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What’s new for SharePoint – March 2025
Hey there SharePoint enthusiasts! March brought another wave of updates that might actually make our lives easier.
Good news for Viva Connections users, the application is getting a refresh with a proper SharePoint News experience, and for those with a M365 Copilot license, you’ll enjoy those AI-powered news summaries to help you quickly catch up on what matters.
Remember digging through stock images trying to find something that doesn’t scream “corporate template”? SharePoint Design Ideas will now pull from your Org Asset images! The first three suggestions will feature your organization’s actual images instead of those generic stock photos we’ve all seen a thousand times.
Two more quick hits that caught my attention:
- SharePoint agents are getting smarter with Viva Connections cards integration (preview coming late March)
- That dashboard webpart you’ve been jealous of on Home Sites? It’s finally coming to ALL sites and pages!
What feature are you most excited about? Or better yet – what’s still missing that you wish they’d prioritize? Drop your thoughts below as you dive into the full details.
MAR
1
Microsoft Viva Connections: New News feature in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Viva Connections in Teams will replace the Feed with a SharePoint News experience, starting March 2025. This update includes a Copilot-powered summary feature for licensed users on Windows desktop. The rollout is automatic, and users will see news based on their activity and permissions.
Retiring “Shared with Us” Feature in SharePoint Teams sites
Retiring the “Shared with Us” feature in SharePoint Teams sites will begin in April 2025 and complete by May 2025. Users can use OneDrive’s “Shared with me” and Microsoft Teams or email notifications as alternatives. No action is required, but users should be informed about the change.
Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Information Protection: SharePoint Online extends library permissions to downloaded files
The Work Feed experience, available on the New Tab Page (NTP) for Commercial users, will have changing and updated functionalities. These changes will include renewed focus on productivity and M365 modules.
Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Information Protection: SharePoint Online extends library permissions to downloaded files
The Work Feed experience, available on the New Tab Page (NTP) for Commercial users, will have changing and updated functionalities. These changes will include renewed focus on productivity and M365 modules.
OneDrive: OneDrive: New annotation layout and tools for PDF editing
The new PDF annotation layout features a more intuitive design where all annotation tools are now conveniently located in a single row at the top of the screen. A new type of eraser has been added to allow for more precise editing which can remove annotations pixel by pixel.
MAR
4
SharePoint: SharePoint agent usage statistics across all SharePoint sites
SharePoint agents’ usage statistics would be aggregated across all SharePoint sites and available for the SPO/tenant admin persona.
MAR
6
Microsoft SharePoint: New card animation feature for Pages, News, and Microsoft Viva Amplify
Microsoft SharePoint will introduce a new card animation feature for Pages, News, and Microsoft Viva Amplify starting mid-March 2025. This feature will be enabled by default for new cards and can be managed in the web part property pane. No admin action is required before the rollout.
Microsoft Viva: Viva Amplify – Animated GIFs in email
We are bringing animated GIFs to email crafted by Viva Amplify. GIFs of limited size will appear as animations in Outlook clients.
Microsoft Viva: Viva Amplify – Multiple column layouts in email
Viva Amplify authored email will support two column layouts.
Transitioning from user’s OneDrive to SharePoint for Whiteboards created in Teams Channels
Whiteboards created in Teams Channels will now be stored in the corresponding SharePoint site instead of the initiator’s OneDrive to resolve access issues. This change will roll out from early to late April 2025 and requires no action from tenant admins.
Microsoft SharePoint: New card animation feature for Pages, News, and Microsoft Viva Amplify
Microsoft SharePoint will introduce a new card animation feature for Pages, News, and Microsoft Viva Amplify starting mid-March 2025. This feature will be enabled by default for new cards and can be managed in the web part property pane. No admin action is required before the rollout.
Microsoft 365 apps: We will prompt users to back up their files in Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft 365 will prompt eligible users to back up files to OneDrive via the Message Bar in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint starting mid-March 2025. Users can select folders to back up, benefiting from cloud features like Copilot support, easy collaboration, and increased security. No admin action is required.
Transitioning from user’s OneDrive to SharePoint for Whiteboards created in Teams Channels
Whiteboards created in Teams Channels will now be stored in the corresponding SharePoint site instead of the initiator’s OneDrive to resolve access issues. This change will roll out from early to late April 2025 and requires no action from tenant admins.
MAR
7
Microsoft Viva Amplify: New “average time spent per user” graph in reporting
Microsoft Viva Amplify is introducing a new “average time spent per user” graph to its reporting, available at both the campaign and publication levels. This metric will be supported by SharePoint and Outlook channels. The rollout will occur from mid-March to mid-April 2025, requiring no admin action.
Microsoft SharePoint: Use SharePoint quick steps to automate common tasks and workflows
Microsoft SharePoint will introduce quick steps in the Automate menu to automate common tasks starting April 2025. Users can create customized quick steps for tasks like sending emails or approval requests. Rollout will be completed by late June 2025 for all regions. No admin action is required. Learn more here.
SharePoint: Design Ideas Suggests Images from Org Assets
SharePoint Design ideas can now pull from your Org Asset images to use within design ideas. If available when performing image suggestion, the first 3 ideas will show suggestions with images from org assets, whereas the rest of the ideas will use stock images.
SharePoint: Design Ideas for Blank Flexible Sections
When you add a blank flexible section to your page, you will now be able to open up the Design Ideas panel to get blank section suggestions just as you can for standard sections.
