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Microsoft 365 Apps: New features
Guide: The most important new features in Microsoft 365 apps.
Microsoft regularly improves its applications with monthly updates.
Whereas in the past, the main focus was on closing security gaps and fixing bugs, new features have also been rolled out for some time now. This is part of the continuous development of the products, which is largely based on user feedback. Every month, all users of Microsoft 365 Business Editions and Office 365 can look forward to various new features in the individual Office applications. In this blog post, we present the most important new functions of each feature update for the Office apps.
2025
In November 2025, various improvements were made to the different standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in update 2511 are described in detail in the Microsoft documentation.
Word for the web gets a modernised comment design that makes collaboration clearer and more focused. New icons, buttons and a tidy layout give it a contemporary look, while highlighted active comments and greyed-out inactive comments help you grasp feedback more quickly.
PowerPoint features comprehensive AI innovations that significantly simplify the creation and editing of presentations: Copilot now generates presentations more flexibly with controllable length, tone, style and AI images, while an improved Copilot Chat provides context-sensitive help directly in the deck.
New image editing features such as precise background and object removal, image enhancement and text recognition bring professional editing tools directly to PowerPoint. The update is complemented by an Agent Mode in a preview, which allows slides to be created, restructured and refined using natural language.
Excel has seen enhancements to its AI and usability features: Agent Mode in Excel has gained new capabilities such as web search with source references. In addition, a modernised Get Data dialogue box simplifies the process of establishing data connections. Across platforms, comments in protected files can also be previewed directly from email notifications.
In addition, various Teams innovations were presented at Microsoft Ignite. These include, among others:
- Copilot in Teams: Unified AI support in chats, channels and meetings for smart summaries, insights and message transformations; Teams Mode allows group chats with Copilot.
- Channel Agent & external collaboration: status reports, workback plans, secure chats and file sharing with external partners, trust indicators, multi-tenant support.
- Collaboration & organisation: pop-out windows, collaborative areas in chats/channels, emojis in area names, meeting recap templates for customised AI notes.
- Meetings & Town Halls: Facilitator Agent for agendas, tasks and documents, front-of-room control, presenter analytics, immersive 3D events including Meta Quest VR.
- Security: Entra authentication for bots/agents, visible app and agent permissions, trust-based filters, performance audit tool and agent analytics for developers.
In October 2025, various improvements were made to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in Update 2510 are detailed in the Microsoft documentation.
The various Microsoft 365 applications have been given new icons: the redesigned versions feature clearer shapes, bolder colours and a cohesive design system.
In addition, there were once again many new features in Microsoft Teams:
- Summarise files with Copilot: AI summaries of Word documents directly in chat
- New emoji shortcut: Insert emojis using :emoji:, including search for standard and custom emojis
- Audio Recap: AI-based meeting summaries as audio files
- Multi-camera & IntelliFrame in webinars: Intelligent camera views from Teams Rooms for structured meetings
- Event Chat for Town Halls: Secure, persistent live chats during and after events (Teams Premium)
In September 2025, various improvements were made to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in Update 2509 are described in detail in the Microsoft documentation.
Excel users can look forward to exciting new features for its 40th birthday: the new Agent Mode in Excel brings expert-like automation directly into Excel and can independently check, correct and iteratively improve results.
The COPILOT feature is now also being rolled out for Excel on the web, enabling AI-powered calculations using natural language. In addition, Formula Completion with Copilot makes working with formulas easier by providing context-based suggestions, including result previews.
Teams users will also get these new features, among others:
- Threads in channels: Structured replies directly to individual messages, including follow/unfollow function and centralised "Followed Threads" view.
- GitHub App for Teams (Public Preview): @mention GitHub to generate code, tests, or pull requests directly from discussions.
- Countdown timer for meetings: Visible timer for all participants for better time management.
- Prevent Screen Capture (Premium): Protect sensitive content by blocking screenshots.
- Improved live captions: Greater privacy, more stable display and consistent behaviour with RTT.
- Migration tool for teams: First-party tool for migration from third-party systems.
- Uniform building and endpoint metadata: consistent data basis for call and meeting reports.
- Silent Test Call: Proactive network and infrastructure testing without user interaction.
In August 2025, various improvements were made to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in Update 2508 are described in detail in the Microsoft documentation.
Microsoft Teams has received another major update. The new features include:
- Improved search in chats & channels: filter for messages with files, including file preview
- Customisable keyboard shortcuts: Create your own shortcuts based on Slack & Zoom.
- Saved messages: Centralised "Saved messages" view for quick access.
- Personal meeting templates (Teams Premium): Custom templates for recurring meeting types
Lobby chat: Organisers can unilaterally inform participants in the waiting room. - Shifts integration for call queues in Teams Phone: Calls are only routed to active shifts.
- Desk booking via interactive map (Premium) – optimised for mobile devices.
