Archive

Outlook: Categorize emails by dragging them onto a favorite category

A category can be pinned to Favorites and messages dragged onto it to apply that category, instead of opening menus or right-clicking each message. Roadmap 567319, updated 8 September 2026, for new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant).

Why it matters: A small triage change worth folding into end-user guidance for tenants already moved to the new Outlook.

microsoft.com

Planner: Task History

Planner adds a task history view showing recent activity on a task: what changed, when it changed, and progress over time. Roadmap 569933, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), on web and in Teams.

Why it matters: Gives Planner an audit trail that teams currently have to reconstruct from notifications.

microsoft.com

Planner: Add times to task start, finish, and due dates

Tasks gain specific times on start, finish and due dates. A plan can define its own time zone and working hours to supply default task times, and members choose whether to view times in the plan time zone or their local one. Roadmap 570153, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), on web and in Teams.

Why it matters: Makes Planner workable for distributed teams whose deadlines currently collapse to a date with no time zone.

microsoft.com

Microsoft 365: Teams Channel Backup

A backup and recovery feature that restores Teams team and channel data to a previously known good state after accidental changes or a security compromise. Supported items are the team, standard, private and public channels, and the underlying data including files and channel messages; the supported retention period is 30 days. Roadmap 570668, Targeted Release, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), surfaced in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Why it matters: First-party recovery for Teams channel data, which today usually means a third-party backup product in the tenant.

microsoft.com

ASPX updates to uncover opportunities

The AI Business Solutions and Security Partner eXperience moves from a reporting tool to an action engine, with five FY27 priorities covering free-to-paid signals, Microsoft 365 E7 targeting, Copilot Cowork usage, Frontier account targeting and a simplified API v1.5 for CRM and reporting integration.

learn.microsoft.com

Copilot, Microsoft 365 & Power Platform Community Call

Weekly community call scheduled for 10 September 2026, with demos of Document Analysis in AI Builder, building a Power BI AI agent with Copilot Studio, and integrating SPFx UI elements into Copilot.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

Power BI subscriptions: changes to notification delivery and sender experience

Power BI is changing how subscription notifications are delivered, to improve reliability and sender reputation: the sender identity changes and the previous sender address is replaced, email formatting changes, and Copilot-generated summary presentation changes in some subscription scenarios. Phased worldwide rollout runs from late September 2026 through early January 2027 (MC1467355).

Why it matters: Any tenant with mail flow rules, allow-lists or archiving keyed to the old Power BI sender address will silently misroute subscription mail unless those rules are updated before the rollout reaches it.

m365admin.handsontek.net

Updated header and dashboard for chats and channels on Teams mobile

Teams mobile gets a redesigned header plus a lightweight dashboard for chats and channels, pulling channel details, people and pinned content into one surface and aligning mobile navigation with desktop. Targeted Release starts late September 2026 and general availability follows in early October 2026 for Worldwide, GCC, GCC High and DoD; no user action is required (MC1467357).

Why it matters: Regulated tenants get this on the same timeline as commercial ones, so GCC High and DoD customers need change communication and updated mobile screenshots ready before early October.

m365admin.handsontek.net

Create videos with Copilot from the Clipchamp Start page

Copilot generates a video directly from the Clipchamp Start page: from a prompt or an existing document it drafts the script, selects visuals, adds narration and assembles the video, which the user then reviews, refines and exports. Roadmap 553215 is Launched for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) on desktop, Mac and web, GA date April CY2026.

Why it matters: Gives internal comms and enablement work a Copilot-native path to video without a separate editing skillset.

microsoft.com

OpenAI GPT-6 Astra available in Copilot Cowork and Copilot Studio

GPT-6 Astra joins the frontier models in Copilot Cowork and Copilot Studio, aimed at delegating larger tasks rather than guiding work step by step, with Work IQ grounding it in files, meetings, chats and business data inside existing permissions. Availability may vary by region and organization, and admins manage access and configure availability through the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Why it matters: Model choice for delegated work moves both cost and output quality, and the region and organization variability means availability has to be verified per tenant before it is promised to a customer.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

Anthropic Claude Fable 5.1 available in Copilot Cowork and Copilot Studio

Claude Fable 5.1 joins the frontier models in Copilot Cowork and Copilot Studio, described as built for long-running work, financial analysis and front-end visual coding, with tighter up-front plans and more concise closing summaries. It rolls out to eligible users only, availability may vary by region and organization, and admin access control runs through the AI subprocessor connection setting.

