Announcing the 2026 Microsoft 365 Community Conference Keynotes
The Microsoft 365 Community Conference returns to Orlando this April, bringing together thousands of builders, innovators, creators, communicators, admins, architects, MVPs, and product makers for three unforgettable days of learning and community. This year’s theme, “A Beacon for Builders, Innovators & Icons of Intelligent Work,” celebrates the people shaping the AI‑powered future — and the keynote lineup reflects exactly that. These leaders will set the tone for our biggest, boldest M365 Community Conference. Below is your first look at the official 2026 keynote order and what to expect from each session. Opening Keynote Jeff Teper — President, Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps & Platforms Building for the future: Microsoft 365, Agents and AI, what's new and what's next Join Jeff Teper, to discover how AI-powered innovation across Copilot, Teams, and SharePoint is reshaping how people communicate, create, and work together. This session highlights what’s new, what’s fundamentally different, and why thoughtful design continues to matter. See the latest advances in AI and agents, gain insight into where collaboration is headed, and learn why Microsoft is the company to continue to bet on when it comes to building what’s next. Expect: New breakthroughs in collaboration powered by AI and agents Fresh innovations across Teams, Copilot, and SharePoint Practical guidance on how design continues to shape effective teamwork Real world demos that show how AI is transforming communication and content Insight into what is new, what is changing, and what is coming next Business Apps & Agents Keynote Charles Lamanna — President, Business Apps & Agents In this keynote, Charles Lamanna will share how Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, Power Apps, and Agent 365 come together to help makers build powerful agents and help IT teams deploy and govern them at scale. We’ll share how organizations can design, extend, and govern a new model for the intelligent workplace – connecting data, workflows, and systems into intelligent agents that move work forward. Copilot, apps, and agents: the next platform shift for Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365 Copilot has changed how we interact with software. Now AI agents are changing how work gets done – moving from responding to prompts to taking action, across the tools and data your organization already relies on. Expect: A clear explanation of how to leverage and build with Copilot and agents How agents access data, use tools, and complete multi-step work A deeper look at the latest capabilities across Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Power Apps End-to-end demos of agents in action Security, Trust & Responsible AI Keynote Vasu Jakkal — Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security & Rohan Kumar — Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security, Purview & Trust In our third keynote, Vasu Jakkal and Rohan Kumar join forces to address one of the most urgent topics of the AI era: trust and security at scale. As organizations accelerate into AI‑powered work, safeguarding identities, data, compliance, and governance is mission‑critical. Securing AI: Building Trust in the Era of AI Join Vasu Jakkal and Rohan Kumar as they unveil Microsoft’s vision for securing the new frontier of AI—showing how frontier firms are protecting their data, identities, and models amid rapid AI adoption. This session highlights how Microsoft is embedding security and governance into every layer of our AI platforms and unifying Purview, Defender, Entra, and Security Copilot to defend against threats like prompt injection, model tampering, and shadow AI. You’ll see how built-in protections across Microsoft 365 enable responsible, compliant AI innovation, and gain practical guidance to strengthen your own security posture as AI transforms the way everyone works. Expect: Microsoft's unified approach to secure AI transformation Forward‑looking insights across Security, Purview & Trust Guidance for building safe, responsible AI environments How to protect innovation without slowing momentum Future of Work Fireside Keynote Dr. Jaime Teevan — Chief Scientist & Technical Fellow, Microsoft Dr. Jaime Teevan, one of the foremost thought leaders on AI, productivity, and how work is evolving. In this intimate fireside‑style session, she’ll share research, real‑world insights, and Microsoft’s learnings from being both the maker and the first customer of the AI‑powered workplace. Expect: Insights from decades of workplace research The human side