Microsoft 365 Insider Blog articles

More control and better accessibility with permalinks in SharePoint Online

sharmapriya — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:45:00 GMT

As SharePoint Online has evolved, our team has heard consistent feedback from screen reader and keyboard-only users about permalinks. We’re thrilled to announce a new, upgraded experience that’s more accessible and efficient.

A more efficient and accessible permalinks experience

For years, permalinks have been a core part of the SharePoint Online page experience. From the earliest days of SharePoint, heading permalinks have helped users quickly copy and share direct links to specific sections within a page. Whether referencing documentation, onboarding guidance, or long-form knowledge content, permalinks make collaboration easier and navigation more precise.

Many customers using keyboard navigation or assistive technologies told us that automatic permalinks on headings introduced additional tab stops at every heading level on a page, creating extra navigation overhead. On pages with many headings, navigating through repeated permalink controls could become inefficient and disruptive to the reading experience.

“As we create pages in SharePoint Online, we’re seeing permalinks appear everywhere — and it quickly becomes overwhelming. Is there a way to reduce the noise and turn some of them off?”

The SharePoint Online team listened carefully to this feedback and worked with accessibility considerations in mind to improve the experience, while preserving flexibility for organizations that still want permalink functionality enabled.

To give customers greater control, SharePoint Online is introducing a new tenant-level setting called “Use permalinks.” This new toggle allows organizations to choose whether heading permalinks should appear on SharePoint pages. Administrators or site owners can turn the feature on or off based on their organization’s accessibility preferences and user needs.

Why it matters

Accessibility is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Some organizations value heading permalinks for deep linking and knowledge sharing, while others prioritize streamlined keyboard navigation and reduced interaction complexity.

By introducing this configurable setting, SharePoint Online enables customers to:

Reduce extra tab stops for keyboard users.
Improve navigation efficiency for screen reader users.
Customize page behavior to match organizational accessibility goals.
Preserve existing permalink functionality when needed.

How it works

1. In a SharePoint Online page, locate Page details.

2. Toggle on or off Use permalinks.

When disabled, permalink navigation controls will no longer appear at each heading level, helping reduce unnecessary tab stops and creating a more streamlined experience for keyboard and screen reader users.

Availability

This feature is rolling out to all SharePoint Online users with an enterprise tenant account.

More accessibility enhancements are coming soon to SharePoint Online, so stay tuned!

Feedback

Accessibility improvements are most impactful when they are informed by real-world usage and customer insights. The introduction of the “Use permalinks” toggle is another example of how feedback from the community directly influences the SharePoint experience.

The SharePoint Online team remains committed to evolving the platform in ways that empower all users to work more efficiently and inclusively. To provide feedback on the permalinks experience, visit Accessibility support for enterprise customers or email eDAD@microsoft.com.

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Co-create documents with Copilot in Word for iPad

Aditya_Mishra_29 — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:21:13 GMT

We’re excited to bring a feature many of you already use on desktop, web, and mobile to Microsoft Word for iPad: the ability to collaborate with Microsoft 365 Copilot directly in your document.

What’s new

You can now work with Copilot as a co-creator directly within your Word document on iPad, instead of having to switch between different tools and commands. Whether you’re drafting new content, refining existing text, or restructuring a document, Copilot can make edits directly in place while preserving your document formatting and structure through Word’s built-in styles.

Why it matters

With Copilot in Word for iPad, you can:

Turn rough ideas into polished content right on the page.
Streamline edits and updates by taking out much of the manual labor.
Stay in the flow of your writing without having to navigate between tools.

How it works

Open Word on your iPad and sign in with a Copilot-enabled account.
Create a new document or open an existing one, then select Edit document.
Select the Copilot icon to open the Copilot Chat.
Enter your request in the prompt box.
Review and apply Copilot’s suggested edits.

Tips and tricks

Be specific in your prompts. For example, instead of asking Copilot to “Update this document,” try “Update the table with figures from the September Data Pull email.”
To reference existing content, type “/” and search for a file, email, meeting, or other source. You can also select files from the source picker.
If editing isn’t enabled, select the + button in Copilot Chat and choose Allow editing.
Copilot makes changes directly in your document. You can undo changes at any time or restore a previous version of a file stored in OneDrive or SharePoint using Version History. Information about Version History is available in View previous versions of Office files.
When collaborating in a shared document, Copilot displays a preview of proposed changes before applying them. You control whether those changes are added to the document.
Copilot can only edit the currently open document and can’t create a new file.
Copilot can’t generate or insert images while editing a document. To generate images in Chat, turn off editing mode, and then submit an image-generation prompt.
Copilot can’t add or edit comments. If edits are made to content associated with a comment, the comment may be removed.
Copilot respects Track Changes settings. If Track Changes is turned on, edits made by Copilot will be tracked.

Scenarios to try

Here are a few prompts you can try to see how Copilot can help you create, improve, and organize content directly in Word for iPad:

Create a first draft: “Draft a one-page project update using the notes in this document. Include current status, key progress, risks, decisions needed, and next steps.”
Rewrite for tone: “Rewrite the selected section to sound more confident, friendly, and customer-ready while keeping the meaning the same.”
Make content easier to scan: “Reorganize this document with clear headings, shorter paragraphs, and an executive summary section at the top.”

Availability

This feature is available to users with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Word for iPad Version 2.109 (Build 26051516) or later.

Feedback

We’d love to hear what you think! You can share your feedback by selecting Help > Feedback in the Word app.

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Leverage prompts created by your organization in Copilot

SakshiMunjal — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 20:23:47 GMT

We’re excited to share that you can now use prompts custom-made by your organization’s admins in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to streamline responses.

What’s new

You now can access curated prompts that reflect your organization’s priorities, terminology, and workflows in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. These suggested prompts enable you to work faster and generate richer, more tailored responses.

Watch the video below to learn more:

How it works

Open Microsoft 365 Copilot, sign in with your enterprise account, and navigate to a new chat.
Under the prompt box, select Suggested to view suggested custom prompts. To view all custom prompts, select More prompts.
Select the prompt you need and fill in the bracketed information.
To search for custom prompts, type a keyword into the Search box in the Prompt Lab. You can also filter for custom prompts by selecting a topic or department on the left-hand pane. This image reflects the Frontier experience. Experiences may differ for other users.

NOTE: Prompt Lab is only available if your admin has added custom prompts to your tenant.

For information on creating and editing prompts as an admin, read: Organizational prompts for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Availability

This feature is available to users with Microsoft 365 Copilot Standard and Premium licenses.

Feedback

We’d love to hear what you think! To provide feedback, select the thumbs up or down buttons in Copilot.

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Admins: Migrating user data during mergers and restructurings just got easier

Rebecca_W_Wood — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 18:50:12 GMT

We’re excited to announce cross-tenant orchestrated user data migration, enabling a more seamless migration experience for organizations during mergers and restructurings.

What’s new

Organizations going through mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and internal restructuring often face a hard operational problem: How to move user data between Microsoft 365 tenants with minimal disruption to the people affected by the change.

Previously, admins had to choose between fragmented point tools, increasing risk and making troubleshooting harder. Many of you asked for a Microsoft-native, orchestrated migration experience, and we’re thrilled to deliver one!

Now, admins can create migration batches through Graph APIs and move Exchange, OneDrive, Teams chats, and Teams meetings all from one workflow. You’re able to validate all prerequisites, such as licenses, identity mapping, and permissions, before committing to a migration date. And if validation fails, you can see the exact issues and fix them before trying again.

