Changes and updates made to Office 365 for IT Pros (2026 edition)
This log describes the changes made to the book since its original release. The document is up to date as of the version released on February 1, 2026 (monthly update #128). We release an updated version monthly, usually on the first of the month.
Individual Chapter Changes for Office 365 for IT Pros, 2026 ed.
| Chapter | Change |
| 1 (Overview) | August 2025 (122): brief note on “Chinagate.” September 2025 (123): updated info on datacenter rollout schedule; updated summary of FY results. October 2025 (124): restructured sovereign cloud section for improved clarity. November 2025 (125): minor grammar and style fixes. December 2025 (126): noted October 2025 outage; updated M365 Local coverage; re-bundling Teams in EEA; new Copilot sovereignty section. January 2026 (127): noted July 2026 price increase; noted Anthropic models in Copilot. February 2026 (128): updated release dates and countries for Copilot go-local. |
| 2 (Managing Identities) | August 2025 (122): added SharePoint and OneDrive app consent requirements; linkable token identifiers in sign-in logs; CA policy audience reporting in sign-in logs. September 2025 (123): added note on cross-cloud support for cross-tenant synchronization; Azure DevOps support for continuous access evaluation; added inactive guest accounts dashboard; support for scoping of different certificate authorities for different groups of users with certificate-based authentication; conditional access optimization agent for reviewing conditional access policies. October 2025 (124): Updated conditional access token protection control to reflect general availability; additional information about using authentication contexts; QR code sign-in is now generally available; information about Entra ID Free. November 2025 (125): Updates to conditional access optimization agent; added source of authority transition; update guest/member conversion; updated FIDO2 token support link. December 2025 (126): Added discussion of passkey profiles and synced passkeys; updated conditional access flows to reflect availability of agent protection; added self-service account recovery; removed authentication methods migration wizard text. January 2026 (127): Added jailbreak detection for Authenticator app; link to insights on synced passkey policymaking; added risk remediation conditional access control; assorted small copy tweaks. February 2026 (128): Updated source of authority change for users and groups; removed support for custom CSS branding; cross-tenant synchronization security group support. |
| 3 (Tenant management) | August 2025 (122): Added section on Loop workspace control. Rewrote Defender portal description to reflect new UI. Noted new Microsoft365CopilotChatIconEnabled setting for Managed Edge. Noted planned rollout of Copilot PAYG budgeting. Noted preview of Copilot custom dictionary feature. Noted Copilot release notes page. September 2025 (123): Addition of the Places admin center. October 2025 (124): note about forthcoming new licensing experience; updated Copilot report section; updated section on Copilot billing. November 2025 (125): noted upcoming change to Marketplace section; updates to PAYG billing behavior; introduction of new licensing UI; Copilot harmful-content management. December 2025 (126): Renovated Copilot settings section; added first version of coverage for new Agents page; SHD issue archiving; people settings in Org Settings; minor style / grammar fixes. January 2026 (127): minor style/grammar fixes; pronoun and name card controls move to People settings; Marketplace section updated. Introduced T2T migration orchestrator. Updated date for Copilot consumption report. First coverage of baseline security mode. February 2026 (128): UpdatedCopilot management tools; Extended Service Term licenses; minor style / grammar fixes. |
| 4 (User Management | August 2025 (122): Clarified details about how mailbox plan settings are processed. Updated requirements for delicensing resiliency. Covered blocking ad-hoc email trial subscriptions. November 2025 (125): minor style fixes; note about new “Move and keep sharing” feature. December 2025 (126): fixed reader-reported error in description of group-based licensing. January 2026 (127): updated name, pronoun, and pronunciation control locations. |
