M365 Roundup, April 2024: Teams Leaves the Bundle
TL;DR
- In April 2024, Microsoft extended the EEA model worldwide: Teams is now sold separately from new commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans, while existing subscriptions renew unchanged.
- Exchange Online will enforce a 2,000 external recipient rate limit per 24 hours beginning January 2025, as a sublimit of the existing 10,000 recipient rate limit.
- Exchange Online permanently removes Basic authentication for Client Submission (SMTP AUTH) in September 2025, so devices and apps must move to OAuth or an alternative relay.
- Classic Teams reaches end of support on July 1, 2024, with end of availability starting October 23, 2024 for older operating systems.
- Copilot for Microsoft 365 became generally available for Microsoft 365 F1 and F3, Office 365 E1, and Business Basic in April 2024.
April 2024 is a licensing month wearing a feature-update costume. The headline is Teams splitting from the Microsoft 365 bundle worldwide, but the items with the longest fuse are in Exchange Online: a new external recipient cap arriving in January 2025 and a 2025 death date for Basic auth SMTP that should start your device inventory today. Everything that matters, grouped by what it touches.
The licensing story: Teams goes standalone worldwide
In April 2024, Microsoft announced it is standardizing the Teams licensing model worldwide, aligning with the changes made in October 2023 for the European Economic Area and Switzerland. The backstory: the European Commission accused Microsoft of monopoly-like practices for denying a price break to customers preferring a third-party communication tool such as Slack or Zoom. Microsoft's accommodation, a Teams add-on for Enterprise and Business SKUs with or without Teams, now applies globally to the commercial sector. Government, non-profit, and education are unaffected.
Microsoft says the change reduces confusion. Introducing another 13 SKUs and subtly raising Enterprise pricing for customers who want Teams is the classic move that makes people resent Microsoft licensing, but here we are. Our full breakdown of the SKU mechanics and pricing math: the Teams licensing split explained.
References: the Partner Center announcement (opens in new tab), CSP sell-through detail (opens in new tab), and pricing considerations (opens in new tab).
Exchange Online: two deadlines and a new sending tier
High Volume Email enters public preview
Exchange Online's sending limits are governed by three factors: Recipient Rate Limit, Recipient Limit, and Message Rate Limit. High Volume Email (HVE) for Microsoft 365 is the new offering for customers whose needs exceed them. HVE uses a transactional model priced by emails sent; during public preview it is free and allows up to 100,000 recipients per day per customer. It is designed for large-scale internal communications and integrates with business applications and devices for mass mailing. Rollout: early April 2024, completing by late April 2024.
A 2,000 external recipient rate limit arrives January 2025
Beginning in January 2025, Exchange Online will enforce an external recipient rate limit of 2,000 recipients per 24 hours. The existing Recipient Rate limit of 10,000 for cloud-hosted mailboxes is unchanged; the 2,000 external limit becomes a sublimit within it, and both are rolling 24-hour windows. The math: max out the external limit and you can still send to up to 8,000 internal recipients in the same window; send to no external recipients and the full 10,000 stays available internally.
Basic auth for SMTP AUTH dies in September 2025
Exchange Online will permanently remove support for Basic authentication with Client Submission (SMTP AUTH) in September 2025. After that, applications and devices must use OAuth to send mail via SMTP AUTH. If a client cannot do OAuth, the alternatives to move to before September 2025:
- Internal-only recipients: High Volume Email for Microsoft 365 (opens in new tab)
- Internal and external recipients: Azure Communication Services Email (opens in new tab)
- Hybrid with on-premises Exchange: authenticate Basic against the on-premises server, or configure a Receive connector for anonymous relay (opens in new tab)
Teams: a retirement clock and quality-of-life features
Classic Teams: end of support July 2024, end of availability after
The timeline to put on your project board:
- Starting April 2024, classic Teams users see informational banners and dismissible warning dialogs about the upcoming end of support.
- July 1, 2024: classic Teams becomes unsupported. Users still on it see dismissible in-app dialogs that reappear periodically.
- October 23, 2024: end of availability for the classic Teams desktop app on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and macOS Sierra (10.12). Users on those systems are blocked, with non-dismissible dialogs pointing to the new Teams web app on supported browsers (opens in new tab).
- July 1, 2025: end of availability for all users, with the web app as the fallback. Details: End of availability for classic Teams client (opens in new tab).
Slash commands in the compose box
Typing a forward slash in the compose box opens a menu of commands that work without memorization. Examples: /code adds a code block, /mute mutes the current chat, /loop inserts a Loop component, /settings opens settings, /away sets presence to away. Rollout: mid-June 2024, completing by late June 2024.
Teams (work or school) is renamed plain Microsoft Teams
Starting in May 2024, the Windows application becomes "Microsoft Teams," with the personal version on Windows 11 named "Microsoft Teams - personal."
Respond to meetings with Follow
Attendees can respond Follow to any invitation with more than two attendees where the organizer requested a response. Follow tells the organizer you cannot attend but want post-meeting information, marks the slot as free on your calendar while retaining access to the meeting and chat, and reminds organizers to record and take collaborative notes, with a recap notification afterward (that piece lands shortly after GA). Response options become Yes, No, and Follow, with Maybe moving to the three-dot menu. Rollout: early June 2024, completing by early July 2024.
Explicit consent before transcription
For tenants or groups with the "get recording and transcription consent" policy on, meetings require explicit consent from participants when transcription starts. Rollout: mid-May 2024 (previously late April), completing by late May 2024 (previously early July).
