SharePoint and OneDrive at Microsoft Ignite 2026: What to Expect

sophiapeng​ (and all Microsoft folk).

Warning for ALL Microsoft Customers on the new SharePoint Search.

While there are improvements in some respects to the new SharePoint Search, there is still a lot of work to do. The exclusion of Custom Verticals and Filters (something that Microsoft promised us would be there) is a massive regression that will affect thousands of customers globally.

We had meetings, screenshares, provided pages of feedback/core requirements, etc. However, from the recent Message Center post that just came out and what we've seen, not everything Microsoft said would be there actually is. We've also been trying to engage with Microsoft on the new SharePoint Search for weeks now with zero responses - not sure what's happening on the Microsoft side but this a common issue at the moment. Note that we have Premium support but lacking significantly - the entire Microsoft support model needs a major overhaul, but that's a different conversation.

Looking for a response from Microsoft on all the points below. If I have something incorrect, please let us (your customers) know.

MC1540513: Microsoft SharePoint Online and OneDrive for the web: Updated search experience with Copilot Search

What Microsoft promised would be there and is (sort of) but not great what we're seeing so far.

• Search results would finally show within the site with the Site header/navigation still visible so users wouldn't have to click the browser Back button to get back to the site. Microsoft have "sort of" done this, but not a good implementation at all.
  • If you have your site navigation horizontal within the Site header (Communication sites and configurable in Team sites) then your navigation still shows.
  • If you have vertical navigation on the left (Team sites) that disappears completely.
  • Hub navigation disappears completely (major miss from Microsoft).

What Microsoft promised would be there (told us on multiple calls) but isn't:

• Custom Verticals and Filters would still be available (This is CRITICAL). 
  • We are not seeing these and don't believe they will come through. This will break hundreds of our critical sites.
  • On our initial discussions, Microsoft actually said their customers don't use Custom Verticals and Filters and weren't going to implement them which shows they have no idea about how their customers actually use Search and how much their customers rely on these. After multiple discussions and showing how we used Custom Verticals and Filters, they promised they would be there as part of the new Search Experience, but this promise doesn't look to be kept.
  • It was similar with Discard changes with the co-editors on SharePoint pages a while back where Microsoft had a call with us asking if Discard Changes was just something only our company used. At least they listened to their global customers (including a multitude of MVPs) and we still have Discard Changes. Hopefully we can do the same here.
• Same UI for both Copilot Premium and Copilot Basic users - but Basic users just wouldn't see Search Summary or Overview cards
  • Looks like Microsoft have NOT implemented this as they promised. Basic users are still just getting the original basic SharePoint search and NONE of the new SharePoint search features including the UI.
  • Microsoft used to be so proud of their Unified Search experience which is non-existent anymore unfortunately.
  • We're also hoping Microsoft finally fix the core Copilot Search, so Copilot Basic users finally get the same UI too - a shocking implementation at the moment.

What Microsoft said they won't include which we raised and asked for:

• Multilingual on Custom Verticals and Filters which is a massive gap today.
  • Microsoft said this is for the Multilingual team - not the Search team. You're the same Company = work together.
  • Multilingual in SharePoint in general has a lot of core gaps that could be improved significantly, but nothing has been improved for years even though we've continued to ask.
• In-page search option similar to what PnP Search offers.
• Extend search scope outside of the current scope.
  • We've been asking for this for years as sometimes we want to include search results from one or more sites/libraries outside the current scope (again, something that PnP Search offers). Note that we DO NOT want to use PnP Search in our environment.
• Reordering of Custom Vertical and Filters which should have been there from the start.
  • This isn't a major issue. However, if you create a new Vertical or Filter now and want to reorder them you can't. You may need to completely delete all of the previous ones to make your new one have the right order and then go and recreate the ones you deleted. Absolutely horrible design that is so easy to fix, and never should have been implemented how it is in the first place.

What we've been asking for weeks but zero response from Microsoft so no idea:

• Will Classic Search still work?
  • We have been asking this questions for weeks now as it seems to bypass the setting that takes you to Classic Search. We have been waiting for the new SharePoint Search to come out and address most of the current limitations so we could move off of Classic Search finally but doesn't look like we will be able to. The reason we are still using Classic Search in some of our sites is due to the sub-par SharePoint Search we have now. Given the new SharePoint Search looks to not address all the core issues, we are not sure what to do here.
• Will we be able to fully customize the Search Result Cards to include additional properties, color coding, etc?
  • We use customized search results a lot and adds immense value to our customers.

We have moved a lot of stuff out of SharePoint due to a multitude of core gaps, limitations, terrible design decisions, etc. Really hoping #MicrosoftDoBetter on a lot of this and finally look holistically at all the issues that exist (some that have been there for years) and come up with a plan to address them all. We were hoping for amazing things with the new SharePoint Search, but disappointed from what we are seeing come through so far. If Microsoft don't include Custom Verticals and Filters then that's a massive blow to customers globally.