| 5 (Exchange Online) | August 2025 (122): Added note on disabling connected experiences and default state (OWA). Added restriction on domain name enumeration using Autodiscover. November 2025 (125): Added Controlling S/MIME signature inheritance, Removed ETA GCC/GCCHigh/DoD for Controlling Copying from Outlook, Added paragraph on ActiveSync TLS 1.3 & CBA, Added deprecation Get-Contact/Set-Contact for (mail-less) Contacts, Added section on auto-archiving. Made EXO’s EWS retirement date explicit instead of “next year”. December 2025 (126): Added info on Exchange Online Admin API to EWS Deprecation, added note on shared mailbox MDO licensing with link to script. Updated rollout status auto-archiving and EAS TLS 1.3. January 2026 (127): Added EAS 16.1 requirement notice, Updated timeline for Auto-Archiving. Added note on Frontline/Kiosk EWS block enforcement, Added ExcludeFromAllHolds & RemoveComplianceTagHold, Added paragraph on licensing Shared Mailboxes for MDO. February 2026 (128): Updated timeline for the Auto-Archiving rollout |
| 6 (Mail Flow) | August 2025 (122): Added note on Report Junk’s unsubscribe option. Added DKIM Signing note for new custom domains using .dkim.mail.microsoft. September 2025 (123): Added information on MOERA throttling. Added result details may include AI-generated explanation. Adjusted timeline for the option to challenge MDO analysis. October 2025 (124): Removed heads-up note to disagree with analysis option, as it is rolled out now. Added Outlook profile card external visual indicator note. Replaced 2 instances of admins with administrators for consistency. Removed heads-up on legacy Message Trace UI + cmdlets. Adjusted timeframe for legacy Message Trace functionality in the Reporting Webservice. November 2025 (125): Updated global RFC5322 rollout, Added Remove-DkimSigningConfig to DKIM section. Updated announcements and dates for SMTP AUTH endpoint, MOERA limitation, MERRL and HVE. December 2025 (126): Added note on mx.microsoft namespace for new Accepted Domains, updated Reporting webservice deprecation date, added shared email entity tab mention to threat explorer and quarantine sections January 2026 (127): Updated timelines for MERRL rollout, Updated AIR information with auto-remediation. Added email actions directly from Advanced Threat Hunting. Added mention of new details to Email entity tab. February 2026 (128): Added note for upcoming change affecting administrator quarantine view and release-to-all, Added note on availability of the Message Tracing API preview. Added cancellation of Mailbox Level External Recipient Rate Limit change, Added TLS Cipher Requirements to mail relay section. Added section on Multi-Geo In-Region Routing. Updated SMTP AUTH Basic Authentication retirement timeline. |
| 7 (SharePoint Online) | August 2025 (122): SharePoint Online implements a Content Security Policy (CSP) to monitor and log violations in the execution of external scripts in SharePoint pages. Minor corrections in the Microsoft Syntex section. Copilot Search is available to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. September 2025 (123): Update SharePoint Online quotas section explaining that additional storage purchased is linked to a base subscription and the side effects of a cancelation of that subscription. New user experience to Share/Copy videos when added to SharePoint pages. Agent Link Web Part allows site owners to embed a link to an existing Agent in any SharePoint Page. Updated offline mode in the OneDrive for Business section to include the names of the processes and tasks that power that mode. October 2025 (124): Oversharing reports in SharePoint Advanced Management can be generated with PowerShell or in the SharePoint Admin Center. A site lifecycle policy can apply to all sites in the tenant or to a list of up to 10,000 sites provided in a CSV file. Advanced tenant rename is available for tenants with between 10,000 and 500,000 sites. SharePoint Knowledge Agent is available in public preview. Power BI “Visualize the List” and “Visualize the Library” features in lists and document libraries will retire between mid-November and mid-December 2025. SharePoint Syntex has been renamed to Document processing for Microsoft 365. Microsoft Copilot Search usage report is available as part of the Microsoft 365 usage reports. November 2025 (125): Copilot in the SharePoint Admin Center also provides a Recap of relevant information from across the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Tenant rename is available without site count limits. SharePoint Agents can be shared to Teams channels too. SharePoint Advanced Management includes the Content Management Assessment (CMA) that provides tenant administrators with a unified dashboard to evaluate site health, review permissions, and assess lifecycle readiness. SharePoint eSignature is available worldwide except in Indonesia and Türkiye. AI Actions available in SharePoint Document libraries. December 2025 (126): Site Attestation Policies in SharePoint Advanced (SAM) Management can be used to require site owners to periodically confirm that their site settings, including membership, remain valid. If site owners are unable or fail to confirm the site details, SharePoint Online can enforce actions such as archiving the site. Agents insights reports are