Microsoft August 2024 Update Digest
A. Microsoft Copilot
1. Pasting content becomes easier with Copilot in Word
Now, when users paste content into Word, they will see expanded paste options with Copilot that enable them to quickly and easily improve their documents. When pasting content, users can use Copilot suggestions to easily re-word it, transform it into a table or list, and more. This feature is available today for web and rolling out soon for desktop and Mac.?
2. Support student learning with solutions to quiz questions using Copilot in Forms
With Copilot in Forms quizzes, teachers can easily generate step-by-step solutions to each question. When students turn in quizzes, if teachers give students the option to immediately view their results, students can check their scores to see what they've mastered, and further study the step-by-step solutions supported by Copilot, helping them learn from their mistakes.?This feature is rolling out in August.?
3. Summarize content over a specific period of time with Copilot in Teams
Users no longer need to manually scroll and search through extensive chat histories. Now when they activate Copilot in chat, they can use time-based phrases like "yesterday," "last month," "6 months ago," or " December 2023" in prompts. Copilot will efficiently locate and provide insights on information from the time period specified. This feature started rolling out in August. Learn more about using Copilot in Microsoft Teams chat and channels.
4. New prompt collections for Sales, Finance, and the Energy Sector in Copilot Lab
New functional prompt collections tailored for sales, finance, and the energy sector are now available in Copilot Lab. This expansion of our functional prompt collection, which started releasing in May, is designed to inspire and guide users to create their own high-quality prompts specific to a role or industry.?
For example, sales professionals will find prompt suggestions such as, Draft a strategic account plan template tailored for [customer name] that aligns with our sales targets and their business objectives. The plan should be written from a Sales Account Executive perspective, and it should also include a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, key stakeholder mapping, and a timeline of engagement activities leading up to the final pitch. Please format this as a structured document with clear headings and action items.
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Finance professionals will find prompt suggestions such as, Generate a comprehensive risk assessment report based on the risk evaluation data provided in this [document]. Categorize risks into financial, operational, and strategic types, and suggest mitigation strategies.
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Professionals in the energy sector will find prompt suggestions such as, Provide an analysis of the development concepts that have been successful for other reservoirs in the Permian Basin. Break your analysis into manageable sections and use specific examples to illustrate your points.
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This is the second set of collections, after Microsoft’s first set of collections started rolling out in May. New collections will continue to be added in the future. You can also explore newly added prompts across Copilot for Microsoft 365 apps including Planner, Microsoft Forms, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Visit Copilot Lab today to elevate your prompt creation journey.?
B. Microsoft Teams
1. Time-based prompts in Copilot in chat
There's no need to manually scroll and search through extensive chat histories. Now when you activate Copilot in your chat, you can use time-based phrases like "yesterday," "last month," "6 months ago," or " December 2023" in your prompts. Copilot will efficiently locate and provide insights on information from the time period you specify.?
2. Request to join a shared channel via channel link
It is now easier for users to access relevant shared channels and for channel owners to manage memberships. Users that share the same tenant can request to join a shared channel by using the channel's share link. Channel owners will receive the join request and can easily approve or deny requests. While fostering efficient collaboration in organizations, this feature also helps to reduce administrative tasks for channel owners.
3. Channel cards
Now you can get a quick overview of a channel using its channel card. Hover over the channel name in the header, or wherever the channel is mentioned, to see important information, such as the channel description, last activity time, team name, and membership information, helping you quickly understand the context and purpose of the channel. The card also provides easy access to notification settings, owner channel management, and the channel roster.
4. Show/hide discover feed
Discover feed delivers a personalized, relevance-based feed of Teams channel content to make it easier for you to stay informed and engaged with the content that matters to you most. You can now show or hide the discover feed by going to settings > general and setting the toggle to on or off.
5. Cross-Room reaction visualizations for hosts
Mesh event hosts can now see attendees’ raised hands and reactions across all rooms in multi-room events. Multi-room events occur when a Mesh event exceeds 16 attendees, helping to scale these inclusive events to larger audiences. This feature allows hosts to determine the sentiment in events and bridge the experience gap by giving them the ability to see reactions coming from across multiple different rooms in a single event, helping presenters to easily gauge participant feedback from all attendees in larger-scale events. The cross-room reaction visualization for hosts is available in Teams Premium.
6. Teams copy/paste of messages does not include timestamp and message author name
Many users have voiced frustrations over copying messages in Teams, particularly the inclusion of metadata like names and timestamps. Customer feedback has been clear, signaling that this feature was adding more noise than value to user workflow.
Microsoft are rolling out the change that copied messages are only showing the message content moving forward.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Available now and Microsoft apologizes for not communicating prior to the rollout occurring.
How this will affect your organization:
Some users might have used this timestamp and message author name for different purposes and might report that this information is not part of the pasted content anymore.
What you can do to prepare:
You may consider updating your training and documentation as appropriate.
