Published 27 February 25
1. Microsoft 365: “Personal Information Removal” notification for files
What’s new?
A new notification will alert users when the “Personal Information Removal” setting is enabled in a file, providing an option to disable it for better collaboration.
Why is this important?
The “Personal Information Removal” setting will cause confusion during collaboration by automatically replacing actual usernames with “Author”. The new notification will alert users when this setting is enabled, ensuring they will be aware of its impact. This will help maintain clarity and improve the collaborative experience. Note the new notification will alert users when the “Personal Information Removal” setting is enabled, ensuring awareness and improving collaboration, as this setting replaces actual usernames with “Author”. The existing way of changing this document setting via the Options dialog remains intact.
When is it coming?
Public preview commences late February with expected completion by early March. This update will be generally available from mid-March with expected completion by late March 2025.
3. Microsoft Viva Engage: New way to access to “Delegate management” feature
What’s new?
Users will have a consistent experience appoint someone to post and perform actions on your behalf.
Why is this important?
Before this update, users accessed the Delegate management feature for Microsoft Viva Engage via the gear icon on the web and the three-dot menu in Teams. Soon, users will be able to access it from the three-dot menu next to their profile picture, similar to Teams for Windows and Mac desktops.
Further information about this new feature can be found here.
When is it coming?
This feature will be generally available.
4. Power Automate: Try new actions for Office Access
What’s new?
The new update will streamline Access DB automation by eliminating the need for UI workarounds with dedicated actions in Power Automate Desktop.
Why is this important?
Makers will be able to automate Access database interactions with dedicated actions, eliminating UI workarounds. They will launch Access instances using the ‘Launch Access’ action, which will then allow them to perform actions on the database, such as:
- Launch Access
- Close Access
- Read Access table
- Run Access query
- Run Access macro
When is it coming?
This update is now generally available.
5. Microsoft Purview: Insider Risk Management – Downgrade or remove sensitivity label
What’s new?
This feature will allow users to easily see their tag mentions alongside existing @Mentions in chat and channel messages in Microsoft Teams.
Why is this important?
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management identifies potential insider risks like IP theft and data leakage by correlating various signals. It allows organisations to create custom policies while ensuring user privacy with role-based access controls and anonymisation. Before this rollout, IRM only captures sensitivity label changes on the Microsoft SharePoint web app.
After the rollout, IRM will capture sensitivity label changes (downgrade or remove) performed on Microsoft OneDrive, Azure Information Protection, or endpoints (SharePoint files opened in an Office app or any sensitivity label change on local files on a user’s device). The indicators will be renamed as follows:
- ‘Downgrading sensitivity labels applied to SharePoint files’ will become ‘Downgrading sensitivity labels applied to files’
- ‘Removing sensitivity labels from SharePoint files’ will become ‘Removing sensitivity labels from files’
When is it coming?
This feature will be generally available from late March with expected completed by late April 2025.
6. Microsoft Viva Engage: New reply and reaction notifications in Microsoft Teams
What’s new?
Users will receive new notifications in the Teams Activity feed for Viva Engage updates.
Why is this important?
This update will be important for users to know because it will introduce new notifications in the Teams Activity feed for Viva Engage updates, enhancing user engagement and communication within Teams. The notifications will help users stay connected and informed about replies and reactions to their community posts across multiple platforms, including web, Windows desktop, Mac desktop, and iOS/Android, thus improving overall organisational communication.
When is it coming?
Originally scheduled to be generally available by late January, updated completion is now expected to be late February 2025.
7. Microsoft Viva Connections: New user-created cards
What’s new?
Employees will soon have the capability to create their own link cards that will connect to other tools and destinations on the Microsoft Viva Connections dashboard.
Why is this important?
This update will allow for employees to personalise their dashboard. At this stage, it has not been confirmed if staff will have access to edit any other dashboard card. Note this feature will be on by default and accessible to all staff in your tenant unless it is turned off. This can be disabled via settings in the Dashboard details.
When is it coming?
This new feature will be generally available from late February with expected completion by late March 2025.
9. Microsoft Viva: Tenant-wide notification settings moving to Viva Engage Admin Center
What’s new?
The existing admin notification settings in Viva Engage will be modernised to be more user-friendly and intuitive within the Viva Engage Admin Center.
Why is this important?
With this update, admin notification settings and configuration will be more user-friendly and intuitive within Viva Engage. Examples include:
- Administrators will gain the ability to manage admin notifications directly from within the Engage Admin centre.
- All existing tenant admin notification preferences will remain unchanged, and the current tenant preferences for these two settings will continue to be respected.
- Improved guidance and labels covering each available setting will be provided, making the process more intuitive than before.
When is it coming?
This update will be generally available from late February with expected completion by mid-March 2025.
10. Bonus: Microsoft SharePoint: New and update web parts
What’s new?
There will be three new updates to the editing experience on SharePoint Online:
- Re-imagined hero web part with a new carousel layout
- New Editorial web part
- Update to flexible sections
1. Re-imagined hero web part with a new carousel layout
When adding a Hero web part to a page or news post, Content Authors will soon create eye-catching carousel slides in any section type, with up to five slides in a Carousel layout. This will enhance user engagement and highlight key content, establishing page hierarchy. It will offer three new styles and support Microsoft Stream videos for a more appealing page.
Learn more about the web part here.
2. New editorial web part
This new web part will enhance your SharePoint page with engaging content. This guide will cover adding the card, filling in content, adjusting the layout, and configuring content style. Unlike automated web parts like News and Events, the new Editorial card will allow SharePoint designers to manually tailor the content presentation to their needs.
Learn more the web part here.
3. Update to flexible sections
Flexible sections will be a new type allowing authors to build pages without a strict column structure. Web parts will be dynamically resized and moved within flexible sections to create fully customised sections. Flexible sections will unlock endless design possibilities. New section templates will be powered by both flexible and column-based sections with example content. All sample content will be placed onto the canvas when a section template is applied.
Learn more about flexible sections here.
It’s no secret we are one of the best when it comes to understanding your needs and how the Microsoft platform can reconnect, reinvigorate, and strengthen employee experience. Keen to use your existing digital landscape as a way to engage your employees? Want to discuss how we can work with you to best leverage the upcoming Microsoft technology? Contact us at info@engagesq.com to see how we can help.
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