What's new in Microsoft 365?

Microsoft announced the availability of a new role called 'AI administrator' for administration of Microsoft 365 Copilot and enterprise AI services on Microsoft 365.

Admin users assigned with the AI administrator role can efficiently administer Copilot without the vast permissions in the Global admin role. 

Microsoft are evolving Clipchamp and Stream into a single, streamlined video solution. The idea is to remove friction and confusion from two different platforms, while harnessing the strength and usage of both.

You can read more on the Microsoft blog:

The future of video for Microsoft | Microsoft.com

Copilot Actions allows you to 'delegate' tasks to Copilot. Through customisable prompt templates that can be automated, and are triggered by specific events to gather information and present it in specified formats, such as emails or Word documents. 

This was announced at Microsoft Ignite 2024. You can read more announcements on our blog:

Microsoft Ignite 2024 Announcements | Hable.co.uk

Microsoft Copilot is enhancing its suite of agents with new AI-powered agents that can take care of the hard work for you, improving efficiency and collaboration. Some of the new Copilot Agents include:

• Facilitator Agent in Microsoft Teams
• Project Manager Agent in Microsoft Planner
• SharePoint Copilot Agent

This was announced at Microsoft Ignite 2024. You can read more announcements on our blog:

Microsoft Ignite 2024 Announcements | Hable.co.uk

Rolling out in early 2025, Copilot will include sources in the content it generates, indicating which document the information was referenced from, and give you the option to keep the citations in the final document. 

Available starting in November in Word on web, you will be able to create word documents based on existing meetings, and emails. 

This might be drafting a report based on something within an email, or documenting minutes based on a meeting.

Now, with Copilot in OneDrive you can select up to five files―even mixing formats such as Word docs, PowerPoints, and PDFs―and quickly see the differences across all the files, helping you make decisions and access what you need faster. 

Released to private preview back in August 2024, Math Progress is a fantastic Education tool which helps students to improve and accelerate their mathematics skills.

You can find out more about the Math Progress tool with this Microsoft Learn course:

Support mathematics skills with Math Progress | Course - Microsoft Learn

Rolling out in January 2025, you will be able to schedule messages in Microsoft Teams channels. The tool will allow you to optimise the timing of your messages based on the recipient's work hours, out-of-office time. Ensuring your messages are delivered at the most suitable time.

Releasing in Copilot from September 2024, Copilot will automatically suggest prompts to help enhance your productivity. Providing relevant and context-aware prompts based on previous interactions.

Rolling out from September, Clipchamp and Copilot are combining to bring users seamless video creation.

Just type your prompt and Clipchamp will write a bespoke script, source high quality stock footage, and create a video project. All with the power of AI and Clipchamp combined. Complete with music, voiceover, text overlays and transitions. 

A really exciting update!

Rolling out this month, admins of Copilot will see a brand new column added to the Readiness section of the Microsoft 365 Copilot Usage report. It will show suggested candidates for Microsoft 365 Copilot based on real-life activity. This is intended to help admins with licensing decisions by quickly identifying users who are in a strong position to get the most value from Microsoft 365 Copilot based on their relevant Microsoft 365 app usage.

Outlook are rolling out the "always on" ability to see who is currently in the office.

It will be pinned on the top-right corner of the Calendar in new Outlook for Windows and web. Available from October 2024.

Experts and admins in Viva Engage will soon be able to mark answers to questions as 'verified answers', signalling a credible and accurate answer. Questions with verified answers will receive their  own special verified label and badge at the top of the question and on the verified answer. Designed with the aim of helping to enhance the trust of knowledge in Viva Engage.

Preview coming in November with General Availability in December.

Microsoft Teams are rolling out a new ‘your teams and channels’ view, providing one centralised hub where people can see all teams and navigate to channels from one page. It has been designed to streamline workflows, enabling you to quickly access and manage your teams and channels.

There is a new Microsoft Planner app!

Available for the web from October, the new app will offer a single, unified work management experience assisted by AI.

It has been designed by Microsoft to bring together the simplicity of Microsoft To Do, the collaboration of Planner, and the power of Microsoft Project into one experience.

Many changes announced to Microsoft Designer to improve usability and offer even more ways to boost creativity. 

From a new free mobile iOS app, through to brand new features and a new homepage experience. 

Read the full blog:

New ways to get creative with Microsoft Designer | Microsoft.com

To improve usability on Outlook for Web and Outlook for Windows, the Sort and Filter buttons will now be separate buttons in the Message List. It will make it easier to change the 'Sorted by' and the 'Filtered by' values separately.