Why it matters: Two frontier models landed in the same surfaces within three days, so model selection guidance written before September is already out of date.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

Workflows built from scratch can take multiple steps

Teams Workflows lets a user add multiple steps when building a workflow from scratch instead of being held to a single step. Roadmap 569209 is rolling out to Targeted Release and Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) on Desktop and Mac, GA date September CY2026.

Why it matters: Raises what an end user can automate inside Teams without opening Power Automate, which changes where simple automation requests land.

microsoft.com

Refreshed file browsing and filtering in OneDrive Web

OneDrive Web gets multiple simultaneous filters across Home, Shared, People, Meetings and Favorites, the same filtering in folder views such as My files and shared folders, and file-type filtering through both filter pills and the filter pane. The modern SharePoint document library experience also comes to OneDrive Web with an updated layout and navigation. Roadmap 566316 is rolling out to Targeted Release and Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) on web, GA date August CY2026.

Why it matters: A visible end-user UI change, so adoption material and support screenshots showing the old OneDrive Web layout need reshooting.

microsoft.com

Viva Insights leaders and analysts can create and customize Power BI reports

Viva Insights leaders and analysts can open a Power BI report and edit the time range, filters, attributes and visuals to fit their organization, then save the report to view later. Roadmap 566317 is rolling out Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) on web, GA date September CY2026.

Why it matters: Removes the round trip to a BI team for routine Viva Insights reporting changes.

microsoft.com

Planner tab support for shared and private channels in Teams

Microsoft Planner can be added as a tab in shared and private Teams channels, so tasks are created and managed inside the channel. Roadmap 558928 is Launched for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) on Desktop, Mac and web, GA date August CY2026.

Why it matters: Closes a long-standing gap for teams that run their work in private or shared channels rather than standard ones.

microsoft.com

Text and shape animations in the Clipchamp video editor

Clipchamp Editor supports preset in and out animations on text layers, with control over duration and direction and a preview before export, across web and native desktop. Roadmap 564968 is Launched for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GA date July CY2026.

Why it matters: Small but visible polish for internal communications video produced in Clipchamp.

microsoft.com

Endpoint DLP device health reporting dashboard reaches the government clouds

The Microsoft Purview Endpoint Data Loss Prevention dashboard shows device health across all devices so admins can confirm systems are ready to receive policy updates and identify the ones that are not. Roadmap 561033 is Launched for GCC, GCC High and DoD on web, GA date July CY2026; the entry lists no Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) availability.

Why it matters: Endpoint DLP coverage gaps fail silently, and this is the government-cloud rollout of the report that exposes them.

microsoft.com

What's New in Microsoft Copilot | August 2026

Monthly roundup covering effort level and cost control in Cowork, text selections and session sharing in Copilot Chat, Copilot Notebooks changes, meeting recap languages in Teams, and Copilot updates in Word, Excel, SharePoint and Outlook.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

Explain this presentation skill in Copilot for PowerPoint

A built-in Copilot skill reads a whole deck (slides, charts, tables and speaker notes) and returns an impartial guide covering the gist, the ask, key takeaways, key numbers and open questions. Announced 2026-09-03 for Windows desktop (MC1466328), Mac (MC1466326) and web (MC1466327); rolling out through September 2026, gated to the Frontier program and requires a Copilot licence.

Why it matters: A reader-side skill rather than an authoring one, which is the gap in most Copilot deck workflows - it makes someone else's deck legible before the meeting.

m365admin.handsontek.net

Sharpen slide titles skill in Copilot for PowerPoint

A built-in Copilot skill rewrites slide titles as takeaways that state the conclusion, so anyone skimming the headlines gets the argument. Announced 2026-09-03 for Windows desktop (MC1466323), Mac (MC1466321) and web (MC1466322); rolling out early September 2026, Frontier-gated, requires a Copilot licence and needs no admin configuration.

Why it matters: A one-click fix for the most common deck-review comment, so it belongs in internal presentation guidance rather than being left to discovery.

m365admin.handsontek.net

QR code protection in Teams messaging

Images containing QR codes sent by external users will be obscured by default in Teams messages, and recipients must reveal them before viewing or scanning. Roadmap entry updated 2026-09-03; Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) and Targeted Release, on Android, desktop, iOS and Mac. GA October 2026.