Users will now experience an end-to-end migration built with them in mind. After their mailbox moves, their Teams meetings will be updated so they can use them seamlessly, without needing to manually cancel and reschedule. Teams chats will be migrated and support federation to continue collaboration between the source and target tenants. This product is integrated with the same fast mailbox and OneDrive migrations that customers have used for years.

Why it matters

With this update, admins can now:

Speed up data migration, especially when there’s a time crunch to move staff over to your tenant.
Reduce support ticket requests during migration.
Fix quickly and prevent organization-wide failures that bog down productivity.

How to get started

Identify the workloads to move (e.g., mailboxes, OneDrive files and folders, Teams chats, and Teams meetings).
Prepare tenants and users with the required configurations.
Validate configurations using our API before migrating user data.

Known limitations

This update is available in public cloud only.

Availability

This update is available to admins with a Global Administrator role for initial configuration, and a Microsoft 365 Migration Administrator or Global Admin role for later steps, with a Cross-Tenant User Data Migration add-on license per user.

Feedback

We’d love to know what you think! To provide feedback on this experience, please fill out this form.

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A more efficient way to access email and meeting information with Narrator

shireensalma — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:45:00 GMT

Hi, Insiders! We are Doug Geoffray and Shireen Salma, Product Managers on the Office Accessibility team. Today, we’re excited to share an improvement we’ve made to the classic and new Outlook for Windows experience for people using Narrator. You will now have faster and easier access to essential email and meeting details—such as sender, recipients, subject line, and attachments—using simple keyboard shortcuts.

Get email and meeting details faster with Narrator

Email details like who the message is from, when it was sent, or whether it includes attachments are essential for understanding context and taking action. However, if you use a screen reader, accessing this information often requires manual navigation through multiple UI elements. These elements can be time‑consuming and interrupt reading flow.

With this update, we’ve introduced Narrator scripting in Outlook to streamline how you access these details, enabling you to retrieve important email and meeting information instantly using quick keyboard commands.

How it works

In your Outlook email

With Narrator on, open an email in Outlook. To hear specific email properties announced on demand, use the following shortcut keys:

Alt + 1 – From
Alt + 2 – Date
Alt + 3 – To
Alt + 4 – Cc
Alt + 5 – Subject
Alt + 6 – Bcc
Alt + 7 – Attachments

In your Outlook calendar

With Narrator on, open a meeting from your Outlook calendar. To hear meeting details on demand, use these shortcut keys:

Alt + 1 – From
Alt + 2 – Date
Alt + 3 – Required attendees
Alt + 4 – Optional attendees
Alt + 5 – Subject
Alt + 6 – Bcc
Alt + 7 – Attachments
Alt + 8 – Meeting time
Alt + 9 – Meeting Location

Tips and tricks

These shortcuts reduce unnecessary navigation and help maintain reading continuity, allowing you to quickly access the information you need without moving focus away from the message body.
This improvement is especially helpful if you review large volumes of email or work at higher speech rates. Minimizing navigation steps can significantly improve efficiency and reduce cognitive load.

Availability

This improved Narrator experience for reading email and meeting details is available in classic Outlook for Windows for Microsoft 365 subscribers running Version 2601 (Build 19725.20126) or later of Office, Version 1.2026.529.100 of new Outlook for Windows, and either Version 2601 (Build 28000.1764), Version 2502 (Build 26200.8116), or Version 2402 (Build 26100.8116) of Windows.

Features covered on this blog roll out over time to enable us to monitor quality and performance, so some preview features may not be available to you right away. Also note that features may be paused, adjusted, or removed as part of that process.

Feedback

We’d love to hear how this experience works for you. Try using Narrator with these new shortcuts in Outlook and let us know what you think by selecting Help > Feedback.

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Choosing the right AI model in Microsoft 365: flexibility, control, and confidence

KwekuMSFT — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 17:45:00 GMT

AI innovation is moving fast, and no single model is perfect for every task. Some models excel at deep research and structured reasoning, while others are optimized for speed, summarization, or creative drafting. That’s why Microsoft 365 is evolving to support AI model choice, giving organizations more flexibility while maintaining enterprise-grade governance.

Whether you’re an IT admin setting policy, a maker building agents, or an end user working in Copilot, here’s how AI model choice works across Microsoft 365 today.

A multi-model approach, built for enterprise needs

Microsoft 365 Copilot uses a multi-model architecture. Microsoft-hosted models remain the default for Copilot experiences, but organizations can also choose independent AI models or AI subprocessors for specific scenarios.

This approach is intentional. Different models bring different strengths, and enterprises need the ability to match the right model to the right task without compromising security, compliance, or control.

AI subprocessors: What it means for admins

Some AI models are onboarded as Microsoft subprocessors for Microsoft Online Services. For example, Anthropic models can now be used under Microsoft’s contractual framework when enabled by an admin.

Microsoft Product Terms and the Microsoft Data Protection Addendum (DPA) apply.
Admins retain centralized control over whether the model is available.
Usage aligns with Microsoft’s enterprise governance commitments and Enterprise Data Protection.
Subprocessors are contractually required to meet Microsoft security, privacy, and compliance standards.

Learn more: Overview of AI Subprocessors in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Independent AI models: opt-in flexibility

Microsoft 365 also supports connecting to independent AI models that are hosted outside Microsoft-managed environments. Today, this includes models from providers such as Anthropic and xAI.

Data may be processed outside Microsoft’s managed infrastructure.
Provider-specific terms and data handling policies apply.
Admin approval is required before models become available to users or makers.
Organizations should review regional and data residency considerations before enabling these models.

Learn more: Understanding AI functionality and models in Microsoft Online Services

Admin control in the Microsoft 365 admin center or Power Platform admin center

For organizations building custom agents or copilots, model choice is governed centrally.

Allow or block external language models.
Control which models are available for generative responses.
Balance innovation with organizational risk tolerance.

Model choice for makers: Copilot Studio

In Microsoft Copilot Studio, makers can select the AI model that powers an agent’s reasoning or responses when allowed by admin policy.

Choose a primary AI model for an agent.
Switch models to compare behavior and performance.
Use external models where enabled or fall back to Microsoft-hosted defaults.
Preview and experimental models are clearly labeled and not recommended for production use.

End-user experiences: Choosing the right model for the task

The Researcher agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot helps you gather, analyze, and summarize information from both the web and your work content.

With model choice enabled, Researcher can use multiple AI models, including GPT models from OpenAI and Claude models from Anthropic, to generate research reports using different reasoning approaches.

In Auto mode, Researcher generates a report using GPT and applies a second reasoning pass with Claude to strengthen structure and completeness, prioritize reputable sources, and ensure key statements are grounded in citations.

For more advanced workflows, Model Council mode runs the same question through multiple deep-reasoning research agents in parallel and highlights where outputs align or diverge so users can compare perspectives and combine insights with greater confidence.

Learn more:

Choosing responsibly: A shared responsibility model

Microsoft provides secure defaults, transparency, and enterprise controls.
Admins decide which models are allowed and where.
Makers and users select models intentionally based on the task at hand.
Existing Microsoft 365 security, compliance, and permission controls continue to apply when using Copilot experiences.

Privacy, security, and compliance considerations

Microsoft 365 Copilot is compliant with existing Microsoft 365 privacy, security, and compliance commitments. Prompts, responses, and Microsoft Graph grounding data are not used to train foundation large language models used by Microsoft 365 Copilot. Organizations should also review regional data residency guidance, including EU Data Boundary considerations, when enabling AI subprocessors.

