Retiring Teams live events: The next chapter for events at scale in Microsoft Teams
Today, we’re announcing the retirement of Microsoft Teams live events and the associated Microsoft Graph APIs used to create Teams live events. This change will go into effect June 30, 2026, as part of our ongoing effort to continue to modernize our event experiences and deliver a more powerful and flexible solution for large-scale communications.
Announcing general availability for Microsoft Teams optimization in Amazon WorkSpaces
This release introduces the first-ever Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) optimization for Microsoft Teams on Amazon WorkSpaces for Windows endpoints, delivering a seamless, high-performance collaboration experience. A First for AWS Customers Previously, Amazon WorkSpaces users did not have access to a fully optimized Teams experience. With this release, AWS environments now offer VDI support for Teams, bringing long-requested capabilities to both Personal and Pool Windows WorkSpaces client configurations. What’s New: Key Features and Benefits Multimedia Offloading: Audio and video processing are now offloaded from the virtual desktop to users’ endpoint devices, resulting in smoother, more responsive calls and meetings. High-Definition Audio and Video: Experience crisp, clear video and audio for remote meetings that feel natural and engaging, with improved reliability and reduced latency. Feature Parity: Enjoy Teams experience on Amazon WorkSpaces that matches the functionality of desktop Teams clients. Previously, Teams' audio and video streams on Amazon WorkSpaces were routed through the virtual machine, which could add latency and influence the quality of the media experience. With this update, media processing is handled directly on the endpoint device - audio and video now bypass the VM entirely. Currently, this optimization is available specifically for Amazon WorkSpaces accessed via the Windows WorkSpaces Client –AppStream and other platforms are not yet supported. Behind the Optimization: Step-by-Step Breakdown When a user launches Teams in Amazon WorkSpaces VM the following sequence occurs: The MS Teams VDI Bridge on the VM detects that MS Teams is running inside a virtual machine and initiates the virtual channel between the VM and the endpoint device. Amazon WorkSpaces loads the MSTeamsPlugin.dll on the user's endpoint device. Plugin downloads and installs the required Slimcore MSIX package from the Microsoft Public CDN on the endpoint device. The local process MsTeamsVDI.exe is spawned which handles the media offload to the endpoint device All this sequence is abstracted from the user and happens in the background. Customer Success: Real-World Impact André Akkerman, Director of Workplace Technology at Wolters Kluwer, shared the following: “Our Amazon WorkSpaces users initially faced some challenges with Microsoft Teams video conferencing, including connection stability, system performance, and audio-video quality. These technical limitations impacted our ability to provide a rich collaboration service in our remote and hybrid work virtual environment. Working together with AWS and Microsoft, we implemented MS Teams Optimization for Amazon WorkSpaces across our global user base in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions. The results have been outstanding.” Juan Rivera, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, added: “Microsoft Teams users expect seamless collaboration experiences across any environment,” said Juan Rivera, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft. “With Teams VDI2 optimization, we are delivering innovative capabilities that transform virtual desktop performance, offering rich functionality, smooth audio and video experiences, and exceptional reliability. By enabling direct endpoint routing for media traffic, organizations can provide employees with the high-quality Teams experience they expect while maintaining flexibility and optimizing infrastructure costs.” Getting Started with Teams VDI Optimization Ready to take advantage of Teams VDI optimization on Amazon WorkSpaces? Visit our website to get step by step guide and ensure your WorkSpaces environment is configured for the new Teams VDI optimization.Microsoft Teams events: A new unified experience makes it easier to discover, create, and manage events
Today’s organizational challenges and growing complexity can make it difficult to create meaningful connections with audiences, whether engaging employees or reaching a dispersed customer base. Having the right tools to navigate the demands of large-scale communication for digital and hybrid events is critical to achieving business objectives. We are excited to introduce the new Teams events experience designed to simplify how events are discovered, created, and managed. Now in public preview, Teams events represents the next step in delivering professional, high-quality events, featuring flexible customization options to empower event organizers and better engage the audiences that matter most. Unified event creation flow At the heart of this Teams events update is greater choice and control for organizers. The Meet app becomes the dedicated home for events in Teams, featuring a new event creation flow that gives organizers more flexibility and control when setting up their events. Organizers can customize experiences such as audience interaction (attendee camera feeds, raise hands, polls, etc.), registration control, and event scale. The new event creation experience no longer constrains individual features to a particular event type, replaced by a dynamic scheduling flow that gives organizers increased flexibility to tailor the event experience to specific audiences and goals. Centralized event discovery and tracking Busy schedules make it impractical, and sometimes impossible, for people to be aware of important events an organization hosts. The new Discover tab in the Meet app helps organizers promote events and drive interest by making them easier for audiences to find and access. The Discover tab is where organizers and attendees can find and track events, without relying solely on calendar invitations. Users can view events they’re registered for, find and register for new events, and catch up on recordings of past events. The Discover tab gives organizers, registrants, and attendees a single place to stay connected to their events. Simplified event management Managing events in Teams is easier than ever with the new Manage tab. No more searching through calendars or hidden menus to update presenter bios, adjust sharing functions, or track registrations. Teams events brings everything into one place for streamlined management. Event pages are created automatically when an event is saved, and serve as the central location for settings, customization, and branding. After an event concludes, Teams events makes it easy to send attendees follow-up emails and recording notifications. Event organizers also have a single place to access registration data and recap tools designed for insights and continued engagement. New capabilities give event organizers more control and flexibility In addition to the new unified experience, Teams events is adding capabilities to streamline setup and drive attendance: New delegate and shared mailbox support enables authorized users to schedule and manage events on behalf of the principal organizer. This helps teams collaborate more naturally when coordinating large or recurring events. Dedicated event details pages make it easy for organizers to view all elements related to the event, including built-in Q&A, and the ability to save customizations as templates for future use. Support for custom domains for event emails improves deliverability and helps invitations and reminders avoid spam filters, while offering additional event branding. Enhanced co-organizer editing and management controls make it easier to share responsibilities throughout the event lifecycle, ensuring a consistent management experience even as teams grow and roles evolve. Expanded access to events with new licensing Starting April 1 st , 2026, Teams events capabilities such as town hall and webinar, including advanced features, are available to all users licensed for Teams Enterprise and no longer require Teams Premium. This expanded access to Teams events enables more people in your organization to create high-quality, professional events. Along with these licensing changes, we also announced Attendee Capacity Pack licenses would be available to scale digital and hybrid events up to 100,000. For more information, please read our recent licensing announcement. Teams live events retirement Teams events will continue to be the experience where we invest in bringing new features and capabilities to support high-quality, professional digital and hybrid events at scale. With this launch, we will be retiring Teams live events fully on June 30, 2026. Users with events already scheduled through February 28, 2027, will be able to carry out these instances as planned through that date to avoid disruption. For more information, please refer to our recent retirement announcement. Create events that connect It’s never been more important to make meaningful connections with the audiences that matter to your organization, and your ability to deliver highly engaging events can play a critical role. The new Teams events experience streamlines your events, from discovering what’s happening across your organization, to creating tailored formats, to managing professional engagements at scale, all in one place. This new chapter brings greater simplicity, flexibility, and power to every event organizer, manager, presenter, and attendee. With expanded access through licensing updates, Teams events provide the foundation to deliver memorable, high-quality experiences, and enables even more people across your organization to confidently bring their events to life.