part of SAM. All SAM features except Restrict Site Creation are available for customers with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. SharePoint eSignature available in Turkey. SharePoint Agents can be managed from the Agents section in the Copilot Control System. For a given Agent, you can view, block, or unblock it. January 2026 (127): To optimize storage of large media files in SharePoint Online, administrators can implement version expiration policies that automatically remove redundant versions. Added several updates in the SharePoint Advanced Management section, including the new control to restrict the creation of SharePoint Sites and OneDrive (preview) by specific third-party apps, the Site permissions per user report, and RCD (Restricted Content Discovery) delegation to site admins. Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users can create OneDrive Agents in OneDrive from a selected set of files and/or folders. February 2026 (128): Replaced section about Restricted SharePoint Search with text covering Restricted Content Delivery. Updated skills available in Copilot to manage the SharePoint Admin center with the new skills included as part of the SharePoint Admin Agent. SharePoint admins can centrally govern SharePoint site branding using PowerShell. SharePoint Embedded containers list allows also to filter by sensitivity label and publisher. OneDrive Agents can be managed from the Agents section in Agent 365. Migration Manager includes a set of PowerShell commands to manage migration tasks running in the service, as well as to download scan and migration reports. Migration Manager Lite is a simplified version of Migration Manager designed to help SMB customers easily migrate their content from Google Drive to Microsoft 365. |
| 8 (Tasks) | August 2025 (122): Minor updates September 2025 (123): preview of Information Barrier support; restrict PMA by group; updated SPO grounding coverage; death of Project on the web. October 2025 (124): Minor updates to Project Manager Agent roadmap/schedule text. November 2025 (125): Planner admin center setting. December 2025 (126): Project Online retirement. Removed paragraph about PMA plan creation. January 2026 (127): Mentioned upcoming feature deprecations; MIP sensitivity label support. February 2026 (128): minor date updates for delayed features. |
| 9 (Video) | August 2025 (122): Minor style and grammar fixes. September 2025 (123): noted removal ofdownload button on shared videos; minor chapter restructuring. October 2025 (124): added Clipchamp OCPS admin controls. November 2025 (125): updates to Copilot-powered video generation feature. December 2025 (126): added note on forthcoming consent policy for 1:1 meeting recordings. January 2026 (127): addition of version trimming for videos. February 2026 (128): minor style and grammar fixes. |
| 10 (Groups) | September 2025 (123): Minor updates. January 2026 (127): Rewrote chapter introduction. |
| 11 (Teams) | August 2025 (122): Cleaned up chapter grammar and repetitive phrases, reorganized Teams Meetings section and added new functionality for town halls. September 2025 (123): Shared file storage location updates, private channels storage migration, threaded channel layouts, KeyQL search, reduced E2EE section since it’s covered in Ch13, and added policy setting updates. October 2025 (124): Updated cross references, added section explaining functionality of audio recaps, removed outdated text related to Live Events with the pending deprecation now that Town Halls and webinars have reached feature parity, and minor grammar fixes. November 2025 (125): Updated EEA plans, Added update to Workflows app experience in Teams. Updated transcription and caption privacy behavior. Formatting and grammar fixes. December 2025 (126): Updated Teams Premium capabilities, added section for user reported messages. Removed redundant text. Added section about starting chat using email addresses. Updated email storage location in SharePoint. Added Messaging safety section to include malicious URL and file detection. Updated headers to be more accurate, and fixed grammar and punctuation. January 2026 (127): Added Teams ZAP Protection. Added update mentioning triggering workflows with emojis. Added text about audio-only recordings. Added section for Agents: Channel, Facilitator, Interpreter and Teams Admin agent. February 2026 (128) Added text about changes to Teams Enterprise and Teams Premium feature changes. Added Private channel join by code approvals. Added text for image search, and hidden objects removed from search results. Added automatic sharing access permissions for files and loop in external chats. Added domain impersonation checks for external chats. Added custom AI summaries for meeting recaps. Added content regarding new eCDN requirements. Updated text regarding limitations for channel agents. |
