Starting January 12, 2026, Microsoft Teams will enable messaging safety features by default, including weaponizable file type protection, malicious URL protection, and reporting incorrect detections. Existing custom settings remain unchanged. Admins should review and adjust settings before this date and inform helpdesk staff accordingly.
The Chat History landing page filtering UI will be refreshed by consolidating filters into a single “filter pill” for easier management and clearing. This update, rolling out globally in January 2026, affects all users with no functional changes. No admin action is needed, but communication and documentation updates are recommended.
Admins can now block external users in Microsoft Teams via the Tenant Allow/Block List in the Microsoft Defender portal, controlling access and communications. This feature, rolling out January 2026, supports up to 4,000 domains and 200 emails, with audit logging and no impact on existing Teams settings.
Word Agent helps you handle research, structure, and formatting so you can stay focused on your ideas. Use multi‑turn chat to refine your draft or open it in Word for full editing and collaboration. It’s designed for long‑form, information‑dense work—like strategic plans, policy documents, and technical papers—making it easier to turn complex material into clear, well‑written content. Available to Microsoft 365 users with or without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
Users can now quickly enrich their Copilot Notebook with relevant Suggested References based on recent user work activity.
PowerPoint Agent helps you build polished presentations with strong storytelling and visual structure. It streamlines research, formatting, and layout so you can stay focused on your message. Use multi‑turn chat to refine content or open the deck in PowerPoint for full editing and collaboration. Ideal for executive presentations, strategic updates, and market overviews. Available to Microsoft 365 users with or without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
Users can quickly create new Copilot Notebooks via Recommended Notebooks based on recent user work activity.
With this update, Insider Risk Management extends its risk-detection capabilities to Microsoft Fabric lakehouses (in addition to Power BI which is supported today) by offering ready-to-use risk indicators based on user activities in Fabric lakehouses. Organizations can use these new indicators in data theft and data leaks policies. Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management correlates various signals to identify potential malicious or inadvertent insider risks, such as IP theft, data leakage, and security violations. Insider Risk Management enables customers to create policies based on their own internal policies, governance, and organizational requirements. Built with privacy by design, users are pseudonymized by default, and role-based access controls and audit logs are in place to help ensure user-level privacy.
Available for M365 users without a M365 Copilot license. From Chat, you can use natural language to generate and direct edits to new and existing documents, when in an Edit mode. In this mode, Copilot will ask clarifying questions if needed, and after making changes will recap actions take and recommended next steps. Changes to the document are supported with controls in the document canvas to review changes made.
We will be introducing customizable retention options for Message Trace logs. Organizations will be able to choose from a predefined set of retention periods.
I've been working with Microsoft Technologies over the last ten years, mainly focused on creating collaboration and productivity solutions that drive the adoption of Microsoft Modern Workplace.
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