Microsoft Teams VDI State of Union – Spring of 2025
It’s hard to believe it has been a few months already since we launched the new SlimCore-based optimization for Microsoft Teams in VDI, and with the adoption growing at light speed, we think it is a good time to have a checkpoint of where we are today, and where are we heading. When Microsoft embarked on this Teams re-architecture, there was one main principle: make VDI a first-class citizen and bring it to parity with native Teams. As mentioned in previous blogs, the new optimization is where all innovation will be delivered. So, in this article, I want to give you an overview of all the feature we have delivered after GA. Why migrate to the new SlimCore-based optimization? Before we go down the feature rabbit hole, let us emphasize WHY you should be all-in with the new optimization. Having now demonstrated the solution at scale with large customers, we have received positive feedback from a variety of demanding user bases (e.g., day traders in the Financial vertical) that can help you convince your organization is time to upgrade. Call setup times are reduced drastically; quality and performance improvements are noticeable to the naked eye, and a myriad of new features are now available (larger Gallery views, newer codecs, HID headsets, noise suppression, and the list goes on). If you did not start your journey, make sure you give it a try today! New Features Custom Backgrounds: long awaited feature! Look like a hero to your users. Now they can upload corporate backgrounds or pictures of their cat to their background effects. A true user-delight, great for company branding too. VDI Status Indicator: my favorite feature – no more guessing or clicking around Settings/About in order to find if you are optimized or not. We put it in front of your users, in prime UI real estate. A simple mouse hover even tells you if you are on SlimCore or WebRTC. If things fail, we put a warning sign alerting the users, so they can even attempt self-repairs. If that also fails, we put in the error code so they can relay to IT Help Desks. This five-digit code should suffice for further troubleshooting, no logs required! Restart Dialogue: as we add support for other platforms like MAC, or users roam between different endpoints that support / don’t support SlimCore, it is sometimes necessary to restart Teams to either upgrade the user from WebRTC to SlimCore, or downgrade from SlimCore to WebRTC. Having said that, we know nobody likes to restart apps – so … spoiler alert: we are working on a seamless stack transition, on-the-fly. No more restarts. Stay tuned. Monitoring API: Do you like to customize? This feature is for you. Create a custom script on the VM that processes a json file that is updated in real time. Now your script knows if the user is optimized or not, the peripherals they are using, versions of all the components (e.g. Citrix Workspace app or Microsoft Windows App, plugin, SlimCore, etc.), and create your own warning/alerts (e.g. “You are using a non-corporate peripheral. Audio quality might be impacted”). Call Quality Dashboard/Teams Admin Center: If you have not been using these 2 dashboards(a.k.a CQD and TAC) in the past, it is time you demand role-based access from your organization! You are able to monitor, in real time, optimized calls/meetings with a plethora of session information. Bad home Wi-Fi causing robotic audio? Not VDI’s fault – now you have proof. Built-in PowerBI templates provide even more visibility into your deployment. Cross Cloud: users on SlimCore can now join optimized meetings hosted in other Clouds (like GCC, GCCH, DOD). Cross Cloud Anonymous join, Guest Access and Authenticated Meeting joins are now supported. Screen Capture Protection: Azure Virtual Desktops and Windows 365 customers can now utilize this feature with the new optimization. Share your screen Citrix Remote PC: we added additional logic in Teams to better handle roaming scenarios (console to HDX, HDX to console). Now, when users connect via Console, their Teams session is identified as a ‘non-VDI’ connection, making the experience equivalent to native Teams on Windows. GigaOM: a third party report on new Teams plus SlimCore optimization performance that quantifies why you should move to the new optimization stack. TLDR; 20% reduction on client-side RAM and CPU, a better user experience under constrained networks, 30% faster meeting join times. These improvements are achieved by introducing newer codecs with hardware acceleration, and by moving the signaling agent to SlimCore (instead of relaying back from WebRTC to Teams in the virtual machine). Windows 365 Link: a simple, secure, purpose-built device for Windows 365. An affordable thin client that boots a persistent VDI fast, with full peripheral support and of course out of the box SlimCore-based optimization. Next Steps And that’s a wrap up. As you can see, all innovations are now delivered on the new SlimCore-based optimization. While we have not yet announced WebRTC deprecation, we encourage every Azure Virtual Desktops/Windows 365 and Citrix customer to start the adoption as soon as possible, so you can delight your users with the best experience Teams has to offer in Virtual Desktops. For the next steps to start using the new SlimCore-based optimization for Microsoft Teams in VDI, please check the system requirements and full documentation.Licensing updates extend access to advanced capabilities in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Places
At Microsoft, we empower organizations to achieve more through intelligent communication, inclusive collaboration, and connected workplace experiences. Our customers are looking for scaled, widespread access to powerful tools that enable workforces to interact and communicate with more intelligence and precision. To facilitate that, we’re announcing Teams licensing updates that make it easier for customers to unlock their full communication and collaboration potential. These licensing changes simplify access to capabilities spanning across Microsoft Places and Teams town halls and webinars, so you can deliver experiences that enhance virtual and in-person collaboration. Read on to learn about the changes ahead and new ways to empower your organization. Access enhanced workplace coordination capabilities Places enables an AI-powered workplace experience by connecting employees to colleagues, spaces, and services in the office. We are expanding access to end-user functionality in Places by making it available in all licenses that include access to the calendar in Outlook and Teams (including Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Basic, Business Standard, and Business Premium; Outlook 365 E1, E3, and E5; Exchange Online; various Teams licenses; additional Microsoft 365 and Office 365 licenses). Functionality included in this change: Places Finder: Make more informed decisions about bookings with enriched context like images, floorplans, custom attributes, and available technology in the spaces around you. This change enables organizations to upgrade at scale from Room Finder to the full Places Finder experience by onboarding spaces to the Places Directory. Places Explorer: Enable map-based space reservations and explore details about all workplaces, including the people, spaces, and experiences in each location. Access to Places Explorer is through the Places app inside Microsoft Outlook and Teams. These changes will go into effect on April 1, 2026 for customers with users on any license that includes access to the calendar in Outlook and Teams (including Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Basic, Business Standard, and Business Premium; Outlook 365 E1, E3, and E5; Exchange Online; various Teams licenses; additional Microsoft 365 and Office 365 licenses). Manage shared spaces more efficiently Across our AI-powered workplace solutions, we’re continually looking for ways to streamline how organizations manage their inventory of shared desks, spaces, and assets. The newly renamed Teams Shared Space license (formerly Teams Shared Devices license) will be the way that organizations manage this inventory of assets, adding the ability to manage up to four desks