Tuesday, 25 August 2026

From dotnet run to Foundry Hosted Agent in 3 lines of C#

Microsoft Agent Framework .NET console apps can now be deployed as Foundry Hosted Agents via the new Microsoft.Agents.AI.Foundry.Hosting package, still published as a prerelease, using AgentHost.CreateBuilder(), AddFoundryResponses() and RegisterProtocol(). Foundry supplies managed compute and scaling, session state persistence across turns and idle periods, a dedicated Entra ID identity per agent, an OpenAI-compatible /responses endpoint, automatic OpenTelemetry and Application Insights tracing, agent versioning and rollback, and Foundry Toolbox access. Hosted Agents itself is generally available.

Why it matters: Removes hosting, identity and telemetry plumbing from custom agent builds, so a .NET agent prototype can move to managed infrastructure without a bespoke runtime.

devblogs.microsoft.com

Newly created Declarative Agents now understand referenced scanned PDFs

Any newly created Declarative Agents can now reliably ground answers in scanned PDFs and image-based documents referenced from SharePoint, unlocking a major class of enterprise content that was previously hard to use in agent scenarios.

mc.merill.net

SmartArt is becoming more accessible in PowerPoint

PowerPoint now generates accessibility descriptions for SmartArt automatically from the diagram's layout type and node content, so screen readers convey relationships instead of a flat list, for example "Equation diagram showing A plus B equals C". Descriptions regenerate whenever the SmartArt structure or content changes, removing manually maintained alt text. Available to Windows users with a Microsoft 365 subscription on PowerPoint Version 2503 (Build 19729.20000) or later, rolling out over time.

Why it matters: Cuts the cost of accessibility remediation on existing decks, which matters for public-sector and regulated customers with WCAG or EN 301 549 obligations.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

Outlook: Purview DLP Wait-on-Send Support for Mac

Outlook for Mac will support Purview Data Loss Prevention wait-on-send policies, letting organizations require a DLP evaluation before an email is sent and configure how long users wait for that evaluation to complete. Listed for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC, GCC High and DoD.

Why it matters: Closes the Mac gap in wait-on-send DLP, so mixed Windows and Mac estates can apply one pre-send inspection policy.

microsoft.com

Outlook: Purview DLP Wait-on-Send Support for Outlook mobile apps

Outlook for iOS and Android will support Purview DLP wait-on-send policies, with administrator control over how long users wait for policy evaluation. Listed for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC, GCC High and DoD.

Why it matters: Extends pre-send DLP enforcement to mobile, where sensitive mail currently leaves the tenant uninspected.

microsoft.com

Outlook: Purview Data Loss Prevention support for Calendar Events in Outlook mobile apps

Outlook for iOS and Android will apply Purview DLP policies to calendar events, detecting sensitive information in meeting subjects, descriptions and invite content through policy tips, user remediation and enforcement. Listed for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC, GCC High and DoD.

Why it matters: Meeting invites are a common DLP blind spot; this brings calendar content under the same policies as mail on mobile.

microsoft.com

Guide every Copilot-in-30 trial with a personalized 30-day success plan

Copilot Success Planner, free and requiring no sign-in, turns a sponsor's input into a 30-day plan per trial user (Outlook wk1, Teams wk2, Word/Excel/PowerPoint wk3, agents wk4) plus an admin roadmap for the 25-user Copilot in 30 trial.

learn.microsoft.com

Drive more marketing ROI in FY27

Evolved FY27 co-op guidance and Partner Marketing Center Pro resources, backed by Omdia research on multitouch buyer journeys.

learn.microsoft.com

Build AI agents without leaving VS Code, join our 3-part Reactor Series

Free three-part Microsoft Reactor live series starting Aug 25, from hosted agent basics to a deployed multi-agent app built in VS Code with the Microsoft Foundry Toolkit.

techcommunity.microsoft.com