of AI transformation Practical guidance for leaders, creators, and practitioners Why collaboration is essential to unlock the true potential of AI. Community Closer Keynote Karuana Gatimu - Director, Microsoft Customer Advocacy Group & Heather Cook - Principal PM, MIcrosoft Customer Advocacy Group From Momentum to Movement: Where Community Goes Next As the final moments of Microsoft 365 Community Conference come to a close, Heather Cook and Karuana Gatimu invite the community to pause, reflect, and look forward together. This Community Closer keynote connects the breakthroughs, conversations, and shared experiences of the week into a bigger story—one about people, purpose, and progress. Together, they’ll explore how community transforms technology into impact, how advocates and builders shape what’s next across Microsoft 365, and why this moment matters more than ever. More than a recap, this session is a call to action—challenging attendees to take the energy of the conference back to their teams, regions, and communities, and turn inspiration into sustained momentum. You’ll leave not just with ideas, but with clarity, confidence, and a renewed sense of belonging—because community doesn’t end when the conference does. It’s where the real work begins. More Than Keynotes: Why You’ll Want to Be in Orlando The M365 Community Conference brings together: 200+ sessions and breakouts 21 hands‑on workshops 200+ Microsoft engineers and product leaders onsite The Microsoft Innovation Hub Ask the Experts, Meet & Greets, and Community Studio Women in Tech & Allies Luncheon SharePoint’s 25th Anniversary Celebration And an epic attendee party at Universal’s Islands of Adventure Whether you create, deploy, secure, govern, design, or lead with Microsoft 365 — this is your community, and this is your moment. Join Us for the Microsoft 365 Community Conference April 21–23, 2026 Loews Sapphire Falls & Loews Royal Pacific 👉 Register now: https://aka.ms/M365Con26 Use the SAVE150 code for $150USD off current pricing Come be part of the global community building the future of intelligent work.What to Expect from the Copilot & AI Sessions at Microsoft 365 Community Conference
AI isn’t a side conversation at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference—it’s at the center of how work is changing. The Copilot, Agents, & Copilot Services Sessions are designed for anyone who wants to move beyond curiosity and into real-world application. This is an opportunity to learn how Copilot works today and how agents extend it. You will also explore how organizations can govern, scale, and operationalize AI across Microsoft 365. Questions these sessions will help answer: How do we move from experimentation to real value? How do we scale AI responsibly? How do agents fit into the way we already work? What skills do teams need next? Business leaders, IT pros, developers, and community practitioners will join sessions to find practical insights into how AI shows up in your daily work, and what it takes to deploy it responsibly and effectively. There will also be a focus on change management, champion programs, and adoption frameworks, because deploying AI isn’t just a technical decision, it’s a cultural one. From Copilot to Agents: The Shift from Assistance to Action One of the biggest themes across the sessions are the evolution from AI as a helper to AI as an active participant in work. If you’re curious about what “agentic AI” actually means in practice, attending these sessions will make it concrete. Join your peers as you learn how Microsoft 365 Copilot is being extended through agents that reason, act, and automate. Learn about agent orchestration across tools like Copilot Studio, SharePoint, Teams, Planner, and Power Platform. Discover new agent patterns including declarative agents, multi-agent configurations, workflows agents, and computer-use agents. In these sessions you’ll explore how agents can: Take action on your behalf and do more than suggest content. Work across apps, data sources, and workflows. Participate alongside humans as part of the team. Real Adoption Stories (Not Just Demos)! Go beyond feature walkthroughs to focus on how organizations are actually adopting Copilot and agents at scale. In these adoption stories you’ll hear: How Microsoft uses Copilot and agents internally as Customer Zero. What adoption looks like across large enterprises, frontline environments, and regulated industries. Lessons learned from early adopters—what worked, what didn’t, and what they’d do differently. Governance, Trust, and Control Are Front and Center AI adoption only works when people trust it—and trust is built