with a single license (in addition to the previous ability to manage either a common area phone, a Teams panel, shared space like a room, or a hotdesking device included in the Teams Shared Device license). IT admins will be able to assign licenses to bookable shared spaces individually and control which workspaces are available for employees to use with this new functionality. This license will provide space management capabilities, including: Desk booking: Employees can reserve desks in advance before arriving at a location. Space management: Admins can manage spaces in their Places Directory including the modes, properties, booking and auto-release policies for rooms and licensed shared spaces (desks). Space Analytics: Inventory and utilization reports are available for licensed shared spaces (desks). Integration of 3rd-party APIs: Places can integrate with 3rd-party sources of spatial data, floorplans, check-in signals streamlining the onboarding and management of the spaces in the Places Directory. This license will be available on April 1, 2026. For customers with legacy Teams Shared Device licenses, admins will not be required to take any action to transition to this license (but will have to assign additional spaces like desks with an additional no-cost license to take advantage of the new increased allotment of four spaces per license). Communicate and connect at scale Managing communication to thousands or tens of thousands of attendees can be a daunting process for anyone. Built directly on the Teams platform, Teams town hall and webinar enable events at scale with improved capabilities, reliability, and capacity. To empower more organizations to plan and execute high-quality events, we are bringing all town hall and webinar features that were previously only available with a Teams Premium license to Teams Enterprise, including: Streaming chat: Chat for town hall events reduces any message sending lag, enabling smoother communication between attendees and organizers. Reactions interactivity: Enjoy the same reactions from Teams meetings in town hall and webinar, allowing the audience to express themselves and react to presented content. Real-time event insights: Hosts of town hall and webinar instances can get feedback on the performance and reliability of their broadcasts, helping to ensure a smoother experience for attendees. Meeting theme and email customization: Use organizational branding to customize the event-related artifacts that are delivered to attendees. Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN): eCDN helps to manage the bandwidth load of streaming events to large audiences, providing stability and reliability. Immersive events in Teams: Host immersive experiences in custom 3D environments where attendees join as avatars to interact and collaborate. All users with a Teams Enterprise license will soon be able to host events for up to 3,000 attendees with all Teams town hall and webinar features. We will also enable a higher-capacity, view-only streaming experience for town halls up to 10,000 users. To fully enable events at scale, customers will be able to purchase attendee pack licenses that increase the cap on the total number of attendees up to 100,000 with the same suite of robust features. Attendee pack licenses will come in a range of sizes to provide added flexibility, and will be available to assign through the Teams Admin Center (TAC) after transacting. Summary of licensing changes These changes reflect our commitment to helping organizations confidently embrace the future of work with greater impact across their communication and collaboration. The full slate of changes will go into effect on April 1, 2026: End-user workplace coordination features from Microsoft Places available for licenses that include access to the calendar in Outlook and Teams (including Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Basic, Business Standard, and Business Premium; Outlook 365 E1, E3, and E5; Exchange Online; various Teams licenses; additional Microsoft 365 and Office 365 licenses) Introduction of the renamed Teams Shared Space license with additional capabilities for space management and analytics for admins Advanced Teams town hall and webinar features available for all Teams Enterprise users for instances up to 3,000 attendees (10,000 attendee view-only experience) Introduction of attendee pack add-on licenses for town hall events starting from 5,000 up to 100,000 attendees Independent of these changes, we are committed to continuing to provide a robust set of experiences for organizations that have invested in Teams Premium. Teams Premium will still be the only way for customers to experience advanced communication features in Teams meetings, meeting protection, Advanced Collaboration Tools for admins, Intelligent recap, Queues app for Teams Phone, and enhanced capabilities for Bookings and virtual appointments. For a full list of current Teams Premium features, please click here. More information about these new licensing changes, including impacts for existing Teams Premium customers using these products and features, are available below. Read more about these changes in our licensing update FAQ attached below Explore more Teams experiences: Microsoft Teams Learn more about Microsoft Places: Microsoft Places Learn more about Teams town hall and webinarMicrosoft Teams Town Hall: Host Professional Digital and Hybrid Events at Scale
Over the past year, Microsoft Teams town hall has made significant strides, continuing to evolve as a platform for scalable digital and hybrid events. It now provides enhanced production controls and richer attendee experiences. Whether you’re hosting a company-wide all hands, a hybrid town hall from your headquarters, or a large presentation for clients, Teams town hall provides a unified, professional solution that keeps everyone engaged and connected, supporting up to 100,000 simultaneous attendees. If you are new to town hall or are considering consolidating your communication on Teams to host scalable events, we’d like to share the latest progress and key features that make town hall a great choice for large-scale events with enhanced customer experiences. Scalable event experience in Teams Rooms - Hybrid events made easy Modern events often combine an in-person audience with remote participants. Teams town hall now fully supports these co-located experiences through seamless integration with Teams Rooms systems. When using Teams Rooms on Windows, a conference room system assigned as a presenter can join the event in presenter mode, with the front-of-room display defaulting to the attendee view. From the console, presenters maintain complete control over what appears on screen, including access to the green room and off-stage management. They can also switch the front-of-room display to presenter view without affecting what remote attendees see. The result is a smoother, more coordinated hybrid experience—transforming the on-site AV setup into a powerful production studio. In addition to this new capability for Teams Rooms on Windows, town hall is now supported for Teams Rooms on Android. These systems can now join a town hall as an attendee, allowing a group to participate together in-person with a Teams Room on Android device. Ultra-low latency (ULL) streaming – Real-time engagement Historically, large broadcast-style events had a significant delay of around 20–30 seconds for attendees. Town hall now reduces that delay with ultra-low latency (ULL) streaming for Teams Premium users. When enabled, ULL streaming dramatically reduces the delay for attendees watching the live stream to less than five seconds. This means your audience hears and sees the presenters in near real-time allowing more natural engagement. . This low-latency stream is auto-activated for town halls organized with a Teams Premium license, and it works with Microsoft’s eCDN solutions to scale securely for up to 20,000 concurrent event attendees. 