M365 Roadmap
Field Notes from the Frontier
Roadmap tracker
What's shipping in
M365 top apps.
Product
Status
Microsoft Teams
Meetings, chat, calling & collaboration
Pause every notification without unpicking your settings
Teams adds a temporary pause for all notifications, so you can silence interruptions for a stretch of focus time and have your existing notification preferences still be there when you switch back on.
Admins can watch meeting and call health across the tenant
A new admin experience for monitoring and troubleshooting meetings and calls organisation-wide, covering both active and completed sessions. Admins can spot recurring issues and work out which users are affected instead of chasing one ticket at a time.
Town halls stop melting virtual desktops
Teams now offloads audio and video for town hall attendees on Windows endpoints connected to Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, Citrix, Omnissa or Amazon virtual desktop environments — the same media-offload treatment meetings already get.
Find the custom apps that will break in private and shared channels
Teams admin center now lists the custom apps in your tenant that need developer work before they function in private and shared channels, so you can chase the owners rather than discover the gap when a channel goes live.
Teams Phone Agent is generally available
The AI receptionist for Teams Phone now ships to everyone: it answers routine questions and books appointments in more than 60 languages and locales, then hands callers to the right person with a summary of the conversation. Custom voice agents cover specialised workflows.
Video recaps now speak 23 languages
The bite-sized video recap — AI voiceover stitched to the key moments of a meeting — now supports 23 languages across 31 regional variants. A new translation button also lets you switch an intelligent recap into another language after it has been generated.
Breakout rooms scale to 1,000 people across 100 rooms
Teams Meetings and Teams Events now support breakout rooms for up to 1,000 participants spread over 100 rooms, up from 300 people and 50 rooms, so large events can split into small working sessions.
One install decision covers Teams, Outlook and Copilot
App and agent installation changes made in either the Microsoft 365 admin center or the Teams admin center are now enforced across Teams, Outlook and Microsoft Copilot. Previously each admin center only governed its own surfaces.
Every meeting recap in one pinned app
The Meeting Recaps app brings intelligent recaps together in one pinned app in the Teams sidebar. Browse meetings with Recap from the past 30 days and use quick filters to surface the ones that matter, like when you were mentioned. Generate a podcast-style Audio Recap across several meetings to catch up on the go.
Viva Engage communities land in the Teams rail
Staying connected to communities meant leaving Teams. Now you open and interact with your organisation's Viva Engage communities straight from the Teams left rail, and get notified in Activity when something relevant happens.
LinkedIn Hiring Assistant works inside Teams
Recruiters can share candidates in Teams, collect structured feedback, and keep hiring decisions moving without making hiring managers switch tools. Aimed at cutting feedback delays and improving alignment earlier in the process. Available for LinkedIn Hiring Assistant customers.
Call queues record and transcribe themselves
Admins can turn on automatic recording and transcription for calls answered through Teams Call Queues. Recordings land in SharePoint and are reachable from call history in the Queues app, with settings managed in Teams admin center or PowerShell. The Queues app requires Teams Premium.
Teams Phone Agent gets spam blocking and custom disclaimers
The AI voice agent picked up three controls: spam detection that auto-disconnects or reroutes suspected spam, customisable or disabled AI disclaimer text, and a configurable call-length limit beyond the 4-minute default. Disclaimer text and call length moved into Teams admin center on August 31; spam detection is still PowerShell-only via spam detection templates.
One mobile app, all your work numbers
Teams Phone multi-line now works on Teams mobile. Admins can assign up to 10 numbers to a single user, each appearing as its own tab, so people stay organised across roles or regions from one Teams account without juggling devices.
Facilitator takes notes for in-person meetings
In Teams Rooms on Android and Windows, the Facilitator agent captures notes, decisions and actions for in-person meetings, not just hybrid ones. Invite it with one tap of the room console; notes appear on the front-of-room display and reach meeting recap when shared, then are deleted if nobody keeps them. Requires Teams Rooms Pro.