7. Streamlined process for installing Teams apps
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. Microsoft have 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: Microsoft will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by early September 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by late September 2024.
General Availability (GCC): Microsoft 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.
8. CAPTCHA Verification for Anonymous Meeting Participants
Microsoft Teams tenants will soon be able to enable verification for anonymous meeting participants via CAPTCHA. This release of CAPTCHA Verification for Anonymous Meeting Participants will be rolling out across Microsoft Teams Desktop, Mobile and Web and will provide additional security against malicious bot and third-party app joins.?
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out early October 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Tenants can enable anonymous meeting attendee verification via CAPTCHA in the Teams Admin Center. When enabled, any users that join the meeting as an anonymous user will be required to pass a CAPTCHA verification before landing in the meeting (including the meeting lobby, if enabled).
What you need to do to prepare:
This feature is off by default and Tenant Admins will need to enable CAPTCHA verification for their tenants through Meeting policies in the Teams Admin Center.
9. Expanded search options for 1:1 chats
Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: Users will have expanded options for searching for content related to a person. Users will be able to expand their search from a keyword search of a 1:1 chat to all results related to a person, with suggestions to search with or without a keyword. This message applies to Teams on Windows, Mac, and the web.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out mid-August 2024 (previously early August) and expect to complete by late August 2024 (previously mid-August).
How this will affect your organization:
Before the rollout: When searching for a keyword in a 1:1 chat, users do not have an option to expand the search to all results for a person in Teams. Also, in the search results page, users do not have an option to filter search results by a person.
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After this rollout, users who use the Find in chat feature in 1:1 chats will see a suggestion at the end of the search results to expand search results across Teams, either by pairing their search keywords with the person in the chat or by seeing all results in Teams related to the person in the chat:
The search results page for a keyword, filtered by all results related to a person:
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.
C. SharePoint Online
1. Introducing custom fonts
With Microsoft's new SharePoint Brand center, Microsoft is 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.
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When this will happen:
Public Preview: Available now. Microsoft began rolling out in early April 2024 and completed late June 2024.
Targeted Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft 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:
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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:
This update is available by default.
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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.
2. Manage your organization’s brand in the new Brand center
Microsoft’s 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. Microsoft began rolling out in early April 2024 and completed late June 2024.
Targeted Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft 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.?
3. Create themes in Brand center
Microsoft is 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.
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When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft 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, Microsoft 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.
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Note: Themes previously created with PowerShell will remain outside of this management experience and be managed via PowerShell.
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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.
4. Document processing models will no longer process files if the service is not enabled for the site
Microsoft will update the service setting to only process files where you have applied a model to a library on an enabled site. Before this rollout, if you make a model available to process files on a site and then disable the site, this action will not disable the model. After the rollout, you can still use models to process files and incur charges. You can make a model available to process files by creating a model on that site or in a content center. This change will make the model processing consistent with the other content processing services.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout: All files are processed in a site library where a model has been applied, even after the service has been disabled for that site.
After this rollout: Files will no longer be processed unless the service is enabled for the site. This change 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.
If you have applied models to sites where you want processing to continue, you must enable the Syntex service for that site.
5. News template updates
Coming soon for Microsoft SharePoint: Microsoft will simplify the templates for creating News pages and all templates will support sharing by email by default.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 393335.
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When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out mid-August 2024 and expect to complete by mid-August 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide, DoD, GCC High, GCC): Microsoft will begin rolling out late August 2024 and expect to complete by early September 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
After this rollout: Users sharing SharePoint News posts will have a greater opportunity to share those pages as fully rendered email instead of sharing as links.
When creating a new News post, all templates will be grouped and users will no longer need to select from a specific email-ready category.
This rollout involves changes to the user experience when authoring News. Customers should consider whether these changes will require them to update their documentation or instructions for News authors.
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News page templates before (left) and after (right) this rollout:
Example of preview (left) and email in In box (right):
This feature is on by default and accessible to all SharePoint authors.?
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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.
Before rollout, Microsoft will update this post with revised documentation.
D. OneDrive for Business
1. Colored folders in the OneDrive folder in Microsoft Windows File Explorer
In mid-2023, Microsoft introduced colored folders for Microsoft OneDrive on the web as a way to personalize and customize folders. With this rollout, Microsoft will bring that functionality to the OneDrive folder in the Microsoft Windows File Explorer.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 410218.
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When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Microsoft will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by early October 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout, users are not able to view or apply color to folders in File Explorer.
After this rollout, users will be able to see folder colors applied from OneDrive on the web in the OneDrive folder in File Explorer and manage folder colors in File Explorer by right clicking a folder name and then selecting OneDrive > Folder color.
This feature will be on by default.
What you need to do to prepare:
You should expect the change to gradually roll out on Sync client builds newer than 24.132
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.
2. Find files faster with the improved search experience in OneDrive for the web
Coming soon for Microsoft OneDrive for the web: Improved search experience for finding files stored in your OneDrive, shared folders, and document libraries.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID?395379.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out late September 2024 and expect to complete by late October 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout: Users are not able to easily filter by date or file types and cannot easily identify location of files with similar names.