Learn more:

Feedback

AI model choice in Microsoft 365 is evolving, and your input helps shape what comes next. Whether you’re an IT admin thinking about governance, a maker experimenting with agents, or an end user trying different Copilot experiences, we want to hear what’s working and what isn’t.

Share your thoughts, questions, or scenarios in the comments below. Your feedback helps inform future updates, documentation, and product decisions as Microsoft continues to expand AI model choice across Microsoft 365.

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Stay in sync in PowerPoint Live

rachelledong — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:45:42 GMT

The Explain and Refresh features in PowerPoint Live help presenters and audiences stay aligned during live presentations. The Explain feature lets participants select slide content to quickly understand unfamiliar terms, while the Refresh feature lets presenters update to the latest version of their deck quickly, without stopping the presentation or resharing it.

Present with confidence. Participate with clarity.

As a presenter - Let’s say you’re 15 minutes into presenting the quarterly deck when a teammate pings you: the revenue number on slide 12 is outdated, and they’ve just uploaded a corrected version. With the Refresh feature, a single click reloads the latest version of your deck without ever leaving the session. You stay on the same slide, the meeting continues smoothly, and everyone sees the updated content immediately. No resharing. No disruption. No lost momentum.

As an attendee – Imagine you’re in a cross-functional review and a slide includes an acronym you’ve never seen before. Previously, you had two choices: interrupt the presenter and break the flow, or stay quiet and miss part of the discussion while trying to figure it out yourself. With the Explain feature, you can select the term directly on the slide and instantly get more context with Copilot, without disrupting the meeting or drawing attention. You stay informed, confident, and engaged in the conversation.

How it works

To use the Refresh feature:

Start presenting your PowerPoint deck with PowerPoint Live in your Teams meeting.
Click the Refresh button (2 circular arrows) to reload the latest version of your deck.
To confirm that the latest version is now available, look for the “You’re presenting the latest version” message in the bottom-left corner.

To use the Explain feature:

Start viewing a PowerPoint Live presentation as an attendee in a Teams meeting.
Click the Select and drag text to ask Copilot button (dashed square with 2 sparkle icons), select the content you want explained, and then select Explain selected text from the button that appears above your selection.
In the Copilot pane, review the explanation generated based on the text you selected.

Known limitations

The Explain feature works best with text-based content. Charts and complex visuals (such as graphs or diagrams) may not be accurately interpreted.

Requirements

To use the Explain feature, you need:

A Microsoft 365 subscription
A Microsoft 365 Copilot license

To use the Refresh feature, you need:

A Microsoft 365 subscription

Availability

These features are available to all PowerPoint for Windows and PowerPoint for Mac users.

Feedback

To submit feedback about the Explain feature:

After Copilot generates a response, select the thumbs up or thumbs down icons directly below the response.
If Copilot shows an error, select the Give feedback button beneath the error message.
In the Copilot chat pane, select the three dots (...) in the top-right corner, then select Send feedback.

To submit feedback about the Refresh feature:

Select the three dots (...) in the top-right corner of the Teams meeting window.
Select Report a problem from the menu.

Test your audio before joining a Teams meeting

KatarinaTranker — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:45:00 GMT

We’re excited to announce the rollout of Test mic and speaker in Microsoft Teams — a new, pre-join experience designed to help you confirm your audio setup before entering a meeting.

What’s new

With this release, you can now test your microphone and speakers directly from the pre-join screen. The feature provides a simple, guided flow to ensure devices are working as expected before joining the call.

The experience includes:

Speaker test: plays an audio tone to confirm sound is coming through the selected device

Microphone test: records a short sample and plays it back so you can verify you can be heard

Summary view: confirms whether both devices are functioning correctly

This flow is launched via a button on the pre-join screen, making it easy to access at the moment you need it most and enabling you to validate everything in one place.

Why this matters

Audio issues remain one of the most common pain points in online meetings. Testing devices ahead of time helps avoid interruptions and improves overall meeting quality.

This feature is designed to:

Reduce in-meeting troubleshooting by catching issues early

Improve confidence before joining, especially for new users or complex device setups

Minimize one-way audio scenarios, a key driver of poor meeting experiences

How it works

Select a meeting to join, and you’ll enter the pre-join screen.
Select Test mic and speaker under Computer audio.
Follow the guided steps to check audio output and input.

Availability

The Test mic and speaker feature is rolling out to users across desktop experiences, with additional platform support following.

Looking ahead

This release is part of our broader investment in audio/video reliability and meeting readiness. By helping users resolve issues before they join, we’re making meetings more predictable, efficient, and frustration-free.

Feedback

Your feedback helps us continue improving meetings for everyone! Share your thoughts and your experience by selecting Help > Give feedback.

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Celebrate Pride Month with a special theme for Mac and iOS

amaguire — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:41:38 GMT

Hello, Microsoft 365 Insiders! I’m Hugo Garcia, a Product Manager on the Apple Experiences team. I’m thrilled to announce the return of our special Pride Month theme in Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for Mac and for iOS.

Show your Pride with rainbow accents

At its heart, Pride has always been about community. It’s the chosen family who celebrate us, and the simple, powerful act of being seen. And this year’s Pride isn’t just about showing up. It’s about choosing to live openly, visibly, and fully, and gathering with the people who make that possible. Pride endures, because you do.

The “Show Your Pride” theme is one small way to bring that spirit into the apps you open every day. When the rainbow accents show up in your inbox or across a document you’re working on, it’s a reminder that you belong, that you’re part of something bigger, and of the vibrant community that supports each other. It’s a warm way to carry that visibility with you, wherever the day takes you.

How it works

On Mac

To set the theme in Outlook, open the app on your Mac device, then select Settings > General and pick your preferred Pride theme under Theme.
To set the theme in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, open the app on your Mac device, then select Preferences > Show Your Pride.

You’ll notice rainbow accents throughout the app!

On iOS

To set the theme in Outlook, open the app on your iPhone or iPad, then select Home > Settings > Appearance and pick your preferred Pride theme.
To set the theme in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote, open the app on your iPhone or iPad, select your profile photo, and then select Settings > Show Your Pride.

Enjoy the animated home screen and colorful accents in your favorite apps!

Get more involved with Pride

Be sure to check out the Microsoft Pride page to learn more about the many other ways you can keep Pride alive with us, from open-source design assets on Figma and GitHub to new wallpapers, Teams backgrounds, and inspiring employee stories.

For more than three decades, Microsoft and its employees have supported LGBTQIA+ communities, contributing more than $37 million to nonprofit organizations worldwide. We’re proud to keep contributing to a more inclusive future for all.

Availability

This feature is available to all Mac and iOS users in select markets.

Feedback

We want to hear from you! If you have feedback or suggestions, please let us know. On your Mac device, you can use the Send us a Smile 🙂 or Send us a Frown ☹ buttons in the top-right corner of the app. On your iOS device, you can select your profile photo, then Help & Feedback > Tell Us What You Like or Tell Us What Can Be Better.

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Microsoft 365 Copilot app learning series: From research to polished outputs

obyomu — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 15:56:14 GMT

Work today often spans chats, files, meetings, and tools. Our latest Microsoft 365 Copilot app learning series explores how connected experiences like Researcher, Copilot Pages, Copilot Notebooks, and Create can support workflows that move work from research and planning to collaboration and content creation.

Across the series, you’ll see practical scenarios for organizing information, building shared context, creating content, and turning ideas into shareable outputs.

