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.What’s New in Microsoft Teams | December 2025
As 2025 comes to a close, I want to thank you all for being part of the Microsoft Tech community! Your suggestions and feedback have been incredibly impactful as we’ve continued working toward our goal of making Teams smarter, more secure, and easier to use. In 2026, you can look forward to new ways to collaborate and do more, with Teams as the platform where people and agents collaborate together. We hope you’ll keep sharing your experience with new Teams features in the new year! To wrap up the year and lead into the next, we’re announcing some new features that can help you customize Teams for the way you like to work and make your conversations and connections more secure. “Pop out core Teams functions into a new window” gives you the ability to organize the elements of Teams that you use most frequently however you want on your desktop. “Tenant-Owned Domain Impersonation Protection for Teams Messaging” analyzes the identity and domain authenticity of external users when they make their first contact with you, to make sure they’re not impersonating your organization’s domain. These and all the other features below are now available, so give them a try and let us know what you think. Best wishes for a very happy and productive start to 2026! Chat and collaboration Meetings, webinars, and town halls Teams Phone Fundamentals and Security Frontline Worker Solutions Certified for Teams Devices Chat and Collaboration Pop out your core Teams functions into a new window You can now organize your work environment to fit your needs by opening Teams chat, calls calendar, activity, and more in separate windows. This gives you the flexibility to multitask and organize your workspace the way you want. Whether you're catching up on chats while reviewing call history or managing notifications alongside your calendar, this update helps you stay productive without switching tabs. Simply right-click an app icon or use the app flyout to pop it out into its own window. Joining a private team by code now requires owner approval Joining a private team using a code now requires a team owner’s approval. This update gives team owners more control and boosts security by ensuring every new member is approved even when using a Join code. This helps prevent unintended or unauthorized access to private teams while keeping code-based joining convenient for those who are authorized. Meetings, webinars, and town halls Enhancements to Interpreter and multilingual meeting experience Spoken language is now automatically detected and updated across Interpreter, live captions, and live transcription when Interpreter is enabled, keeping all speech features consistent with the language being spoken – no manual setup required. When Interpreter is disabled, live captions and transcription will still work, but auto-update spoken language will not be available, and meeting participants will need to speak in the spoken language manually selected in the meeting settings to ensure accuracy. Additionally, a new “preparing” status provides clear visual feedback while Interpreter initializes, helping users know when the system is ready – especially important for multilingual meetings. Interpreter settings have also been improved with concise explanations for each configuration and field, making setup easier and minimizing confusion. Teams Phone Microsoft 365 Copilot chat in Calls app post-calling experience – Generally available The post-call Copilot experience for Teams Phone on desktop and in mobile is now powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. After a call ends, users can open Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat as a side panel in the Teams ‘Calls’ app to generate summaries, surface key insights, and get suggested next steps. By using data from Microsoft Graph and the web—not just the call transcript—Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat delivers responses that are more personalized, relevant, and actionable, helping users quickly move from conversation to follow-up. Compliance Recording ISV Support for Call Queues in Microsoft Teams Phone Teams Phone now supports third‑party ISV compliance recording at the call queue level, giving organizations a simpler and more consistent way to meet regulatory requirements. Recording is applied at the queue—rather than per individual calling representative—so every call routed through that queue is automatically captured by the organization’s chosen compliance solution. This approach is especially useful for large enterprises and dynamic support teams where calling representative membership frequently changes. Admins can apply a single queue-level policy to ensure all incoming calls are recorded compliantly without managing individual calling representative user settings. Learn more. Fundamentals and Security Tenant-Owned Domain Impersonation Protection for Teams Messaging Own Domain Impersonation Detection in Teams identifies if an external user comes from a domain that is impersonating the recipient tenant's own domains during their initial contact with an enterprise user via Teams messages. This helps to protect users from bad actors spoofing tenant domains by analyzing sender identity and domain authenticity in real time, alerting users to suspicious activity and