Changes to default behaviour — features turned on or off by default. These often take effect without admin action, so they're worth reviewing.
See also: Admin controls · Licensing
AI spend and usage insights for GitHub Copilot will be available on Viva Insights for managers with at least 5 direct reports (scoped access), Global analysts and Microsoft Global administrators. They can track spend and make data-driven decisions for AI spend and usage in GitHub Copilot. The dashboard is enabled by default to ensure immediate access.
Insights into AI spend (Copilot credit usage) at a group or team level will be available in Viva Insights as a dashboard and in Advanced insights. The services in scope of this release are Cowork and Work IQ API. The dashboard experience is available to managers with at least 5 direct reports (scoped access), the Insights analysts, and Global administrators and is enabled by default to ensure immediate access to usage-based cost insights. For users to be able to use Cowork or WorkIQ API, your tenant must have usage-based billing setup via Cost Management in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Leader access to tenant-wide data is out of scope for this release. The same insights will be available for Insights Analysts and Global Administrators in Advanced Insights.
With this feature, organizational data source admins receive email notifications when data processing through one of their configured connectors completes successfully or requires attention. Notifications are enabled by default with the option to unsubscribe.
Admins will be able to manage Teams built-in agents across core Teams experiences, including chats, channels, and meetings, through a dedicated experience in the Teams admin center. From a centralized location, admins can control agents’ availability for users and groups. These agents will be enabled by default for licensed users and managed independently from org-wide Microsoft app settings.
We are updating the default profanity filter setting for live captions from On to Off across Teams meetings, calls, events, and Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) devices to improve accessibility and align with EU requirements. This change will only affect users who have never configured their live captions profanity filter preference. Users who have already set their preference will keep their current setting. As a result, some users may begin seeing unfiltered profanity in live captions by default after this rollout. Users can update this preference in settings at any time.
Microsoft Teams automatically organizes your chats with new built in sections that help reduce clutter and keep conversations easy to find. Muted chats (on by default) are grouped together in a dedicated area, while meeting chats (off by default) can be collected into a single section for quick access. You’re always in control, as each section can be turned on or off based on your preferences. The new Meeting chats section will replace the Meeting chats filter, that was previously available at the top of the chat and channel list.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat will be generally available for the GCC High environment, and it will be delivered with web grounding OFF by default. This is required to help protect US government sensitive information which should not leave the GCC High compliance boundary.
Now Cloud IntelliFrame, the AI-based cloud technology that optimizes views of in-room participants for hybrid meetings, is available for Teams Rooms on Android using group framing. It is set as the default in those rooms, while remaining disabled by default in others. Admins can manage this behavior through console settings.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat Copilot is available at no additional cost for Microsoft 365 DOD users who sign in with their Microsoft Entra account (no Microsoft 365 Copilot license required). Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat offers enterprise data protection (EDP), and secure AI chat designed for work, powered by the latest large language models with optional web grounding. The general availability of this release will be delivered to the users with web grounding OFF by default to meet US Government requirements. This will help protect sensitive information which should not leave the DOD compliance boundary.
Introducing enhancements to live captions and live transcripts in Microsoft Teams to make meetings more intuitive, accessible, and privacy-focused. Live captions are now scrollable, allowing users to review past conversation with more flexibility and over a larger surface area. Next, copying captions is disabled by default to protect sensitive information and support compliance. Additionally, the live transcript panel won’t open automatically with features that trigger transcription—like recording, giving users greater control over their layout. Lastly, If transcription is enabled, users who attempt to open the live transcript panel will see a banner suggesting they switch to live captions for real-time comprehension. These updates streamline the experience while supporting accessibility and privacy.
We’re updating the default global calling policy for new tenants to allow users to transcribe or record calls. Previously, these settings were turned off by default in the host global policy. With this update, recording and transcription will be enabled by default in the global calling policy for new tenants and existing tenants who have not modified the host global policy. This change will not impact existing custom policies or modified global policies. After this rollout, recording and transcription services will be more accessible to users, allowing them to turn on and use recording and transcription as needed during Teams calls. Neither recording nor transcription will be automatically enabled in Teams calls. This update is designed to broaden access to AI-powered features like Calls Recap and Calling Copilot, enhancing the overall calling experience. It also brings calling policy defaults in line with Teams meetings policies, where recording and transcription are already enabled by default.
Workplace Check-in via Wi-Fi acts as an extension of existing capabilities to check in to a building or a reserved desk, providing more flexibility and ease of use to help coordinate with co-workers. When users connect to their organization's Wi-Fi, Teams will soon be able to update their work location to reflect the building they're working from. This feature will be off by default. Tenant admins will decide whether to enable it or not and end-users always have the choice to opt-in or opt-out of sharing this information.
New PowerShell setting (SpeakerAttributionBYOD in csTeamsAIPolicy), enabled by default, gives IT admins more control over speaker attribution in BYOD (bring your own device) meeting rooms. This enhances the experience for users by enabling clear speaker labels and richer in-meeting and post-meeting insights with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Users just enroll profiles via Teams Settings to be recognized.
The new calendar in Teams will be available to Education customers. The new calendar in Teams is designed to be familiar and reliable, as it’s one unified calendar that works across new Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web, Microsoft Places, and now Microsoft Teams. With this update, the new Teams calendar will be enabled by default, and users can turn it off from the "New calendar" toggle at the top right of the calendar app in Teams.
Communication compliance policies will filter out bulk emails such as newsletters to help customers triage policy matches more efficiently. This will be an option for all policies in Communication Compliance. New policies will have this filtering on by default, but admins will have the option to configure as well as remove the filtering. Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance helps organizations detect explicit code of conduct and regulatory compliance violations, such as harassing or threatening language, sharing of adult content, and inappropriate sharing of sensitive information. Built with privacy by design, usernames are pseudonymized by default, role-based access controls are built in, investigators are explicitly opted in by an admin, and audit logs are in place to help ensure user-level privacy.
In May, requestors will be able to see the name and email address of approvers for their pending access package requests directly in the My Access portal will be in General Availability. This feature improves transparency and helps streamline communication between requestors and approvers. At the tenant level, approver visibility is enabled by default for all members (non-guests) and can be controlled through the Entitlement Management settings in the Microsoft Entra Admin Center. At the access
Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery is a built-in solution to help restore your tenant after accidental changes or malicious updates. Always on by default, it automatically backs up critical directory objects — including users, groups, applications, service principals, managed identities, conditional Access policies, named locations, agent IDs, and authentication and authorization policy, so admins can quickly restore them to a previously known good state.