Here’s what we will cover:

Researcher agent: Generate structured, source cited reports

Researcher in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app is designed to help with multi-step research tasks using web information and the work content you already have access to, such as files, emails, meetings, and chats.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

Start with a research question and refine the scope
Build structured reports with cited sources
Adjust research direction to stay focused on your scenario
Review summaries, visuals, and references before sharing results
Export or adapt content into formats such as Word, PowerPoint, or PDF, when available

This session is especially useful for market research, competitive analysis, planning, and stakeholder preparation where source visibility and review are important.

Presenters: Carl Mekala and Leo Daniel Gnanamanickam

Watch video.

Copilot Pages: Turn chat responses into editable, shareable content

Copilot Pages helps you take a Copilot response and turn it into content you can edit, refine, and collaborate on with others.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

Generate a structured draft from Copilot Chat
Continue working in a Copilot Page
Revise, expand, or reformat content using Copilot
Tailor content for different audiences and use cases
Share Pages for real-time collaboration across Teams, Outlook, or the Microsoft 365 app, depending on availability

This session is useful for brainstorming and content drafting, where teams need to turn ideas into shared, polished outputs.

Presenters: Cora Chen and Oby Omu

Watch video.

Copilot Notebooks: Organize project materials and get insights

Copilot Notebooks is designed to provide a focused workspace where you can bring together project materials such as files, notes, Pages, and other references to keep work grounded in the context you choose.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

Bring project references into one organized workspace
Use Notebook overviews to identify themes and insights
Guide responses with custom instructions
Ask questions grounded in your selected references
Generate supporting materials such as summaries or audio overviews, when available
Collaborate while managing sharing and permissions settings

This session is especially helpful for ongoing projects that involve multiple content sources, project planning, and cross-team collaboration.

Presenters: Medha Madangarli and Derek Liddell

Watch video.

Create: Turn ideas into branded visuals

Create can be used to generate visual assets and creative content from prompts, project context, and available brand resources.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

Generate visual concepts from prompts
Apply brand kits and brand elements, when available
Create social-ready assets such as carousel posts
Turn presentations into short videos or other shareable formats, when available
Refine outputs so they better align to your audience, message, and brand guidance

This session is useful for teams exploring practical ways to create shareable visual content while keeping brand alignment part of the process.

Presenters: Ludo Ulrich and Ray Curiel

Watch video.

Keep learning

Have questions after watching the series? Join us on Tuesday, June 30, for a live Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) with product experts focused on real-world scenarios, product tips, and questions from the community.

Whether you’re getting started or exploring advanced workflows, the AMA is a chance to hear practical guidance and learn how others are using Microsoft 365 Copilot app experiences in their everyday work.

Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!

Stay productive in new Outlook for Windows with these 5 features

Vicki_Milton — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 15:44:26 GMT

With the new Outlook for Windows, there are more ways than ever to stay organized, reduce everyday friction, and keep work moving across Mail, Calendar, meetings, and settings.

To help you make the transition from classic Outlook and explore new capabilities, we’ve compiled some of our favorite features for boosting productivity. (You can see even more little-known features in our Outlook blog: 15 productivity features in the new Outlook for Windows.)

1. Pin and snooze emails

The Pin feature allows you to select an email to always appear at the top of your inbox – useful for items you need to reference often or don’t want to lose track of. Just hover over a message and select the Pin button on the right.

Conversely, you can snooze an email from your inbox and have it reappear at a time you’d prefer to read it by right-clicking on the message, then selecting Snooze and choosing a date and time.

2. Automatically organize messages from a specific sender

With Sweep, you can create automatic actions for messages from a specific sender. For example, you can delete promotional mail after a set period, reducing manual cleanup and keeping your inbox focused on the tasks that matter. To use Sweep, select the broom icon on the ribbon, then select your desired rule.

3. Schedule emails to send later

Schedule Send lets you prepare messages whenever you want and send them at a time that works better for the recipient. No more leaving messages in Drafts indefinitely! To schedule an email, select the dropdown arrow next to the Send button, then select Schedule send and choose a date and time.

4. Stay informed on meetings you don’t attend

When you select Follow on a meeting, you get access to the meeting recap without having to attend. This can be useful if you have a conflict but need to know what was discussed or want to contribute to a brainstorm. Follow a meeting by selecting Follow when RSVPing to the invite.

5. Personalize your email accounts

Make your various inboxes more recognizable by assigning each one a custom name. You can rename accounts by selecting Settings > Accounts > Manage.

Your inbox just got a whole lot more manageable! Which feature will you try first?

Learn more tips and tricks: 15 productivity features in the new Outlook for Windows.

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From LaTeX to accessible PDFs: Transforming math workflows in Microsoft 365

PeteWu — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 15:45:00 GMT

Congratulations, Class of 2026! It's an exciting time looking forward to the next step in your journey. The rest of us salute you as we continue with our own journeys. For so many of us, math has been an integral part of the journey, enabling us to understand, solve, and build – which is why I'm very excited to share improved support for industry standard math formats in Microsoft 365 that make it easier to communicate inclusively with math.

Improved LaTeX support

LaTeX users, we heard you! You use LaTeX for your publications, Word for your documents, and PowerPoint for your presentations, and you need them to work well together. But it hasn’t been so easy since the LaTeX support in Word and PowerPoint didn’t handle all the complex math that you write.

With the latest version of Microsoft 365 in Beta Channel, LaTeX support is much more robust, making it easier than ever to bring your LaTeX into Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Rebuilt from the ground up, it supports more of the commands that you use. You can even include user-defined macros using \newcommand, \renewcommand, and \def in your equations.

How it works

Select the LaTeX expression including the \begin{environment}…\end{environment}, \[…\], $…$, $$....$$, or $...$ delimiters from your TeX document or Markdown and copy it to the clipboard by typing Ctrl + C (on Windows) or Command + C (on Mac).Selecting and copying LaTeX from a TeX document.
Open a new or existing file in Word, PowerPoint, or OneNote, then type Ctrl + V (on Windows) or Command + V (on Mac) to paste the LaTeX expression as native Office Math. In Excel, you can paste the text into a shape or SmartArt.Pasting delimited LaTeX into PowerPoint inserts native Office Math.

The LaTeX is automatically converted to native Office Math.

Tips and tricks

If the pasted text doesn’t include the delimiters, you can still easily convert it to native Office Math after pasting, by selecting the text and then selecting Insert > Equation while in LaTeX mode in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. And you can still convert native Office Math back to LaTeX if you need to edit it.
We heard that many of you write chemical formulas and equations in LaTeX, so we have added support for the \ce command from the mhchem package.

Copying delimited LaTeX using \ce and pasting into Word inserts a chemical formula.

We have published documentation for LaTeX support in Microsoft 365 to help you determine if you can use it for your content and integrate it into your workflow.

To the amazing LaTeX community: Thank you for building an incredible collection of content on the web and advancing science and human knowledge. I'm excited to see what you will do with Microsoft 365.

Great compatibility with MathML Core

MathML Core brings math to life on the web! With excellent support in all major web browsers, it's widely used in sites such as arXiv for math that's accessible and looks great.

In the latest version of Microsoft 365 in Beta Channel: Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Excel provide MathML Core on the clipboard, in the accessibility tree used by assistive technologies, in PDF, and in Open Document Format.

The Microsoft 365 apps continue to import MathML 3 well and then export it as MathML Core without <mfenced>, <maligngroup>, or <malignmark> elements and without mathvariant attribute values other than normal which have been dropped from MathML Core. This ensures compatibility with the web, assistive technologies, and other apps. One exception to be aware of is that the <menclose> element may be used.

MathML copied from Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, or Excel has been pasted into the HTML source for a webpage and it renders well in web browsers such as Firefox.

