Welcome to our tenth roundup of 2024. We look at what was being announced, released and delayed across Microsoft 365 and Copilot in October.
Check out the September blog for lots of content still rolling out this month.
Here’s a reminder of what the icon at the beginning of each title means:
✅ = Available now
🔜 = Coming soon
🕔 = Coming soon, but delayed
🔭 = Coming later; details and dates will be sketchy
🚫 = A feature we are losing
The majority of Copilot updates have moved to the related app sections below. For example, the Copilot in OneDrive update has moved from the Copilot section to the OneDrive section.
Here are this month’s topics:
Copilot
🔜 Create charts, graphs, and data analysis in M365 Copilot chat
Copilot users will soon be able to enter prompts in Copilot Business Chat (BizChat) to create charts, graphs, and data analysis. Due mid to late November 2024. Read more.
🕔 M365 Copilot to automatically summarise Word documents as they open
Copilot for Microsoft 365 in Microsoft Word will create a summary in the window at the top of the Word document as you open it. You can then hide the summary or open the Copilot chat pane to ask questions about the document. Now due August to late November 2024. Read more.
Forms
🔜 New data sync solution and rename for Forms for Excel in SharePoint and OneDrive
A new data sync solution is coming to Forms created from OneDrive and SharePoint. Forms for Excel to be renamed Forms survey. Due mid-October to mid-November 2024. Read more.
🕔 Data sync to Microsoft Excel: Support for migrating from the older solution to the new solution
Microsoft: “Microsoft Forms will replace the older data sync to Excel with a new, more reliable solution on January 13, 2025. Users must manually migrate to the new solution…”. Support for migrating the older data sync to the new solution is now due from late October 2024 to late November 2024. Read more.
OneDrive
Outlook
🔜 New work location-sharing options
Before this update, you could share/not share location information. You will soon have more control over what others see via Outlook settings > Calendar > Work hours and location:
Refs: MC901825 and 365 Roadmap ID 418127. Due mid to late October 2024. Read more about Work Hours and Location (WHL).
🕔 Web links in the new Outlook for Windows to open side-by-side with email in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft: “Web links from emails in the new Outlook for Windows app will open side-by-side with the email in Microsoft Edge so users can easily reference the link and email without switching back and forth between apps. Links will open in Microsoft Edge even if it is not the system default browser in Windows”. Ref: MC803892. Now due late July to late October 2024.
🕔 New Outlook and Outlook web: Send updates only to added or removed meeting attendees
Microsoft: “Coming soon to Microsoft Outlook: When updating meeting attendees, organizers will be prompted to send updates only to added or removed attendees or to send updates to all attendees”. Refs MC798322 and 365 Roadmap ID 394687. Now due August to late October 2024.
🕔 Drag emails into the Calendar icon in the app bar to create an event in Outlook
This update allows you to drag and drop emails into the Calendar icon on the left app bar to create an event in the new Outlook and Outlook web. You can try this now in Outlook Classic.
Refs: MC896715 and 365 Roadmap ID 413716. Now due late November to late December 2024.
SharePoint
🔜 Design Ideas is now available in SharePoint
Microsoft: “Design Ideas is now available in Microsoft SharePoint, allowing page authors to enhance sections with new layouts and formatting”. Available now. Read more.
Stream
Teams
🔜 A new calendar experience is coming to Teams
The New Calendar app offers a unified, modern calendar for Microsoft Teams and Outlook users. Users can switch to the New Calendar interface within Teams as an opt-in feature on Windows and Mac desktops. Due mid to late January 2025. Read more.
🔜 Power Automate – Create a flow on a file in Teams feature
Microsoft: “When enabled, this feature will let you create a flow on a file in Teams using one of the templates available to be done to a file”.
Ref: MC904316. Due 31st October 2024 (not Power Automate Desktop).
🕔 Delayed: Copy meeting attendee responses from Outlook to your clipboard
Coming soon to new Outlook for Windows and on the web: copy a list of meeting attendees and their response status (attending, declined, or no response) to the clipboard. Now due late November to late December 2024. Read more.
🕔 Delayed: Mute with Windows Taskbar available in the new Microsoft Teams on Windows
Microsoft: “The Muting Teams with Windows Taskbar is now available. This feature, available in the new Teams experience on Windows, enables you to mute and unmute your audio by clicking the mic icon in Windows taskbar”.
Refs: MC709270 and 365 Roadmap ID 191528. Now due mid-June to late October 2024.
🕔 CAPTCHA Verification for Anonymous Meeting Participants
Do you join Teams meetings anonymously? You may see this from mid-October 2024. Microsoft: “Microsoft Teams is introducing CAPTCHA verification for anonymous participants, rolling out in early to mid-October 2024. This feature, which is off by default, can be enabled by Tenant Admins in the Teams Admin Center to provide additional security”.
Ref: MC875061. Now due late October to mid-November 2024.
Around Microsoft 365
🚫 Microsoft Word: Researcher feature will retire starting late December 2024
Microsoft: “We will retire the Researcher feature in Microsoft Word starting January 2025…This message applies to Word for Windows desktops and Word for Mac desktops”. “Microsoft is committed to improving your Microsoft 365 subscription. As a result, we occasionally remove features and benefits that duplicate equivalent offerings that are available to subscribers. Microsoft Copilot is a good alternative to Researcher”.
Ref: MC901824. Due late December to early January 2025.
🚫 Reminder: Delve retires on 16th December 2024.
Microsoft has announced they will be retiring Delve. They have shared suggestions for finding most of the features and value Delve offers elsewhere in Microsoft 365. Read more.
🚫 Microsoft 365 (Office) apps: The Feed feature will retire
Microsoft: “As part of our ongoing efforts to streamline and enhance user experiences, we will retire the Feed feature from the Microsoft 365 app, which affects www.microsoft365.com and www.office.com, as well as the Windows app (Microsoft 365 (Office)”. They suggest using Recommended files on the Home page of the Microsoft 365 app instead, even though it does not replace the outgoing functionality.
Ref: MC907532 due between 1st and 15th November 2024. Read more: We are removing Feed on Microsoft 365 (Office) – Microsoft Community Hub.
🕔 Grid view for tasks in Microsoft To Do web version and To Do inside Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft: “In Microsoft 365 apps for the web, users can see their tasks in a grid view and can update details inline in To Do on web and To Do app inside Microsoft Outlook”. Refs: MC714520 and Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 381749. Now due late April to late November 2024.
🕔 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint web are getting an enhanced File menu
Microsoft is introducing an enhanced File menu for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for the web. This update is intended to make it easier for you to create, open, share, export, and manage files. Now due early August to November 2024. Read more.
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Many of the above images are from Microsoft.com or the Admin Centre. Thank you to the Microsoft product teams for the information, updates and images they share.