After this rollout: Users can filter search results by file types, date modified and easily switch between?My files, All files, Current folder?and?Current document library. This feature is on by default.
New search results page with file type filters, date filters, and a clickable?Location?column that searches all locations (personal OneDrive, shared folders, and document libraries):
Use the?Date?filter to filter search results based on when files were modified. In this example, the results are filtered to?Today:
E. Microsoft Outlook
1. Review and update work hours and location in the My Day pane
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: Microsoft will begin rolling out early September 2024 and expect to complete by early September 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft 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.
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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.
2. Copy meeting attendee responses to clipboard
Coming soon in Microsoft Outlook: Users can copy a list of meeting attendees and their response status (attending, declined, or no response) to their clipboard. This message applies to Outlook for Windows and on the web.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID:?412937.
When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out mid-September 2024 and expect to complete by mid-October 2024
General Availability: Microsoft will begin rolling out mid-October 2024 and expect to complete by mid-November 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout: Users can view responses from meeting attendees but not copy them.?
After this rollout: Users can go to?Tracking?in the meeting invitation?to copy a list of meeting attendees and their response status (attending, declined, or no response).
This feature is on by default and available to all Outlook users.?
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.
Before rollout, Microsoft will update this post with revised documentation.
3. New Get diagnostics feature for users to submit logs to Microsoft Support during an interaction
Coming soon for new Microsoft Outlook for Windows and the web: A new Get diagnostics feature will allow users to submit logs after they open a ticket with Microsoft Support. To submit diagnostic information to a support agent, users will be able to select Get diagnostics in the Help tab, select Upload logs, copy the Support ID that is generated, and then share the Support ID with the support agent.
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When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out late August 2024 and expect to complete by late September 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout: Users are not able to provide diagnostics to the Microsoft Support after they open a ticket unless the support agent shows them how to provide them.
After this rollout: Users will find the Get diagnostics feature in the Help tab of the Ribbon if you have enabled it.
This new feature is now off by default, but you can turn it on by following the instructions below. In late September, it will be on by default unless you have turned it off before then. Admins can use a?Cloud Policy for a Microsoft 365 organization?to enable or disable it in their tenant, if needed. When you create a policy, after providing a name and setting a scope, you can search for "new outlook" from the?Policies?screen to see all available policies for new Outlook for Windows. One of these policies is?Configure Get diagnostics,?which you can change to?Not configured?or?Enabled.
To disable the new feature after configuring it: In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to?Customization?and follow the?Cloud Policy steps:
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.
4. Quickly see who is in the office based on work hours and location
Coming soon for Microsoft Outlook: If users have enabled work hours and location in Settings, their colleagues will be able to more quickly see who plans to be in the office with a new calendar feature.
This message applies to new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 410986.
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When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Microsoft will begin rolling out in mid-August 2024 and expect to complete by late August 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out early October 2024 and expect to complete by late October 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout: Users select the Location icon for each day in the calendar to see who plans to be in the office:
After this rollout: In addition to the?Location?icon, users will have a new "always on" peek in the top right of the calendar that shows who plans to be in the office for the current day:
5. Third-party cookie block causes users to sign in again on Chrome and Edge
As communicated in MC711020?Outlook: Outlook for web – new application ID?(January 2024), Microsoft Outlook for the web is undergoing an authentication platform migration to a public client authentication model using?MSAL (Microsoft Authentication Library). The change to client-side authentication will be subject to?Google's third-party cookie block?that may be active in Chrome and Edge.
Google's third-party cookie block impacts navigation to Microsoft Entra ID to perform silent single sign-on (SSO). To overcome this block, Outlook for the web will present a banner for the user to refresh their session. This will enable navigation to Entra ID to refresh their token. SSO-enabled Windows devices are expected to silently sign in users with SSO without requiring further interaction and will not display the banner. This issue affects Outlook for web users. It will not affect users of new Outlook for Windows, Outlook (classic), Outlook for Mac, Outlook Mobile for iOS and Outlook Mobile for Android.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out late September 2024 and expect to complete by late December 2024.
General Availability (GCC, GCC High, DoD): Microsoft will begin rolling out late October 2024 and expect to complete by late December 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Before this migration: Outlook for the web users were not affected by the third-party cookie block in Chrome and Edge and were able to stay signed in unless they signed out or were signed out due to inactivity.
After Outlook for the web migrates to MSAL, Outlook for the web users without device SSO who are using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and who have third-party cookie blocking enabled will start seeing the following if Outlook for the web is not able to silently sign in the user with SSO:
Sign-in error message in red banner below the ribbon in Outlook for the web: "You need to sign in. Your session has expired. You may need to enable pop-ups in your browser for this site. Sign in to continue":
Dialog box requesting users to sign in again:
The authentication rollout will be 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.
Thank you,
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