reducing phishing risks across messaging. Frontline Worker Solutions Frontline Hub Say goodbye to scattered tools and fragmented workflows. Frontline hub brings everything you need to deploy, manage, and monitor frontline Teams experiences into one streamlined destination—now available on the manage frontline teams page in the Teams Admin Center. With dynamic recommendations tailored to your deployment journey, frontline hub helps you deploy faster, simplify management, and deliver connected experiences that empower your frontline workforce. Teams Devices and Peripherals EPOS IMPACT 500 MS UC ANC WL USB-C+A Headset Designed for modern communication, IMPACT 500 delivers clarity and comfort all day. Certified for Microsoft Teams Open Office with a future software release that will add support for Teams over native Bluetooth® - for dongle free calls. EPOS microphone technology blocks out background noise for clear, precise speech and focused conversations. Hybrid ANC and EPOS BrainAdapt™ reduce noise and listening fatigue in the open office, while an impressive 35 hours of talk time keeps you connected longer. EPOS IMPACT 400 ANC Headset The IMPACT 400 delivers the focus and clarity professionals need to communicate seamlessly across office and home environments. Equipped with EPOS Hybrid ANC, it balances noise reduction for distraction-free focus, while four AI-powered microphones ensure your voice is transmitted clearly—even in noisy surroundings. Certified for Microsoft Teams Open Office, the IMPACT 400 delivers reliable performance in any environment. With plug-and-play connectivity and intuitive functions like lift-to-mute the IMPACT 400 combines effortless usability with all-day comfort, making it an ideal choice for professionals who demand clarity and productivity throughout their workday. Lenovo Webcams: FHD, QHD and 4K Pro The Lenovo FHD Webcam is a FHD webcam with1080P resolution, leading image quality, and a focus on design that delivers unparalleled clarity and functionality for users in various work environments. The Lenovo QHD Webcam provides 2K resolution, superior image quality, innovative design, and seamlessly integrates into collaborative work environments. Advanced AI features like auto-framing, face AE/AF, and AI noise reduction enhance communication and productivity. It's not just a webcam; it's a comprehensive video conferencing solution with advanced technology and functionality. The Lenovo 4K Pro Webcam delivers 4K resolution and exceptional performance in low-light settings, and is equipped with AI, making it a complete communication solution. Lenovo FHD Webcam Lenovo QHD Webcam Lenovo 4K Pro Webcam Lenovo Dual-mode Wireless ANC Headset 6550 (USB-A and USB-C) For professionals in open offices or hybrid work setups, the Lenovo Dual-Mode Wireless ANC Headset 6550—a Microsoft Teams certified headset for open office—elevates workplace communication to a new standard. It provides stable call performance and seamless integration with Microsoft Teams. Equipped with hybrid ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) and AI-powered ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation) technologies, it effectively blocks out ambient distractions even in bustling, high-noise environments so that every word in calls is clear. Designed for all-day wear and certified by SGS, its ergonomic structure, premium leatherette, and memory foam deliver long-lasting comfort; meanwhile, its intelligent dual connectivity enables smooth, instant switching between devices (such as PCs and smartphones). Tailored for dynamic workspaces, this headset stands as a dependable tool to help professionals stay focused and boost productivity. Yealink Solutions for Teams Rooms The Yealink MVC S90 is an intelligent Dual-cam solution for Microsoft Teams Rooms, designed to enhance collaboration and is ideal for large meeting spaces. This set includes the new generation mini-PC MCore 4, the 11.6-inch touch panel MTouch Plus, the intelligent dual-lens camera UVC86, the audio and video processor AVHub, the intelligent detect sensor RoomSensor, and BYOD-Extender. The Yealink S50 is ideal for medium meeting spaces. This set includes the new generation mini-PC MCore 4, the 11.6-inch touch panel MTouch Plus, the MeetingBar A50 all-in-one video bar with USB mode, and the intelligent detect sensor RoomSensor. The Yealink MVC S40 is designed for small meeting spaces, and includes the new generation mini-PC MCore 4, the 11.6-inch touch panel MTouch Plus, the SmartVision 40 all-in-one video bar, and the intelligent detect sensor RoomSensor. The Yealink MVC S90 The Yealink S50 The Yealink MVC S40From 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.Announcing Compliance Recording ISV Support for Call Queues in Microsoft Teams Phone