We have published documentation for MathML support in Microsoft 365 to help you assess compatibility with the other apps that you use.

PDF 2.0 standard format for math

Many publications are in PDF format, but unfortunately the PDFs are often inaccessible. You can help change that by using native Office Math in Word and PowerPoint and exporting PDFs using the built-in Export or Save As command! Word and PowerPoint are excellent at preserving accessibility of documents and presentations when exporting as PDF, and the latest version of the apps for Windows in Beta Channel builds upon this with great math accessibility. Now MathML is included in the PDF as associated files as specified in the PDF 2.0 standard. This allows people who rely on a screen reader to easily navigate and read the math in PDF viewers that support the format such as Firefox with JAWS, NVDA with MathCAT, or VoiceOver. While not all PDF viewers read the new standard format and not all assistive technologies provide a math navigation experience yet, support will expand in the future – and the support in Word and PowerPoint will increase the momentum.

How it works

Open a new or existing file in Word or PowerPoint for Windows.
Select File > Save or Save a Copy > More options... and select PDF (*.pdf) from the list of format.

Tips and tricks

You can also select File > Export > Create PDF/XPS Document > Create PDF/XPS.
Depending on what you have installed, additional commands from add-ins may appear in the File and Export menus. Use the commands listed above to use the built-in PDF export.
Support for exporting PDF with math in the new format is coming soon to Word and PowerPoint for Mac, iOS, and Android and to Word for the web. It is currently available in Word and PowerPoint for Windows in Beta Channel and PowerPoint for the web.

PDF exported from PowerPoint viewed in Firefox and read with JAWS Math Viewer.

A community effort

George Kersher, Sara Shunkwiler, Richard Orme, and I recently presented Accessible Math Unlocks STEM Education and Careers at the Microsoft Ability Summit 2026. You can download the materials from daisy.org/ability26.

To learn more about the man who built much of accessible math in Microsoft 365 over the course of many years, read our blog post: Meet Murray Sargent, the quiet force behind accessible math (who was recently awarded the Microsoft Accessibility Lifetime Achievement Award).

Professor Jeffrey Kuan at Ohio State University shared one of his research papers as a Word document attached below to help you see what you can do with accessible math in Microsoft 365.

Availability

Improved LaTeX support and MathML Core support are available in Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Excel for Windows in Version 2606 (Build 20105.20000) or later and in Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Excel for Mac in Version 16.110 (Build 26050500) or later in Beta Channel.
Accessibility of exported PDFs with math in the ISO-standarized PDF 2.0 file format is available in Word and PowerPoint for Windows in Version 2605 (Build 20018.20000) or later in Beta Channel and in PowerPoint for the web.

Features covered on this blog will roll out over time to enable us to monitor quality and performance, so some preview features may not be available to you right away. Also note that features may be paused, adjusted, or removed as part of that process.

Feedback

Please click Help > Feedback in the app you are using to submit your thoughts about these features. We would love to hear from you! You can help spread the word about how important it is to make math accessible by sharing this post with your networks and tag it with #Microsoft365Math.

We’re thrilled by the feedback we’ve received from customers about recent math enhancements to Microsoft 365:

From Brydon Bacaycay, Assistive Technology Coordinator, Harvard University: “Recent community-driven efforts to expand math authoring and reading options within Microsoft 365 are a shining example of what is needed to ensure that educators and learners have increased opportunities to engage with STEM content at all levels across the digital frontier. Each accessibility improvement in math supports broader, lifelong interoperability for everyone.”
From Dax Castro, Chax Training and Consulting: “It carried the underlying MathML you pasted into Word into the PDF and allows that to be discoverable by NVDA and JAWS so that it is voiced correctly and as a fallback, has the Alt Text on top of it. It’s a great solution!”
From Jennifer Marsala, Instructional Designer, Department of Mathematics, University of Houston: “Wow! I had a 20-page section of a textbook in Microsoft Word that was full of MathType equations – and with a few clicks of the mouse, Word changed them to all to native Office Math format in about 20 seconds! Thanks so much for adding this mass conversion feature!!!”

Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!

Shaping Copilot across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Katie Kivett — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 15:52:34 GMT

We’ve been working to make Microsoft 365 feel more connected and integrated with Copilot, available as a helpful thought partner, when you need it. We recently updated Word for the web, Excel for the web, and PowerPoint for the web as well as Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the Windows and Mac platforms with a consolidated, more visible entry point (Dynamic Action Button) at the bottom right of the apps that suggests actions from Copilot based on your document. You may have noticed similar entry points in other apps across Microsoft 365, all with access to the same Copilot.

As we continue to thoughtfully and intentionally shape how Copilot integrates with the tried-and-true workflows within Word, Excel and PowerPoint that you rely on, we’re listening, learning and improving as we go. To that end, we're already making a few updates based on feedback.

Updated entry points for Copilot

While we are seeing increased engagement with Copilot in Office apps with this update, we are also hearing the need for more control over how Copilot appears. Our vision is to evolve Copilot over time to be fully adaptive, flexible and personalized. For more on that see: A simplified system - Microsoft Design. In the short term, we've heard your feedback and are making some adjustments.

Move to ribbon option for the Copilot Dynamic Action Button

For customers who prefer using the ribbon, we’re adding a Move to ribbon option. We will be rolling this out soon, and you will see a new option when right-clicking the Dynamic Action Button.

Docking that stays in place while you work

The Dock option will continue to be available as well when you right-click or drag to button the right. You can still move it back onto the canvas whenever it fits your workflow or preference, allowing for flexibility, while still keeping Copilot easy and clear to access. So when you want the entry point close to the canvas but out of the way, you can dock it to the edge of the window. We are making an update so that the button will stay docked throughout your time in the document, instead of returning to its original position every time you engage with Copilot.

For more information about Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint and options for end-user and IT admin configuration, see our Support article here.

Looking ahead

6/5/2026 UPDATE: Updates mentioned in this post are now rolling out.

These updates will start rolling out soon in Word for the web, Excel for the web, and PowerPoint for the web as well as Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the Windows and Mac platforms. They are just a step on our journey toward a vision where Copilot is seamlessly integrated in Office to amplify, guide, and help you do your work, on your terms.

Stay tuned for more updates and we'll keep listening and evolving!

Meet Murray Sargent, the quiet force behind accessible math

SusanCockrell — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:54:12 GMT

If you’ve ever typed an equation into Microsoft Word, copied math from the web into a document, or relied on a screen reader to understand an equation, you’ve benefited from Murray Sargent’s work, even if you’ve never heard his name. As we celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we’re recognizing Murray, recipient of the Microsoft Accessibility Lifetime Achievement Award, for his extraordinary contributions to accessibility at Microsoft.

At 85, Murray is still contributing to Microsoft products, with a goal that sounds simple but is surprisingly hard to get right: make math not only readable, but writable, editable, and accessible for everyone.

Most people slow down at this stage of life. Murray is still shipping.

And what makes his story compelling is that his work has never really been about equations alone. It’s been about people. Students trying to finish homework independently. Researchers trying to express an idea clearly. Blind users trying not just to hear math, but to write it, revise it, and make it their own.

Murray is part of a long arc of computing history, from the earliest days of digital math display to accessibility breakthroughs that now reach millions of people every month.

From lasers to letters to living math

Murray’s path into this work started long before modern productivity software existed. As a Yale graduate student in theoretical physics, he was writing a dissertation in laser theory packed with Greek letters and notation that everyday typing tools handled badly.

One memory sticks with him because it’s so physical. The wife of one of his professors was typing a dissertation on an IBM typewriter and literally removed keys and replaced them with different keys just to type Greek letters. Even by the standards of the time, it was clunky.

