M365 Roundup, September 2023: Copilot Gets a Launch Date

September 2023 put a date on the thing everyone had been asking about: Microsoft 365 Copilot goes GA for enterprise on November 1, 2023, with Copilot also baked into the Windows 11 update from September 26. The quieter news is at least as important for anyone running tenants: Conditional Access templates hit general availability, hybrid password resets can finally clear user risk, phishing simulation configs need rework before an old workaround disappears, and Teams Live Events got a retirement date. Grouped by product, here is the full picture.

Copilot: the dates, the devices, and the CSP wait#

Copilot begins rolling out in its early form as part of the free Windows 11 update starting September 26, 2023, and across Bing, Edge, and Microsoft 365 Copilot through the fall. The headline items:

• The next Windows 11 update carries over 150 new features, bringing Copilot and AI-powered experiences to apps like Paint, Photos, and Clipchamp.
• Bing adds support for OpenAI's latest DALL-E 3 model, more personalized answers based on search history, an AI-powered shopping experience, and updates to Bing Chat Enterprise making it more mobile and visual.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot becomes generally available for enterprise customers on November 1, 2023, alongside Microsoft 365 Chat, a new AI assistant.
• New Surface devices supporting these AI experiences opened for pre-order the same day.
• For MSPs, the line that matters: CSP offerings will start at the end of Q1 2024. Until then, Copilot is not something you can resell.

More info: Announcing Microsoft Copilot, your everyday AI companion (opens in new tab)

Entra ID: hybrid risk remediation and CA templates go GA#

On-premises password changes can now clear user risk#

Microsoft recommends mastering password changes in Entra ID to take advantage of Password Protection, but hybrid customers who reset passwords on-premises have been stuck: a user flagged as risky stayed risky, because the on-prem password change was invisible to Entra ID and could not dismiss the risk. The result was a build-up of users marked at risk who may or may not have remediated, which made user risk policies impractical for many hybrid tenants.

The fix is a new Entra ID Protection setting: "Allow on-premises password change to reset user risk." Tenants with Password Hash Synchronization enabled can turn it on, after which on-prem password changes automatically remediate user risk, making risk-based policies deployable for hybrid users with confidence. Full announcement: Remediate user risks in Microsoft Entra ID Protection through on-premises password changes (opens in new tab)

Conditional Access overview dashboard and templates reach GA#

The Conditional Access overview dashboard (opens in new tab) and policy templates (opens in new tab) are now generally available. Conditional Access protects thousands of organizations daily, and the most common customer questions are about best practices and coverage gaps; the dashboard surfaces posture insights and per-policy impact, while templates package Microsoft's recommendations for simple deployment.

Full announcement: Conditional Access overview and templates are now generally available (opens in new tab)

Teams: Town halls arrive, Live Events gets an end date#

Town halls replace Live Events#

Microsoft is folding its live event capabilities into the Teams meeting experience, creating one unified model whether you are hosting a small meeting, a customer-facing webinar, or a company-wide town hall. The new Town halls experience delivers large-scale internal events in a one-to-many format with advanced production capabilities and structured attendee engagement, covering company-wide town halls, all hands, global team meetings, internal broadcasts, fireside chats, and more, for internal as well as external audiences.

The deadline: after September 30, 2024, Teams Live Events is no longer supported and access is discontinued. Town halls land in early October 2023. More info: Introducing Town Halls in Microsoft Teams and retiring Microsoft Teams Live Events (opens in new tab)

External presenters get unique join links for webinars#

Organizers can add external presenters to events, and those presenters receive exclusive Teams join links that drop them straight into the event, no lobby admission or mid-session role changes required. External presenters are people outside your organization: guests (AAD/B2B/non-AAD), federated, unfederated, and anonymous users (non-AAD). Available for webinars only, and not a Teams Premium feature. Rollout: late October, completing by early November.

Immersive spaces head to public preview#

Microsoft Mesh comes to Teams meetings: from the meeting view menu, users can move the meeting into a 3D immersive space with one click, pick a 3D environment, and use Spatial Audio for multiple simultaneous conversations without talking over each other, plus team-bonding games, ice breakers, and live reactions. Works on Windows PC and Meta Quest VR devices, and immersive space participants can interact with everyone in the meeting, in the space or not.

Licensing is broad: Teams Essentials, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, E3/E5, and Office 365 E1/E3/E5. Arrives October 2023.

Multi-tenant meeting scheduling from Outlook#

With Teams meeting scheduling enabled in the tenant and the new Teams client installed, users can switch between tenants or accounts when scheduling a Teams meeting through the Outlook add-in. Generally available.

New Teams on Mac enters preview#

The new Teams desktop app for Mac is rolling out to Public preview and Targeted release users (see MC533687 from March 2023 for the new-Teams background). It is built for speed, performance, and flexibility, and supports users managing multiple work or school accounts across organizational boundaries without dropping out of calls or meetings. With multi-tenant organization (MTO), users in multi-tenant companies can search for coworkers in another tenant, keep a single chat thread, receive real-time notifications, and join meetings and calls in another tenant while multitasking from their home tenant. Rollout: early September 2023.

Intune: Remote Help reaches the Mac#

Requires the Microsoft Intune Suite add-on.

Remote Help is now available on macOS, a capability customers have flagged as essential to the Intune Suite: helpdesk staff on macOS can connect in view-only sessions to assist macOS users remotely. Windows gets a workflow upgrade too: Remote Help can now be launched from the Intune admin center, so the agent starts the session on both devices and the user simply gets a notification that the helpdesk wants to begin, replacing the old both-sides-launch-manually dance. Both are generally available.

Full Intune updates: What's new in Microsoft Intune (2309) September edition (opens in new tab)

Outlook: time zone warnings before you schedule#

Outlook on the web (and Monarch) now shows a tooltip when attendees added to a new event sit in different time zones, pointing the organizer to the scheduling assistant for local time conversions and a better-informed meeting time. No admin action needed. Rollout: mid-October 2023, completing by late October 2023.

Defender: rework phishing simulations before the workaround dies#

Advanced delivery policy becomes required for phishing simulations#

Exchange Online Protection and Defender for Office 365 customers sending phishing simulation emails need to configure the advanced delivery policy, which delivers matching emails unfiltered to the inbox with Safe Links time-of-click protection and post-delivery actions disabled. EOP previously honored admin-configured transport rules stamping SCL -1 or the X-MS-ExchangeOrganizationPhishTraining header for some vendors; that was a temporary accommodation and will be discontinued soon. Configure the policy now: Advanced delivery for phishing simulations and SecOps mailboxes (opens in new tab)

Block entire top-level domains in the Tenant Allow/Block List#

The Tenant Allow Block List (opens in new tab) is gaining URL blocking by top-level domain. Create entries in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal or PowerShell using the format *.<TLD>/, where the TLD can be .net, .biz, .io, .movie, country codes like .in, .us, .ru, and so on. Entries are case insensitive. Rollout: late September 2023, completing by late October 2023.

Purview: audit retention doubles for everyone#

The default retention period for Microsoft Purview Audit (Standard) moves from 90 days to 180 days, while Audit (Premium) stays at one year. Twice the lookback for investigations, at no extra cost or configuration. Rollout: early October, completing by mid-October 2023. Learn more: Microsoft Purview Audit (opens in new tab)