We’re excited to announce Teams Phone now supports third-party ISV compliance recording at the call queue level, making policy-based recording simpler, more automated, and easier to manage. What’s New? Compliance recording for call queues enables organizations to use third-party solutions to record the entirety of call queue calls, supporting regulatory compliance and a seamless caller experience. User-level compliance recording isn't supported for call queues, which can cause overlapping announcements and disrupt user experience. This new feature helps simplify management across large enterprises, support dynamic rep membership, and improve regulatory compliance through seamless integration. Admins can easily apply the policy to ensure that all calls for a specific queue are recorded. Highlights: Less administration overhead: Calls are recorded at the call queue level, not at individual participant level, ensuring less administration overhead. Conference-mode only: Available exclusively for conference-mode call queues. Improved caller experience: Eliminates redundant announcements and ensures the recorder is present before the agent joins. Customizable announcements: Configure a custom message to inform callers that their call “may” be recorded, played after the initial greeting and in tandem with recorder invitation which results in faster connection times. How to Configure Compliance Recording for Call Queues Initial setup: Provision the third-party compliance recording solution in your tenant. Microsoft offers a Teams certification program for compliance recording vendors, learn more. Configuration is applied at the call queue level, not per user. Use the following PowerShell cmdlets for setup: New-CsComplianceRecordingForCallQueueTemplate Set-CsComplianceRecordingForCallQueueTemplate Remove-CsComplianceRecordingForCallQueueTemplate New-CsCallQueue Set-CsCallQueue Options include: On/off switch for the feature List of compliance recording applications (with strict/optional toggles and high-availability options) Custom recording announcement (text-to-speech or audio file) -BotApplicationInstanceObjectId field set to the object ID from Get-CsOnlineApplicationInstance Paired application configuration for high availability Note: Configuring via Teams admin center is planned for a future release. Feature Limitations and Intersections Only available for conference-mode call queues (not transfer-mode or outgoing on-behalf-of scenarios). Standard compliance recording policies assigned to agents are ignored when the agent joins as part of a queue enabled for this feature. Some advanced features (call chaining, custom banners, grouping) are not initially supported. Questions or Feedback? For more detailed configuration steps and technical guidance, please refer to the official documentation or discuss with your third-party compliance recording solution partner to ensure it is enabled on your recording platform. The feature must be activated by your partner before it can be used in your environment.Organize your digital environment and boost your focus with flexible Teams layouts
More than ever, in today's fast-paced workplace digital tools must be efficient and flexible to adapt to the wide variety of work styles. Empowered with this ability, end users’ productivity often increases as a result of tailoring their collaboration to their needs. The latest round of enhancements to Teams, now rolling out to public preview, promises just that. In essence, users have more options to arrange the Teams window across their screen real estate while keeping communication in context. Organize your workspace with resizable Teams windows Simply put, Teams now allows you to tailor the size of its windows and panes. Whether your goal is to streamline workflows, minimize distractions, or simply achieve better visibility, you can leverage the flexible layout as a means to place emphasis on what makes most sense to you. Like water in different sized glasses, Teams' adjustable windows and panes fit perfectly into any workspace, molding to each user’s unique workstyle. In this way, the fluidity of Teams experiences helps keep you productive, adapting to your device and task at hand. Be sure to try out the scenarios below to get a sense of what may enhance your use of Teams. These new capabilities will be rolling out to Windows, Mac and Web. How it works Similar to Windows 11 Snap layouts you can quickly organize your workspace with Teams Snap by choosing an efficient, side-by-side view of multiple applications. You can retire the hassle of switching between multiple app windows with [Alt + Tab] and give a try of a new shortcut [Win + Z] to reach the Snap layout box. With a layout selected, showing Teams alongside other panes, grab (i.e., click/hold) the edge of a window and begin to resize the layout. Notice that as the Teams window reduces in size the selected chat thread stays present while other functionality is nested into available pull-down menus. The meeting screen will optimize for up to 200% zoom and screens as small as 360px x 502px to ensure you have access to the most important parts of your meeting. In the Teams experience itself, Teams chat, channels and activity panes can be resized to tailor the view. As you resize the panes to be wider or narrower, the displayed content will adjust to fit the updated pane size, helping you concentrate on specific tasks while maintaining access to all functions of Teams. You can also customize your view by resizing side panes within meetings. When you adjust the side panes to your liking, Teams' fluid experience will instantly adapt to fit the new layout. Coming soon, Teams will remember your layout, defaulting to it for your next meeting. Do you have some extra screen space available? Go ahead and detach meeting panes from the main window and reposition them. In April, you will be able to also pop out chat, Copilot, notes side panes, and captions. Pop out, drag, and resize meeting panes to