Why it matters: QR phishing is the gap most tenant phishing controls still have, and this closes it by default with no admin policy to configure.

microsoft.com

Centralized notification settings for channels

Teams adds a single Settings > Notifications and activity > Manage channel notifications surface where users view and manage preferences across all channels, organised by team and channel with a filter for channels that have customised settings. Announced 2026-09-03 (MC1466307); Targeted Release early October and worldwide early to late October 2026, on Teams desktop and web. Enabled by default, existing settings are preserved and no admin action is required.

Why it matters: Channel notification sprawl is a top driver of Teams disengagement, and one surface is what makes a tenant-wide notification hygiene push practical.

m365admin.handsontek.net

Report security concerns in Teams meetings

Participants will be able to report suspicious, malicious or fraudulent behaviour during or after a meeting, and the relevant meeting metadata plus limited contextual information is collected and surfaced to admins in Microsoft Defender and the Teams admin center. Announced 2026-09-03 (MC1466296); Targeted Release late September 2026, worldwide mid to late October 2026, on Windows, Mac and web. Enabled by default.

Why it matters: It routes meeting-based social engineering into the same Defender queue as mail phishing, so the SOC needs a triage path before a default-on rollout.

microsoft.com

Planner usage report in the Microsoft 365 admin center

A new Planner usage report gives admins tenant-level and user-level Planner activity across basic and premium plans, including username, active days and last activity date. Announced 2026-09-03 (MC1466299); GA rollout ran in early September 2026 across Worldwide, GCC, GCC High and DoD. No admin action is required, but the report exposes identifiable user data, so admin role permissions and any internal notification duty need reviewing.

Why it matters: It lands in DoD alongside commercial, and the identifiable-user data means works councils and privacy policies should be checked before it is used for adoption reporting.

m365admin.handsontek.net

Project Online Essentials reaches end of life on 1 October 2026

Project Online Essentials retires on 1 October 2026, and tenants must move affected users to Project and Planner Plan 1 or Plan 3 before that date to keep access and licensing rights for Project Online, Project Server and Planner Premium. Announced 2026-09-03 (MC1466302).

Why it matters: Under four weeks of lead time on a licence retirement, so any tenant still holding Essentials seats needs a reassignment plan this month.

m365admin.handsontek.net

Partnering for Success Together monthly partner session

Registration opened for the first session in a new monthly partner skilling series on 9 September, hosted on the Microsoft Partner Skilling Hub and covering updates across Microsoft's commercial solution areas.

learn.microsoft.com

7 features it's not too late to try out this year

Microsoft 365 Insider round-up of seven already-released features across Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook and Word, including Copilot meeting conflict resolution in Outlook and org-authored Copilot prompt suggestions.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Chat History Filtering by Copilot Experience

Microsoft cancelled the planned feature that would have scoped Copilot chat history to the current Copilot Chat endpoint, with an "All chats" view as the fallback. Roadmap entry 559601 moved to Cancelled on 2026-08-31 after being targeted for GA in June 2026, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) on Desktop, Mac and Web.

Why it matters: Adoption guidance and user training that assumed per-experience chat history scoping needs reworking, because Copilot chat history stays unified across endpoints.

microsoft.com

SharePoint: Site Skills in Copilot in SharePoint

Site Skills in Copilot in SharePoint gains skill editing, version control, publishing, restoration and cross-site duplication, so organizations can govern and reuse skills across SharePoint sites. Roadmap entry 570155 was published on 2026-08-31 targeting GA in September 2026, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) only, with no GCC or sovereign instance listed.

Why it matters: Versioning and cross-site reuse turn Copilot site skills into a manageable asset customers can govern, but the Worldwide-only listing means government and sovereign tenants are not covered at GA.

microsoft.com

Microsoft Foundry model deployment pricing update

Announced in July and effective 2026-09-01, Foundry raises pricing for Data Zone and Regional deployments outside the US: the EU Data Zone increases by 9% to 20% above Global, Regional deployments outside the US increase by 7-16% to between 25% and 50% above Global (Switzerland and Germany at +30%, France and UK at +40%, EU North, EU West and Brazil at +50%), and a new APAC Data Zone launches at 20% above Global. Global and US pricing are unchanged. For Standard pay-as-you-go the premiums apply only to models launched on or after 2026-09-01, while for Provisioned Throughput they apply now to all EU Data Zone and non-US Regional PTUs.

