February was a busy month for the Microsoft collaborative apps and platforms engineering team, as they rolled out a number of new and improved features for SharePoint and Microsoft 365. Whether you are looking for a way to translate files, create custom copilots, hide general channels, or use Microsoft apps on Apple visionOS, there is something for everyone in this month’s roadmap. In this article, we will summarize the highlights of the SharePoint February Roadmap, and provide you with some helpful links and resources to learn more. Let’s dive in!
Viva Topics retirement
One of the important notices in February was the announcement of the retirement of Viva Topics on February 22, 2025. Viva Topics was the knowledge management solution that automatically organized content and expertise across your organization, creating a network of topics. However, with the generational shift in AI technology underway, Microsoft is now focusing its strategy and efforts on building new AI-powered knowledge management experiences in Microsoft Copilot and other parts of Microsoft 365.
Topics will continue to live on as SharePoint pages and sites like any other, but the notion of AI automation on those pages will end when this change takes hold. To learn more, check out the link below.
Copilot Dashboard for Viva Insights
One of the most exciting announcements in February was the launch of the Copilot Dashboard for Viva Insights. This dashboard helps organizations maximize the value of Copilot for Microsoft 365, the AI-powered assistant that helps you get things done faster and smarter.
The dashboard provides actionable insights to get ready to deploy AI, drive adoption based on how AI is transforming workplace behavior, and measure the impact of Copilot now and over time, across three metrics:
- Readiness
- Adoption
- Impact
The dashboard is powered by Viva Insights, the employee experience platform that captures sentiment data and workplace patterns. DFshboard access is managed by Global admins, and the measured population consists of the people in your company whose Microsoft 365 activity you want to analyze. If you want to get insights on all Copilot users in the company, you will need to assign them all a Viva Insights license. To learn more, check out the blog and the Microsoft Learn module below.
- Assess how your organization feels about Microsoft Copilot
- Manage user access to the dashboard in Viva Insights
SharePoint Premium: Translation
Another feature that went into general availability (GA) in February was SharePoint Premium: Translation. This feature allows you to easily create a translated copy of a selected file (or a set of files) in a SharePoint document library among dozens of languages, all while preserving as much of the original format and structure of the file(s) as possible. You can translate files manually on demand or automatically at scale by creating a translation rule. This is a great way to enhance your global collaboration and communication, and it is one of the many capabilities of advanced content management on top of the core of SharePoint in Microsoft 365. To learn more, check out the link below.
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Deploy a custom copilot to SharePoint, with a seamless single sign-on experience
If you are interested in creating your own custom copilots, you will be happy to know that there is a new code sample that demonstrates how to publish a custom copilot to a SharePoint site, with a seamless single sign-on experience. This means that a user accessing a SharePoint site has already signed-in using their Microsoft Entra ID credentials, and the copilot can access protected data sources, like SharePoint and OneDrive, on the user’s behalf. This enables a conversational experience grounded in the sites’ pages and documents.
For example, think about a SharePoint site consolidating HR related information, with an embedded copilot answering employee questions and referencing the relevant HR policies. The component included in the sample allows copilots created with Microsoft Copilot Studio to be wrapped and published to SharePoint sites as a floating widget. To learn more, check out the link below.
- Deploy a custom copilot to SharePoint, with a seamless single sign-on experience
- SharePointSSOComponent
Updates across SharePoint team sites, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams
February also brought some teamwork updates across SharePoint team sites, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams. These updates include the ability to create custom SharePoint document library templates, the improved performance and new features for Microsoft Lists, the new Copilot experience in Teams, the automatic captions for Microsoft Clipchamp, and the option to hide general channels in Teams. These updates are designed to help you collaborate more effectively and efficiently with your colleagues, family, and friends. To learn more, check out the links below.
- Custom library templates for admins
- Custom library templates for end users
- Microsoft Lists: Easier, Better, Faster, Stronger
- ClipChamp: How to use autocaptions
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Teams are now on Apple visionOS
Last but not least, February marked the debut of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Teams on Apple visionOS, the operating system for Apple Vision Pro, the spatial computing device that lets you interact with digital content in your surroundings. You can now use Microsoft apps on your Apple Vision Pro device to create, edit, and share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. You can also call, join meetings, chat, and share files from your Apple Vision Pro device while staying immersed in your environment. This is a great way to enhance your productivity and creativity with Microsoft and Apple technologies. To learn more, check out the links below.
Conclusion
That’s all for this month’s recap of the SharePoint and Microsoft 365 roadmap. We hope you enjoyed this blog article and found it useful. If you want to stay on top of the latest news and updates, check back here often, or stay in touch through my other social channels using the links in the footer.