1080p full HD video quality – Crisp, professional broadcasts Visual clarity is key to professional, high-quality event production. Town hall now supports 1080p full HD video for live event streams, a significant improvement from the former 720p limit. With 1080p, your town hall comes through with sharper, more detailed video meaning faces, text, and visuals are crystal clear for every attendee. This professional, studio-quality look helps land your message with a more engaging experience that holds audience attention. This feature enables 1080p resolution for up to 20,000 concurrent event attendees. This feature is currently in private preview, but will soon be generally available, and requires a Teams Premium license to enable. Event layouts & “Manage What Attendees See” – Polished production control Town hall gives organizers and presenters with Teams Premium powerful event layout control to craft a dynamic viewing experience for event attendees. Using the “Manage What Attendees See” feature, you can act as a producer in real-time, deciding who and what appears on the screen at any time. For example, you might start with a full-slide view during a critical data presentation, then switch to a side-by-side layout showing the presenter’s video alongside the slides for commentary. Town hall allows up to seven presenters to be shown simultaneously alongside shared content, an improvement over previous limits, so a whole panel can appear with the presentation media at once. Attendees stay focused on the content you want to highlight, and you can seamlessly transition between layouts (slides, speaker gallery, demos, etc.) to keep the presentation engaging and ensure that presenters land their key messages with the right information for attendees. Screen sharing navigation – No need to say ‘next slide’ During large events it’s common for multiple presenters to speak to the same presentation. Now presenters can share control of their slides with up to 20 other presenters at the same time, removing the need to hand off control between sections and providing seamless navigation of the slides throughout the presentation. Control is delegated by the user sharing their screen and can be adjusted at any point of your event. Live polls – Real-time audience engagement Keeping large audiences engaged can be challenging, but town hall now includes integrated polls to allow participants to stay involved. Organizers with Teams Premium can create and launch polls during the event, and results can be shared instantly with everyone. This capability transforms a one-way broadcast into a two-way conversation. For attendees, polls provide a quick and easy way to participate and contribute. For presenters, polls offer immediate feedback that can help tailor the live discussion. This can result in a more attentive audience, new opportunities for communication, and moments of collective participation. Raise Hands – Inclusive Q&A Town hall is designed to scale to tens of thousands of viewers, but we haven’t forgotten the importance of letting individual voices be heard. We’re excited to bring the raise hand feature to town hall. When an audience member raises their hand, organizers and presenters are notified and can choose to bring that attendee on screen to ask a question or share a comment, with full audio and video. This is a game-changer for live Q&A sessions. Instead of relying solely on typed Q&A or pre-submitted questions, you can invite attendees to actively participate in the discussion. For event organizers, this feature means you can foster authentic, live interaction, even when presenting at scale. Town hall Graph API – Greater control and customization Microsoft Graph APIs empower organizations to integrate Teams town hall with the internal platforms and workflows they are already using. These APIs enable organizations to automate the entire event lifecycle, by creating, publishing, and canceling town halls directly from their own systems, eliminating manual steps and reducing operational overhead. Organizations can use Graph APIs to suppress default Teams notification emails and instead trigger their own internal email communications, ensuring consistent user experiences. An additional recent enhancement is resource-specific consent (RSC), which allows apps to request permissions scoped to a specific town hall (or webinar) rather than requiring global admin rights. This improves security, simplifies consent processes, and enables developers to build integrations that respect organizational boundaries, all while ensuring compliance and scalability for enterprise events. Teams town hall has evolved into a comprehensive platform that raises the bar for virtual and hybrid events. From ultra-low latency streaming and HD video that make your broadcast feel crisp and professional, to interactive features like polls and raise hands that turn passive viewers into active participants, town hall is built to engage audiences at scale. Town hall helps mitigate the challenges of hybrid work and delivers tools for co-located experiences and Teams Rooms system integration so you can connect with people across offices and geographies in one seamless event. All of these innovations are available to use today as part of the current town hall experience. Try them out to create more impactful, inclusive events for your audiences. Learn more about Teams Town hall and what is coming next: Teams Town hall adoption Hear more from our experts on how to execute successful town halls at scale: Customer Hub Read more about our best practices for hosting Town hall events in Teams Rooms: Teams town hall in Teams Rooms best practicesWhat’s New in Microsoft Teams | January 2026 – ISE Edition
Welcome to 2026! This first ’What’s new in Teams’ of the year is a “2-in-1” edition. We’re not only introducing the usual monthly range of new features and capabilities designed to enhance your Teams experience, we’re also shining a spotlight on the Teams features that will be showcased at the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2026 conference in Barcelona, Spain. ISE brings together technology leaders, partners, and customers from around the world, making it the perfect venue to demonstrate how Teams continues to evolve as the AI-powered platform for communication, collaboration, and workplaces. This year, we’ll be highlighting several new Teams capabilities designed to improve meeting experiences, simplify communications, and make it easier for organizations to connect and engage at scale. Dive in to get a peek at what we’ll be sharing in Barcelona, and what you can start trying out right away! Teams at ISE Microsoft Teams Rooms Interpreter agent support in Teams Rooms on Windows The Interpreter agent acts as a translator in scheduled meetings in Teams Rooms on Windows, allowing participants to listen to the meeting in their chosen language with real-time translation so speaking different languages isn’t a barrier to effective understanding and collaboration. Available with Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Teams Rooms utilization by size and capacity in the Pro Management shared space insights report The Pro Management portal's shared space insights page now offers enhanced analytics for Teams rooms utilization. Two new data tiles analyze usage based on factors like room size, capacity, and people count. Usage data can also be filtered by reservations, occupancy, or a combination of both. With these insights, IT teams can make informed decisions about their rooms. Learn more. Express voice enrollment [Available in March] Express voice enrollment makes registering your voice in Teams fast and easy. Your profile enables features like voice isolation, speaker recognition, identification in a meeting room and transcripts, and enhanced meeting recaps and insights from Microsoft 365 Copilot. If you haven't enrolled, you’ll get an in-product prompt to opt-in and enroll your voice profile simply by speaking in a meeting. Admins can enable or disable this feature for their organization. Camera view switching in multi-camera Teams Rooms on Windows When in a meeting with another Teams Rooms on Windows that has multiple cameras, you can switch camera views in that room via the participant panel on the console, or video tile on a touch board, to optimize your views. Learn more. Two-way Direct Guest Join (DGJ) between Google Meet and Teams Rooms Organizations now have expanded meeting interoperability