M365 News Roundup for January 2026
News slowed over the holidays, but it's picking up as we move through 2026
I took a break during the holidays for my own reasons, but it did help that Microsoft also seemed to make fewer announcements and roll out fewer new features for a few weeks.
It also didn’t hurt that many other sources were taking a similar break. So, while this issue might seem a bit light on news, things are starting to pick up, especially with the change to making Claude available by default, and some other new Copilot features related to that. Not to mention a few new things that I have some security concerns about, like Computer Use inside the Researcher agent.
What new features have caught your eye recently?
Before we jump into the news, a reminder about the survey I shared last week:
Would you be interested in getting together over a Teams channel to discuss M365, eDiscovery, and other related topics with other subscribers? Perhaps even schedule some chats on occasion? (Paid subscribers, I’ve got some ideas just for you as well.) If you are interested, sign up here. If there’s enough interest, we will definitely get this going in the next few weeks.)
Copilot News:
In December, we saw Copilot add the ability to access some different models:
The Model Choice Era: What Anthropic Means for Microsoft 365 Copilot
Anthropic now a Microsoft Subprocessor - Claude had been available but this change made it more palatable for those of us with confidentiality concerns.
I spent some time looking at this and came away thinking it’s essentially a shortcut to things I could do before, but maybe a bit easier to get to. - Files Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot!
Similarly, this agent makes it easier to work directly with files as you browse OneDrive - Meet Agents in OneDrive: Your AI assistant built with your own content.
I have not spent any time experimenting with the Purview agents yet, mostly because my test tenant is too small to do much with Copilot for Security that would provide much insight. But, if you’re curious:
This is a good overview of one of my favorite MS-built agents - Copilot Agents: Getting Real Work Done with the Researcher Agent
I understand that it can be confusing to know which one to use - Copilot Pages vs. Copilot Notebooks
Non-Copilot News:
Somewhat related to Copilot, but this is really about Information Governance and Security - Strengthen Microsoft 365 Copilot Security
Keep this one handy - 2026 End-of-Support Milestone in Microsoft 365
I would agree that Purview is good at some things, but not at others. Mostly because some people want it to do things it was never designed for. - Microsoft Purview: What It Is (and Isn’t) Designed to Do
Also - A Quick Look at Purview Data Security Investigations
And this:
This is important to know - Why Purview eDiscovery Slows to a Crawl with Legacy Journal Data.
This is something Tony flagged from the Message Center that I’m keeping an eye on. I’ll have more when it rolls out - Purview eDiscovery Simplifies Content Searches in Feb 2026
If you’re using labels and want to extend permissions to files after they’ve been downloaded, this might also interest you - Extend Permissions to Downloaded Files in SharePoint Online.
That’s what I’ve been reading lately. I’ve got some tests I want to run over the next couple of weeks. More on those to come in the coming weeks!