For Murray, it was also revealing. The problem wasn’t the math. The problem was that the tools were getting in the way of people trying to express it.

That problem stayed with him.

When he finished his PhD and joined Bell Labs, he kept thinking about how math could be represented more naturally with computers. In 1968, because he needed to prepare slides and there was no PowerPoint waiting to save him, he created a way to display mathematical equations on presentation slides.

It wasn’t just a technical win. It gave shape to a belief that would guide the rest of his career: math should not be frozen in place. It should behave like text.

A career built around one stubborn question

By the time Murray joined Microsoft in 1992, he had already spent decades thinking about how people write math digitally. When he moved into the TextServices team supporting Word and RichEdit, he had a long-term goal: to bring high-quality math editing and display into Microsoft products in a way that felt natural and direct.

He’s candid that it took longer than he expected, but the goal never changed.

If you want a peek at the engineering stories he points to himself, Murray calls out work like LineServices and Mathematical typography in Office.

What fascinated him wasn’t just how equations looked. It was whether they could be edited like text. He wanted the promise of WYSIWYG editing: put your cursor where you want, change part of an equation, paste something into the middle of something else, and have it just work.

That shift matters more than it sounds. When math is treated like a picture, it becomes fragile. Harder to edit. Harder to speak. Harder to braille. Harder to make accessible. But when it is treated as structured, editable content, the door opens wider for everyone.

The part people miss about “math accessibility”

When people hear “accessible math,” many assume it’s mostly about reading. Murray gently disagrees.

“Most people seem to think that math accessibility is just providing math speech and braille for existing math in documents,” he says. “But for people documenting their own work or students writing up their math homework, math accessibility must include entering and editing math.”

That one shift changes the whole goal.

You are not just making equations understandable. You are making them authorable. For a blind student trying to finish homework independently, that difference is everything.

When braille changed the whole problem

Math braille became a turning point in Murray’s accessibility work.

He points to the Nemeth braille code, a linear format that predates FORTRAN. What grabbed him was that Nemeth showed you can represent sophisticated math in a linear way and still preserve meaning, even without visual layout.

That perspective fits perfectly with how he thinks about math formats like UnicodeMath. And it helps explain why he cares so much about structure. If the structure is right, math can travel. It can be spoken, displayed, edited, and felt on a refreshable braille display without losing what it means.

The tiny shortcut he’s proud of

If you ask Murray what behind the scenes contribution he’s proud of, he doesn’t point to something flashy. He points to a keyboard shortcut: Alt+X.

Alt+X converts Unicode character codes into symbols. For instance, pressing Alt+X in Microsoft Word toggles the text between its Unicode code value (221E) and the corresponding character (∞) in the same location.

It’s the kind of feature that feels small until you learn about it, and then it becomes part of how you think.

It’s also very on brand for him: practical, efficient, and quietly empowering.

The moment it stopped being hypothetical

Around the same time Murray’s work was taking off, Microsoft was beginning to rethink how accessibility work happened in the first place. Instead of building features and hoping they helped later, teams were starting to work more closely with the disability community to understand how people were actually interacting with math in real scenarios. That shift toward co design is now reflected in the company’s Inclusive Design hub, which emphasizes solving for one person’s needs in ways that extend to many.

For years, Murray hoped his work was helping people. But he didn’t always get direct confirmation.

He says he didn’t have confirmation until “the DAISY folks reported back that they wanted to recommend Microsoft Word for navigating a complex equation and having it understand when you entered a part of the equation”, but they just needed to eliminate some limitations.

“At that point, it really seemed like we could make math accessible,” he said. “I wish I had had that feedback back in 2017!”

That is the emotional center of this story. A person can work on something for decades and still wonder if it matters. Then, one piece of feedback validates your hypothesis and suddenly it is not theoretical anymore. The power of Murray’s work is also evident when you hear stories like that of Alex Benoit, now a senior developer on the Excel team, who recalled relying on Word’s equation tools throughout college and being “really, really grateful, even at the time” because they allowed him to write clean mathematical notation in his reports, even if he “didn’t know who to thank” at the time.

A moment of recognition, decades in the making

Yesterday, Murray's impact was recognized in a big way. He received the first-ever Microsoft Accessibility Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to digital math accessibility.

The award highlights the very work described throughout this story: helping make math in Microsoft Office more accessible for blind and low-vision users through innovations in equation editing, math speech, braille support, and structured digital math experiences.

During the ceremony, his work was described as life-changing, noting that these breakthroughs made it possible for students and professionals to read, write, and work with math in ways that were previously difficult or inaccessible.

It’s the kind of recognition that puts a spotlight on something Murray has focused on all along: not just making math visible, but making it usable for everyone.

Still curious, still building

In the past six months, in collaboration with Peter Wu and Rick Sailor, Murray has continued to build his legacy and make math accessible with new features like easier screen reading announcements while navigating equations and copy/paste equations using MathML.

Murray stays active outside of his passion for writing math code, too. His advice is simple and very him:

“Carpe diem! Regular exercise is possibly the best investment a person can make; eat healthful food; have good personal relationships; work hard on meaningful goals.”

He also names recent hikes he loved, including Mt. Wrightson (south of Tucson) and Sahale Arm in the North Cascades.

And yes, he has a cave photo near Sedona that belongs in the post because it’s the perfect visual shorthand for his whole vibe: still exploring, still climbing, still game.

A legacy written in equations and people

Murray’s legacy is not just standards work, file formats, or clever shortcuts.

It’s about making sure math, the language of science, education, and discovery, is available to everyone.

Not someday. Today.

If you’re a Microsoft 365 user or educator, you can explore math accessibility features right now in Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote. And if you want to go deeper, Murray has documented much of this work in his own words across years of posts, including his retirement reflection, “It’s been so fine!” and his story about early Windows days.

A faster, more efficient Editor experience with Narrator in Word

shireensalma — Tue, 19 May 2026 20:13:27 GMT

Hi, Insiders! We are Doug Geoffray and Shireen Salma, Product Managers on the Office Accessibility team. Today, we are excited to share improvements we’ve made to the Editor experience for people using Narrator in Word for Windows. Reviewing and fixing spelling and grammar issues will now be faster, clearer, and more efficient.

A faster, more efficient Editor experience with Narrator in Word

If you’re sighted, you can often catch spelling errors implicitly through visual cues like red squiggles. Those of us who use screen readers, by contrast, must take explicit steps to identify these same issues, which makes Editor an essential assistive experience for discovering and fixing spelling and grammar errors.

If you use screen readers, especially at higher speech rates, reviewing spelling and grammar issues in the Editor pane can feel inefficient and overwhelming. Previously, when moving through errors, Narrator would announce a large amount of information at once, repeat labels, read out spelling at full speed, and required extra navigation steps or keystrokes just to reach suggestions or take remediation actions. While complete, this experience often made it harder to focus on what mattered most: what the error is and how to fix it efficiently.

With this update, we focused on streamlining how errors, context, and suggestions are presented (without changing the visual UI) so you can work more efficiently and with less cognitive load when you use screen readers.

How it works

In your Word document and with Narrator on, press F7 to initiate spellcheck. Narrator will voice the error type, the word in error, the context of the error, number of suggestions, followed by each suggestion.
On your keyboard, press number 1 to activate the first suggestion, press number 2 to activate the second, and so on.
Press the letter i for Ignore once, the letter g for Ignore all, and the letter a for Add to dictionary.

Tips and tricks

Here is what you can expect with this update to Editor.