Why it matters: Customers who pin processing to an EU data zone or to Switzerland for residency reasons take a direct cost increase, so agent and grounding workloads costed on Global pricing need re-estimating.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

FY27 August skilling updates

Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500) and Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate (PL-200) retired on August 31, replaced by Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (SC-500) and Intelligent Applications Builder Associate (AB-410); certifications completed before retirement stay valid for one year.

learn.microsoft.com

Showcase your Frontier AI expertise

Microsoft introduced the Frontier Transformation Engineer badge for partners delivering Microsoft Frontier AI solutions, earned through a structured journey of certifications, hands-on training and project readiness.

learn.microsoft.com

Microsoft Teams: Enable agents for existing applications in your organization

Admins will be able to discover and enable the Teams agents that correspond to third-party applications already in use in the tenant, directly from the Teams admin center. The enablement workflow recommends high-value agents and surfaces any configuration changes required. Listed for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) and GCC.

Why it matters: agent rollout across an existing SaaS estate becomes an admin-center task rather than a per-app project, so agent enablement can be planned alongside app governance.

microsoft.com

Microsoft Scout August 2026 release

The August release adds GitHub Enterprise Cloud sign-in, retrieval of Teams meeting transcripts plus meeting-room finding and booking, reading and writing SharePoint list columns and items, full management of Outlook inbox rules, OneDrive and SharePoint file sharing with access checks, and Co-Create workspaces stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. Scout is prerelease and requires enrolment in the Frontier preview program.

Why it matters: Scout now writes to Microsoft 365 content rather than only reading it, which changes the permissions, sharing and DLP review needed before a customer pilot.

learn.microsoft.com

Secure baseline for Windows 365 for Agents

A dedicated security baseline for Windows 365 for Agents is now generally available in Microsoft Intune. Admins can apply Microsoft-recommended security configurations to agent Cloud PCs to establish a consistent posture across agent workloads.

Why it matters: gives a defensible starting configuration for agent Cloud PCs, so a Windows 365 for Agents rollout no longer needs a hand-built policy set.

learn.microsoft.com

Purview auto-labeling raised to 500,000 files a day

Auto-labeling policies for SharePoint and OneDrive now process up to 500,000 files per day, up from 100,000. Microsoft frames the increase as extending encryption and DLP coverage to more content in support of Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption.

Why it matters: a large tenant can work through a labelling backlog roughly five times faster, which shortens the data-readiness phase that usually gates a Copilot deployment.

learn.microsoft.com

Copilot Studio: Agent Sharing amongst makers

New roadmap entry: makers will be able to share an agent built on the GitHub Copilot harness with other makers, granting either Agent Viewer access (analytics and evaluations only) or Editor access (view, edit, configure, share, publish), with security roles auto-assigned. Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant).

Why it matters: closes the current all-or-nothing co-authoring gap, so a customer's makers can get scoped access to an agent without full environment rights.

microsoft.com

Unified Agent and App Installation Management Across Microsoft 365 and Teams Admin Center

Administrators using the Microsoft 365 admin center and Teams admin center will be able to apply app and agent installation changes once and have them consistently enforced across Teams, Outlook, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Previously, installation changes made in the Microsoft 365 admin center only applied to Outlook and Microsoft 365, while changes made in the Teams admin center only applied to Teams. With this update, app and agent installation is unified across all supported surfaces, enablin...

mc.merill.net

AI-generated meeting archive for knowledge retention

Admins can enable a tenant-wide policy that allows Copilot (and Facilitator) to retain key insights from meetings beyond transcript retention periods. This enables Copilot to continue answering questions about past meetings even after transcripts expire. Admins can also configure how long this AI-generated meeting archive is stored.

mc.merill.net

Copilot Chat leverages embedded images for richer answers

Copilot now interprets and grounds responses on images embedded in Word documents, PowerPoint decks and PDFs, extracting insight from charts, diagrams and screenshots alongside the text. The roadmap entry moved to Launched, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant).

