Microsoft March 2024 Update Digest
A. Microsoft Copilot
1. Updates to the Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) user interface
Microsoft Copilot UI updates include:
Replacing the green “Protected” icon in the UI header with a green shield icon (located next to the user profile image): When a user hovers over the shield (or presses on the icon from within a supported mobile application), they will see a flyout description with a link to more information: “Commercial data protection applies to this chat. Use discretion when sharing personal and organizational data.”
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Adding a persistent legal and data protection disclaimer, along with links for Terms, Privacy, and FAQs, underneath the chat prompt box (bottom of the UI): “Commercial data protection applies to this chat. Terms | Privacy | FAQs”.
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Adding a new AI accuracy disclaimer to the bottom of each chat: A shield with a lock icon and disclaimer will be added at the bottom of each chat: “AI-generated content may be incorrect.”
Removing company branding/logo from the UI: Users will no longer see their company's branding or logo as part of the Microsoft Copilot UI.
Replacing the chat style selector with a new Copilot settings toggle: Users will be able to choose their preferred chat style, and if they want Bing Search turned on/off, from a new settings toggle located below the sample prompts. Future user settings in Copilot will be added to the settings toggle once available.
The UI will update for the following Microsoft Copilot entry points:
When this will happen:
The Microsoft Copilot UI will begin updating in late March 2024. These updates are expected to be completed by mid-April 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
These are UI updates only--they do not impact Microsoft Copilot terms, privacy, or commercial data protection.
What you need to do to prepare:
Some of the previous commercial data protection visuals cues in Microsoft Copilot will change or be removed with this UI update.
It is recommended that you prepare your users by informing them of the UI updates. Users should look for the green shield next to their profile icon, or the persistent disclaimer underneath the prompt box, to recognize when they are using Copilot with commercial data protection.
B. Microsoft Teams
1. Microsoft Teams: Pre-pin meeting apps for users
Microsoft Teams is now enhancing app setup policies, allowing admins to pre-pin and pre-install meeting apps for users. Earlier, the pre-pinning and pre-installation were limited to personal apps and message extensions. This update extends the functionality to meeting apps. Admins can set up policies to install and pin meeting apps to provide users quick and easy access to their necessary meeting tools within Microsoft Teams.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 131169
How this will affect your organization:
This new feature enhances the customization of Microsoft Teams for users by highlighting the most important meeting apps for them. Admins can choose the meeting apps to pre-pin and pre-install, streamlining the user's experience, especially during meetings. The pinned apps will appear in the meeting app flyout and the meetings tabs next to chat.
What you need to do to prepare:
This feature update does not affect any existing policies or permissions. No specific actions are required. You can review the existing app setup policies and consider the meeting apps that could be beneficial to pre-pin and pre-install for your users.
2. Microsoft Teams: Intelligent message translation in chats on desktop.
In Microsoft Teams, when you get a message in a different language, you will see translation suggestions to help you understand the message. In settings, you can select which languages you do not want to translate and whether to translate messages automatically.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 99841.
When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Begin rolling out early April 2024 and expect to complete by late April 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): Begin rolling out early May 2024 and expect to complete by late May 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
If you receive a Teams chat message in a language that you do not understand, you will see the option to translate the message into your preferred language (the language that you have set for Teams).
To enable this option:
Select Translate to translate the message.
Select Never translate (language) if you don’t want Teams to show the option to translate that language.
?You can choose Turn on auto-translation to automatically translate messages to your preferred language.
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You can access and update your translation settings through Settings > Appearance and accessibility > Translation.
What you need to do to prepare:
You may want to notify your users about this upcoming capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.
3.Microsoft Teams: New Admin control for setting default storage app for file uploads
Microsoft continues to enhance the Microsoft Teams platform with deeply integrated experiences and greater admin controls to enable a seamless collaborative experience for content stored on third-party cloud platforms. Teams admins will soon be able to change the default storage app for file uploads in Teams from Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint Online to a third-party provider of the admin's choice. This setting will only apply when local files are uploaded using drag-and-drop in Teams chat and channel conversations.