with two-way Direct Guest Join (DGJ) between Google Meet and Teams meetings. Teams Rooms on Windows devices can join Google Meet meetings and Google Meet devices can join Teams meetings. Users can join with one click through the calendar or by meeting ID. Learn more. Microsoft Teams Phone enhancements Interpreter in Teams Phone Interpreter, currently available in Teams meetings, is now expanding to Teams Phone to support calls made between Teams users—VoIP calls. Interpreter enables real-time speech-to-speech interpretation in up to nine languages, allowing participants to speak and listen in their preferred language. Interpreter helps eliminate language barriers and fosters seamless collaboration across global teams. For a more inclusive experience, users can also opt to have Interpreter simulate their personal voice. Today, Interpreter works for VoIP calls only. Queues app shared history of calls and voicemails [Public preview] Coordinating customer call follow‑ups is easier when service teams have visibility into calls that happen outside shifts or while representatives are unavailable. Now available in Public Preview, the Queues app shared history enables teams to access a unified view of all missed, incoming, outgoing calls, and voicemails within a call queue. By consolidating call activity into a shared history, it improves transparency and fosters better collaboration among team members handling customer interactions. This feature reduces duplication of effort and ensures that no customer call is overlooked. Admins can configure access to shared history for all queue members or restrict it to authorized users. Teams events The new Teams events experience brings discovery, creation, and management into a single, centralized workflow. Organizers can configure events through a flexible creation flow that supports a wide range of interaction, registration, and branding options without being constrained by event type. A new discovery experience makes it easier for users to find, track, and revisit events they are registered for or eligible to attend, while redesigned management capabilities provide a consistent place to update details, review registrations, access reporting, and coordinate across organizers and delegates. Available in public preview, the new Teams events experience helps unlock more control and flexibility for digital and hybrid events by simplifying creation and management for organizers and improving visibility and access for attendees. Learn more about Teams events. Communities in Teams Now rolling out to public preview, Communities in Teams appear alongside chats and channels, offering an integrated experience for browsing feeds, posting updates, and participating in discussions. Employees can find and manage their existing Viva Engage communities directly in Teams, with support for announcements, Q&A, long‑form posts, and discovering community-specific events that enable scalable organization‑wide communication and learning. Agents in communities are also available in public preview for communities in Teams. The agent helps turn community conversations into shared organizational knowledge by drafting suggested responses to unanswered questions using existing discussions and specified SharePoint sites. Community admins can review and publish these responses, helping employees get accurate answers faster while making that knowledge visible to the entire community. Learn more about communities in Teams. January new releases Feature categories: (All features listed are generally available unless otherwise noted) Chat and collaboration Teams Phone Workplace: Teams Rooms Fundamentals and Security Frontline Worker Solutions Certified for Teams Devices Chat and Collaboration Teams channels Shared tab The Files tab in channels has been renamed the Shared tab. In addition to showing current files, the Shared tab also displays previously shared files and links that were shared in channel posts. You can use the Recent view to sort by date, then filter by Files or Links, and use the “In messages” view to find links that appear in conversations. Message preview for channels, mentions, and reactions notifications Microsoft Teams is enhancing notifications by adding message previews for more types of notifications, including channels, mentions, and reactions. By surfacing message previews, users can quickly assess the importance of a notification without switching context and more efficiently prioritize responses. Autocorrect in Teams compose Autocorrect in Teams helps fix common spelling mistakes when typing in the compose box, so your messages stay clear and professional without extra effort. No need to backtrack to correct errors, Teams keeps your conversations flowing smoothly. Pin Teams window on top Teams now enables you to "Pin window on top", ensuring it will remain visible above other windows. This reduces meeting and collaboration friction by enabling you to multitask across apps without losing real-time visual cues, shared content, or critical discussions. Teams Phone Explicit consent for 1:1 call transcription and recording We’re extending Microsoft Teams’ existing explicit‑consent experience in meetings to now include 1:1 calls made between Teams users—VoIP calls. With a new Teams calling policy, admins can require participants to provide consent before a 1:1 call is recorded or transcribed. When a user starts recording or transcription, the other participant is automatically muted, with video and content sharing disabled, until they provide consent. This is especially valuable in regulated scenarios—such as a financial advisor capturing call notes—where organizations must obtain clear approval before initiating a recording. Today, explicit consent works for 1:1 VoIP calls only. Teams Phone Mobile is now generally available with T-Mobile USA Teams Phone Mobile enables end-users to make and receive calls using a single sim-enabled number across their mobile phone and all their Teams endpoints. T-Mobile customers in the United States can now enjoy seamless mobile and Teams integration with this unified calling experience. Learn more about how IT admins can configure Teams Phone Mobile in Teams admin center and view the expanding set of mobile operators supporting Teams Phone Mobile. Phone devices: Delayed simultaneous ring on Teams Phone devices Delayed Simultaneous Ring is now supported on Teams Phone devices. This capability addresses challenges for groups with shared call responsibilities and helps reduce distractions by prioritizing the intended recipient. If the call is not answered by the primary receiver first within a set time, the duration of which is customizable, then the call will start ringing other designated phones. It’s a smarter way to streamline call handling and ensure the intended person has the first opportunity to respond. Phone devices: Configure line keys from Teams admin center We’re expanding the flexibility of line keys in Teams Phone devices with new admin configuration capabilities. Line keys let users set up customized one‑touch dialing—for speed dial, shared lines, collaborative call delegation, and call transfers—helping them quickly reach important contacts and work more efficiently. With this update, IT admins can now centrally configure line keys in the Teams admin center (TAC) for both personal devices and common area phones (CAP). This makes it easier to standardize setups, accelerate deployments, and ensure users have the right shortcuts at their fingertips. Phone devices: Enhancements for Copilot summary for transferred calls Copilot summary for transferred calls provides an AI‑generated summary of the transcribed or recorded call so that receiving person saves time gathering information on the earlier discussion. With this latest update, the transfer targets clearer context through the display of a concise call topic in the incoming call notification, giving them faster visibility into why the caller is being transferred. This helps users feel more confident before answering. For example, a bank branch worker can quickly see that a transfer relates to an account verification or a loan application. Workplace: Teams Rooms Enhanced production experience for Town hall in