Clearer, more focused announcements: When you move to a spelling or grammar issue in the Editor pane, Narrator now presents information in a more intentional order:

The type of issue (for example, spelling or grammar).
The problematic word or phrase.
The sentence context, so you understand how the error appears in your writing.
Available suggestions to fix the issue.
For spelling errors, Narrator will also slow down temporarily when spelling out the incorrect word, making it easier to understand, even if you normally use a fast speech rate. This approach reduces unnecessary repetition while ensuring you still get the information you need to decide what to do next.

Faster access to suggestions and actions: We’ve improved keyboard efficiency so fewer key presses are required to fix issues. These changes help you move from one issue to the next with less friction and fix any spelling issue with a single key press:

Simply press 1 to activate the first suggestion, press 2 to activate the second, and so on.
Press the letter i for Ignore once, g for Ignore all, and a for Add to dictionary. These keys now perform the action directly instead of just moving focus.
The overall tab and arrow navigation order has been refined to reduce the number of key presses and keep it efficient.

Availability

This improved Narrator spellcheck experience is available in Word for Windows for users running Version 2601 (Build 19725.20126) or later. You also need to be running one of these three Windows OS versions or later:

28000.1764 (26H1 Windows)
26200.8116 (25H2 Windows)
26100.8116 (24H2 Windows)

Recent accessibility posts

We have heard from some of you that you'd love to be able to keep track of the availability status of accessibility experiences and features we have covered on our blog in the past several months, so take a look below and do let us know if this provides the information you are looking for.

Blog	Feature availability status
Better contrast checking for slides in PowerPoint \| Microsoft Community Hub	Current channel
Accessibility Assistant now flags inaccessible hyperlinks	Current channel

Feedback

We’d love to hear how this experience works for you. Open Editor review issues with Narrator, and let us know what you think by selecting Give Feedback to Microsoft in Word.

Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!

Choose how OneNote opens Microsoft 365 file links

Daniel Beade — Tue, 19 May 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Hi, Insiders! I am Daniel Beade, a Product Manager on the OneNote Notebooks team. I’m excited to share with you a new capability in OneNote for Windows and Mac that gives you more flexibility in how Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote file links open.

Get more control over how links open in OneNote

Whether you’re reviewing a report, jumping into a presentation, or revisiting linked content, moving seamlessly between files when you’re working in OneNote is key to staying in flow.

That’s why we’re introducing a new capability that gives you more control over how you open links from OneNote. You now have a choice: links can open either in your browser or in the desktop app.

The default setting is for files to open in your browser, but it’s easy to change your preference in your OneNote settings.

How to use

You can update your preference directly in OneNote settings.

How to update your link open preference in OneNote for Windows:

Go to File, then Options.
Navigate to Advanced.
From the menu in Link open preference, choose desktop or browser.

How to update your link open preference in OneNote for Mac:

On the top menu bar, go to OneNote, then Preferences.
In the OneNote Preferences dialog box that opens, select Navigation.
Under Link open preference, choose Desktop or Browser.

Browser vs desktop scenarios

This new setting allows you to tailor your experience based on how you prefer to work because different tasks call for different workflows:

If you’re quickly scanning content or referencing material, opening in the browser can be fast and lightweight.
If you’re editing, reviewing in depth, or working across multiple files, opening in the desktop app can provide a rich experience without leaving the app.

Availability

This feature is available to OneNote users running:

Windows: Version 2603 (Build 19820.20000) or later.
Mac: Version 16.110 (Build 26050124) or later.

Features covered on this blog will rollout over time to enable us to monitor quality and performance, so some preview features may not be available to you right away. Also note that features may be paused, adjusted, or removed as part of that process.

Feedback

We want to hear from you! Please submit your comments and feedback by selecting Help > Feedback in OneNote.

Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!

Goodbye Together mode, hello simplified meeting layouts in Microsoft Teams

KatarinaTranker — Thu, 14 May 2026 15:33:35 GMT

Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders! I’m Katarina Tranker, a Product Manager on the Teams team. Today, I’d like to share an important update: Beginning June 30^th, the Together mode experience will no longer be available.

Moving to a simpler meeting layout experience

We’re always working to make meetings easier to join, simpler to manage, and better for everyone, regardless of device or network conditions.

As part of that ongoing effort, we’re retiring Together mode in Microsoft Teams. This change helps:

Simplify the meeting experience
Reduce complexity behind the scenes
Focus our engineering investments on improvements that benefit every Teams meeting such as video quality, stability, and performance.

Today, the core need Together mode was designed to support, namely seeing the people who matter in a meeting, can now be fully met by the modern Gallery view, which can display up to 49 participants at once.

What’s changing?

As this update rolls out:

The Together mode toggle will be removed from the meeting View menu.
Scenes and custom scenes, including seat assignments, will be retired along with Together mode.
Organizations that used scenes for brand presence can instead use organization‑provided branded backgrounds, including frosted glass options.

Meanwhile, the modern Gallery will automatically scale the number and size of participant video tiles based on device capability, helping sustain smooth frame rates and consistent meeting quality across a wide range of environments.

Why are we making this change?

Over time, Microsoft Teams has added several meeting layout options including Gallery, Large Gallery, Together mode, and dynamic views.

While choice can be helpful, having too many layout options can also:

Increase cognitive load for users
Fragment the meeting experience across desktop, web, mobile, and Teams Rooms
Add implementation complexity across platforms

By consolidating on a single, adaptable Gallery experience, we can:

Simplify the meeting interface and deliver a more consistent experience across devices.
Deliver higher and more stable video quality across meetings by focusing on client-optimized rendering.
Free up service capacity that can be reinvested into foundational video improvements that you have asked us to prioritize such as super‑resolution, denoising, and improved color accuracy

Expected benefits

With this change, you can expect:

Fewer clicks, less hunting: A single Gallery view that “just works,” with built‑in tools like pin and spotlight to keep presenters and key participants visible.
Smoother video on modest devices: Adaptive video tile counts help prevent machine overload and reduce choppiness.
Faster innovation: Consolidating on one layout pipeline helps us deliver quality improvements more quickly to all Teams users.

Tips for creating a cohesive meeting experience with Gallery

You can still create a collaborative and engaging meeting environment using:

Pinning to keep important speakers visible
Spotlighting to focus attention on presenters
Branded backgrounds to maintain a cohesive team presence
Dual displays, when available, to balance participants and shared content

Admins can deploy and enforce organization‑provided backgrounds through the Teams Admin Center to help ensure consistency across meetings.

Scenarios to try

In your next team meeting:

Use Gallery with pinning or spotlight to keep presenters in focus.
Publish one or two branded background images for your team.

Availability

Together mode will be removed progressively across platforms following Teams’ standard safe‑deployment process.

NOTE: Targeted Release or Public Preview users may see this change earlier.

We recommend monitoring the Microsoft 365 Message Center for rollout timing by platform and cloud.

Feedback

Your feedback helps us continue improving meetings for everyone. Share your thoughts and your experience with the modern Gallery in Teams by selecting Help > Give feedback.

New Copilot entry points, smart suggestions, and keyboard-first design

Clint Covington — Wed, 13 May 2026 23:46:04 GMT

Copilot is evolving to become a true thought partner inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft apps and services such as Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint. The ability for Copilot to better connect to your content when using a keyboard and screen readers has been part of that evolution.

We heard from many of you that you’re unsure how to start engaging with Copilot. We’re now offering proactive suggestions right from the Copilot button. Simply hover over it or leverage keyboard shortcuts and start engaging. Before you know it, Copilot will be editing your content directly from conversation.

