M365 Roundup, August 2025: GPT-5 Reaches Copilot Chat
TL;DR
- GPT-5 began rolling out to Copilot Chat in August 2025, with a real-time router choosing between a high-throughput model and a deeper reasoning model per prompt.
- Intune's multiple administrator approval now covers RBAC roles and destructive device actions like wipe, retire, and delete, requiring a second admin's sign-off.
- Windows Autopilot can now install critical Windows updates during initial device setup, so new hires start patched.
- Windows 10 Extended Security Updates became available to CSP partners on September 1, 2025, as perpetual SKUs covering one, two, or three years.
- Outlook Mobile picked up DLP policy tips and enforcement, matching desktop and web behavior on iOS and Android.
The August 2025 wave is headlined by GPT-5 landing in Copilot Chat, but the items MSPs will feel day to day are quieter: Intune now supports a second-admin approval gate before someone wipes the wrong device, Autopilot patches machines during the out-of-box experience, and Windows 10 Extended Security Updates arrived in CSP just ahead of the October end-of-support date. The full month, grouped by what it touches.
Copilot: GPT-5 and a busy month of rollouts
GPT-5 starts rolling out to Copilot Chat
GPT-5, OpenAI's AI system, began rolling out to Copilot Chat across Microsoft 365 Copilot app endpoints in August 2025. Powered by GPT-5's real-time router, Copilot picks the right model per prompt: a high-throughput model for quick responses and a deeper reasoning model for complex, multi-step tasks. Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license got access first in the Copilot Chat work and web tabs, with a phased rollout following for unlicensed users. GPT-5 is also available in Copilot Studio for makers building in Early release cycle environments.
Status: generally available, rolling out to tenants. Full announcement: Available today: GPT-5 in Microsoft 365 Copilot (opens in new tab).
Word's Copilot summary adds a recent-activity snapshot
The Activity tab in the Copilot summary now gives a dynamic snapshot of recent comments and edits, so users catch up on a document's changes at a glance. Rollout: late July 2025, completing by late August 2025.
Immersive Search brings Copilot summaries to Outlook search
Outlook for Web, Mac, iOS, Android, and the new Outlook for Windows are getting Immersive Search. After a search, users see an entry point to the Copilot side pane, which builds an AI-generated summary from emails, Teams messages, and documents relevant to the query. Rollout: early September 2025, completing by late September 2025.
Create module's generative AI opens to all Copilot Chat users
The generative AI features of Create in Microsoft 365 Copilot are coming to users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, letting every Copilot Chat user generate images and edit visual content such as posters, banners, and infographics. Rollout: mid-August 2025, completing in the following weeks.
SharePoint agents answer @mentions in Teams channels
SharePoint agents are coming to Teams channels, where users can @mention them for summaries, answers, and file discovery from SharePoint content without leaving Teams. This extends the existing group chat and meeting functionality with persistent visibility in channels. More: Share an agent from SharePoint in Teams (opens in new tab). Rollout: late August 2025, completing by mid-September 2025.
Copilot without transcription becomes the meeting default
Copilot without transcription becomes the default mode for newly scheduled Teams meetings where Copilot is allowed, and conversation history now persists during meetings for better multitasking and continuity. More: Use Copilot without recording a Teams meeting (opens in new tab). Rollout: mid-September 2025, completing by late September 2025.
Admin and security: Secure Score, Teams domain blocking, and the Windows 10 lifeline
Defender for Identity feeds new recommendations into Secure Score
New posture recommendations from Defender for Identity will appear in Microsoft Secure Score as improvement actions, including:
- Remove inactive service accounts
- Remove discovered passwords in Active Directory account attributes
Rollout: mid-September 2025, completing by late October 2025.
Block external Teams domains from the Defender portal
A new integration between Teams and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 lets security admins manage blocked external domains in Teams through the Tenant Allow/Block List (TABL) in the Defender portal. With permission from Teams admins, security admins can:
- Add, delete, and view blocked external domains in Teams from the Defender portal
- Prevent incoming chats, channels, meetings, and calls from blocked domains
- Automatically delete existing communications from users in blocked domains
- Track blocking actions in audit logs for compliance monitoring and reporting
Details: Configure the TABL to block Teams domains (opens in new tab). Rollout: mid-September 2025, completing by late September 2025.