Teams Rooms on Android The enhanced ‘Manage what attendees see’ feature gives Town hall hosts greater control over what attendees experience. Organizers, co-organizers, and presenters joining from a Teams Room on Android with a Pro license can view a polished event while managing which participants appear on or off screen. Organizers licensed for Teams Premium can adjust layout, background, and name tag changes through the Teams Desktop. Learn more. Front-of-room view control for Town Hall in Teams Rooms on Android When a Teams Rooms on Android is invited as a meeting presenter, the front-of-room display defaults to the attendee view. Presenters always have full control from the console, including green room and off-stage management, and can switch the front-of-room display to presenter view without impacting attendees. Available in Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Start and stop recording and transcription on Teams Rooms on Android During a Teams meeting, you can start, stop, and restart recording and transcription from a Team Rooms on Android device. Spoken language for the meeting can also be changed. Available in Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Fundamentals and Security Report a suspicious message on Teams for Android You can now provide security feedback directly from the Teams Android app - whether you're flagging a message as a security concern or confirming that a message Microsoft flagged is actually safe. This enhanced reporting flow helps your organization strengthen protection against phishing and other unwanted messages by capturing clearer, more actionable signals from real user behavior. In both cases, your feedback goes to your organization and, if admins choose, can also be shared with Microsoft’s detection systems to improve accuracy, reduce false positives, and better identify harmful content. Screen & Window Sharing on Mac via Mac OS Native Picker Mac users can now share their screen or specific windows using the standard native picker experience. By opting in through settings, users can enjoy a fully integrated sharing flow that leverages Mac OS's default interface - ensuring a familiar, secure and streamlined experience. Frontline Worker Solutions Frontline Agent The new Frontline Agent, available in public preview, is a purpose-built and persona-tuned AI assistant that supports everyday workflows for frontline teams by delivering concise, simple responses grounded in the context of their work. With this out-of-the-box agent, frontline workers can quickly find information from scoped SharePoint sites, such as internal policies and procedures, and easily catch up on missed Teams chat and channel messages at the start of their shift with detailed action items. Available in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Teams, the Frontline Agent helps support smarter, more efficient shifts. Certified for Teams Devices Jabra Express Install: PanaCast 50 VBS, Acadia Tabletop Stand, Available with LG 40”, 43”, 50", 55”, or 65” displays The Jabra PanaCast 50 VBS, certified for Microsoft Teams, teams up with Salamander Designs Acadia Tabletop Stand and LG’s 4K UHD display to transform huddle, focus, and small meeting spaces into smart collaboration zones. With panoramic video, intelligent audio, and sleek cable management, this bundle installs in under 90 minutes, no wall drilling or rewiring required. It’s a plug-and-play solution that’s easy to deploy, simple to manage, and ready for AI-powered productivity. Because great meetings shouldn’t need a construction crew—and teams deserve tech that just works. Display available in 40”, 43”, 50”, 55”, or 65” Logitech Huddle Room and Small Room Heckler Tabletop Express Install for Teams Rooms on Android: Available with 43” monitor for Huddle rooms or 50” monitor for small rooms Logitech, in partnership with Heckler and Samsung, is simplifying room installations with the new Express Install for Microsoft Teams Rooms, making high-quality meeting spaces more accessible and easier to deploy. Logitech's Express Install kit for Huddle Rooms and Small Rooms can be installed in under an hour, with minimal labor and no specialist help needed. Learn more about the Express Install for Huddle Rooms. and about the Express Install for Small Rooms. Biamp Auto Tuned DSP with Ceiling and Table Mics – Available for Large or Medium Rooms Biamp's DEVIO SCX bundle features Biamp Launch, an automated room tuning feature that optimizes audio with just one button press, no expertise required. The complete audio package delivers clear communication through advanced beamtracking technology that captures voices from anywhere in the room. This solution eliminates background noise so that every participant can be heard clearly, enhancing collaboration for all meeting types. The large room bundle includes two Parlé table microphones, and four Desono ceiling speakers. The medium room bundle includes one Parlé table microphone, and two Desono ceiling speakers. The Biamp Auto Tuned DSP with Table Mics Large Room bundle The Biamp Auto Tuned DSP with Table Mics Medium Room bundle Biamp Configurable DSP w/ Table Mics – Available for Large or Medium Rooms The Biamp TesiraFORTÉ X Table Mic bundles are designed for Large or Medium sized Microsoft Teams Rooms. Powered by TesiraFORTÉ X DSPs, enjoy highly configurable audio options tailored to your space or use a simplified setup with Biamp Launch—an automated room tuning feature that optimizes audio with just one button press, no expertise required. Biamp Configurable DSP w/ Table Mics for Large Rooms Biamp Configurable DSP w/ Table Mics for Medium Rooms Barco ClickShare Hub Pro and Sennheiser TeamConnect Bar M and TeamConnect Bar S for Teams Rooms on Android The ClickShare Hub Pro and Sennheiser TeamConnect Bar M and TeamConnect Bar S bundles are certified Microsoft Teams Rooms solutions for medium and small meeting rooms. ClickShare Hub Pro enables one-click, wireless conferencing and 4K content sharing, with two next-gen ClickShare Buttons (featuring Wi-Fi 6E and USB-C DisplayPort™) and dual screen support. Built on the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP), it’s designed for secure meetings. Sennheiser’s TeamConnect Bar M delivers advanced audio and dynamic video, with six beamforming microphones, four high-quality speakers, and AI features (auto-framing, person tiling). The TeamConnect Bar S delivers crisp audio and dynamic video, with four beamforming microphones, two speakers, and AI-powered features (auto-framing and person tiling). For users, these bundles deliver intuitive, engaging meetings. For IT managers, they provide modular flexibility, enterprise-grade security, compliance, and standardized integration. Huddly® C1™: AI-driven videobar for small and medium rooms. Huddly C1™ is an AI-powered videobar designed for small and medium meeting rooms. It delivers flexible, modular collaboration, working as a standalone device or paired with Huddly Crew Add-On Cameras. Compatible with both BYOD setups and native room systems, C1 ensures high-quality video and seamless connectivity for modern meeting spaces. Learn more. Lumens VC-TR60A – Black or White The Lumens VC-TR60A camera features automatic voice tracking, presenter tracking, and auto-framing to ensure remote participants get the best possible view. It makes Teams meetings more dynamic and engaging. Voice tracking is a stand-out feature, locking onto the active presenter. When more people join the discussion, the camera adjusts automatically to capture all active speakers in the room. No manual control required – it’s smart and effective and makes for more professional Teams calls. Learn more Lumens VC-TR60A – Black Lumens VC-TR60A – White
Frontline Agent: An Out-of-the-Box AI Assistant for Every Frontline Teammate