| 12 (Managing Teams) | August 2025 (122): Added a section about the Best practice configuration dashboard. September 2025 (123): Added information around remote client log collection. October 2025 (124): Minor grammar and style changes based on reader feedback. November 2025 (125): Updated Manage Apps section to reflect recent updates. Updated Events settings section to note requirement for email notifications. December 2026 (126): Fixed typos, added a section to for “Whats New”, added policy setting to allow security operations team to manage blocked external domain list. January 2026 (127): Added information about the Teams Admin agent, updated section on blocking external domains can be managed in the Defender Portal, added a section on Frontline management. February 2026 (128: Added missing settings descriptions for Meeting and Messaging Policies, added information about Message Safety, and fixed some Allows\Allow inconsistencies. |
| 13 (Managing Calling and Devices) | August 2025 (122): Tightening of overall chapter grammar, updates to Pro Management Portal functionality. September 2025 (123): Added information about call encryption, added note about added KYC support for Calling Plans. October 2025 (124): Added information about Silent test calling and Call Queue to Shifts integration. November 2025 (125): Updated MTRoA vs MTRoW comparison section, included changes for consolidated network subnet upload (CQD and CA). December 2025 (126): Added information about SIP ladder & adjusted Teams Display EOL text. January 2026 (127): Added compliance call recording for Call Queues, tweaks to KYC and Direct Routing info. February 2026 (128): Added shared call history for Call Queues, changes to native Bluetooth headset information. |
| 14 (Clients) | August 2025 (122): additional coverage of Word Startup Boost; updated EOL date for Office 2016/2019; updated timeline for various New Outlook features; described Monarch PST blocking. September 2025 (123): death of Apps Health and Update Validation features; new force-to-cloud policy. October 2025 (124): Cloud Update GA; macOS Tahoe release; updates to New Outlook policy settings; M365 companion apps and Copilot app for Windows 11 installations. November 2025 (125): policy-based removal of Win11 Store apps; end-of-service for Office 2016/2019; Edge Connected Feature Control feature; update to user self-install documentation. January 2026 (127): EWS deprecation for F1/F3; Delivery Optimization for Teams updates. February 2026 (127): death of Sway client; miscellaneous style and grammar fixes. |
| 15 (Managing Devices) | August 2025 (122): Added a note about app protection policy interaction with Apple AI features. September 2025 (123): Android strong integrity requirements update; information about Apple automated device enrollment; updates to scope of multi admin approval. October 2025 (124): Resource explorer is now Device inventory; minimum supported iOS version is now version 17; additional multi admin approval capabilities. November 2025 (125): Added note about automated iOS device migration to Intune. January 2026 (127): Updated multi-admin approval to include central admin tasks area; mention Intune Suite components being included in Microsoft 365; expanded on use case for MAM management of Edge on Windows. February 2026 (128): Added note about monitoring Intune MAM SDK version used by deployed apps. |
| 16 (Compliance) | August 2025 (122): The Purview Priority Cleanup solution is now GA. Added details about how to remove items from view to allow priority cleanup to process items without needing to rush. Added section about targeted auto-label policies. September 2025 (123): Note that shared mailboxes do not need licenses for retention processing. October 2025 (124): Note that Information barriers are supported by Planner. November 2025 (125): Note the usefulness of the activity explorer in tracking the effectiveness of auto-label policies. December 2025 (126): Added section about Priority cleanup for SharePoint. January 2026 (127): Rewrite section about administrative units and Purview solutions. February 2026 (128): Added section about using the Get-AdaptiveScopeMembers cmdlet. |
| 17 (eDiscovery) | August 2025 (122): Added note about eDiscovery PAYG billing for non-Microsoft 365 data sources. September 2025 (123): After August 31, 2025, the Connect-IPPSSession needs a new switch to enable access for eDiscovery action. October 2025 (124): Clarify that hold policies are set on individual target data sources. February 2026 (128): Added information about Purview Data Security Investigations solution. Export containers are now retained for a maximum of 14 days. Content searches now have a simplified user interface. |