Meeting recordings inherit the meeting's sensitivity label
With label inheritance enabled in the sensitivity label policy, a labelled meeting applies the same label to its MP4 recording, carrying access controls forward. Microsoft notes Copilot and agent responses built on those transcripts reflect the meeting's sensitivity too, so confidential content stays protected end to end.
Users can report suspicious external contacts, not just block them
People can now report suspicious external users directly in Teams alongside the existing block action. Reports surface in Teams admin center so admins get visibility into risky interactions and can investigate, turning end-user signals into an extra layer against phishing and impersonation.
Ground Copilot Notebooks in your actual meetings
Teams meetings can be added as references inside Copilot Notebooks, so Copilot reasons over the discussion rather than just the documents. Transcripts, notes, meeting chat and shared content all become knowledge sources for a project notebook.
Human interpreters can work inside Teams Rooms
Professional interpreters can listen in and translate in real time in Teams Rooms on Windows without disrupting the speaker. Organisers preset the languages and participants choose and switch between them. Requires Teams Rooms Pro.
Requesting a blocked app or agent finally makes sense
A simplified request experience helps users understand what action is needed, track request status, and get notified when decisions are made. Admins get enhanced request management in Teams admin center plus notifications, so approved apps and agents reach people faster.
Microsoft Outlook
Email, calendar & the new Outlook for Windows
New Outlook starts to look like classic Outlook again
New Outlook for Windows picks up a UI style closer to the classic Outlook design — the most direct answer yet to the migration objection that the new client simply doesn't look like the old one.
A Sync button, for when you don't trust the mailbox
New Outlook moves the secondary suite header actions into an overflow menu and adds a Sync button there, so you can force a manual mailbox refresh instead of waiting and wondering.
Copilot now deletes, moves and files your mail
Beyond pin and flag, you can ask Copilot in Outlook to delete, move, copy and categorise messages, and to create folders and inbox rules. It asks for confirmation before touching more than five emails or changing a rule, across classic, new, web, Mac and mobile Outlook.
Sort mail results by date in Copilot Search
Outlook Mail results in Copilot Search gain a Sort by filter, so you can order matching emails oldest-first or newest-first instead of scanning an unsorted list.
Declarative agents get full extensibility in classic Outlook
Copilot Chat in classic Outlook for Windows now supports the same agent extensibility as other Copilot surfaces — plugins, adaptive cards, mail and calendar actions and enterprise connectors — closing a gap with new Outlook.
Copilot Chat reads your whole inbox — no Copilot licence needed
Copilot Chat in Outlook expands from reasoning over a single thread to the user's entire inbox, calendar, meetings and other Microsoft 365 data they can already reach. Ask it for project updates, action items across mail and meetings, or calendar gaps. Microsoft explicitly notes this does not require a Microsoft Copilot licence.
Copilot books the whole meeting for you
Ask Copilot in chat, or click Schedule with Copilot, and it finds available times, books rooms, drafts the agenda and sends the invites without leaving the chat pane. Microsoft states it is rolling out in phases. Requires a Microsoft Copilot licence.
Meeting prep with Copilot reaches classic Outlook
Copilot summarises the context, action items, documents and resources for an upcoming meeting, and you can chat with it to prepare further. Already available in new Outlook, Web, Mac and Mobile, now extended to classic Outlook for Windows.
Email coaching moves into chat — apply only the fixes you want
Copilot gives coaching feedback on a draft inside the chat pane and updates the email in place. Previously coaching appeared on canvas and suggestions could only be applied all at once; now you pick individual suggestions and iterate on them in chat.
Inbox rules can finally catch @mentions and external senders
Rule conditions now include messages that mention you and messages that arrive from outside your organisation — two of the most-requested gaps in Outlook rules. The same release also allows deleting up to 100 contacts at once.
Focused and Other keep working offline
Focused and Other inbox views are now available when working offline, continuing a steady run of offline parity work in new Outlook aimed at closing the remaining gaps against classic Outlook.
