What’s New in Microsoft 365 – October 2026

Microsoft 365 applications and features are receiving updates, changes and scheduled retirements this fall. Students, faculty and staff should review these changes to understand what is new, what is being retired and whether action is needed. 

Microsoft Teams: Report Suspicious Messages and Activity

Microsoft Teams allows users to report suspicious messages, calls and meetings directly within the application. This feature helps the University's IT Security team identify potential threats, including phishing attempts, impersonation and malicious links. Students, faculty and staff who encounter suspicious activity in Teams can submit a report for security review without leaving the application.  

Microsoft Teams and Planner: Improved Meeting Task Management 

Microsoft Teams is introducing changes to help users organize meeting-related tasks and reduce unused Planner plans. Meetings can now be connected to an existing Microsoft Planner plan, allowing assignments and follow-up items to be tracked alongside other project tasks rather than creating a separate plan for each meeting. 
 
New Planner plans created through Teams meetings will also automatically expire after 180 consecutive days without task activity. Meeting organizers will receive advance email notifications and can select Keep plan to retain an inactive plan for another 180 days. Existing plans are not affected by this expiration policy. 

Microsoft Teams: Changes to Copilot Access

Microsoft Teams is simplifying how users access Microsoft 365 Copilot by removing it from the Teams chat list. Users can continue accessing Copilot through the Copilot app in the Teams sidebar, which provides the full range of available features. If the app is not visible, it can be found under the More apps menu. Existing Copilot conversations and chat history will remain available, and no information will be lost as a result of this change.

Coming Soon to M365 

Microsoft Outlook: Additional Protection Against Unsafe Attachments

Beginning in November, Microsoft Outlook will block two additional file types used to install Windows applications. Users accessing Outlook on the web or the new Outlook for Windows will no longer be able to open or download attachments with the .msix or .msixbundle extensions. This change is intended to strengthen email security by reducing the risk of potentially harmful software being distributed through attachments. Most users will not be affected, as these file types are rarely shared through email. 

Microsoft Word: Support for WordPerfect Files Ending

Beginning in November, Microsoft Word will phase out support for opening WordPerfect documents, an older file format used by some word processing applications. Students, faculty and staff who have documents saved in WordPerfect formats should convert any files they still need to a supported format, such as .docx, to ensure they remain accessible in Microsoft Word. The retirement is expected to be completed by February 2027. 

Microsoft Teams: Share OneDrive Videos During Events

Beginning in December, Microsoft Teams event organizers and producers will be able to share videos directly from OneDrive during events using the Manage what attendees see feature. This eliminates the need to share a screen to play videos from a computer or embed them in PowerPoint presentations. Built-in playback controls will allow organizers to start and pause videos during an event, providing a smoother viewing experience with improved video quality for attendees. 

Microsoft 365: Retirement of Companion Apps

Microsoft will retire its Microsoft 365 companion apps, including Calendar, People and Files, on December 16. These Windows taskbar applications provide quick access to schedules, contacts and documents without opening a separate Microsoft 365 application. After retirement, the companion apps will no longer function, but existing information and files will not be affected. Users can continue accessing their calendars and contacts through Outlook, while documents remain available through OneDrive, SharePoint and other Microsoft 365 applications. 

Categories: Science and Technology