| 18 (DLP) | August 2025 (122): Added section about OCR support in DLP, including Exchange DLP support for detection of sensitive data in image metadata. Updated section for DLP diagnostics now that the UX is in the Purview compliance portal. September 2025 (123): Clarified how DLP policy synchronization happens. October 2025 (124): Diagnostics can now be run by multiple Purview roles, including compliance administrator. December 2025 (126): A DLP policy for Copilot interactions is available to protect against misuse of sensitive information types in prompts. January 2026 (127): Add note about programmatic access to DLP events. February 2026 (128). Added coverage about Outlook oversharing dialog. |
| 19 (Information Protection) | August 2025 (122): Clarified delegate access to protected email in shared mailboxes for Outlook clients. September 2025 (123): SharePoint Online support for sensitivity labels with user-defined permissions is finally GA. Updated discussion about use license validity periods. October 2025 (124): Sensitivity labels are respected across Microsoft 365 clouds. Emphasized that assigning a label to a file also updates its modified by and modified date properties. Updated section on use licenses and the AIPService module. November 2025 (125): Rewrite description for the all authenticated users rights assignment. Add description about label group arrangement for managing the display of sensitivity labels. February 2026 (128): Sensitivity label support for OneNote is now available. |
| 20 (Reporting and Auditing) | August 2025 (122): Minor changes. |
| 21 (Power Platform) | August 2025 (122): Expanded Creating Environments section. Updated verbiage in Power Automate section and expanded Advanced Actions in Power Automate. September 2025: Minor updates. October 2025 (124): Moved and expanded the Search and Retrieval Behavior subsection for Copilot Studio. November 2025 (125): Updated Managed Environments section. December 2025 (126): Revised the following sections: Power Platform Admin Center, Managed Environments, Model Context Protocol (MCP) Support, and Deployment Options. Added Model Selection and Multi-agent Orchestration sections for Copilot Studio. January 2026 (127): Updated Managed Environments section to clarify the disablement UI limitation and included a link to Todd Baginski’s blog post showing how to disable it using PowerShell. Replaced the deprecated “Power Apps Express Design” section with the new “Power Apps Page Design Options” section and added a note about the retirement of the image/Figma feature. Appended a note in the Model‑Driven Apps section to reflect the retirement of the classic interface in April 2026. Updated Model Selection to reflect current GPT‑4.1, GPT‑4o, and GPT‑5 model guidance. February 2026 (128): Clarified ownership and things to consider for SharePoint Integrated Power Apps. |
| Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBook | Version 14: Many changes and new examples throughout the book. Version 15: New EnableSearchOnlySession parameter for the Connect-IPPSSession cmdlet required for compliance sessions that interact with eDiscovery cases. Added details about the new runtime environments in Azure automation. Version 16: Added details about Get-SPOSite processing. Added information about EmployeeOrgData properties for Entra ID accounts. Added note about assembly clashes. Version 17: Added section about selecting properties and sorting with the Graph SDK Entra cmdlets. Revised sections covering administrative units, sites, and throttling. More examples of Entra ID audit log searching. More examples of accessing SharePoint sites and Entra ID user accounts. Removal of information about now-retired AzureAD and AzureADPreview modules. Version 18: Security groups now support soft-deletion and restoration. Added note about the Get-MgDirectoryObject cmdlet. Settings for the default app management policy can now be managed in the Entra admin center. Added section covering creation of guest accounts directly and via invitation. Rewritten section about using app-only mode with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK and Exchange. Added notes about Exchange Admin API and CBA for SharePoint Online. Version 19: Added sections about finding out about invited guests and accessing security alerts. Several other updates in other sections. Version 20: Data lifecycle management cmdlets now require the EnableSearchOnlySession parameter with Connect-IPPSSession. Updated information about directory role assignments. Added details about how to create calendar events in group mailboxes. Added information about the create Site API (in beta). |
| Appendix | August 2025 (122): SLA data for Q2 CY25. Microsoft results for FY25 Q4. November 2025 (125): Microsoft results for FY26 Q1. December 2025 (126): SLA data for Q3 CY25. February 2026 (128): Microsoft results for FY26 Q2. |