As frontline teams face increasing demands and rapid change, the ability to access the right information at the right moment is more critical than ever. For this reason, we’re excited to introduce Frontline Agent, now available in Public Preview. This purpose-built, persona-tuned AI assistant is designed to help frontline workers across industries like retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and hospitality find information quickly, stay caught up, and coordinate work with confidence. Frontline Agent is available out-of-the-box in Microsoft 365 Copilot, as well as in the Microsoft Teams chat rail. You can ask for what you need just like you would a teammate and the agent delivers clear, concise responses grounded in your organization’s SharePoint and Teams chat and channel data with no configuration or custom prompts required. The agent respects SharePoint site permissions and can be scoped down to a select number of SharePoint sites, balancing accuracy and security. Frontline workers can message the agent in their preferred language, even if the documents and messages are in another language. Get started with Frontline Agent by opening Microsoft 365 Copilot and searching for it under “All agents,” and optionally scope down SharePoint sites or deploy as a Teams chatbot from Microsoft Teams Admin Center by following these instructions. What Frontline Agent can do Frontline Agent helps frontline employees: Search for information across SharePoint and Microsoft Teams chats and channel messages “Share the instructions for how to ___” “Help me learn about ___” “Provide a list of files related to ___” Catch up on Teams chat and channel messages “What did ___ tell me to do yesterday?” “Summarize my unread messages from yesterday.” “What changes did __ mention?” “Draft a shift handover based on discussions in the last 12 hours.” These capabilities reduce routine overhead and allow frontline managers to do more and frontline workers to focus on customers, operations, and service quality. Designed for the realities of frontline work in every industry Although frontline roles vary widely, their needs are consistent: fast and simplified access to information, clarity on what requires action, and tools that match the pace of their work, directly in the flow of their work. Retail Store associates can quickly pull up product details, pricing policies, inventory lookup steps, and return procedures to keep lines moving. Department leads can plan priorities for floor recovery, promos, and price changes before shift start. Store managers can generate daily recap reports covering sales trends, staffing notes, shrink issues, and unresolved operational tasks. Healthcare Nurses can quickly reference care protocols, equipment instructions, or facility policies. Care teams can catch up on shift handovers, critical updates, and open tasks before rounds. Administrators can generate summaries of unit activity to support staffing or patient flow decisions. Manufacturing Operators can pull up machine procedures, safety guidelines, or troubleshooting steps on demand. Supervisors can get summaries of production line updates and quality alerts. Transportation and Logistics Drivers and field teams can retrieve route details, documentation, or exception procedures. Dispatch teams can summarize overnight messages to prioritize next day operations. Managers can generate daily recap reports with delivery progress and unresolved items. Hospitality and Travel Front desk teams can reference policies, service procedures, and guest information instantly. Housekeeping leads can summarize messages to plan room turnover and priority tasks. Energy, Utilities, and Field Services Technicians can find site instructions, safety protocols, or equipment manuals. Field supervisors can catch up on team updates and outstanding work orders before starting their day. Operations teams can generate summaries covering outages, escalations, or environmental conditions. The value of a role aware, out of the box AI agent Most AI solutions are built for office workers. Frontline Agent is different because it is designed specifically for frontline roles, with a focus on simplicity, speed, and relevance. Simplicity: Clear responses that reduce cognitive load. Speed: Fast access to important information during active work. Relevance: Answers grounded in Teams messages and scoped SharePoint sites ensure accuracy and trust. Support for shift workflows: Catch up prompts, action item summaries, and smoother handovers. View the examples below. Get started These capabilities are the very beginning of our upcoming roadmap! Frontline Agent is now available in Public Preview and can be accessed in: Microsoft 365 Copilot by searching in “All agents.” If you want to scope down the SharePoint sites, follow instructions 1 and 2 in Set up Frontline Agent - Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Learn. Microsoft Teams chat rail by following these instructions.
New enhancements in Private Channels in Microsoft Teams unlock their full potential
Private channels have long empowered focused collaboration among a subset of a team’s members. Whether you're managing sensitive projects, driving confidential initiatives, or simply need a space for more targeted discussions, private channels offer the control and privacy your team needs. Now, private channels are evolving to meet the needs of modern teams. In response to customer feedback, we are introducing enhanced flexibility, greater scalability, and streamlined compliance management. Read on to learn about these key enhancements and how to prepare. Why Private Channels Matter Private channels offer a dedicated space for conversations that benefit from added structure, persistence, and control. They’re especially valuable when navigating sensitive topics like budgets, HR discussions, managing project-specific workstreams, or collaborating with clients and vendors who require limited access .While chat are ideal for quick exchanges, private channels help keep discussions organized, make shared files easier to find, and help ensure conversations remain accessible over time, all while giving you more control over who can access. What’s Changing—and Why It Matters To support growing usage and help simplify compliance, private channels will now use a group mailbox (like shared channels) instead of storing messages in individual user mailboxes. This change unlocks several key benefits: 🚀 Expanded Limits Feature Current New Max private channels per team 30 1000 Max members per private channel 250 5000 Meeting scheduling ❌ ✅ Supported Simplified Compliance At a user level Group Helping to Simplify Compliance By aligning private channels with group-based storage, compliance policies (e.g., retention, legal hold, DLP, eDiscovery) can be applied at the team (Microsoft 365 group) level, helping to reduce complexity and driving consistency across channel types. For example, one retention policy can be applied to the team’s group, instead of managing a separate policy for private channels. Organizations with compliance policies (retention, legal hold, DLP, eDiscovery, Optical Character recognition) for private channels must ensure those policies are also applied to the team’s group scope before migration begins. Existing policies for user mailboxes will continue to apply; post-migration, new private channel data will be governed by policies of the group mailbox. What Compliance Admins Need to Do To enable a smooth transition and help maintain compliance coverage, follow the below: Microsoft Purview Hold and eDiscovery Before Migration: In Microsoft Purview compliance portal, update hold policies to include the team’s Microsoft 365 group mailbox in addition to user mailboxes. After Migration: New data will reside in the group mailbox. For full eDiscovery, search both user and group mailboxes. Note: Private channel message history (edits/deletes) in user mailboxes under an existing hold will remain in their preserved user library folder until the hold expires. