improvements released in August. When will this happen: All improvements summarized in this monthly recap are already available. How this will affect your organization: Whatever tools you use, you can start seeing improvements across various workflows in your organization with:
What you need to do to prepare: Read the new monthly recap and additional information to start benefiting from the latest improvements. Additional information: Read the monthly recap at Windows news you can use: August 2024. It includes highlights from the following channels: |
| Microsoft SharePoint: Introducing custom fontsCategory:SharePoint OnlineNummer:MC877312Status:stayInformed | With our new SharePoint Brand center, we are introducing the ability to use custom fonts to express your organization’s brand and creative expression on your sites and pages. Once the SharePoint Brand center has been enabled in your organization, you can use custom fonts within SharePoint and Viva Connections.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 375490. [When this will happen:] Public Preview: Available now. We began rolling out in early April 2024 and completed late June 2024. Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024. [How this will affect your organization:] This feature update will introduce new web parts with custom fonts support including:
The custom fonts feature for the SharePoint brand center enables the use of custom fonts within SharePoint and Viva Connections Desktop experiences. Your organization’s designated brand manager will upload, create, and manage your organization’s brand assets, including organization fonts, in the Brand center app making them available to apply in the Change the Look experience. Brand managers, who are the site owners of the Brand center site, will upload and manage your organization fonts in the Brand fonts library of the SharePoint Brand center app. After uploading and making a brand font visible for use, the brand manager will be able to create custom font packages to use these fonts within SharePoint and Viva Connections Desktop. A font package is a combination of two font families that will be applied to the experiences uniformly as designated by the brand manager using the font package creation tool. Microsoft provides a set of 8 font packages available for use with no need to configure a font package in the Brand center app.
Microsoft provided default font packages:
Note: In multi-geo environments custom fonts and the brand center app are configured in the primary geo. Custom fonts will be available in any additional geo where SharePoint Organization Asset Libraries (OAL) are used and public Content Delivery Network (CDN) is enabled. If there are no OAL or public CDN in the geo, the custom fonts feature will not be enabled in the Change the Look experience for sites in that geo location. Creating a custom font package in the SharePoint brand center app will enable the “From your organization” section of the Change the Look > Font experience. With this release custom fonts will be supported in the following:
Learn more about multi-geo in OneDrive and SharePoint. 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. |
| Microsoft Teams: Streamlined process for installing Teams appsCategory:Microsoft TeamsNummer:MC877316Status:stayInformed | 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 early September 2024 and expect to complete by early September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by late September 2024. General Availability (GCC): We will begin rolling out late October 2024 and expect to complete by early November 2024. [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) |
| Microsoft Outlook: Review and update work hours and location in the My Day paneCategory:Exchange Online Microsoft 365 for the web Microsoft 365 appsNummer:MC877318Status:stayInformed | Coming soon to Microsoft Outlook: Work hours and location information will be available in the My Day pane in Outlook. Users will be able to update their Work Hours and Location information from My Day and also see who is coming to Office. This message applies to new Outlook for Windows desktop and Outlook for the web. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 412618. [When this will happen:] Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by early September 2024. General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out early October 2024 and expect to complete by early October 2024. [How this will affect your organization:] Before this rollout, users can review and update their work hours and location information in Outlook Settings > Calendar > Work hours and location. This settings page will remain in place after the rollout. After this rollout, users will also be able to see and update their work hours and location information in the My Day pane in Outlook. Changes to the My Day pane will sync to any other work hours and location settings made in Outlook. My Day pane with prompt to Set up your work location:
My Day pane with work location information, which can be updated:
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. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation. |