customize your meeting view to suit your needs without missing any meeting activity. Adjust the zoom level to your needs Teams now offers additional zoom levels to help you find the font size that works best for your vision and devices. Whether you're using a 6k display or have low vision and need larger text, icons, and controls, you can zoom in across a broader range to select the perfect zoom level. Simply press CTRL + + (on Mac, CMD + +) to zoom in, or CTRL + = (on Mac, CMD + =) to zoom out and adjust the overall zoom level to your preference. Rest assured that Teams’ fluid experience will adapt to the zoom size without losing functionality or requiring to scroll in two directions to read the text. What’s next These features are now rollingin public preview with expected generally available in the Q2 of calendar year 2025. Customers eager to try out the new features can learn how to access the Microsoft public preview HERE.Immersive events in Microsoft Teams: Now generally available
We’re excited to announce the general availability of immersive events in Teams! This milestone brings 3D event experiences natively into Teams, making it easier to host engaging, interactive events that bring people together on PC, Mac, and Meta Quest devices. With immersive events, organizers can create tailored 3D environments where attendees join as avatars, interact naturally, and feel truly present. Because immersive events are built directly into Teams, you can plan, manage, and host immersive experiences using the familiar tools you already know – your Teams calendar, chat, and collaboration features. Simply open Teams, schedule an immersive event, and start designing your space. Immersive events can help drive enhanced engagement and connection for your workforce across multiple points of interest in a single branded event with a tailored experience—ideal for all hands, showcases, company events, new employee onboarding, and trainings. Note: With this general availability milestone, Microsoft Mesh is retired as of December 1, 2025. Read further for more details on this transition. Designed for flexibility and connection Immersive events in Teams deliver everything you need to create a deeply engaging experience, whether hosting a small internal meeting or a large organizational event. Build your event space your way Customize your venue with your brand logos, images, 3D models, videos, text, and interactive elements, and even sequence the experience for storytelling and impact. The intuitive editor enables creative freedom without the need for coding skills. Start faster with pre-designed templates Choose from ready-to-use 3D environments tailored for common event types such as all-hands meetings, webinars, and team celebrations. Deliver with confidence Presenter tools simplify setup and execution, with one-click starts, integrated Q&A, and efficient attendee management so you can focus on the message, not the logistics. Stay secure and compliant Immersive events inherit the same enterprise-grade identity management, security, and privacy protections built into Microsoft 365. Experience immersion on familiar devices Join immersive events from the Teams app on PC, Mac, or Meta Quest devices for lifelike interactions that enhance collaboration and deliver rich experiences. Dynamic platform designed for business impact Engage directly in the Teams event window or step into full 360° VR on Quest to unlock impactful business use cases. Flexible access for all Offer seamless participation from both Teams desktop and the immersive events app on Quest, giving your team choice and convenience. Enterprise-ready VR deployment Set up Meta Quest devices quickly with identity integration and MDM enrollment, ensuring secure, compliant sign-in to immersive events. Bring your event to life with action groups Make events more immersive and memorable. Action groups in Teams let you create dynamic, interactive experiences without writing a single line of code. Instantly trigger animations, play audio or video, reveal content, and switch visuals on the fly. Whether it’s launching a welcome sequence, powering a live quiz, or showcasing a 3D model, action groups give organizers controls to engage audiences in real time. Licensing Hosting immersive events in Teams requires: A qualifying commercial Teams license, and A Teams Premium license, which enables immersive event capabilities. Co-organizers and attendees only need a standard Teams license, such as Microsoft 365 E3/E5 with Teams or Teams Enterprise. Transition from Microsoft Mesh The general availability of immersive events in Teams follows the previously announced retirement of Microsoft Mesh as a standalone platform. This change reflects our continued investment in bringing immersive experiences into Teams for a more integrated and scalable 3D meeting solution. As of December 1, 2025: Users will no longer be able to attend Mesh events via the Mesh PC or Quest apps. The “Immersive space (3D)” view in Teams meetings will be removed. Joining Teams meetings via the Mesh Quest app will be disabled. The “mesh.cloud.microsoft” website will be decommissioned. If your organization has relied on Mesh for immersive meetings or events, now is the time to transition to immersive events in Teams, in order to take advantage of these new experiences. Get started today Creating an immersive event in Teams is simple: Open your Teams calendar. Select New event, then choose Immersive event. Customize your environment, invite participants, and host your event. Help prepare your organization for immersive events in Teams (includes optional Meta Quest deployment guidance), and learn how to get started with immersive events in Teams to transform your next online event into a high-impact 3D experience.Immersive events in Microsoft Teams, a new way to host interactive and engaging virtual events