- Extended audit logs: logs for screen sharing and "give/take control"
Excel is also receiving an AI update: the new COPILOT function integrates generative AI directly into the calculation logic and enables content to be analysed, generated and dynamically updated using natural language. In addition, Copilot now explains formulas directly in the spreadsheet grid, while Python in Excel allows images to be analysed directly in cells for the first time.
In July 2025, various improvements were made to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in Update 2507 can be found in detail in the Microsoft documentation.
Microsoft Teams is the application that has major update . The new features include:
- Search now displays dynamically personalised apps and agents.
- Apps and agents can be shared directly from the app bar by right-clicking.
- Emoji reactions can trigger workflows plus improved emoji search.
- Notifications can be resized.
- Real-time translator (interpreter) now officially available for meetings with 9 languages.
- External audio and camera devices can be selected on iPads.
- Smart meeting summaries for Android.
- Slide control can be shared with co-presenters.
- Custom ringtones and line key configuration in the Admin Centre.
- Remote contact management for shared telephones.
- Call queues with prioritisation.
In addition, the new PivotTable Auto Refreshfunction in Excel ensures that pivot tables are automatically updated as soon as the source data within the workbook changes – for example, when new entries are made or corrections are made. This means that evaluations always remain up to date without having to be reloaded manually.
Auto Refresh is enabled by default for new pivot tables and can be turned on or off for existing tables via the options. The function applies to all connected pivot tables per data source, displays a notification when data is out of date, and only supports data from the current workbook, not external sources. There are restrictions in certain co-authoring scenarios and with asynchronous or volatile data sources.
In June 2025, there were further improvements to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in Update 2506 can be found in detail in the Microsoft documentation.
This month, Microsoft Teams in particular has been significantly expanded. New features include these features:
- Improved spell checker with multi-language support (up to 3 languages).
- Non-Teams Video Devices (CVI) can now participate as presenters in Town Halls.
- New control options for who can manage the screen during town hall meetings.
- Dial-in via PSTN code possible for town halls and webinars.
- Presenters can be called and added directly from the participant list.
- Organisers/presenters can view events as participants to identify problems live.
- Copilot creates automatic call summaries for Teams Phone before forwarding calls (desktop and devices).
- New ringtones available in the Teams Mobile App for individual call differentiation.
- Calls can be opened in a small, movable window for better multitasking.
- Discreet call waiting tone for incoming second call (desktop & mobile).
In addition, Copilot in Excel now recognises smart context analysis automatically detects the appropriate table or data range based on your query, without you having to select a specific cell beforehand. Copilot visually highlights the detected range to provide clarity.
This makes operation more intuitive and flexible, especially for complex workbooks with multiple tables. This improvement uses natural language and other cues such as cell selection or chat history to understand the correct context – an important step towards even more comprehensive context support in the future.
In May 2025, there were further improvements to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in update 2505 can be found in detail in the Microsoft documentation.
The following improvements have been made to Outlook:
- Offline synchronisation extended to 30 days: emails are now available offline for up to 30 days instead of 7.
- Offline search folders: Search folders can also be used in offline mode.
- Moving emails between accounts: Private users can move emails between their own accounts; for business users, this is admin-controlled.
- Email coaching with Copilot: suggestions for optimising tone and style before sending.
- Copilot deactivation: Can be easily disabled via settings.
In addition, these functions were implemented in Excel and Word:
- Improved recommended pivot tables: smarter, with a clearer dialogue box and easier data selection.
- Clean Data with Copilot: AI-supported data cleansing (e.g. inconsistent spellings, number formats, spaces) at the touch of a button.
- Request eSignatures: Create, share, and manage eSignatures directly from Word – securely within the Microsoft 365 tenant.
You can also find in this blog post all the new features related to Microsoft Teams that were presented at Microsoft Build.
In April 2025, there were further improvements to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in update 2504 can be found in detail in the Microsoft documentation.
For Microsoft Teams , the following optimisations were made, among others:
- Improved OneDrive navigation: Users return to Teams exactly where they left off last time.
- Display name editable in meeting: Participants can also change their displayed name during a meeting.
- Forward messages with app cards: App content can now be easily shared.
- Larger drop zone for drag and drop: files can be dragged into chats more conveniently.
- Integration of Teams Phone with Dynamics 365: Teams Phone can now be integrated into Dynamics 365 Contact Centre and certified ISV solutions.
- Sensitivity labels for meetings: Automatically assignable or recommended labels based on file sensitivity.
- So in Excel , users can look forward to new features:
- Value tokens (insider): New symbols indicate when a cell contains a specific data type – improved overview and differentiation.
- Dark Mode: Dark colour scheme for menu and spreadsheet reduces eye strain and improves accessibility.
- ActiveX disabled by default (Insider): For security reasons, ActiveX controls are now disabled by default.