Following feedback from Microsoft 365 users, Microsoft are now adding support for fonts in Outlook for iOS and Android. Rolling out from September, you will be able to choose fonts when composing emails.

You now have the option of turning on or off notifications for a specific channel post. Giving users yet another way to personalise notifications and minimise distractions!

From now, users can upload custom emojis for use across the organisation. Helping to personalise conversation and encourage expression. 

A new Community Experts feature is coming to Viva Engage, to enhance the trust of knowledge experts within your Engage communities.

Experts will be able to endorse accurate and credible answers, as well as be recognised as community experts with a special label next to their name. Allowing you to easily find and identify knowledge experts.

You can now combine Microsoft Viva Pulse with the power of Microsoft Copilot.

Receive an AI-generated summary of your results from a Viva Pulse report. Saving time, and allowing you to seamlessly share results with team members.

A number of new question types are coming to Viva Pulse including matrix types, and leverage enhanced logic. It is hoped this will drive more targeted survey experiences for respondents.

Improvements are coming to Word for the web. Allowing users to edit tables faster and more efficiently with a smoother experience, and fresh new look.

Read more via Microsoft 365 Insider:

Edit tables with ease | Microsoft 365 Insider

On blank documents, Copilot in Word will now provide one-click examples of prompts straight away. Helping you to quickly going on your document. 

Rolling out from June.

Rolling out from July 2024, users can leverage Copilot to revise existing text on SharePoint pages or news posts. Within just seconds, they can use the AI tool to adjust the tone, review the material, make it more concise or expand it, and even auto-rewrite the text. Making content more engaging. 

Rolling out in July, you will be able to get AI-powered coaching on your writing.

Copilot will review the writing and offer suggestions for high-impact areas, such as logical structure, flow, and tone.

A simpler, and more modern interface is coming to Microsoft Forms.

Along with the modern update, users will be able to toggle between upgraded templates and then view insights and suggested actions when the responses come in.

Coming from July 2024.

Coming soon, Microsoft Teams users will be able to opt in or out of receiving notifications for certain posts. 

Coming in July, there will be a way to easily keep your list of channels relevant. Allowing for a cleaner and more seamless user experience. 

Teams will automatically detect inactive channels based on those you haven’t interacted with in a while - and then automatically hide them for you.

To maintain your own levels on control over your Teams environment, you have the option to review the list of channels and unhide some or all of them, opt out of automatic hiding from settings, or initiate this process on demand.

Copilot in Forms already has some impressive capabilities, allowing you to create engaging surveys and quizzes in moments through prompts.

Now, Copilot will assist Forms users even more, by recommending the best distribution channels and settings for sending forms or quizzes.

This includes leveraging email, social media, and QR codes to maximize responses.

Set for release in July, you will soon be able to customise Outlook thanks to AI. With themes generated by Copilot.

More information will be released in the coming weeks.

Rolling out from June 2024, the Reading Pane will have a new and improved Meeting Details card when the Outlook conversation is part of a meeting.

It has been designed this way to provide a more efficient and modern RSVP flow. 

Two new settings are coming to Outlook, which look set to improve user experience when responding to meeting invitations. There will soon be an option to not delete an invitation email after RSVPing, with another setting to auto-decline if the attendee's calendar shows as busy.

Available from July 2024 in the new Outlook for Windows and web.

Rolling out soon, this handy new feature helps ensure everyone in your email can open the file you are trying to share.

When you add a OneDrive or SharePoint file to an email, Outlook will notify you if anyone doesn't yet have permissions. Allowing you to update those before sending your email, making sharing even more seamless.

Being able to seamlessly share documents like Word files, PowerPoint presentations, or PDFs is one of the huge benefits of Microsoft Teams. Soon, you will be able to see a thumbnail image of the file you are sharing in Chats and Channels. Allowing you to preview the file’s content without opening it. 

This one has been a long time coming!

Microsoft announce that you will soon be able to rename the General channels in Teams, as part of "efforts to bridge the gaps between general and other channels." 

It can be renamed by the team owner, or member (if they have permissions), to show up in the teams and channels list in alphabetical order.

A small change to the Teams UI, the 'Files' tab in a Teams chat will become ‘Shared’.

Showing all the files and links that have been sent in the chat, making it easier to find them- all in one place.

Leaders will soon be able to gain a better insight into the true cost of meetings thanks to this new Viva Insights feature.

They will be able to access a new report that shows how their team invests time in meetings. Similarly, individuals will have improved meeting review insights in the Viva Insights app, with new nudges in Outlook to encourage them to be thoughtful when creating high-cost meetings.