Posts by Joaoferreira

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 48)

This past week was one of the calmest of the year—probably because the holiday season is kicking off. Still, there are relevant updates you should know about, and I picked two to bring to your attention from last week.

Forget the calendar gymnastics. Just tell Copilot who you want to meet with and when, and it will check everyone’s availability, propose time slots, and make scheduling painless. No more time‑zone headaches or digging through ten calendars for one slot. This is a game‑changer for me.

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By João Ferreira Dec 2, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 47)

Last week was packed! Microsoft Ignite dropped a flood of Microsoft 365 announcements, and honestly, it might have been the busiest week of the year. No surprise, AI and Copilot were front and center, and there’s still plenty to digest. I’ll be unpacking more over the next few weeks.

For now, I want to highlight two SharePoint updates that can really help with intranet adoption: SharePoint Page Agent and the new FAQs web part. If outdated content has been slowing you down, these tools make it easier than ever to keep things fresh and engaging!

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By João Ferreira Nov 25, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 46)

Ignite week is on. Microsoft is in San Francisco and we’re about to see a crazy amount of Microsoft 365 updates dropping fast. Before the floodgates open, here’s a quick warm‑up with my highlights from last week.

My SharePoint highlights (you know this is a dear topic for me):

• Branding governance via PowerShell — Tenant admins can now centrally manage site branding. Enforce enterprise themes, block custom branding on selected sites, and audit changes. Consistency and governance finally come together without manual policing.

• Official dark themes for SharePoint — Two Microsoft-designed dark themes land out of the box. Accessible, comfortable in low-light, and consistent with Microsoft’s design system. A simple win for look + usability.



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By João Ferreira Nov 17, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 45)

This week’s highlights are all about Microsoft Copilot—and how it’s becoming smarter, more personal, and more aligned with your organization’s identity. These updates focus on making Copilot easier to adopt and more powerful for everyday work.

Three standout features: the new Explore pane, which offers guided, contextual steps so you can discover Copilot capabilities without guesswork; Q&A in Read Aloud, enabling real‑time voice interactions while listening to content; and the Organization Brand Kit, now applied to visual Copilot creations for consistent branding across images and layouts.

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By João Ferreira Nov 10, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 44)

I’m dropping this week’s update a day later than usual. Monday was the first of the month, so I shipped the monthly roundups for SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Copilot, and Microsoft Viva, plus the podcast with the break down about what actually matters and how it may affect your work.

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By João Ferreira Nov 4, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

What’s new for Copilot – October 2025

Just when I think it’s impossible for Copilot to deliver more updates in a single month, it proves me wrong—and October was absolutely mind-blowing. Over 160 updates landed across nearly every corner of Microsoft 365, redefining what “continuous improvement” really means.

Out of all these changes, one stands out above the rest: GPT‑5 is now the default Copilot model. This means Copilot is faster, smarter, and more accurate—without you having to press a button or toggle a setting to use the latest version. It’s seamless, and it sets a new benchmark for AI-powered productivity.

There’s plenty more in the full post, but this single update alone signals a major leap forward for how we work with Copilot.

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By João Ferreira Nov 3, 2025 Copilot 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 43)

Last week was busier than usual while I prepped CollabDays Portugal for the weekend—and it was a success. Microsoft 365 didn’t take a break, though. There’s a solid list of updates ready for you.

Heads‑up for November: SharePoint document libraries are getting a layout update. The view selector moves left, and the New button shifts to the right. After years with the opposite setup, I expect some confusion. Refresh your training materials and prepare your help content.

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By João Ferreira Oct 27, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 42)

This week’s update is landing a day later than usual — and for a good reason! I took a short break to run the half marathon in Rome. It was an incredible experience, and honestly, disconnecting from tech for a few days felt amazing. Running through the streets of Rome was surreal, and now I’m back, fully recharged and ready to dive into what’s new in Microsoft 365.

Let’s jump into the highlights! First up, Microsoft Teams is rolling out the ability to record meetings with audio only. This is a great move for those who prefer a more lightweight recording option. Second, GPT-5 will be the default model powering Copilot, which means smarter, faster, and more context-aware responses across Microsoft 365 apps. To me these two updates are definitely the stars of the week.

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By João Ferreira Oct 21, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 41)

This week I’m bringing you two highlights from the SharePoint world that you won’t want to miss. The first is a post I wrote about how you can bring Microsoft Teams town halls into your SharePoint pages by embedding them. In the article I explain why this approach makes sense.

The second is an update about managing SharePoint agents in the Copilot control system. Admins will be able to view all SharePoint agents and block agents from being used in Copilot chat. This is especially useful if you need to restrict or allow certain agents within your organization.

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By João Ferreira Oct 13, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments

Hands-On Microsoft 365 Pulse – Weekly Updates (Week 40)

Among the many enhancements from last week, one feature stood out: Teams channels are now available in Context IQ prompts. This update is part of Microsoft’s ongoing effort to enhance Copilot in Microsoft 365 with Context IQ (CIQ) — a set of AI capabilities that lets users search for, select, and insert relevant enterprise or personal data directly into their prompts or conversations. Now, when writing Copilot prompts in the chat box, you can use Context IQ to search for and select Teams channels, grounding your prompts in contextually relevant data and improving the accuracy and usefulness of Copilot responses.

The week was also marked by an avalanche of updates across the Power Platform, with Dynamics taking center stage.

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By João Ferreira Oct 6, 2025 Pulse 0 Comments