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What’s new for SharePoint – August 2025
August brought valuable updates and announcements for licensed Copilot users, with AI taking center stage across SharePoint. The big highlights this month are the new Agent Link WebPart, the SharePoint pages sections with AI, and the AI-generated audio briefings for SharePoint news in Viva Connections.
What’s cool about these updates is how they all work together to make your life easier. Whether you’re creating content with AI-powered page sections, managing documents with smart actions, or consuming news through audio briefings in Viva Connections, Microsoft is clearly betting big on AI to handle the boring stuff so you can focus on what matters. It’s all about making SharePoint smarter and more helpful without you having to think about it.
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Meeting organizers and presenters can share meeting recap notes and follow-up tasks directly from Teams to SharePoint as a news post, facilitating the seamless sharing of post meeting follow-up details.
The News page renders news items in a given site. It is typically accessed via the “see all” experience of a news web part. We are updating the user experience of this page and bringing in Copilot capabilities to licensed users.
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SharePoint eSignature, allowing electronic signatures on Word and PDF documents stored in SharePoint, will roll out globally (except China, Indonesia, Türkiye) from late August to September 2025. It is off by default, requires admin enablement, and enhances document security within Microsoft 365.
Get relevant answers and insights about your open cloud documents in Copilot Chat in Edge.
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Viva Amplify’s Copilot now offers smarter authoring by using inputs like Word files and meeting content to create clearer, well-formatted communications. The update, available by default, unifies content generation across SharePoint and Viva Amplify with real-time output, requiring no admin action.
OneDrive is renaming its offline mode background process and updating its icon to align with branding. Changes in sync version 25.145.0727.0001 include new process and task names on Windows and Mac. Rollout starts and completes in late August 2025. Update custom tools and inform IT teams accordingly.
The new SharePoint Agent Link Web Part lets site owners embed clickable links to AI agents on pages, opening them in a sidecar for contextual help. Available under the AI category, it rolls out worldwide August 2025, enhancing discoverability and requiring appropriate Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.
Microsoft Viva Amplify is reducing the SharePoint publishing limit from 10 to 5 sites to improve performance and reliability. The change, rolling out globally by late August 2025, requires no admin action but may need internal documentation updates. Users can publish in batches if more than 5 sites are needed.
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SharePoint agents in Microsoft Teams Channels enable users to access and summarize SharePoint content via @mentions without leaving Teams. Rolling out globally from late August to mid-September 2025, this feature is on by default, requires no admin changes, and supports existing governance and compliance controls.
SharePoint libraries will gain new document processing rule actions—copy file to, move file to, and set content type—available to users with edit permissions. Rolling out late August to early September 2025, these enable automated file management based on metadata, with up to 15 rules per library.
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SharePoint introduces a new Workflows experience aligned with Teams, powered by Power Automate, for streamlined automation in lists, libraries, and chats. It features a unified menu, natural language editing, and templates. Rollout begins mid-September 2025, requiring no admin action and preserving existing workflows and compliance.
We’re updating the SharePoint document library experience to more closely align with the user experience in OneDrive – while making it easier than ever before to access the valuable functionality unique to document libraries. When you’re working in a document library, we’ve brought custom views and filters front and center – just like in OneDrive. We’ve also redesigned the command bar to help you take action, faster. All your view customization tools are now grouped under one simplified menu, making it easy to apply conditional formatting or organize items by metadata in seconds.
Viva Connections will send weekly Microsoft Teams notifications starting late August 2025, reminding users of unread SharePoint news from the past week. Notifications link to the Unread tab in Viva Connections and are enabled by default but can be managed in Teams settings. No admin action needed.
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Sections with AI in SharePoint Pages enables users to create rich page sections using natural language prompts powered by Copilot. Rolling out worldwide from mid-August to mid-October 2025, it automatically activates for tenants with a Copilot license, enhancing content creation with context-aware AI suggestions and refinements.
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AI file actions are expanding to SharePoint document libraries on the web, enabling users with a Copilot license to summarize, compare, generate FAQs, ask questions, and create audio overviews from files. The feature is on by default, rolling out from mid-May to mid-September 2025, requiring no admin setup.
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The Site permissions report for the entire organization is now accessible in the SharePoint Admin Center under Reports > Data Access Governance, eliminating the need for PowerShell. This feature, rolling out in August 2025, helps admins monitor site permission exposure and supports Microsoft Copilot adoption.
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Users on the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for iPad and iPhone devices will be directed to the standalone OneDrive app for file browsing and management. While users can still access their most recent files and search for OneDrive content within the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, advanced actions like folder navigation, permission settings, downloads, and deletions must be done in the OneDrive app.
SharePoint agents are now available in the Microsoft Teams app store, allowing personalized intelligent interaction with SharePoint content within Teams. Rolling out worldwide in late August 2025, the feature is on by default, cannot be centrally managed, and enhances content discovery and collaboration.
SharePoint is introducing an AI-powered report for admins to compare site content and policies, showing similarity percentages and configuration differences. Available from April 2025 (preview) and August 2025 (general), it aids governance without changing site settings. Requires SharePoint Advanced Management or Microsoft Copilot license.
SharePoint Online will automatically tag electronically signed documents as “Signed” and add optional metadata columns for eSignature status and provider. This feature, available to tenants with eSignature enabled, rolls out from late September to November 2025, improving compliance and document management.
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Microsoft Viva introduces AI-generated audio briefings for SharePoint news in Viva Connections, requiring a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Launching August 28, 2025, it offers hands-free playback with controls on Teams, Surface, and web, enhancing accessibility and productivity without admin setup.
The Content Management Assessment (CMA) helps tenant admins quickly evaluate site health, permissions, and lifecycle readiness—all in a single, actionable dashboard. It brings together multiple SAM reports, including Site Lifecycle Management (SLM) and Data Access Governance (DAG), and delivers clear, tailored recommendations to strengthen governance and prepare for Copilot onboarding.
Listen to the latest updates
This month’s update is now also available as a podcast! If you prefer listening over reading, or want to catch up on the latest SharePoint developments while commuting or running, you can now tune in on Spotify and YouTube.
The podcast features AI hosts Maria and John, who dive into the same updates covered in this post but through a conversational format. John brings his technical analyst perspective with attention to detail, while Maria focuses on the strategic implications and user experience impact. As the prompt director, I guide the conversation to ensure we’re covering what matters most for your day-to-day work.
This is an experiment in making tech updates more accessible, so I’d love your feedback on this format. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!
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