M365 Roundup, December 2023: Channel Archiving Arrives, NCE Comes for the Public Sector
TL;DR
- Teams channel archiving rolls out from mid-February 2024, letting owners freeze a completed project's channel while preserving its content, with unarchiving available under Manage teams > Channels.
- A new Teams meeting option, Turn off copying or forwarding of meeting chat, blocks copy, forward, and share-to-Outlook on meeting chat messages and requires a Teams Premium license.
- The Teams Admin Center is adding an external access analytics report under Usage reports, showing which managed domains users communicate with and over which capability.
- Intune's rebuilt Devices experience is in public preview as of December 2023, consolidating enrollment, policies, monitoring, and per-platform management in one place.
- CSP legacy public sector offers (GCC, education, nonprofit) move to new commerce in waves starting March 1, 2024, with new purchases required on NCE by May 1, 2024 and Microsoft-led migrations starting July 1, 2024.
December 2023 is a short list with long consequences. Teams finally gets a proper archive button for channels and a Premium-gated control that stops meeting chat from leaking into Outlook. Intune previews a rebuilt Devices experience. And for anyone billing government, education, or nonprofit customers through CSP, Microsoft published the dates that put legacy subscriptions on a countdown. Grouped by product, here is what to act on.
Teams: archiving, chat-leak controls, and external access visibility
Channels can finally be archived
For a paused or completed project where owners want to preserve channel content without keeping the channel active, archiving is here. A channel owner or administrator can archive a channel they own; it disappears from members' teams and channels lists, and no further actions are allowed in it: no messaging, reacting, commenting, or editing. Unarchiving is available any time under Manage teams > Channels, and team members can still pin an archived channel in their left rail.
Rollout: mid-February 2024 (previously late January), completing by late February 2024 (previously late January).
Meeting chat copy and forwarding can be switched off
"Turn off copying or forwarding of meeting chat" is a new meeting option that lets the organizer disable copying and sharing on meeting chat messages to reduce data leak risk. With the restriction on, participants cannot copy chat messages via menu options or keyboard shortcuts, and cannot forward or share messages to Outlook. A matching meeting policy setting in the Teams admin center controls whether users see the option at all, and admins can set the default in the meeting templates they create. The capability can also be configured inside a sensitivity label policy: Configure Teams meetings with protection for highly sensitive data (opens in new tab).
Requires a Teams Premium license. Rollout: mid-January 2024, completing by mid-February 2024.
External access gets an analytics report
A new report is rolling out in the Teams Admin Center under Analytics & reports > Usage reports with basic analytics for external access, giving admins visibility to make informed decisions about cross-tenant collaboration. The report shows:
- The total number of internal and external users using external access
- The breakdown of external access usage by capability (TFW-TFW, TFW-TFL, Skype)
- The list of managed domains communicated with over external access
- The aggregate number of internal and external users communicating with each domain
Rollout: late January 2024, completing by early February 2024.
Audio and video settings move into flyouts
Audio and video flyouts let users manage their devices mid-meeting without digging through layered settings menus. Three ways in:
- Click the split button with the downward arrow next to the camera or microphone in the meeting toolbar.
- From either flyout, open the full audio or video settings panel on the right side of the window via "more audio options" or "more video options" at the bottom of the flyout.
- Use the "More" menu in the meeting toolbar: More > Audio settings, or More > Video effects and settings.
Rollout: mid-January 2024, completing by late January 2024.
Intune: the Devices area gets rebuilt
Now in public preview, the Devices area of the Microsoft Intune admin center consolidates enrollment, profiles and policies, monitoring, and reporting in one place:
- At-a-glance actionable information and key device metrics
- Workloads for device onboarding, management, and monitoring
- An Overview page for viewing, monitoring, and drilling into active issues
- Device management by OS platform
- Filters available at the top of every list view
Full article: Try the new Devices experience in Microsoft Intune (opens in new tab)
As of December 2023 this is public preview only, with no GA dates announced.
Partner Center: the public sector NCE timeline is real now
Microsoft updated the previously announced (opens in new tab) new commerce timeline for CSP legacy public sector offers covering Government Community Cloud, education, and nonprofit. The dates to put on the calendar:
- March 1, 2024: Microsoft begins launching public sector offers in new commerce, across four waves.
- May 1, 2024: new subscription purchases for available public sector product SKUs must be on new commerce.
- July 1, 2024: Microsoft-led migrations from legacy to new commerce begin.
If you have been treating GCC, education, and nonprofit customers as exempt from the NCE conversation, that exemption now has an expiration date. Full Partner Center announcement: December 2023 announcements (opens in new tab)
Frequently asked questions
When do public sector CSP subscriptions have to be on new commerce?
Microsoft launches public sector offers in new commerce across four waves beginning March 1, 2024. From May 1, 2024, new subscription purchases for available public sector SKUs must be on new commerce, and Microsoft-led migrations from legacy start July 1, 2024.
Does archiving a Teams channel delete its content?
No. Archiving preserves the channel content while removing it from members' teams and channels lists and blocking new activity such as messaging, reactions, comments, and edits. Owners can unarchive it later from Manage teams > Channels, and members can still pin it in their left rail.
Microsoft changed the defaults again. Did your baselines notice?
Every monthly wave quietly reshapes settings you already signed off on. CloudCapsule rechecks 250+ controls per tenant in about 60 seconds, so updates never turn into drift.
Run a free assessment
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.