Microsoft Word
Document creation, editing & legal workflows
Copilot answers in Word now show their sources
Copilot responses in Word carry citations to the web and work content they drew on, so you can check where an answer came from before you use it.
Copilot arranges images and shapes for you
Copilot in Word can now position and modify images and shapes in a document, producing tidier layouts without manual nudging.
Ask questions out loud while Word reads to you
Read Aloud now supports real-time voice Q&A through Copilot. While the document is being read, ask things like "what does this mean?" or "summarise this section" and get a spoken answer without pausing playback.
Sonnet 5 becomes the default for high-reasoning work
Sonnet 5 is selectable in the Copilot models menu in Word and is now the default for higher-reasoning tasks. Microsoft states it improves accuracy on drafts and complex edits while staying within Microsoft 365 security standards.
Pick an Anthropic model when editing with Copilot
Copilot in Word now supports selecting Anthropic models alongside the existing OpenAI models for document editing. Previously only OpenAI models were available in the editing picker.
Talk back to an Audio Overview while it plays
Audio Overview in Word adds real-time voice interaction, so listeners can ask a question mid-playback and get an instant answer without stopping the audio or switching apps. Previously audio summaries were one-way.
Share a link that lands on the exact spot in a document
Word adds the ability to create a cloud link pointing to a specific location inside a document, so recipients open straight to the relevant passage instead of the top of the file. Announced on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog for Word on Windows and Mac.
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheets, analysis & finance workflows
Jump from Copilot's reply straight to what it changed
When Copilot edits a workbook, its chat response now links to each new sheet, table, range or object it touched. One click takes you to the change for review.
Show Changes now credits Copilot's edits
The Show Changes pane labels edits Copilot made with their own attribution, so AI changes sit alongside human ones in the audit trail.
Copilot writes and runs Python inside your workbook
Edit with Copilot can execute Python in Excel for advanced analysis, automation and data transformation, writing results directly back into the workbook. It covers statistics, simulations and advanced visualisations against your own data, with existing security and execution controls still governing how the code runs.
Pull Jira, Salesforce and Azure SQL straight into the grid
Synced Copilot connectors index your organisation's connected content into Microsoft Graph so Copilot can use it inside Excel — work items, tickets, database rows, CRM records and docs. Over 70 prebuilt connectors, a sources menu to pick which one Copilot draws from, and permission-aware answers. Custom connectors cover systems not in the catalogue.
Workbook rules travel with the file
Rules live in the workbook and travel with it when shared, so everyone editing with Copilot stays on the same standards. Stored as a sheet using the .Rules naming convention, they can point at an example range, use formulas to stay dynamic, and be drafted by Copilot itself from an existing well-built sheet.
Tell Copilot your preferences once and stop repeating yourself
Personalization lets you set standing preferences — never merge cells, name tables with a tbl prefix, write formulas with structured references — and Copilot follows them across every workbook. Set in natural language under Copilot Settings, applied before it starts editing.
Pre-built Skills for DCF models and variance analysis
Copilot in Excel ships pre-built Skills that turn common finance processes such as DCF models and variance analysis into repeatable workflows, rather than one-off prompts. Generally available for Microsoft Copilot customers.
Ground analysis in FactSet, S&P Global and PitchBook
Six federated Copilot connectors for financial data: CB Insights, Daloopa, FactSet, Morningstar, PitchBook and S&P Global. Federated connectors retrieve data in real time over MCP without indexing it into Microsoft Graph.
See Copilot's plan before it touches the model
Plan with Copilot outlines the intended changes to ranges, worksheets, formulas and assumptions before Copilot executes them. Separately, Copilot's edits are now attributed to Copilot inside Show Changes alongside human collaborators, so the audit trail stays honest.