Tenant-wide policy for transcript download permissions
A new policy lets IT admins restrict downloads of new meeting transcript files (stored in OneDrive) for all users, with exemptions for security groups such as governance or compliance specialists who need download access. Applies to Teams for Mac and desktop. Rollout: late May 2024, completing by early June 2024.
Meeting recordings move to the organizer's OneDrive
Recordings become governed by the organizer's meeting setup and policies, like other meeting artifacts. If the organizer has no OneDrive provisioned, is out of capacity, or the upload fails, the recording stays accessible from the link in the meeting chat, which is the current behavior. Rollout: mid-May 2024, completing by late May 2024.
Copilot: more SKUs, more surfaces
Copilot licensing opens to Business Basic and Frontline
Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now generally available for purchase with Microsoft 365 F1 and F3, Office 365 E1, and Microsoft 365 Business Basic. The Copilot conversation is no longer reserved for E3/E5 and Business Standard/Premium customers.
Copilot chat lands directly in Outlook
Beyond drafting and summarizing email, Copilot is now accessible directly in the new Outlook for Windows and on the web with a work or school account, the same way it works across Microsoft 365. It can find a specific email, summarize meetings, or surface inbox items with action attached, answering prompts like "What is the latest email from my manager?" or "Show me the emails where I've been @mentioned." Learn more (opens in new tab). Status: GA.
Copilot in Outlook gains logging and eDiscovery support
Outlook added logging and Microsoft Purview eDiscovery support covering existing and future Copilot in Outlook features, across Outlook for Mac, web, iOS, Android, and the new Outlook for Windows. Rollout: mid-April 2024, completing by late April 2024.
Tighter admin control over Copilot in meetings
Organizers could previously override Copilot meeting policies. After this rollout, the Teams admin center setting offers "On only with transcript" and "On"; users assigned the former can only organize meetings where Copilot requires standard transcription. Meeting options change from "Without transcription / With transcription" to "Allow Copilot: Only during the meeting / During and after the meeting." Rollout: late April 2024, completing by early May 2024.
Copilot for Teams mobile works after meetings end
In addition to during-meeting access on Teams Mobile (available now), users will be able to ask Copilot about eligible meetings after they end. Rollout: early May 2024, completing by late May 2024.
Copilot in Stream
Copilot in Stream brings the Copilot pane to video: summarize a video to find the parts worth watching, ask questions of long recordings, jump to where people or topics are discussed, and pull out calls to action. Rollout: late April 2024 for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers.
Intune: Mac remote control and smarter elevations
Remote Help takes full control of Macs
Remote Help on macOS moves beyond view-only: help desks can now take full control of Mac devices, cutting troubleshooting time for configuration, software glitches, and user assistance. Part of Intune's broader cross-platform push. Status: GA. Full announcement: Microsoft Intune Remote Help adds full control for Mac (opens in new tab).
Endpoint Privilege Management adds support-approved elevations
Since Endpoint Privilege Management (opens in new tab) launched, elevation requests for applications without a rule were denied automatically, forcing a helpdesk ticket. Support-approved elevations close that gap: users can request elevation for unlisted apps and support can approve it. Status: GA. Full announcement: Endpoint Privilege Management adds support-approved elevations (opens in new tab).
Small but useful: Loop in OneNote, PDF annotation in OneDrive
Loop components arrive in OneNote
Navigate to Insert > Loop to create a new component, or paste a link to an existing one onto the OneNote canvas. Rollout: early April 2024, completing by early May 2024.
Annotate PDFs with text boxes
PDFs stored in OneDrive and SharePoint can be annotated and saved with text boxes. Open the PDF in File Viewer, select Edit, and add text. Rollout: mid-May 2024, completing by early June 2024.
Frequently asked questions
Do existing customers lose Teams under the April 2024 licensing change?
No. Existing subscriptions can keep renewing under the current model with Teams included. The change applies to net-new commercial purchases, where Business plans offer with and without Teams options and Enterprise plans require a separate Teams add-on.
What should MSPs do about the SMTP AUTH Basic auth retirement?
Inventory every device and application sending mail through Client Submission before September 2025. Move them to OAuth where supported; otherwise use High Volume Email for internal mail, Azure Communication Services Email for external mail, or an on-premises Exchange relay in hybrid setups.
How does the 2,000 external recipient limit interact with the existing 10,000 limit?
It becomes a sublimit. In any 24-hour window you can reach up to 2,000 external recipients; max that out and you can still send to 8,000 internal recipients. Send to no external recipients and the full 10,000 remains available for internal mail.
April changed the rules. Verify the tenants.
Licensing splits, retiring protocols, and new sending limits all land in tenants whether anyone is watching or not. CloudCapsule assesses 250+ controls per Microsoft 365 tenant in about 60 seconds, so every client conversation starts from current facts.
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Written by
Nick Ross
CEO · Microsoft MVP · Founder, T-Minus 365
Nick is not just a CEO, he's a respected thought leader and influencer in the MSP space. Tens of thousands of MSPs learn through his YouTube channel, T-Minus365. Nick has been honored as a three-time Microsoft MVP for his educational content; his expertise and influence are the backbone of our mission, ensuring that you are in the best hands when it comes to security.
Nick joined Pax8 in 2017, where he would ultimately oversee product management for PSA and Microsoft integrations. Following his tenure at Pax8, Nick has continued to demonstrate his leadership prowess as an executive at various MSPs, culminating in his most recent role at Sourcepass.
Nick holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Florida State University, as well as a Minor Degree in Entrepreneurship. In his free time, Nick is an avid hiker, reader, and fitness-junkie.