through strong governance. Learn how organizations are balancing innovation with oversight and enabling teams to build and use agents while maintaining enterprise-grade guardrails. A significant portion of the Copilot & AI track is dedicated to: Agent lifecycle management. Security, compliance, and data protection. Preventing oversharing and managing risk. Observability and control using tools like Agent 365, Microsoft Purview, and Copilot Control System. This is especially valuable for IT and security leaders who are being asked to “move fast” without compromising standards. Building with Copilot: No-Code, Low-Code, and Pro-Code Paths No matter where you sit on the technical spectrum, there’s a clear path to learning how to build responsibly and effectively. Not everyone builds the same way and organizations need prompt engineering that delivers results. In these sessions you’ll learn how to choose the right agent type for the job, extending Copilot with enterprise data, and designing agents that are production ready—not just impressive in demos. These sessions are tailored to: Business users and makers getting started with Copilot Studio Low-code developers extending Copilot with workflows, connectors, and prompts Pro developers building advanced agents using APIs, MCP servers, Microsoft Graph, SharePoint Embedded, and Azure AI Copilot in the Flow of Everyday Work Rather than abstract AI concepts, you’ll see end-to-end workflows that demonstrate how Copilot helps people save time, reduce manual work, and focus on higher-value outcomes. The emphasis in these sessions is on practical impact, not hype showing how AI is grounded in real work. These sessions will showcase Copilot and agents embedded into: Meetings, chats, and channels. Task and project management. Content creation and knowledge management. Business processes and frontline operations. Why the Copilot and AI track matters If AI is part of your roadmap, or already part of your day, this track will show you how strategy can meet execution. Join us to explore clear mental models for Copilots and agents, see real examples you can apply to your work, and gain a better understanding of what’s now—and what’s coming next. Each year, #M365Con26 is built around one simple idea: bringing our global community together to learn, grow, innovate, and get hands-on with the technologies shaping the next era of work. This year’s conference delivers our most expansive program yet, including: 200+ sessions, workshops, and AMAs, covering Microsoft 365 Copilot, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Copilot Studio, and more. 100+ Microsoft-led sessions, giving you unprecedented access to the people building the apps and AI capabilities you use every day. A keynote lineup featuring Microsoft leaders including Jeff Teper, Charles Lamanna, Vasu Jakkal, Rohan Kumar, Jaime Teevan, and many more. Deep-dive workshops to elevate your skills with real-world scenarios and hands-on learning. Exclusive attendee parties and networking events where you can connect with peers and icons. You’ll also get the chance to meet hundreds of Microsoft executives, engineers, and product leaders—ask questions, share feedback, and help shape the roadmap of the technologies you rely on. Register now, save $150 with code SAVE150 - https://aka.ms/M365ConRegisterMicrosoft Takes Aim at ChatGPT
Microsoft would very much like Microsoft 365 tenants to use Copilot instead of ChatGPT. A recent comparison between Copilot and ChatGPT outlines some areas that Microsoft thinks are important when deciding which AI tool to use. Microsoft has a point because Copilot is embedded into Microsoft 365 whereas ChatGPT is more of an add-on. The competition for hearts and minds is very intense in the AI space. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/20/copilot-and-chatgpt/Copilot Pages & Notebooks, Microsoft Loop: IT Admin Update – December 2025
For background, check out last year's Nov 2024 IT Admin update. Here's this year's progress and summary: Many key governance, lifecycle, and compliance features for Loop workspaces and Copilot Pages & Notebooks are now available. Learn more here Key deliverables remaining: M365 Group enforcement for shared Loop workspaces Departed User workflows for Copilot Pages, Notebooks, and the My workspace in Loop Multi-Geo Create in user's PDL for shared Loop workspaces Read the rest for details What’s Delivered (since Nov 2024) Sensitivity Labels for Loop workspaces Learn more here Guest Sharing for Loop (Entra B2B: Jul 2024 | for orgs with Sensitivity Labels: Mar 2025) Learn more here Retention Labels for Loop pages and components Learn more