This update is part of a broader effort to create a more streamlined and intuitive Copilot experience. Learn more about the design principles behind this approach.

How Copilot shows up

To streamline access to Copilot and proactive suggestions, we’re reducing the number of entry points to two locations:

A Copilot icon at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
A contextual entry point when you interact with content, such as selecting text.

When you are ready to focus on your content and move the entry point, right-click the Copilot button and select Dock. Coming soon, you will also be able to drag the icon to dock to the right of the content you’re focused on and minimize it (or left of content for right-to-left locales). To re-engage with Copilot after docking, simply click the smaller icon or drag it back.

Smart suggestions to get you started

Alongside the new canvas entry point, you'll see curated suggestions designed to help you understand how Copilot can take action or what improvements can be made to your content.

As you refine content, suggestions evolve from helping you decide what to write to shaping how it’s written, and finally to validate whether it’s ready to share. As you select more specific content—the whole document, a section, a paragraph, a sentence, or even just a word—the suggestions become increasingly targeted, moving from broad drafting guidance to precise edits, rewrites, and fixes for the selected text.

Updated keyboard shortcuts

For those of you who have been using Alt + H, F, X to open the Copilot pane, you can now just press F6 instead to give focus to the Copilot button. Then, use the up arrow to move between suggested prompts.

Copilot keyboard shortcuts are being unified across Microsoft 365 apps and services, as well as across platforms, bringing consistency and supporting keyboard-first users and anyone using a screen reader. They are available in Outlook and Word for Windows and Mac in English today. Other apps are coming soon.

Platform	Shortcut	Action
Windows (Win32 and Web)	Alt + C	Sets focus on the Copilot button in the canvas. If the Copilot Chat pane is already open, focus moves to the chat edit box so you can begin typing immediately.
Mac (Desktop and Web)	Cmd + Control + I	Sets focus on the Copilot button in the canvas.
All platforms	F6	Moves focus to the Copilot button in the canvas.

Availability

The new Copilot button and updated shortcuts are rolling out to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Windows and Mac, with web coming soon. They will reach general availability by early June.

Windows: Build 2606 (Version 19822.20182) or later
Mac: Build 16.108 (Version 26050324) or later

The new simplified Alt + C and Cmd + Control + I shortcuts are available today in Outlook and Word for Windows and Mac in English. Other apps are coming soon, rolling out across languages shortly after the new entry point. If the shortcuts are still not available in the app or language you’re using, remember you can use F6 today for navigation.

Share your feedback

We'd love to hear from you, especially from those of you navigating Microsoft apps with keyboards or screen readers. How is working with Copilot in the apps, including new entry points and shortcuts working for you? Use the thumbs up or thumbs down buttons in the Copilot, share feedback in the app or in the comments below.

Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!

Plan a fun Family Wellness Month with Copilot

StephanieParry — Thu, 07 May 2026 17:37:21 GMT

May is Family Wellness Month, and with the help of Copilot, you can turn your family’s wellness goals into tailored plans and activities in seconds.

Here are some ideas to get you started!

Plan a device-free family week

Looking to cut back on screen time and spend more meaningful time together? Copilot can help you structure a realistic plan that keeps everyone engaged.

Try this prompt

Plan a one-week “device-free evenings” challenge for my family. My kids are in 7^th and 9^th grade. We all like games and crafts but we get bored with the usual so we often turn to our screens. Suggest screen-free activities for each night that encourage movement, creativity, and connection.

Use this prompt to quickly generate a week’s worth of ideas, from outdoor play to creative indoor projects, so you can focus less on planning and more on enjoying the time together.

Introduce mindfulness for the whole family

Wellness isn’t just about movement. It’s also about slowing down and being present. Copilot can help you introduce simple mindfulness routines that work for both kids and adults, and that you can practice together as a family.

Try this prompt

Suggest 5 simple mindfulness or meditation activities my family and I can do together, including step-by-step instructions and tips to keep my kids engaged. My kids are 6, 8, and 11.

This is a great way to explore short, approachable practices, like breathing exercises or gratitude rituals, that fit easily into your day.

Turn fitness into fun

Getting active doesn’t have to be limited to workouts. Copilot can help you reframe fitness as something playful and something everyone looks forward to.

Try this prompt

My family lives in Tampa, FL, and includes two active high schoolers who enjoy baseball and softball. Give me 10 fun, game-based fitness activities for my family that make exercise feel like play rather than a workout. Include both indoor and outdoor options.

In seconds, you’ll have a list of creative ideas that make it easier to keep everyone moving.

Make wellness simple with Copilot

Family Wellness Month is a great opportunity to build habits that last, but it can be hard to know where to start. Copilot helps you turn broad goals into clear, actionable ideas, tailored to your family’s needs. With just a few prompts, you can spend less time planning and more time making the most of May together.

Watch Part 2 of our video series: Navigate a busy workday with Copilot

AliciaAl-Aryan — Tue, 05 May 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Hello again, Insiders! We are Alicia Al-Aryan, Oby Omu, and Patrick Gan, program managers on the Microsoft 365 Copilot app team. We’re passionate about helping people learn how to use Copilot to make work easier, get more productive, and stay on top of everyday tasks, which is the inspiration behind our video series. If you haven't seen it yet, check out Part 1: Getting started with the Copilot app.

The videos we have created for Part 2 demonstrate how the Microsoft 365 Copilot app can help you get through your workday. This series is for you if you have ever started your day thinking, “Where do I even start?”

How the Microsoft 365 Copilot app fits into a busy workday

The topics of these short videos tackle a common reality for many of us: with work spread across meetings, files, chats, and ongoing projects, getting oriented can take more time than expected. Each episode focuses on a simple, everyday moment where Copilot can help you quickly understand what’s going on and decide what to do next.

📸 Video 1 | Start your day with Chat

Use Chat to get a quick snapshot of your day: upcoming meetings, tasks, recent updates, and anything you might have missed, all in one place.

Presenter: Caroline Chen

👀 Video 2 | Preview files before opening them

File Preview Cards can help you quickly understand what’s in a file without needing to open it. Find what you’re looking for fast without opening a bunch of files!

Presenter: David Stephens

⚡ Video 3 | Catch up on meetings with video highlights

When you miss a meeting (or just need the gist), this video highlights how Copilot surfaces key moments from a meeting recording—no speed‑watching required.

Presenter: Constance Gervais

📖 Video 4 | Pull project context together with Copilot Notebooks

The final episode shows how Copilot Notebooks bring related documents, meetings, and references into one place, helping you get up to speed on a project faster.

Presenter: Caroline Chen

Together, these short videos are meant to reflect real workdays — the moments where you’re trying to catch up, regain context, or refocus — and show how the Copilot app fits into those moments in practical ways.

If you haven’t checked them out yet, they’re quick to watch and easy to skim between meetings.

Stay connected

Check out the other videos in our series!

We’ll continue building this series with additional short videos and deeper learning moments that can help you get more value from the Microsoft 365 Copilot app as part of your everyday work.

Continue the conversation by joining us in the Microsoft 365 community. Want to share best practices or join community events? Become a member!

For tips & tricks or to stay up to date on the latest news and announcements directly from the product teams, make sure to Follow or Subscribe to the Microsoft 365 community blog.

📚 Keep learning

Try the Microsoft 365 Copilot app and learn more ways to be productive.
Dig deeper into real-world Microsoft 365 app scenarios with our webinar series.
Find tools for Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and agent deployment and adoption that deliver value and employee satisfaction.
Learn how to use the Microsoft 365 Copilot app from Microsoft Support.
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