This setting does not apply to Teams mobile and these user actions on Teams Desktop:
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 376219.
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When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Begin rolling out early April 2024 and expect to complete by mid-April 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide GCC, GCC High, and DoD): Begin rolling out mid-April and expect to complete by early May 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
If your organization is not using a third-party storage provider on Teams, this feature may not be relevant.
If your organization is using a third-party storage provider on Teams, admins can use a PowerShell command to set the default content app for local files uploaded using drag-and-drop in Teams chat and channel conversations. Microsoft will update this post before the rollout date to provide documentation on using the PowerShell command.
What you need to do to prepare:
Third-party developers will need to update their apps to support the new admin settings. Admins should refer to third-party storage provider documentation or reach out to third-party storage providers for more information on support for the new settings.
This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required. You may want to update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
4. Microsoft Teams: Meeting details displayed on pre-join screen
Available in Microsoft Teams for Windows and Mac for in-tenant participants, the meeting pre-join screen will now include meeting details like the meeting title, scheduled start time, scheduled end time, and number of participants who have joined the call.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 387789.
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When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Begin rolling out early April 2024 and expect to complete by mid-April 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Begin rolling out early mid-April 2024 and expect to complete by late April 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
With this rollout internal meeting users will be able to see meeting related information when they join a meeting, directly on the join screen. Note: External guests will not see these meeting details.
What you need to do to prepare:
This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
5. Microsoft Teams: Meeting Options categorization
Meeting Options are a group of settings that organizers and co-organizers set on a per-meeting basis. Microsoft is introducing categories within Meeting Options to provide increased clarity within the information architecture of available options and help organizers and co-organizers configure their meetings according to their needs. The categories are available throughout the meeting lifecycle in Microsoft Teams.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 168523
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When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Begin rolling out early April 2024 and expected to complete by late April 2024.
Standard Release (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD): Begin rolling out late April 2024 and expected to complete by late-May 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Default meeting options are still determined by an Org's IT admin, but organizers and co-organizers can override them for a specific meeting.
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Known limitations:
The categories are only available in the new Teams client during scheduling and web (excluding Safari).
The categories are coming to in-meeting Meeting Options later.
What you need to do to prepare:
You may consider updating your training and documentation as appropriate.
6. Microsoft Teams: Attach recent and relevant files more quickly to chats and channel posts
In Microsoft Teams, Microsoft is bringing you Quick attach, which will display your most recent and contextually relevant files when you select the paperclip to attach a file to a Teams chat or channel post. This new feature will save time when attaching files.
When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Rolling out in mid-February 2024 and expect to complete by late March 2024.
General Availability: Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD: Begin rolling out mid-April 2024 and expect to complete by early May 2024.
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How this will affect your organization:
This rollout does not affect existing file attachment options.
This rollout does not apply to:
What you need to do to prepare:
No action is needed from you to prepare for this rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
C. Microsoft 365 Apps
1. Microsoft OneNote: New Sticky Notes app for Windows, available from OneNote app (preview)
Microsoft is expanding its notetaking solution, Microsoft OneNote, to include users who need a simple and quick way to jot down ideas and remember important information while staying focused on the task at hand. They are rolling out a preview of the new Sticky Notes app, built on the foundation of OneNote. New Sticky Notes offers the same experience as existing Sticky Notes, while making it easier to capture screenshots, automatically add source information to the notes, and more. As a first step for this preview, users will access the new Sticky Notes app through OneNote on Windows. Soon, you’ll be able to try new Sticky Notes from the Windows Start menu and by toggling over from the existing Microsoft Sticky Notes app on Windows.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 370039.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): Begin rolling out mid-March 2024 and expect to complete by mid-May 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
As part of this rollout, they are replacing the Feed feature in the OneNote on Windows app with new Sticky Notes. From the same location at the top of the screen, users will be able to launch new Sticky Notes, a lightweight app that users can place anywhere on their desktop to capture notes and screenshots quickly as they browse the web or multitask. The goal for new Sticky Notes is to be at full feature parity with the classic Sticky Notes of today, with added benefit of enhanced capabilities.