here Admin Management: Membership, ownership, deletion, restoration, search, filter, in SharePoint Embedded Admin Center and PowerShell for containers Learn more here Promote Members to Owners for Loop workspaces Learn more here M365 Group owned workspaces: managed by M365 Groups for workspaces created within Teams channels Learn more here Also, check out the latest from Ignite 2025 on Unlocking Productivity with Copilot Pages. What’s In Progress / Coming Soon Feature / Scenario Status Target Date Notes Enforce Microsoft 365 group-owned Loop workspaces In development Q1 CY'26 - 422725 IT policy to require Microsoft 365 groups for lifecycle management of shared Loop workspaces Multi-Geo Create In development Q4 CY'25 - 421616 All new Loop workspaces saved in creator’s PDL geo Departed User Workflow In development Q1 CY’26 - 421612 Temporary or permanent reassignment of existing user-owned containers, copy capability for data URL to Open Containers in app In development Q1 CY'26 - 421612 Application Redirect URL that opens in app when clicked if user has permissions User-Accessible Recycle Bin In development H1 CY’26 - 421615 Restore deleted Copilot Pages, Notebooks from Microsoft 365 Copilot app, restore deleted workspaces from Loop app Groups as Members (tenant-owned) In development H1 CY’26 Invite Microsoft 365 groups as members to Notebooks and workspaces Graph APIs for management In development H1 CY'26 For organizations with dev teams and in house management tools Read-only members Paused Due to lower overall feedback volumes, this work is paused Target date disclaimer: dates and features are estimates and may change. For the latest status, see the Microsoft 365 Public Roadmap links. Instead of creating and repeating content directly in the post this year, our IT Admin documentation on learn.microsoft.com and the Microsoft 365 Public Roadmap has been updated based on the above. We recognize that lack of some of these capabilities may still block your rollout. Please drop questions in the comments or reach out to us through your account team. We're excited to be enabling the rollouts of Copilot Pages, Notebooks, and Loop workspaces in your organization.Code Error Allowed Copilot Chat to Expose Confidential Information
A code error allowed Copilot Chat to expose confidential email. Microsoft is fixing the problem, but it’s a reminder of how AI can expose information of Microsoft 365 tenants don’t use available features to restrict AI access. Those features need to be configured and deployed, but that doesn’t take much effort. It’s better than users complaining when Copilot exposes their most secret thoughts. https://office365itpros.com/2026/02/13/dlp-policy-for-copilot-bug/
How do I turn off copilot if it's not in the options?
This provided screenshot is what I get with Word Options. There are no copilot settings in Word Options in my copy of Office, I cannot find any way of turning it off, and yet copilot has gotten so much worse by giving me three suggestions (at the top of the window, suggesting what kind of content I should make) every time I open a new document. Copilot just keeps getting more intrusive, and I want to shut it off. The more it's shoved in my face, the less I want to use it. I don't know why you're making it so intrusive, I've never heard of anyone actually LIKING this stuff. Why would someone want suggestions as to what kind of document to make? It's far worse than Clippy could even dream of. I haven't tried uninstalling and reinstalling Office yet, but I don't want to have to go through and change a bunch of options again (that I always forget, there are so many options that I have to change to make it usable, like turning off the awful Backstage when saving) unless it's truly necessary to fix this problem. If it gets updated regularly (like the update that gives three Copilot suggestions every time I open a new document), I don't see why reinstalling it would fix the problem. But maybe reinstalling is the answer--if it IS the answer, I just want confirmation that it has actually worked for other people, and not just a generic answer that hasn't been confirmed.Microsoft 365 Exceeds 450 Million Commercial Paid Seats
Microsoft FY26 Q2 results included a new figure for Microsoft 365 commercial paid seats: “over 450 million.” Seats are growing at a consistent 6% year-over-year rate, and the June 2026 increases could mean an extra $10 billion or so revenue. In other news, we learned that Microsoft 365 Copilot has 15 million paid seats, or roughly 3.33% of the Microsoft 365 installed base. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/30/microsoft-fy26-q2-results/