Why it matters: decks and scanned documents stop being grounding blind spots, which changes what a Copilot readiness assessment needs to test.

microsoft.com

the control plane for agents

Agent 365 is the control plane for AI agents. It empowers IT and security administrators to observe, govern, and secure agents across Microsoft 365 and connected platforms at scale.

mc.merill.net

Proactive push notifications for the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app cancelled

Microsoft marked this roadmap item Cancelled on August 26, 2026, with the note "We have decided not to move forward with this change at this time." The feature would have pushed "Your Day at a Glance" and "Items waiting for you" notifications drawing on Copilot Memory, with GA planned for September 2026.

Why it matters: adoption plans that counted on proactive mobile nudges to build a daily Copilot habit need a different hook.

microsoft.com

Facilitator notes for in-person meetings in Teams Rooms on Windows

The Facilitator agent extends beyond scheduled and hybrid meetings to in-person meetings in Teams Rooms on Windows, invoked with one tap on the room console. Notes appear on the front-of-room display, are available via meeting recap when shared, and are deleted if nobody selects them, with no data left in the room. Requires Teams Rooms Pro. Worldwide and GCC.

Why it matters: meeting-room hardware becomes a Copilot surface, so Teams Rooms Pro licensing enters the Copilot business case.

microsoft.com

Facilitator notes for in-person meetings in Teams Rooms on Android

Same capability for Teams Rooms on Android: one-tap Facilitator invitation from the room console, notes on the front-of-room display or touch board, available via recap when shared and deleted otherwise. Requires Teams Rooms Pro. Worldwide and GCC.

Why it matters: Android room devices are the volume estate in most customers, so this is the entry that decides in-person meeting coverage.

microsoft.com

Local browser use moves from Frontier to general availability

Cowork can complete web tasks in Microsoft Edge on the user's own device, using their existing sign-ins and the organization's policies. Previously Frontier-gated, it is now available to all Microsoft 365 Copilot tenants. Requires Edge to be installed.

Why it matters: browser automation on the user's own session leaves Frontier, so it can be scoped into standard Cowork deployments rather than a preview program.

learn.microsoft.com

Auto-open Copilot side pane for Outlook links

When users open links from Outlook, Microsoft Edge can automatically open the Copilot side pane to provide contextual insights and actionable suggestion chips based on email and destination content - such as highlighting key points, and recommending next actions - without disrupting the browsing flow. This experience helps users quickly understand content, take action with fewer steps, and get more value from Copilot while extending productive browsing time in Edge. Admins can control availabili...

mc.merill.net

Event-driven tasks in Cowork

Tasks can now run when something happens rather than on a schedule: a matching email arrives, or a Teams message lands (including an @mention). The user describes what to watch for and Cowork proposes the automation for review and confirmation. Event-driven tasks appear alongside scheduled prompts on the Automations page.

Why it matters: moves Cowork from scheduled batch work to reactive automation, which is the pattern most service-desk and intake scenarios actually need.

learn.microsoft.com

Workspace file input for plugin tools

Plugin connector tools can accept files from the session as input. Plugin authors declare a tool parameter with `contentEncoding: base64` and Cowork resolves the workspace file to content before calling the tool, so a tool can convert a document, analyze an image, or attach a file to another system.

Why it matters: custom Cowork plugins can now act on the user's working files, which is the missing piece for document-centric integrations.

learn.microsoft.com

SharePoint Framework roadmap update - August 2026

SharePoint Copilot Apps are renamed Copilot Components and their public preview is now enabled worldwide, with no license requirement and no consumption cost during preview. Components render inline in a Copilot conversation or expand full screen, are built on React and standard JavaScript, and deploy inside the customer tenant on existing SPFx hosting. SPFx 1.24 Beta 3 shipped with React 18 support (GA targeted October 2026), and a limited preview program is open for hands-on engineering engagement on agents built with Copilot Components. SPFx CLI goes GA in 1.25 (December 2026 / January 2027), replacing the Yeoman generator.

Why it matters: Copilot Components give partners a way to ship real interactive UI inside Copilot using SPFx skills a SharePoint practice already has, with no preview licensing blocker.

devblogs.microsoft.com

Viva Glint - Copilot admin configuration assistance

A Copilot-powered conversational assistant embedded in the Viva Glint admin experience that answers configuration and how-to questions and provides step-by-step guidance. Responses will include deep links to configuration pages streamlining navigation and discoverability. Only available for Viva Glint users with Admin permissions.

mc.merill.net