There will be no change to OneNote Feed in other endpoints like OneNote for the web, Outlook for the web, and Edge Sidebar.
What you need to do to prepare:
No action is needed from you to prepare for this rollout. You may consider updating your training and documentation as appropriate.
2. Microsoft Clipchamp desktop app: Work account support?
The Microsoft Clipchamp desktop app from app version 3.x for Windows 10 and Windows 11 is introducing support for logins with Azure Active Directory/Entra ID accounts. This means that your users can access Clipchamp's work version through the desktop app in addition to accessing Clipchamp in Microsoft Edge or Chrome. Until this rollout, users could not access Clipchamp through its desktop app for Windows because the desktop app only supported personal Microsoft accounts, not work accounts. With this rollout, the Clipchamp desktop app will support work accounts from app version 3.x, which is currently being rolled out gradually to Microsoft 365 organizations.
When this will happen:
General Availability (Worldwide): AAD/Entra account support in the Clipchamp desktop app will begin rolling out early May 2024 and expect to complete by early June 2024.
Note: Between now and the rollout, you might see the new app version 3.x in the Microsoft Store, thus enabling managing it in Intune; however, AAD account support in the new app version 3.x will only become available in May.
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How this will affect your organization:
Your users will not need to access Clipchamp from a web browser. They can use the desktop app to open the correct version of Clipchamp that is either part of your existing Microsoft 365 SKU or that you can assign to them as a standalone license.
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What you need to do to prepare:
To allow your users to access Clipchamp via its desktop app, make sure the app version installed on your managed devices is 3.x. Older app versions (2.9.x) do not support work account logins yet.
As admins, you can manage the desktop app, its availability for your users, the availability of Clipchamp's personal and/or work versions in the desktop app, and the overall availability of Clipchamp in your organization as described in: How to enable or disable Clipchamp for users in your organization. Managing the desktop app is described in the section called Managing availability of Clipchamp's desktop app for Windows.
3. Microsoft Clipchamp: Remove pauses and silences in your videos.
Coming soon: Automatically find and delete unwanted silences and pauses longer than 3 seconds in video and audio with silence removal, a new smart AI-powered feature in Microsoft Clipchamp. Silence removal is currently free to use in preview. After the preview, silence removal may be available as part of a premium subscription.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 383137.
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When this will happen:
Public Preview: Begin rolling out late March 2024 and expect to complete by early July 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide): Begin rolling out early July 2024 and expect to complete by mid-July 2024.
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How this will affect your organization:
Silence removal is part of the Clipchamp editor. Silence removal eliminates pauses in speech that are longer than 3 seconds. Users can remove all pauses at once with a single click or review each pause and decide which to remove.
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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. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
4. New Microsoft Outlook for Windows and web: Improvements to working hours and location
In 2023, Microsoft Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows released new flexible working hours that allowed users to set different working hours and location (office/remote) for individual workdays. Users could update their daily work location in the calendar and see their coworkers’ work location in the scheduling assistant. It will soon roll out these additional updates:
This message refers to MC553273 (Updated) Outlook on the web - Work Hours and Location (May 2023) and is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 383721.
When this will happen
Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows
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How this will affect your organization:
Learn more with this blog coming in May 2024: https://aka.ms/NewWHLOutlook (points to support article before blog is ready)
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Outlook on the web: daily peek with suggestion:
Outlook on the web: set your out of office location:
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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. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
D. SharePoint Online
1. SharePoint Online: Change history reports now include organization settings reports
There is a feature enhancement for change history reports in the SharePoint admin center. Now, with the newly launched organization setting reports, you can track and review changes made to settings that impact the entire tenant.
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Leverage change history reports by creating up to ten instances to track what changed, when it happened, and who initiated the change across site and organization settings. While the site setting reports are generally available, the organization settings reports feature update will be rolled out in preview beginning in March 2024.
When this will happen:
Public Preview (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD): Begin rolling out mid-March 2024 and expect to complete by early May 2024.