Microsoft PowerPoint
Presentations, slide design & live delivery
Build your own skills in Copilot in PowerPoint
Users can define custom skills in Copilot in PowerPoint that package a repeatable presentation workflow, instead of re-prompting the same steps every time. Shipped on the web in September and reached PowerPoint on Windows on October 6.
Name a file in the prompt and Copilot goes and gets it
Copilot in PowerPoint for Mac now resolves references to files held in SharePoint libraries and OneDrive folders when you mention them by document name or owner, so you can say "build a deck from the Q3 findings doc" without first hunting the file down and attaching it.
Admins can push approved skills to the whole org
Administrators can publish approved PowerPoint skills to specific users, groups or the entire organisation, so house workflows appear in PowerPoint without anyone uploading them.
Prebuilt skills critique and tighten a deck
Ready-made skills such as Explain this presentation, which reviews narrative, audience fit and flow, and Sharpen slide titles, which rewrites titles to summarise each slide, help refine a deck without writing a detailed prompt.
Connectors bring outside data into your slides
Copilot in PowerPoint can draw on connected apps and sources while building slides, so a presentation can be grounded in the information you use elsewhere in your work.
Build a deck straight from an email thread
Copilot in PowerPoint can reference email content when creating a presentation. Point it at an email by subject, sender or timeframe without leaving PowerPoint, and it builds the deck from there.
Attendees can ask Copilot to explain a slide
In PowerPoint Live sessions, attendees select text on a slide and ask Copilot to explain it, with the answer appearing in a side pane. Previously slide content in PowerPoint Live was static. Content is processed within the meeting environment.
Copilot slide co-creation arrives on iPad
Copilot co-creation of slides, already established on desktop and web, is now available in PowerPoint for iPad — co-creating directly inside the presentation rather than in a side experience.
SmartArt writes its own accessibility descriptions
PowerPoint can generate meaningful accessibility descriptions for SmartArt automatically, instead of requiring authors to hand-write alt text for every diagram.
Copilot builds decks from your Adobe brand library
Once an Adobe Experience Manager asset library is connected to Microsoft 365 and Copilot, Copilot uses the organisation's approved images when creating presentations in Edit mode. Previously it could only use public or user-uploaded images.
Start a deck with Copilot the moment you open the web app
Create a presentation with Copilot directly from the PowerPoint web home screen, rather than first opening an existing file or a blank deck. Available to Microsoft 365 Copilot Basic and Premium.
Ground a new deck in live web sources
Copilot in PowerPoint can gather relevant information from the web and cite referenced sources while creating a presentation, respecting web content security and privacy standards. Previously live web information could not be used as source material.
Reuse the content and house style of an existing deck
Copilot in PowerPoint can reference an existing presentation when creating or editing another — reusing its text content, and applying the style, theme and visual formatting of one deck to another.
Microsoft OneDrive
File sync, sharing & agent grounding
Copilot in OneDrive, rebuilt and generally available
Copilot in OneDrive has been rebuilt on the same foundation as Copilot in SharePoint, giving one consistent experience for creating, organising and working with files. It follows the same licensing approach as Copilot in SharePoint.
Check files in and out from File Explorer
For SharePoint libraries that require check-out, synced files can now be checked out and in from the right-click menu in File Explorer. A checked-out copy becomes editable locally; checking it back in restores read-only.
Copilot is one click away inside the file previewer
A floating Copilot button sits at the bottom-right of the OneDrive file previewer on the web, opening Copilot chat with contextual prompts tailored to that file type. Users stay in the preview instead of opening the file or leaving for another surface.
Users can keep specific files out of sync
People with work or school accounts can pick specific files to keep off OneDrive and SharePoint sync. Admins who want exclusions to stay organisation-managed can hide the control with the new DisableChangesToODIgnoreList policy.
Admins get an escape hatch from the default exclusion list
A new DisableDefaultODIgnoreList policy lets admins opt out of Microsoft's built-in file-exclusion list. Microsoft notes that default list is expanding to cover more file types over time, so this is the control for orgs that need everything synced.