In today’s fast-paced world, capturing attention and building meaningful connections is more important than ever. It’s no longer enough to just share information, people want experiences that engage, inspire, and feel real. While in-person events remain foundational, virtual and hybrid formats have become essential for their reach, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. As organizations embrace more ways to connect through digital experiences, the growing demand to adopt new technologies and collaborate more easily adds new layers of complexity to event planning. To solve this, we’re integrating immersive capabilities directly into Microsoft Teams, bringing a new powerful event solution that enables teams to create engaging, virtual event experiences using the familiar tools you already know and trust. Introducing immersive events in Teams, customizable 3D event experiences without complexity Today, we are excited to announce the public preview availability of immersive events in Teams. Now anyone can host customizable 3D events where people connect from anywhere, interact through avatars, and have natural conversations that feel like being in the same room. Immersive events in Teams make it easier to create tailored 3D environments and interactions that help people feel present, no matter where they are joining from. And since it is built right in Teams, you can plan, manage, and launch immersive experiences using the tools you already know, like Teams chat to collaborate during and after an event. Just open your Teams calendar, schedule an immersive event, and start designing your space. It’s that simple. And it’s not just about ease of use. Simpler tools can often lead to faster deployment, reduced training time, and more consistent, reliable experiences, so you can focus on what really matters: your content and your connections. Let’s explore the immersive capabilities coming to Teams. Familiar set up, elevated experience Immersive events take what you already know and love about Teams events and offer a new way to host events using dynamic 3D experiences. Built with organizers, presenters, and attendees in mind, it makes setting up, managing, and personalizing immersive events simpler than ever. And with deep Microsoft 365 integration, identity management and enterprise-grade security and privacy is built in, so everything stays in one familiar, trusted place. Reflect your brand with customization tools Easily personalize every detail of your 3D space with built-in tools that require no coding or design skills to create richer and more memorable experiences for your audience. Customize your 3D event space by adding branding and informative content like logos, images, 3D models, videos, texts and more interactive elements. Utilize pre-designed Microsoft event templates: Choose from multiple ready-to-use 3D environments for formal and informal gatherings, such as all-hands meetings and team celebrations. With editor, build a branded, structured event experience without the coding skills required. Add interactive elements like texts, images, videos, 3D models, audio and avatar starting positions. Tools that help Presenters shine Immersive events in Teams come with powerful tools that help lighten the stress of running an event while giving presenters the confidence to focus on delivering a great experience. Simple presentation start: With one click turn on spotlight for yourself and teleport attendees to their seats. Q&A: Bring hand raised attendees to stage for Q&A with one click and return them to seats automatically afterwards. Find-a-person: Find an attendee and teleport to their event room. Crowd visualization and reaction: See the audience’s reactions and move quickly between rooms to mingle with attendees, creating a more connected feeling. Engage naturally Immersive spaces are designed to help people feel welcome and encourage active involvement, engaging through their avatar. With spatial audio, voices sound closer or further away based on where people are in the room, just like real life. Want to join a conversation? Simply walk your avatar closer to anyone speaking and jump in. We encourage you to explore immersive events in Teams, now in public preview. We’ve made it easy to get started. Click here to explore immersive events in Teams today. Explore and join Teams immersive now in public preview Learn more https://aka.ms/ImmersiveEventLearnMore Q&A https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/immersiveDelivering new webinar experiences with Microsoft Teams
Today, we’re excited to share how we’ve evolving the webinar experience in Teams, both the new advanced webinars within Teams Premium generally available now and existing webinars within Office 365 and Microsoft 365 offerings. Below, we’ll take a closer look at how Microsoft Teams is delivering new engaging and richer digital-first event experiences.
