Personalize your Message center experience for Windows news

Did you know that you can filter and focus Message center in the Microsoft 365 admin center to prioritize Windows changes?

While there's a lot going on in the world of Windows management every day, you don't need to feel overwhelmed. Message center in the Microsoft 365 admin center exists to help keep you and your organization informed of the latest Windows updates, new features, hardening changes, and more. Let's review a few tools that can make it a lot more focused and actionable for your specific context.

What is Message center?

Message center is integrated with the Microsoft 365 admin center. This channel supports your Windows management efforts by offering technical updates and notifications. Amid changes that Windows undergoes to improve productivity and security, staying informed is essential for effective management to ultimately keep your organization's competitive edge.

What does it look like? See for yourself!

In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Health > Message center.

Your default view is the Inbox tab, where you can sort, filter, and mark important messages as favorites. The Archive tab is an additional resource to help keep your Inbox focused.

Note: A public, simplified version of the Windows message center is also available on Microsoft Learn. However, it doesn't have filtering or other enterprise features available in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Maybe you're new here or haven't yet personalized your message feed for your priorities. If so, it can be hard and time-consuming to navigate your Inbox. So, let's personalize it to be as relevant and actionable for you as possible.

Key personalization features you should know about

Three main ways to maximize your Inbox are service preferences, message filtering, and column sorting.

Set your service preferences

1. Select Preferences right under the Inbox tab.
2. In the flyout right-hand pane, select Windows under Show messages for these services.
3. (Optional) Adjust your selection of services and tags that correspond to the scope of your work. You can select as many or as few as you need.
4. Select Save to see your personalized Inbox right away.

Note: The Windows option will be available for organizations that meet the prerequisites for accessing Windows content in the admin center.

Your saved preferences persist until you change them. You can adjust your selection anytime.

Filter your messages

If you set your preferences to see messages for other services in addition to Windows, you can still focus just on Windows messages when you need them by using filters.

1. In your Inbox view, locate the Filters ribbon (under the Preferences gear icon).
2. Select Service from the Filters ribbon.
3. In the drop-down menu, select Windows. (Note: Only services you've selected in Preferences will show up. If you don't see Windows as a drop-down option, please adjust your preferences as explained in the previous section.)

Your list of Inbox messages will temporarily adjust to only show messages for your selected service. Your filter preferences revert back after refreshing or navigating away from this page.

Service is just one of several filters available to you. Other filters that show up by default in the Filters ribbon correspond to some of the default Inbox columns that categorize every message in the list:

• Tag (recommended as useful): Filter messages by the content you're interested in using tags. Only tags you've set in preferences will show up in this filter. Windows changes are automatically tagged as major updates if they have a broad reach and a potential to disrupt standard plans and practices. Other tags you might see for other products don't apply here.

Note: Several tags can apply to a single message. For example, feature updates often are major updates with marked user impact and/or admin impact. New features are also marked for user and admin impact. Major updates include monthly security updates and out-of-band (OOB) updates, as well as upcoming lifecycle announcements that require planning and action.

• Message state (optional as needed): Filter by read, unread, favorite, or updated messages.
• Relevance (optional as needed): Most Windows messages are automatically marked as “Medium” relevance. However, you'll sometimes see messages marked as “Low” or “High” relevance. Use a corresponding filter to focus on either or both “Medium” and “High” relevance messages.
• Platform (not recommended): Windows messages are predominantly for the desktop platform, making this filter unnecessary. For other services, you can filter messages by desktop, web, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, or mobile platform.
• Status for your org (not recommended): Windows messages don't yet connect your organization's details to the specific message type, so this column appears blank. A corresponding filter option will help you focus whenever this connection becomes available.

Choose and sort your columns

The main canvas of your Message center is the list of messages organized into categories across several columns. Save time by scanning the columns for the most relevant information of these messages without having to open them. You can also choose which columns help you most, then sort messages by the contents of those columns.

First, check if the default Inbox columns are what you need to scan and sort your messages:

• Message title: Browse messages by title and act on them with quick actions: select, archive, share, copy link, or mark as read or unread. Find your archived messages under the Archive tab.
• Favorites: Select the star icon to add or remove an item from favorites. You can later sort this column to see your favorites first.
• Last updated: Sort your messages by date of publication or an update of the message.
• Act by: Sort messages by the recommended deadline if there is one. (Note: Only some specific messages have this date set.)
• Message ID: Track, share, and reference specific messages by a unique identifier composed of “MC” followed by seven digits (MC#######).
• Category: Sort messages by intent: Stay informed, Plan for change, Prevent or fix issues.
• Choose columns: You can show or hide columns based on your needs. Make your selection and unselect undesired columns in the flyout, then select Save. Your changes are saved and applied right away. You can close the flyout to see your personalized layout.

Once you select which columns to show or hide, you can sort, resize, and apply further filters to them. In fact, you can apply filters even for hidden columns.

• To sort, select the column title. In the pop-up menu, select Sort. The messages automatically get sorted in the A-Z (arrow up) or Z-A (arrow down) order every time you select Sort.
• Adjust what fits on your screen by resizing columns. You can just hold and drag the column border to the desired width or set a desired pixel width. For that, select any column title until a pop-up menu shows you the options to resize or sort. Select Resize. In a new pop-up window, enter the desired pixel width greater than or equal to 48, then select Submit.

Additional time-saving tips

Once you update your Preferences to focus on just the most relevant content, you can also set up Planner syncing. Select Planner syncing under the Inbox tab, then select Set up syncing in the flyout. Learn more at Track message center tasks in Planner.

Additionally, don't forget the good-old “Search” field, where you can simply type what you're looking for and press the Enter key. Locate it right above the Filters ribbon on the right-hand side.

Finally, you can choose to receive message center announcements and other important notifications as email alerts. Go directly to your email preferences or follow these steps:

1. Within the Message center, select Preferences.
2. In the Custom View tab, select Windows.
3. Set your email preferences in the Email tab.

Best practices for using Message center

The number and frequency of messages you get every day grows at the speed of technological evolution. We know that not all of it is relevant to your specific context. And what's relevant isn't always important or urgent for your context. That's why preferences, filters, and sorting tools are there to help you make the most of Message center.

Best practices:

• Check messages regularly and set alerts.
• Use tags or categories to prioritize critical updates.
• Share relevant messages with your team promptly.
• Archive messages that don't need your attention. They'll still appear under the Archive tab.

Common pitfalls to avoid:

• Ignoring low-relevance messages that may impact compliance.
• Not using filtering options for efficiency.

Try personalizing your experience today or learn more at Message center in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Continue the conversation. Find best practices. Bookmark the Windows Tech Community, then follow us @MSWindowsITPro on X and on LinkedIn. Looking for support? Visit Windows on Microsoft Q&A.