Microsoft Update August 2025

SharePoint

Rolling out in September, soon SharePoint Page Analytics will gain additional capabilities for SharePoint News posts. Long-term data will be available, up to a new limit of the previous 365 days. (previously 90). The data will also be able to be broken down by distribution channel.

There will also be two new metrics – Reactions and Promotions. Reactions will indicate how many times users have reacted to a post, with a breakdown of the sentiment of the reactions – the amount that were positive, the amount that were negative, et cetera.

Users accessing the calendar app in Teams will only see the new calendar, as of the end of September. The toggle to switch between the old and new calendars will be removed.

Microsoft had previously announced updates to the ‘Files’ (soon to be ‘Shared’) tab in Teams. The tab will be renamed, and display content shared in posts, as well as the items from a document library. This update is being pushed back. It will now begin rolling out in mid-October and is expected to be complete before the end of October.

SharePoint eSignature is now globally available. It enables users to request electronic signatures from Word or PDF documents stored in SharePoint.

A new template gallery with more than 50 OOTB page templates is coming to SharePoint. This is rolling out now and will be available before the end of September.

Teams

Rolling out on September 30th, soon Teams will validate meeting join URLs to ensure they have not been modified. If they have been modified, it will be marked as malicious. Users may be prevented from joining meetings if URLs are not in their original format. Joining meetings will only be blocked if the join links are re-written in the calendar event details (Join URL). If the links are only re-written in the meeting description, it won’t impact the ability to join.

Meeting Audio Overview is an AI feature that summarises key topics from Teams meetings in an audio output, allowing people to easily catchup or refresh themselves on the content from a meeting.  Users must have a MS365 Copilot licence to use this feature. Audio overview is part of the ‘Meet’ app on desktop clients. To use it, navigate there by clicking on ‘More’ on the left-hand side panel. Click on the ‘Audio overview’ tab on the top bar, select the desired time range, overview format and style, then select the meetings you want to use in the generation. It will begin rolling out in mid-September, and the rollout is expected to be complete before late September.

Changes to Private Channels are being rolled out in late September and expected to be complete by mid-December. Private channels will use a channel mailbox, instead of individual user mailboxes. Private channels are no longer limited to 30 per team. Private channels can instead be added up to the limit of 1000 total channels per team. Private channels can now have 5000 members, instead of 250. Meetings will be able to be scheduled in private channels. Compliance policies for private channels will instead be part of the team groups policies, rather than at the individual user level.

Organisations with compliance policies for private channels will need to review these policies and apply policies to the M365 group for the channel’s team before migration begins to ensure continuity. The migration of private channels to have these updated capabilities will begin in late September and continue through to December. Admins and compliance managers should complete any required policy changes by September 20, 2025, before the migration begins.

Microsoft have introduced a new Workflow experience, that they have built from the ground up based on user feedback. The new version is faster and more intuitive, addressing concerns about complexity. The new version has a streamlined interface that works across Teams chats and channels, and SharePoint lists and libraries. It has a redesigned template library to better surface common workflows. There are natural language-to-flow capabilities, allowing users to describe what they want to automate. This update will begin rolling out in October.

Microsoft are releasing a security and authentication update that may impact integration with Teams PowerShell module. Authentication requirements for application-based authentication in Teams PowerShell module are changing to ensure that Entra applications used for backend access are properly secured. If we use Entra applications to automate or manage Teams via PowerShell, action is required before September 15th to avoid disruption – Application permissions will need to be updated.

Emoji reactions in Teams will be able to automate tasks. With the Workflows app, users can now trigger workflows by reacting to messages with emojis in chats or channels. For example, reacting with❗️can escalate a support issue. This update is rolling out in Late October and is expected to be complete before min November.

OneDrive

The ‘Add Shortcut to OneDrive’ and ‘Sync’ options in SharePoint are being changed, to be more consistent across all of Microsoft 365. The ‘Add Shortcut to OneDrive’ command will appear before ‘Sync’, to encourage the use of the Shortcut feature. The name and icon of this command will also be updated in other apps, to ensure consistency across all of Microsoft 365. This update is rolling out now.

Soon PDFs in OneDrive and SharePoint will be able to be secured through protection that restricts unauthorised access in OneDrive Web. This will allow users to set an open password, which is required to access the PDF. An owner password can alternatively be set, which sets permissions for actions – like printing or editing. This update is rolling out now.

To improve consistency across applications. The background process that powers offline mode in both OneDrive and Lists is being renamed. The icon is also being changed. This update is rolling out now.

Entra

Rolling out between mid-September and mid-October, two updates are coming to Microsoft Authenticator, to remove friction from signing-in and onboarding.

Often when signing in on the same mobile device as the Authenticator app, the MFA notification appears over the sign-in screen, hiding the number needed to enter.

This is being changed, users will no longer need to enter a number when signing in on the same device, instead they will just need to confirm sign in through selecting ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

The ‘Scan a QR code’ option will also be more prominently displayed for setting up an account, to make the experience simpler.

Viva

Viva Amplify is being updated to have expanded capabilities in SharePoint. Users will be able to distribute published SharePoint news posts to multiple channels – including email, Teams, Viva Engage, and additional SharePoint sites, directly from SharePoint, ensuring that communications can be distributed more effectively. This update is rolling out now and is expected to be complete before the end of September.

Copilot

The ‘Highlights from this conversation’ feature in post/reply channels is being replaced with a ‘Summarise Thread’ feature. ‘Summarise Thread’ will show up for conversations with more than 1000 characters and produce improved generated summarises when compared to the highlight version.