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Policies Before Migration: In Microsoft Purview compliance portal, update DLP policies to include team’s group. After Migration: Check that the DLP policies are scoped to the group mailbox for private channels. Microsoft Purview Retention Policies Before Migration: In Microsoft Purview compliance portal, go to solutions -> Data Lifecycle Management -> Retention policies Create Teams channel messages policy scoped to Teams having equivalent Retention type and duration similar to existing private channel retention policies. After Migration: Set retention policies for the parent team with all channels in the team in mind, including private channels. Microsoft policies for Optical Character Recognition Optical character recognition (OCR) is managed via Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy. Before migration, modify the corresponding DLP policy that needs be applied for OCR to private channels and change locations to all users and groups. What’s Next This update helps make private channels more scalable, manageable, and compliant. It’s a big step forward for organizations that rely on Teams for secure, structured collaboration. Migration is scheduled to begin in early October 2025 and is expected to be completed by the end of December 2025 for the worldwide cloud. During this period, private channel data will gradually move from user mailboxes to the team’s group mailbox. Private channels can be used throughout the migration. Special cloud migration will happen in early 2026. Migration can start or end at different times for each tenant during the rollout period. To track progress, a new PowerShell command will be available for tenants to check whether their migration has started or is completed. The command will be - Get-TenantPrivateChannelMigrationStatus -TenantId <tenantId> We’ll be updating public documentation soon and will share links here.From Threads to Workflows: Microsoft Teams Features That Boost Everyone’s Productivity
Organizations are looking to achieve more—and need tools that help them work faster, simpler, and smarter. Guided by customer feedback, Microsoft Teams continues to evolve. Earlier this year, we launched the new chat and channels experience: a unified, streamlined interface that brings simplicity by default, with powerful capabilities just a click away. We’re introducing the next wave of innovations in Teams, with features like threads, multiple emoji reactions, and emoji-triggered workflows. These updates help make collaboration more open and organized, bringing together people and, increasingly, AI agents. They also boost personal productivity by automating routine tasks and enabling you to adapt Teams to your work style. Threads in channels, something many users will be familiar with, are a key part of this evolution. It combines the simplicity of chat-like conversations with the structure, durability, and manageability of channels—helping you stay on top of the information that matters most without getting overwhelmed. Let’s take a look. Enhance group collaboration Efficient collaboration moves work forward—and seamless communication is key. Teams need to share knowledge, brainstorm ideas, and resolve challenges quickly. But in today’s fast-paced, always-on-work environment, the workday can feel like a blur. The Work Trend Index calls this the “infinite workday”—where the workday is stretched and attention is constantly under pressure. To help with this challenge, we’re introducing threads in channels—to make collaboration more efficient and focused. With threads, you can reply directly to specific messages, keeping related conversations grouped together without disrupting the main flow. This preserves context and order, making it easier to stay up to date, while allowing for in-depth discussions. You can follow the threads that matter most to you, and when an important update or decision is made, you can send it back to the main conversation, so everyone stays aligned without requiring them to sift through every reply. The Followed Threads view brings all your followed conversations into one interactive list. You can quickly access all your threads, triage and respond—without jumping between channels. And when you're done with a thread, unfollow it to stop receiving future updates. By default, you’ll only follow threads you’ve started, replied to, been mentioned in, or explicitly chosen to follow. ‘Follow’ helps you stay engaged with key conversations, without unnecessary interruptions. The new threads layout complements the existing post layout. While posts are ideal for announcements and broad updates, threads are a better fit with dynamic, scaled collaboration. When creating a new channel, select between threads or posts layout, and don’t worry, this can be changed later without loss of fidelity. By setting up dedicated channels for each project, you can keep stakeholders, files, and updates all in one place—making teamwork more connected, transparent, and efficient. Apps are supported in the threads layout. Bots can start new threads, read messages and respond within a thread, just like a teammate. Channel meetings and ‘meet now’ are supported too, with each meeting getting its own thread to keep content grouped together and easy to find. Threads in channels are now in public preview. Your work isn't limited to just a desktop, so we will bring threads in channels to all devices for seamless productivity, including desktop, mobile, iOS, and Android. Threads in channels is now in public preview. Threads help you keep context while reducing clutter, and emojis help build meaningful connection. In a hybrid workforce, being able to express yourself on Teams helps strengthen team culture. You can now react with multiple reactions per message, enhancing your ability to express a wide range of emotions effectively. For example, react with✅ and 🙏 to convey appreciation and alignment without extra replies. And with custom emojis, introduced last year, your team can reflect its unique identity, from inside jokes to branded visuals, making interactions more personal and fun. Multiple emojis per message is now in public preview. Boost personal productivity Staying productive and meeting deadlines is critical. With the right tools, you can spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time driving impact. These new features let you tailor Teams to your needs, helping you make meaningful progress where it counts. You can now trigger workflows with emojis by reacting to messages in a chat or channel—streamlining tasks, reducing manual follow-ups, and speeding up responses. For example, reacting with ❗️can escalate a support issue by creating a helpdesk ticket, while 👀 can forward a message to the right channel. This helps ensure urgent items are addressed quickly and without a manual follow-up. Use emojis to automate DevOps, incident response, team collaboration, and more with the Workflows app. This is now available in public preview. Slash commands in Teams are getting more powerful. With support for multi-step inputs, you can now complete more complex tasks—like searching for a GIF, or jumping directly to a channel using /goto—without ever leaving your chat. These enhancements help you move faster and stay in the flow. Slash commands enhancements are now in public preview. Customize your keyboard shortcuts in Teams to work the way that’s most intuitive to you. Whether you're used to shortcuts from other tools or have your own workflow preferences, you can now set commands that match your habits—helping you work efficiently. To set it, open Keyboard shortcuts from the top bar menu (•••), and enter your own custom commands. Customize your keyboard shortcut is available in public preview. What’s next These latest Teams updates help you spend less time managing work and more time making progress. By cutting distractions, streamlining communication, and automating tasks, we’re helping you reclaim focus in a world where the workday often feels infinite. Teams enables people and agents to work together through secure, collaborative AI — from Copilot integration to agents created with Teams AI library, Copilot Studio, SharePoint, and more. The new threads layout helps bring together the right mix of people and agents for every step of the project, while keeping discussions focused and organized. We recently announced Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent to Agent Communication (A2A) support which allows developers to build more comprehensive agents that can talk to one another. These updates are just the beginning of enhancing human and agent interaction in Teams and there’s much more to come. Ready to try it out? Visit Microsoft adoption to learn more, or head to the Teams app to start using these features in public preview today.
