Microsoft 365 Copilot: New Navigation, Voice, and Context Enhancements Arriving Soon

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Here are three new updates to the user interface of Microsoft Copilot. These releases improve usability, expand interaction options, and streamline how users incorporate work content into prompts. All three of these features were actually announced "a long time ago", and the initial release started almost 6 months ago. But I guess the setup is complicated, as the rollout hasn't completed yet. This only proves the importance of paying attention to the official roadmap and the tenant message center in order to understand when features are being implemented for your organization. Timelines may continue to evolve as deployments progress, and this summary includes the official reference IDs and documentation links for verification. Refreshed Navigation Experience There is a redesigned navigation experience for the Microsoft 365 Copilot app heading your way, delivering a cleaner, more efficient layout. The update flattens the menu structure and groups related components to help...

Prepare for shared channels in Teams

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According to a post in the message center not long ago, the shared channels feature in Teams is about to roll out in GA after being available in preview for some time.

Although shared channel seems to be available by default in the Teams client, please note that this is only an internal availability, unless the admin of the tenant has enabled/allowed the b2b-directconnect in Azure AD. 

I recommend reading up on this article in order to familiarize yourself with the configuration. It is not enabled by default, and there are several options available. A good approach could be by opening to specific partners and not allowing "everyone". If the company has invested in AAD P1 or P2 licenses, it is also possible to trust the partner's MFA and Compliance checks in conditional access, easing the usage for users.

This feature adds to the mix of external user access. It does not replace the guest user feature, nor anonymous access to teams meetings. But the real benefit of shared channel in my view, is how it adds the channel in the external user's existing list of teams and channels and does not require a tenant switch.

According to the message center post, this should be rolling out mid July and the following weeks.