An overview of the latest Microsoft updates for May 2025 covering Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365 Apps.
Microsoft is introducing Copilot Chat as a side-by-side experience in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. This update makes it easier for users to access AI tools directly within their workflow across core Microsoft 365 apps.
Users will be able to interact with Copilot Chat without disrupting their current task, enhancing productivity and in-context assistance.
Microsoft Outlook for iOS and Android will soon introduce a Priority View to help users quickly find important emails, including high-priority messages and those that need a reply.
A Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required to use this feature.
Users can enable it under:
Outlook Settings > Copilot > Prioritize > Priority view
They can also choose:
Rollout timeline:
Microsoft will soon make it easier to access recently used SharePoint agents directly from within the Microsoft 365 Copilot app—no need to return to the SharePoint site.
This enhancement helps reduce context switching and supports a more efficient workflow.
Rollout timeline:
Impact on your organization:
Users will be able to reopen their recent SharePoint agents stored as .agent files on SharePoint sites. Admins can disable an agent by deleting its corresponding file.
Microsoft is introducing a new feature that brings interactive agents into Teams meetings and 1-on-1 calls. Users will be able to engage with agents privately or as a group, with support for zero-state prompts and session history to enable more seamless and contextual interactions.
This applies to Teams on Windows desktop, Mac desktop, and the web.
Key changes:
Rollout timeline:
This feature will be on by default—no admin action needed.
Microsoft is adding a new entry point for Copilot Chat in Teams to improve navigation for users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
Currently, if Global Admins have pinned Copilot Chat via the Microsoft 365 admin center, users see it in the Teams app bar. Starting June 30, a new “Copilot” shortcut will appear at the top of the Teams chat list, just above "Discover", offering easier access to Copilot Chat in a more contextual location.
Rollout timeline:
Microsoft is introducing ContextIQ in Copilot Chat—a new intelligent assistance layer that helps users ground their prompts in real-time, relevant work context.
With ContextIQ, users can:
Additionally, ContextIQ will support Microsoft Graph Connectors, allowing Copilot to pull data from third-party platforms like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and others—making external information usable within Microsoft 365.
Rollout timeline:
Microsoft is expanding ContextIQ in Copilot Chat to help users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license easily find and work with files.
With this update, users can:
This makes it easier to ground prompts in context without needing a Copilot license.
Rollout timeline:
SharePoint sites and OneDrive folders in ContextIQ: Users can reference SharePoint and OneDrive folders directly within prompts in Copilot Chat work mode. This makes it easier to reference shared content and ensure Copilot has the right context to generate meaningful responses. This feature rolled out in June.
Microsoft is enhancing the Copilot mobile app on iOS by introducing voice-based interaction with Copilot Chat. Users can now speak naturally and receive real-time responses, making hands-free productivity easier than ever.
This update supports users who:
Whether it's brainstorming, navigating documents, or getting assistance, this feature offers a more flexible and inclusive way to stay productive.
Rollout timeline:
Now users can access deep reasoning agents Researcher and Analyst in the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app. These agents rolled out in June on iOS and are rolling out in July on Android.
Copilot Notebooks in the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app will let users gather project-related content such as docs, emails, chats, links, and Copilot Pages, and apply AI reasoning on the go. This feature is rolling out in July.
Microsoft Edge now lets users submit queries to Microsoft 365 Copilot directly from the address bar, streamlining how users access support and guidance.
Instead of navigating through search results, users can type questions like “How to create a pivot table in Excel?” and get a detailed response from Copilot instantly—right from the browser.
This update improves efficiency by integrating intelligent help into everyday browsing.
Rollout timeline:
Microsoft Edge users can now use Copilot Chat summarization directly from the right-click context menu. By selecting "Summarize with Copilot", users can quickly condense long articles, reports, or web pages into concise summaries.
This feature is especially useful for:
It helps users stay focused and save time by surfacing key insights instantly.
Rollout timeline:
Using AI to generate images and other visuals has been a popular and promising area. Images generated in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat are now more photo realistic and have better text spelling accuracy. In addition, Copilot Chat can now support multi-turn interactions involving image uploads, enabling users to engage in more complex and detailed queries. This feature rolled out in June.
Microsoft is rolling out Copilot Memory, a new feature that helps personalize interactions by remembering important details about each user—such as preferences, writing style, and frequently discussed topics.
Copilot Memory allows users to:
Users can explore memory by prompting:
Users remain fully in control:
Memory is on by default, and tenant-level controls are available for admins.
Rollout timeline:
Microsoft Teams is introducing a new feature that lets users save any message—whether it's a post, reply, or chat—and revisit it later from the Saved view in the Chat or Teams list.
Clicking a saved message opens the full conversation in the right pane, allowing users to review context or respond without needing to scroll through long threads.
This feature improves efficiency by helping users quickly return to important information.
Applies to:
Rollout timeline:
How this will affect your organization:
After this rollout, users will be able to save their messages and recall them later to support their personal workflows:
Users can go to the three-dot menu for a message and select Save this message:
The saved message will display in the user's Saved messages list in their Chat and Teams lists:
Microsoft Teams is adding support for file attachments in 1:1 and group chats with external users, improving cross-organization collaboration.
Users will be able to seamlessly share files with guests or external contacts without needing workarounds, making interactions more efficient and productive.
Applies to:
Rollout timeline:
How this will affect your organization:
Before this rollout, users had no option to attach file to compose box in chats with external users. The workaround was to copy and paste the link to a file into the chat compose box.
After this rollout, when enabled by admins, users will see an Attach file option in the + menu of the chat compose box when messaging external users. This allows them to include files in their messages, enhancing collaboration with external partners:
Any file shared by an external user will have an External tag:
A new countdown timer feature is coming to Microsoft Teams, allowing any meeting participant to add a visual timer (up to 100 minutes) directly within the meeting window. This helps teams stay on schedule without needing external tools.
Key features:
Availability:
A meeting participant can open the timer by navigating to the More (three-dot) menu at the top of the screen, can set the timer duration up to 100 minutes, and start the timer:
Microsoft is enhancing the search experience in Teams Desktop to make it easier for users to find and act on meetings—whether past, ongoing, or upcoming—directly from the search bar.
New capabilities include:
Rollout timeline:
These features are enabled by default and require no admin action.
Microsoft Teams is enhancing the green room feature to improve the management of town halls, webinars, and structured meetings. Presenters can now promote attendees from the waiting room directly to the green room using the Participants roster, allowing for smoother coordination before going live.
Applies to:
Availability:
This update streamlines live event preparation and improves control over participant flow.
How this will affect your organization:
After this rollout, organizers and presenters in the green room can promote an attendee by searching for the attendee's name from the participant roster, selecting the three-dot menu, and choosing Make a presenter:
Microsoft Outlook for Windows is introducing drag-and-drop functionality across personal and enterprise accounts, enabling users to attach emails and files from one account to another with ease.
Key capabilities include:
This feature is available for organizations with the ItemsToOtherAccountsEnabled parameter set to TRUE in OWAMailboxPolicy.
Rollout timeline:
This update streamlines cross-account workflows and boosts productivity.
Microsoft is improving the product licensing experience in the Admin Center to help admins more easily distinguish between direct and group-based license assignments.
What’s changing:
This update enhances clarity and performance on the Billing > Licenses page, streamlining license management and visibility.
Rollout timeline:
Microsoft is enhancing the SharePoint site header and footer to offer a more modern, customizable, and brand-aligned experience for site owners and visitors.
What’s new:
For site viewers:
For site owners:
This update helps create visually compelling, on-brand SharePoint sites with greater design flexibility.
Rollout timeline:
After this rollout, site admins can customize the header background under the new Design tab in the Header configuration panel:
Site viewers will have a cleaner, more immersive experience with the command bar hidden in View mode.
Microsoft is adding estimated read time to SharePoint News posts, helping users better manage their time and stay informed more efficiently.
Where this applies:
This update gives readers a quick sense of how long a post will take, improving content engagement across platforms.
Rollout timeline:
How this will affect your organization:
After this rollout, SharePoint News posts will display an estimated read time. This will appear in the banner web part of each news item:
The feature is on by default.
Authors can toggle it on or off in the settings panel of the banner web part:
Microsoft is expanding the range of file formats supported by the Content AI document translation feature (formerly Microsoft Syntex) in SharePoint Online. This update aligns with Azure Document Translation, enabling translation for more technical and structured content types.
Newly supported file formats include:
What this enables:
Rollout timeline:
This update reduces manual work and broadens translation support across diverse content types.
An overview of the latest Microsoft updates for May 2025 covering Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365 Apps.
Monthly updates, news & events from Microsoft to help you & your business grow & get best out the Microsoft services.
Monthly updates, news & events from Microsoft to help you & your business grow & get best out the Microsoft services.