- Finally, you should take a look at these Outlook features :
- Newsletter in Outlook (preview): New feature for quickly creating and sending professional newsletters to keep teams up to date. Administrators can enable it for users.
- Batch processing of notifications: Notifications are now grouped (batch) by email thread, document, etc., to improve clarity in the notification area.
- Grouping messages in PST files: Emails in PST files can now be grouped as conversations (threads) for a better overview.
March update for Microsoft 365 apps: What's new in Excel
In March 2025, there were only minor updates for the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All new features and improvements in Update 2503 can be found in detail here in the documentation.
This month's updates primarily affect . Users can look forward to the following new features:
- TRIMRANGE function: This removes empty rows and columns at the edge of a range.
- Python in Excel: Enterprise and Business users can now use Python in Excel to perform advanced analyses, including in the web version.
- Excel for iOS: Users can now access shared files without a Microsoft account
You can find the latest updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot in this article.
February update for Microsoft 365 apps: Excel, Teams, and bug fixes
In February 2025, bug fixes were primarily made to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All improvements in update 2502 can be found in detail here in the documentation. In PowerPoint, the and Merge" feature, which was only available in the Windows version, has been disabled. Existing files are not affected. The recommendation is to use real-time collaboration tools instead.
In addition, the following new features were added to Excel:
- Copilot now supports Python in Excel, allowing you to gain deeper insights without needing to be a Python expert.
- A new Copilot button allows you to quickly access Copilot from anywhere in the Excel grid. The button appears next to the cell selection and offers a list of suggestions that are executed directly in the Copilot sidebar.
- Copilot can now access data from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files. This new feature simplifies data collection and analysis and helps to integrate information from different sources more quickly.
In addition, Teams users can also look forward to opportunities:
- Add agents or bots to Teams chat: Agents or bots can now be added to 1:1 or group chats to answer questions or take on tasks. All chat participants can interact with the bot and mention it with an '@'.
- Scheduled messages in channels: You can now schedule messages in channels for a later time, similar to delaying chat messages.
- Share meeting summaries: You can now easily share the link to the meeting summary in chat, even if others do not have access rights to the recording.
- Change language selection for transcripts: Meeting organisers, co-organisers, and the transcription initiator can now specify the language for a meeting transcript.
- Improvements to the Teams calendar for iPad: The Teams calendar on the iPad has been optimised and now offers a standard 5-day week and simpler scheduling.
- End session for participants: Organisers and presenters can now end an event with an End Event button, and participants will return to the Green Room after the event.
You can find the latest updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot in this article.
January update for Microsoft 365 apps: Outlook, Excel, and Teams
In January 2025, minor improvements were made to the various standard apps in Microsoft 365. All improvements in update 2501 can be found in detail here in the documentation.
The among others, have been made in the new version of Outlook.
- Copilot Chat now allows you to summarise SharePoint and OneDrive file links in emails by hovering over the link and selecting a button to summarise with Copilot.
- Copilot now helps with planning meetings (e.g. 1:1s or focus time) and automatically finds the optimal time for a meeting with a person within a company.
- Background notifications: Users will continue to receive calendar notifications even when Outlook is not open. They can click on the notification to view event details or start the meeting directly.
- Access to the tips section has been moved from the suite header to the ribbon under the "Help" tab.
There were also a few minor changes in Excel:
- Dark Mode in Excel: Dark Mode is now available for Windows Insiders to reduce eye strain, improve energy efficiency, and optimise the user experience.
- Improvements to five text functions: The text functions LEN, MID, SEARCH, FIND and REPLACE have been optimised to work better with Unicode characters. Compatibility versions have also been introduced to improve functions without changing the results in existing files.
- New Forms integration for Windows: Users can now synchronise responses with the Windows app and create a new Microsoft form directly in an Excel worksheet that is seamlessly linked to the worksheet. This feature was previously available for web users, with Mac support coming soon.
Finally, Microsoft Teams users also had a of new features to look forward to at the beginning of the year:
- Forwarding channel messages: Messages can be forwarded between channels or in 1:1 or group chats, including additional context and @mentions.
- Quick insertion of hyperlinks: Links can now be inserted directly into the text by selecting a section of text and inserting the URL.
- Switch between breakout rooms: Organisers can make breakout rooms visible so that participants can switch between them flexibly.
- New calendar environment in Teams: The calendar has been redesigned and now offers features such as calendar sharing, multi-day view, filtering, time zone support and Copilot integrations.
- Restrict copying and forwarding of meeting content: Organisers can prevent meeting chats, live captions, transcripts, or summaries from being copied or forwarded.
- Workplace check-in with presence indicator: Users can check in at the office via the Places app to show colleagues that they are present.
- Speaker recognition and transcript assignment: Teams can recognise and assign speakers in live transcripts (requires Teams Premium or Copilot).
You can find the latest updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot article.
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