New Year, New Momentum: Here are three Copilot updates to get you started into 2026

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It's a new year, so I thought I'd start the year by mentioning three features already released, or soon going to be released. One of the features improves the workflow of sharing files with comments, the other improves the application specific Copilot, and the last feature makes it easer to find the nest available timeslot for a 1:1 meeting. As with all of my other posts, timelines can shift, and the timelines in this post is as written in the Message Center at the time of posting. AI-Summary experience when sharing files. With this new feature, copilot intent to help users share files with clearer context in just a few steps. Users will get the capability to generate a concise summary of a file and include it when sharing from the File Explorer share dialog or the OneDrive activity center. This will make it easier to share the context of a file and giving the receiver a faster understanding of what a document or file contains before they open it. General Availability announced...

A couple of favorite news on Teams this week

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There have been a lot of news around Teams the past week(s), and I wanted to share some of the highlights I am excited about this week. The place to be to get these news firsthand is to be a member of the Microsoft Teccommunity, and to follow the Teams blog found right here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog

The first and most important post to read this week, is Ann Michel's post on news in the April release for Teams. There are a lot of cool new features listed there, such as:
- Skype for Business contacts coming to Teams
- Unified presence
- Out of Office messages
- Skype for Business Interop with Persistent chat
- Expanded Guest Access (I'll cover that as my favorite in a later post)
- New Admin Center
- Retention policies
- Teams installed as a MSI package
- Guest Access on mobile (all platforms)
Read the entire post right here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/What-s-new-in-Microsoft-Teams-April-update/ba-p/179801

Thomas Binder has a new post on "IT Pro readiness for Microsoft Teams". It's a quick intro to updated documentation on docs.microsoft.com, and a collection of tutorial every organization preparing for Teams should be familiar with. Take a look for yourself right here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/IT-pro-readiness-for-Microsoft-Teams/ba-p/179216

There is an in-depth post from Christian Schacht on the announced Microsoft Teams & Skype for Business Admin Center https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/Announcing-the-new-Microsoft-Teams-amp-Skype-for-Business-Admin/ba-p/179534 The portal is just about to roll out, so it could take some time until you see it in your own tenant.

Another great announcement was the "Teams On Air" episode 65 on "Direct Routing for enterprise voice in Microsoft Teams". This is THE feature I've been waiting for, as Microsoft is not currently providing PSTN in my customer's region. It's also a great for those companies who need a co-existing scenario with their own on-premises pbx. Looking forward to test the setup and end-user experience here. Watch the show on Youtube: