What’s New in Microsoft 365 | February 2026 Updates

Check out the latest updates on Microsoft 365 as CloudCapsule CEO & Microsoft MVP Nick Ross cuts through the noise and delivers the key updates that were released in February 2026.

Microsoft Teams

New Features

Ongoing meetings indicator for Teams channels with a threads layout

Today, Teams does not provide an efficient way for channel members to discover all ongoing meetings and choose the one they want to join. This new indicator will help fill that gap by making it easier for users to see active meetings at a glance and quickly join the meeting that best fits their needs. 

Coming early March 2026 and expect to complete by mid-March 2026. 

Microsoft Teams on Windows: Annotate content while sharing a single window 

Introducing Annotations on Single Window Sharing for Windows in Microsoft Teams meetings, based on customer feedback requesting more focused and privacy‑preserving collaboration. Presenters can now annotate directly on a shared application window without sharing their entire desktop.

Coming mid-March 2026 and is expected to complete by late March 2026. 

New controls for quick views in the chat list

We will introduce new controls that allow users to customize how quick views appear at the top of their chat and channels lists in Microsoft Teams. This update aligns with customer feedback requesting a cleaner and more focused experience. These controls will help users see only the quick views that are relevant to them and manage when those views appear. 

Coming late March 2026 and expect to complete by mid‑April 2026. 

Microsoft Intune

New Features

Improving Intune reporting accuracy

Starting late February 2026, Intune will exclude devices inactive for 12+ months from reports to improve accuracy. 

Secure Boot status report in Windows Autopatch

If you’re an IT admin using Windows Autopatch, a new report is now available to monitor the status of Secure Boot across your organization. As the 2011 Secure Boot certificates start expiring in June 2026, this report helps you start by identifying devices that have Secure Boot enabled. Available now.

Learn More: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/windows-autopatch/monitor/secure-boot-status-report  

Windows first sign-in restore experience now available 

Extending beyond the Windows out-of-box experience (OOBE), the first sign-in restore experience delivers a streamlined, admin-controlled restore experience across more device types and deployment scenarios. For the first time, users who sign in with a Microsoft Entra ID on eligible devices will be able to restore their environment if they missed the option during OOBE. Available now.

Learn More: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/windows-first-sign-in-restore-experience-now-available/4495551

Microsoft Entra

New Features

Microsoft Entra hybrid join using Microsoft Entra Kerberos

You can use Microsoft Entra Kerberos to perform Microsoft Entra hybrid join for a device without requiring Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) or Microsoft Entra Connect sync. You get the Microsoft Entra hybrid join behavior instantly without the AD FS setup. In Preview now.

Learn More: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/devices/how-to-hybrid-join-using-microsoft-entra-kerberos  

Deactivate an App Registration

Deactivating an app registration provides a reversible way to prevent the application from accessing protected resources without permanently removing it from your tenant. When you deactivate an application, it immediately stops receiving new access tokens, but existing tokens remain valid until they expire. This approach is useful for security investigations, temporary suspension of suspicious applications, or when you need to maintain application configuration data. Available now.

Learn More: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/enterprise-apps/deactivate-app-registration?tabs=admin-center

Microsoft Entra ID Governance: Azure subscription required to continue using guest governance features 

Beginning January 30, 2026, Microsoft Entra ID Governance will require all tenants to have a linked Azure subscription to continue using Identity Governance features for guest users. Available now.

Learn more:  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/id-governance/microsoft-entra-id-governance-licensing-for-guest-users

Microsoft Purview

New Features

Data Security Investigations – AI analysis enhancements 

We’re enhancing AI analysis in Data Security Investigations (DSI) to help analysts evaluate risky content more efficiently. These updates streamline the workflow by automatically preparing items for AI analysis as they’re added to an investigation and by introducing a new standard categorization option. 

Coming mid‑April 2026 through mid‑May 2026.

Learn More:  

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/data-security-investigations
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/data-security-investigations-ai-analysis

Data Lifecycle Management – Separate Retention policies for Copilots and AI Apps

We’re introducing the ability for admins to configure separate retention policies for Copilots and AI apps. This enhancement gives organizations more flexibility to manage retention and deletion timelines for Copilot and generative AI interactions. 

Coming mid-March 2026 and will complete by May 2026.

Learn More: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/retention?tabs=table-overriden

Removing support for relaxed proximity matching in out-of-box sensitive information types

We are updating Microsoft Purview’s out-of-box (OOB) sensitive information type (SIT) detection logic to improve accuracy and reduce false positives. As part of this update, the relaxed proximity matching behavior previously used in some OOB SITs will be removed. After this change, all OOB SITs will consistently use stricter proximity rules for more consistent and precise detections. Available now.

Posture Reports are now generally available

We’re announcing the General Availability (GA) of Microsoft Purview Posture Reports, which provide out-of-the-box, executive-ready visibility into your organization’s data protection posture across Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention (DLP). This release gives admins unified, near-real-time insights into label usage, DLP activity, posture trends, and risk areas without custom reporting or manual refreshes. 

Coming early February 2026 and expect to complete by mid-February 2026.

Learn More: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/purview-reports

Microsoft Copilot

New Features

Branded footer customization

Introducing a new co-branding capability that will allow organizations to display a branded footer at the bottom of the Chat screen in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. This update helps users confirm they are using their trusted, work-managed Copilot experience. 

Coming March 2026 and is expected to complete by late April 2026. 

Copy tables from Chat

We’re introducing the ability for users to copy tables created when using Chat in Microsoft 365 Copilot. This enhancement makes it easier for users to take AI‑generated structured content—such as comparison tables, checklists, and summaries—and reuse it directly in documents, emails, spreadsheets, and other Microsoft 365 apps.

Coming early March 2026 and complete by early March 2026. 

Audio recap language expansion in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams Audio Recap that will expand support to eight additional languages:  

• Chinese

• English

• French

• German

• Italian

• Japanese

• Portuguese

• Spanish

Coming late March 2026 and complete by mid‑April 2026.

Microsoft Copilot Studio – Create Inputs from Existing Conversations

This feature enables users to generate evaluation inputs directly from real production conversations by converting past customer interactions into reusable structure inputs. By using actual customer interactions, users can create evaluations that reflect real usage patterns, uncover quality gaps, validate fixes, and improve agent behavior. 

General availability on March 31, 2026.

Microsoft Admin

End of Life

Exchange Web Services (EWS) retirement update

We’re updating the timeline and process for the retirement of Exchange Web Services (EWS) in Exchange Online. As previously announced, EWS will be retired in favor of Microsoft Graph, which offers improved security, modern authentication, and broader capability support. A phased disablement begins October 1, 2026, with permanent shutdown starting April 1, 2027. 

EWS usage report available in the admin center.

Learn More: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/exchange/notes-from-the-field-finding-and-remediating-ews-app-usage-before-retirement/4496469

Licensing Update

Extended Service Terms in CSP

Microsoft announced the free grace period for accessing services on nonrenewed subscriptions will be discontinued. Customers and partners will have three clear choices after expiration: renew, cancel, or move to a paid EST to maintain service while next steps are decided. 

Learn More: Use Extended Service Terms (EST) for Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) subscriptions – Partner Center | Microsoft Learn

Coming May 4, 2026. Dedicated video and blog posts coming soon!