M365 Copilot Readiness and Remediation

 This concise article provides an overview of how organizations can effectively prepare for the introduction of M365 Copilot. A primary concern often encountered is the risk of data oversharing accumulated over time and determining where to initiate data remediation. Much of this remediation should focus on SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. Common issues include:

• Site privacy settings that grant organizational-wide access.
• Default sharing options configured to “everyone.”
• Broken permission inheritance, where site permissions differ from those at the folder or file level.
• Sharing with the “everyone except external users” domain group.
• Sites and files lacking sensitivity labels.

It is important to note that solutions such as M365 Copilot will access all data available to a user when generating results. While this data is also accessible via search, M365 Copilot significantly streamlines the discovery process.

One of the key tools for identifying areas requiring remediation is SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM). Key features of SAM include:

• Content Management Assessment: Generates reports highlighting misconfigurations, inactivity, permission issues, and lifecycle risks across SharePoint sites.
• Site Lifecycle Management: Automatically detects inactive or ownerless sites and recommends remediation actions, such as marking sites as read-only, archiving them, or prompting owners to maintain content.
• Oversharing Control with Permission State Reports: Offers comprehensive reports on site permissions across M365, identifying broken inheritance, public links, and excessive group permissions. Remediation actions can be initiated, including site access reviews or the application of Restricted Access and Restricted Content Discovery controls.
• Restricted Access Control: Enables administrators to restrict site access to a specified user list, overriding existing permissions for rapid content lock-down until remediation is completed.
• Restricted Content Discovery (RCD) and Delegation: RCD allows administrators to prevent overshared sites from being accessed by M365 Copilot.

While SAM offers a robust starting point, additional solutions such as Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) can further address oversharing risks. DSPM assesses active SharePoint sites, surfaces risks related to sensitive files and their protection, identifies overexposed sharing patterns, and provides insights into site usage.

Organizations are also encouraged to utilize Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention policies to prevent Copilot from processing data with certain sensitivity labels. Moreover, implementing Microsoft Purview Information Protection enables the creation of auto-labeling policies that apply protections like encryption for file access control.

Finally, it is advisable to use Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management to establish retention policies for data governance and automated deletion of outdated information. This ensures Copilot does not reference obsolete content when generating responses.

Reference: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/mitigate-oversharing-to-govern-microsoft-365-copilot-and-agents/4448744 

M365 Copilot Chat now available in Office Apps

There was an important announcement this week.  M365 Copilot Chat is now available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote for all users without additional licensing.

Some important notes:

• This is for web-grounded chat only.
• This is the same Copilot Chat experience that all users have access to via a browser.
• If you want M365 Copilot Chat to return data from the M365 Graph with data from Teams, Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive, you must have a M365 Copilot add-on license for the user.

Reference: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/copilot-chat-comes-to-the-microsoft-365-apps/4453349 

Microsoft Teams August 2025 Updates

I typically forget to look at the monthly Microsoft Teams blog posting they do every month.  There are always several new features can capabilities being introduced each month.  Here are a couple that caught my eye.

• New filtering for messages in chat and channels.
• Save messages view.  You have the ability to bookmark important chat messages and go to a centralized view that will show you everything you have booked marked across Teams chats.
• Multiple emoji reactions….yes I can finally many, not just one.
• Personal meeting templates allows you to create meeting templates that are based on your preferences for external meetings, internal 1:1 meeting, partner meetings, etc.
• Organizers can now message attendees in the lobby before letting them in.  For instance, “hey we will let you admit you in 2 mins we are running late”.

Reference: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoftteamsblog/what%E2%80%99s-new-in-microsoft-teams--august-2025/4448706

New SharePoint AI Pages

AI is now being introduced into SharePoint Pages.  Now when you are authoring SharePoint pages, you will be given AI prompts to assist you with the authoring of content directly in SharePoint.  See here for more information.

Reference: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/spblog/sharepoint-pages-introducing-sections-with-ai/4422571

Microsoft Copilot Chat now has GPT-5

GPT-5 is now integrated into M365 Copilot, representing a notable advancement and fulfilling Microsoft's commitment to incorporating the latest OpenAI models into M365. With GPT-5, Copilot can process prompts using a real-time router that selects the most appropriate model to generate a response. Furthermore, Copilot is designed to deliver rapid replies for efficient user experience. For complex and open-ended inquiries, Copilot identifies when advanced reasoning is necessary and utilizes GPT-5’s enhanced reasoning capabilities.

For more information, read this >> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/08/07/available-today-gpt-5-in-microsoft-365-copilot/

M365 Copilot Memory

M365 Copilot continues to evolve with new capabilities. M365 Copilot Memory will be introduced in July 2025 and will be enabled by default. This feature allows Copilot to retain key information about users, such as preferences, working styles, and recurring topics, thereby tailoring responses accordingly. Copilot will analyze relevant details and interactions to understand user preferences and requirements. Additionally, users can instruct Copilot to remember specific items of interest and define desired interaction styles, such as requesting more formal communication. These enhancements are designed to further improve the assistant's usefulness.

Users maintain control over their data, with the option to disable memory, as well as view, edit, or delete individual memories at any time.

Furthermore, memory training is available. Users may prompt Copilot to ask questions—such as five questions regarding writing style or ten questions covering workplace preferences—to refine its understanding and responsiveness.

Reference: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/introducing-copilot-memory-a-more-productive-and-personalized-ai-for-the-way-you/4432059 

M365 Copilot Chat GCC Release

Microsoft Copilot Chat is now available in the GCC cloud and has been rolling out, with completion expected by the end of June 2025. This release provides Copilot Chat to all users without requiring an M365 Copilot Add-on license.

By default, web-grounding is turned off in GCC tenants. If web-grounding is enabled, users can use Copilot Chat with data from the Internet. The query leaves the GCC boundary, but all necessary internet data required by Copilot to provide a response is brought back and processed within the GCC compliance boundary. Therefore, the risk for organizations is minimal and comparable to users using a public Internet search engine to find answers. Additionally, organizations may benefit from increased security as all user interactions with Copilot Chat are discoverable and comply with Microsoft’s Enterprise Data Commitments.

If web-grounding remains disabled, users will still have access to a basic ChatGPT offering with Copilot Chat. Users can utilize files with Copilot Chat, but no additional Internet data will be available. Users are limited to a maximum file size of 512 MB per uploaded file and a maximum of three file uploads per day.

Reference >> https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/publicsectorblog/microsoft-365-copilot-chat-now-available-in-gcc/4426844