Microsoft OneDrive: New naming convention for folder shortcuts
New naming logic for OneDrive folder shortcuts will include the site name or the user’s OneDrive. This change will roll out from mid-March to mid-April 2025. Existing shortcuts remain unchanged. The update applies to OneDrive for web, iOS/Android, File Explorer, Mac Finder, and Teams. No admin action required.
MAR
9
Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft SharePoint: New annotation layout and tools for editing PDFs
Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint will soon feature a new PDF annotation layout with tools in a single row, including a pixel-by-pixel eraser. The rollout begins late March 2025 and completes by mid-April 2025. No admin action is required, but user notification and documentation updates are recommended. More details at Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 483156.
MAR
11
SharePoint: Design ideas for quick links webpart
Design Ideas now provides formatting suggestions for the quick links webpart. This includes suggesting icons and images for a given link, as well as showing how the webpart would look with different card sizes, for single quick link webparts in a section.
Microsoft SharePoint Online Management Shell will replace IDCRL authentication protocol with OAuth
Starting March 28, 2025, Microsoft SharePoint Online Management Shell will replace the IDCRL authentication protocol with OAuth. Admins should install the updated version from the Microsoft Download Center. No admin action is required, but reviewing current configurations and notifying users is recommended.
MAR
18
SharePoint Online: Table toolbar
SharePoint Online introduces a new Table toolbar for table functionality, replacing Table Styles in the text web part. It includes features like merge, split, and add space. Available in SharePoint and Viva Amplify, rollout starts late February 2025 and ends late March 2025. No admin action required.
Microsoft SharePoint Online: Changes to the API access page in the SharePoint admin center
The API access page in the SharePoint admin center will soon display additional pre-authorized permissions required for SharePoint Online. This change will roll out in March 2025, with no impact on customers and no admin action needed. The API access page is available if the application catalog is provisioned.
Microsoft SharePoint: Performance update for requesting an eSignature on a PDF
Microsoft SharePoint will update its eSignature service in mid-April to late May 2025, allowing users to create additional eSignature requests without waiting for previous ones to complete. New toast notifications will inform users of request statuses. No admin action is required, but user notification and documentation updates are advised.
MAR
20
OneDrive: Ask questions about images using Copilot
You can now use Copilot to ask questions about images stored in OneDrive. This feature, requiring a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, will be available to commercial customers on OneDrive web starting late February 2025. Users can explain image contents and extract text from images. No admin action is required.
MAR
21
Microsoft Viva Amplify: Introducing collaborative authoring
Microsoft Viva Amplify will soon support collaborative authoring on the web, allowing multiple campaign members with edit access to work simultaneously on the same document. This feature includes a page presence indicator and options to lock publications. Rollout begins mid-April 2025 for Targeted Release and early May 2025 for General Availability.
OneDrive: New Folder Anyone Link Permission: View & Upload
We’re introducing a new ‘View and Upload’ permission for folder ‘Anyone’ links in the OneDrive Admin Sharing Settings. This feature allows tenants to restrict folder links to ‘Anyone can view’ while still enabling the ‘Request Files’ functionality. It offers tenants more granular control over content access, ensures compliance with internal policies, and helps administrators maintain a higher level of data governance.
MAR
24
Microsoft Viva: Group-less campaigns in Viva Amplify
We are streamlining the campaign management experience in Viva Amplify and campaigns will no longer be tied to M365 groups. As such, M365 Group admins will no longer be a required role to configure Viva Amplify and only SharePoint admin role will be required. Also, when you create a campaign, there will no longer be a campaign channel tied to the Viva Amplify campaign, simplifying the campaign creation experience.
MAR
27
SharePoint: SharePoint eSignature for Microsoft Word
This feature is available to tenants that enable SharePoint eSignature in the Microsoft Admin Center and have Word clients on the Current Channel.More info: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/syntex/esignature-overview#regional-availability
SharePoint: Dashboard in Sites
The dashboard layout webpart will be available on all sites and pages. Currently the dashboard webpart is limited to Home Sites, it will be extended to Team Sites and Communication Sites.
Microsoft Syntex: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for OneDrive for Business
Microsoft 365 admins can now enable Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for OneDrive for Business, improving file searchability and compliance. This feature will be available globally from early to mid-April 2025 and incurs additional costs. Admins can set it up via the Microsoft 365 admin portal.
MAR
31
Microsoft Viva Connections cards in SharePoint agents
Microsoft SharePoint agents will integrate Viva Connections cards into conversations, allowing users to interact with them directly. Public preview starts in late March 2025, with general availability by late August 2025. No admin action is required, but notifying users and updating documentation is recommended.
Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): SharePoint agent web part
SharePoint site page authors can add SharePoint agents to their pages with an agent web part, allowing end users to easily access and interact with SharePoint agents directly from the site pages.
Microsoft SharePoint Online: Manage SharePoint pages using the left navigation pane
SharePoint Online users can now manage pages using the left navigation pane, create new pages, navigate to recently edited sites, and duplicate existing pages. The rollout began in March 2025 and will complete by April 2025. No admin action is required, but user notification and documentation updates are recommended.
SharePoint: M365/SharePoint Agent Insights for SharePoint Administrators
Rich insights on SharePoint agents for content governance as part of SharePoint Advanced Management controls.
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