Force new Office files into cloud locations
A new policy setting controls whether Word, Excel, and PowerPoint users can save new files to non-cloud locations. Enabled, it limits Save As and Save for new files to cloud locations only; disabled or unconfigured, users can save anywhere (cloud, local, or network). It applies only to subscription versions of Office such as Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise. Rollout: mid-September 2025, completing by late September 2025.
Quarantine adds restore for temporarily deleted items
The quarantine experience in Microsoft Defender and Exchange Online is gaining visibility into items that were removed from the quarantine view but still exist in the system, with the ability to view and restore them. Rollout: mid-August 2025, completing by mid-September 2025.
Windows 10 ESU lands in CSP
Beginning September 1, 2025, Windows 10 Extended Security Updates are available to CSP partners, covering one, two, or three years of protection for devices still making the move to Windows 11. ESU also shifts from a software subscription to a perpetual offer type, so partners can buy all three years at once with separate SKUs per year. SKUs hit the CSP price list and the Partner Center catalog on September 1, 2025, with coverage starting after the October 14, 2025 end-of-support date.
Intune: guardrails for admins, patches for new devices
App Control for Business reaches general availability with granular targeting
App Control for Business is now generally available with targeting that makes Managed Installer enterprise ready. Previously, preview deployments meant tenant-wide Managed Installer settings; organizations can now assign App Control policies to specific groups instead of the whole tenant. Full announcement: What's new in Microsoft Intune, August 2025 (opens in new tab).
Autopilot devices now patch themselves during setup
When enabled, devices automatically download and install critical Windows updates during the initial setup process. New hires receive devices already current on security patches, with no restart interruptions in their first week. Announcement: What's new in Microsoft Intune, August 2025 (opens in new tab).
A second admin must now approve destructive actions
Everyone has heard the horror stories: one click wipes a critical device, or a role change knocks out an entire team. Multiple administrator approval now extends to Intune RBAC roles and critical device actions. Updates to roles, assignments, scope tags, and destructive device actions (wipe, retire, delete) can require approval from a second administrator before they execute. Full article: What's new in Microsoft Intune, August 2025 (opens in new tab).
Teams: a meeting timer and consolidated organizer controls
Countdown timer keeps meetings on schedule
Any meeting participant can add a visual countdown timer, up to 100 minutes, directly in the Teams meeting window. No external timer apps required. Rollout: late September 2025 (previously early July), completing by late October 2025 (previously late July).
Organizer controls move into one fly-out menu
Teams is consolidating meeting management features into an Organizer Controls fly-out in the meeting toolbar, improving usability and security for organizers and co-organizers. For Teams Premium users, the Prevent Copy of Chat option also becomes accessible under Advanced Protection. Rollout: September 15, 2025, completing by September 30, 2025.
Outlook: fewer accidental sends, more enforced DLP
The mobile Send button moves out of thumb's way
In Outlook for iOS and Android, the Send button relocates from the bottom toolbar to the top header of the compose view to cut down on accidental sends. Rollout: September 2025, completing by early March 2026.
DLP policy tips reach Outlook Mobile
Outlook Mobile on iOS and Android will support Data Loss Prevention policy tips and enforcement, showing inline alerts or pop-ups when sensitive content is detected based on admin-configured rules. This brings mobile in line with Outlook desktop and web for consistent compliance enforcement. Rollout: early August 2025 (previously mid-August), completing by early September 2025.
Email templates arrive in new Outlook for Windows
The new Outlook for Windows and Outlook for the Web now support creating, saving, and reusing email templates, including importing existing .oft files from classic Outlook. Rollout: early October 2025, completing by late November 2025.
Microsoft changed the defaults again. Did your tenants notice?
Every monthly wave of updates is a fresh chance for configuration drift. CloudCapsule rechecks 250+ Microsoft 365 controls per tenant in about 60 seconds, so a control that passed last quarter cannot quietly fail this one.
Run a free scan
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.