Grab a share link from the Activity Center
The per-item menu for recently synced files in the OneDrive Activity Center now includes a copy-link action, saving the round trip into File Explorer or the web to share something you just saved.
Group Policy can keep named folders off the cloud
A new Group Policy setting lets admins name folders that should stay local on the device rather than uploading to OneDrive or SharePoint. Microsoft states existing synced content is not affected by the policy.
Fewer false "path too long" errors on folder shortcuts
OneDrive now uses the correct root path when measuring Folder Shortcuts against the maximum path length, so far fewer files are incorrectly flagged as exceeding the limit — a common friction point for customers with deep SharePoint folder structures.
Microsoft SharePoint
Sites, content & AI-powered building
See exactly what "Everyone except external users" can reach
A new SharePoint Advanced Management report gives item-level detail on everything shared with the Everyone and Everyone except external users groups. Run it from Advanced Management > Data access governance reports and export it — the oversharing audit that used to mean a PowerShell crawl.
Copilot in SharePoint reaches general availability
GA rollout began September 30. Copilot works across sites and libraries to create and organise content, answer grounded questions, autofill metadata and build reusable skills; image editing, advanced autofill and site analytics run on Copilot Credits.
Up to 100 authoritative sites, managed in one place
Admins can now designate up to 100 SharePoint sites as authoritative for Copilot Search and Chat from the Microsoft 365 admin center, with add, remove and bulk import or export.
Personal skills follow you across every site
Create a personal skill once and use it on any SharePoint site, and ask Copilot to improve a skill with tests and measured evaluations rather than rewriting instructions by hand.
Split, merge and reorder PDFs in place
Copilot in SharePoint can work with PDFs at the page and section level: extract a section, insert an attachment, reorder pages or split one file into several. Included with a Microsoft Copilot licence.
Copilot Search becomes the default in SharePoint and OneDrive
Copilot Search, which answers natural-language questions from content you can access, is becoming the default search across SharePoint and OneDrive. Rolling out to Frontier first.
Lists become live dashboards that never go stale
Copilot generates a SharePoint dashboard directly from a list as an interactive HTML report that stays connected to the underlying list, refreshing whenever it is opened. Dashboards can also be built from Excel and CSV files. Microsoft's framing: most AI-generated dashboards go stale the moment they are created — these do not.
Launch a Copilot prompt from a button on the page
Drop a button web part onto a SharePoint page, wire it to a custom prompt, and anyone visiting can run it in one click. Puts the right prompt where people already work — a "draft status update" button on a project hub, or "generate executive report" on a weekly review page.
Type / to pull files, people and meetings into chat
A faster way to add context to a Copilot conversation: type / in the prompt box to search for and insert files, people and meetings directly. Shipped alongside polished skill cards and a more compact thinking-steps view with an improved citation hover card.
Mark the sites Copilot should trust
Authoritative Sites lets admins designate specific SharePoint sites as official sources, so their content is prioritised across Copilot Search and carries a "From your organization" label. Configured via PowerShell or CSOM, limited to 100 sites, and takes up to 72 hours to propagate. Requires a Copilot licence.
Describe what you want and Copilot builds the site
From the new Build node of the SharePoint start page, describe a goal in natural language and Copilot plans or builds the SharePoint solution for you — the natural-language site, page and list construction story, now generally available.
SharePoint lists become knowledge for custom agents
Agent Builder now supports a SharePoint list as a knowledge source for Microsoft Copilot agents, with each agent able to reference one list of up to 20,000 items. Users can also ground a Copilot Chat prompt in a specific list through the Context IQ menu.
Copilot in SharePoint is on by default now
From mid-June 2026 Copilot in SharePoint moved from opt-in to opt-out, becoming automatically available to every user with a Copilot licence with no admin action. Prior tenant or site opt-outs are honoured. Not supported in GCC, GCC High, DoD, air-gapped clouds or 21Vianet.