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How this will affect your organization:
Admins can use this organization settings reports feature update to quickly review changes made to important organization-wide settings.
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What you need to do to prepare:
The existing change history flow will have an option to additionally generate organization setting reports. There is no action needed to prepare for this change. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
2. Microsoft SharePoint: Add approvals to any SharePoint list
As previously communicated in MC525660 (Updated) SharePoint: New List Templates with Approvals (March 2023), Microsoft is expanding Approvals in lists in Microsoft SharePoint Online.
With this rollout, Approvals will soon be available in any list. Today, two list templates allow for approvals integration: content scheduler with approvals and travel requests with approvals. With this rollout, they are expanding the ability to enable or disable approvals on any list.
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When this will happen:
Targeted Release: Begin rolling out mid-April 2024 and expect to complete by early May 2024.
General Availability (Worldwide, GCC): Begin rolling out early May and expect to complete by mid-June.
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How this will affect your organization:
Users will be able to configure Approvals by going to the Automate dropdown from the command bar in SharePoint Online lists or in the Microsoft Lists app. Approvals will be actioned and available from Microsoft Teams. Note that disabling approvals will only hide the relevant columns and in-progress approvals will still be actionable in Teams. At any time, you can manually add approvals columns back into views.
After Approvals are enabled, a user can create a list item and submit it for approval. By creating an approval request and specifying the approver, the request will appear in the Approvals app in Teams or can be approved directly within the list. Once approved, the list item status is updated.
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What you need to do to prepare:
Inform your users of the new Approvals functionality for lists and include Approvals in Lists - Microsoft Support in your end-user documentation and support process. Microsoft will update this message when they have revised Approvals in Lists - Microsoft Support to reflect the rollout.
3. Introducing Restricted SharePoint Search to help you get started with Copilot for Microsoft 365
How Restricted SharePoint Search works with Copilot
Restricted SharePoint Search allows you to disable organization-wide search, and to restrict both Enterprise Search and Copilot experiences to a curated set of SharePoint sites of your choice. Additionally, whether you have enabled Enterprise Search or Restricted SharePoint Search, users in your organization will still be able to interact with files and content they own or that they have previously accessed in Copilot.?
Restricted SharePoint Search is off by default. If you decide to enable it Copilot and non-Copilot users will be able to find and use content from:
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Additionally, Copilot users in your organization will see the following message on their Copilot experiences: "Your organization's admin has restricted Copilot from accessing certain SharePoint sites. This limits the content Copilot can search and reference when responding to your prompts. Learn more.”
E. Windows
1. Microsoft Copilot in Windows starts to roll out to more Windows 11 and 10 devices
Starting today, Copilot in Windows (in preview)* begins to roll out to more Windows 11 and Windows 10 devices. In addition, starting this week, people can access up to 10 Copilot requests in Windows before signing in with a Microsoft account or Microsoft Entra ID. After reaching this limit, it will be necessary to sign in to continue using Copilot.
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When will this happen:
This current rollout phase will reach most of its targeted Windows 11 and 10 devices by the end of May. This new wave of Copilot in Windows availability and?sign-in options will start to reach devices that run supported editions of Windows 11 today. Eligible Home and Pro devices running Windows 10, version 22H2 that are not managed by an organization will start to receive Copilot in Windows later this month.
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How this will affect your organization:
Copilot is enabled by default in Windows 11, version 23H2 and disabled by default in Windows 11, version 22H2. If your organization has configured policy settings to manage Copilot in Windows, those policies will be respected during this rollout.?
When a device receives Copilot in Windows, the Copilot (preview) icon in the system tray will appear on the taskbar after a reboot. To show or hide this icon, go to Settings?> Personalization?> Taskbar. You can also right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.?
Thank you,
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Senior Project Manager at Penthara Technologies
7 个月Excited for this new feature! No more manual editing of silences.
Project Management Associate at Penthara Technologies
7 个月An agenda preview would be awesome! Perfect for a quick pre-meeting prep.