Teams Rooms on Windows device management consolidation in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal
To meet customers’ needs for a one-stop destination to configure, monitor, and manage Teams rooms devices, we will be transitioning all Teams Rooms on Windows devices, irrespective of their licenses, to the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal on May 1, 2025. This change delivers a unified device management and admin portal experience. Teams Rooms on Windows devices will no longer be available in Teams admin center (TAC) after June 1, 2025. As of May 1, 2025, all Teams Rooms on Windows devices with Standard or Basic licenses will be visible in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. Customers who have Teams Rooms Basic or Standard-licensed rooms and are currently using the TAC will now have device management functionalities within the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal and will retain access to a subset of features equivalent to those in the TAC. To take advantage of the full suite of device management and space analytics in the portal, a Teams Rooms Pro license is required. For organizations who have never used the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal, those with Teams or Teams Device administrator roles will be able to access the Pro Management portal by that date via https://portal.rooms.microsoft.com if URLs have been allowlisted per instructions at https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/rooms/enroll-a-device. Please see these resources for more information: See Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 482539 Review MC1041960 post in the Microsoft 365 admin center for more details Learn more about Teams Rooms Pro Management in this video Find product documentation here: Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro management Frequently asked questions Q: Which Teams Rooms on Windows customers will be impacted? A: This change impacts all Teams Rooms on Windows customers with commercial, GCC, and GCC-H tenants. Those licensed with Standard and Basic will have the greatest impact. For those that have used only Teams admin center and are unfamiliar with the capabilities of Teams Rooms Pro Management, we encourage you to view the short videos on Teams Rooms Pro Management - YouTube and product documentation on Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro management - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn. Q: I’ve never accessed the Pro Management Portal before; do I need to add any license to access it because of this change? A: There is no need to purchase any additional license to access the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. After May 1, 2025, the Pro Management portal can be accessed at https://portal.rooms.microsoft.com after whitelisting the URLs provided at aka.ms/PMPenroll. Customers who want the full multi-OS, multi-brand device health monitoring, management, and space analytics capabilities of Teams Rooms Pro Management, should license rooms for Teams Rooms Pro. Q: Will Teams Rooms on Android devices transition from the Teams admin center to the Pro Management portal as well? A: Our goal is to provide a one-stop admin portal for all Teams Rooms, whether they are on Windows or Android. Because capabilities can vary due to the operating system of the device, we are first focusing on transitioning device management on Windows-based devices. Q: With the transition to manage Teams Rooms on Windows devices in the Pro Management portal, do we still manage Teams panels in the Teams admin center (TAC)? A: Yes, for now, you will still need to use the Teams admin center to manage Teams panels. Q: Teams Rooms Pro Management has been included in the cost of a Teams Rooms Pro license. Are you now providing that for free to customers who have only Basic or Standard rooms? A: No. Basic and Standard Teams Rooms licensed customers have access to a sub-set of features that equate to what they had in the Teams admin center. They will not have all the device and updates management, or space analytics features that come with a Teams Rooms Pro license. Q: Can an organization's IT team override the change and keep using the Teams admin center? A: No. This is a mandatory transition as the Teams admin center (TAC) agent running on the Teams Rooms on Windows device will be decommissioned.
