The Evergreen Update | July 2025

It’s time for the Evergreen Updates this July for Microsoft and Copilot!  

This month we are seeing a vast range of updates to both M365 Copilot Chat and Copilot for M365 as well as some interesting developments within the M365 environment.  

At Changing Social, we love to see a new feature land, and we are lucky to work with so many M365 experts to guide us and help us embrace any changes that come our way. We are always looking for the most impactful updates that have the biggest developments for everyone regardless of their role and here are a few of our favourites.  

This month’s highlights from us include Teams, Viva Engage and M365 Copilot Chat. These have been the key players in July, and it is evident that Copilot will be weavings its way through M365 making the use of Copilot even more seamless as you move through your workday.  

 

Sharing Files with External Collaborators

Many individuals work with different organisations within their roles, and we are no exception.  

We are pleased to see this new feature landing by the end of July to support how you work with clients. It’s a real game changer for those of you who are still emailing files back and forth.  

When working in a 1:1 chat with an external collaborator you now have access to seamless file sharing with the option to upload files directly into the chat. This update is conditional on having external sharing switched on but with the right approach and best practice you can streamline your workflow so much more.  

This feature will work perfectly for those external collaborators where you are federated with their organisation and can securely share files for review and collaboration. It’s worth noting that your administrators have nothing to fear as this feature will need to be switched on when it becomes available allowing you time to communicate best practices around external sharing ahead of its introduction.  

All you will need to do to share is open your chat in Teams and click the plus icon. From here you will see the option to attach a file where you can locate and share the documents wherever you need.  

 

Copilot Chat in Desktop Apps and Teams Chat

This might be the most exciting update for our colleagues who have yet to access a Microsoft Copilot licence.  

By the end of August 2025, we will start to see the introduction Copilot chat right there within our desktop apps. So, what does this mean? M365 Copilot chat users will no longer have to leave the app they are working in to prompt their Copilot.  

Rather than navigate out to the web or M365 Copilot app, users can now launch Copilot chat within the app they are working in and start prompting right away. The functionality of M365 Copilot chat won’t be changing but the challenge of working on one screen just got a little easier with this update!  

To add to this integration, we are also seeing Copilot chat being added to our left-hand menu in Teams too, adding to the ease of access. You will be able to locate Copilot in the same location as your other Teams tools. Keep an eye out for this great piece of integration around the end of July 2025.  

 

Copilot in Viva Engage

For our Copilot licence holders and all our communications teams who wish they could better utilise Viva Engage, this one is for you another great Evergreen Update this July.  

Copilot for M365 is being integrated into Viva Engage helping its users to stay informed, discover insights and locate important communications from across the organisation.  

Stay current on conversations, trending content, and key updates in your network with the Community Catch-Up feature. Discover relevant insights and answers from colleagues, communities, and storylines through Information Discovery and retrieve past conversations, updates, and shared knowledge quickly using the Recall function. 

Engage has always been one of those M365 tools that feels more challenging to adopt at an organisational level and we are sure that with these new integrations with Copilot it has just become a little easier.  

 

Timer in Teams Meetings

This last feature has been picked by our resident M365 product manager and while a simple feature compared with some of the previous updates, it’s certainly a gem.  

When collaborating in Teams meetings, there is always the challenge of keeping everyone on track. Especially with those larger team meetings, activities or learning sessions.  

Now, rather than bringing up a timer on the web with a surprising klaxon sound at the end of it, you can leverage the new timer function within your Teams meeting. All you need to do is click on the ‘More’ icon and select timer from the drop-down menu. We are hoping to see this feature land in July 2025 and as soon as it does, our training team will be jumping right in to manage our hands on and engaging sessions and keep our learners on track.  

You will be able to set your timer, specify the duration and even hide the timer from view. It also as a visual and audio cue to help everyone stay aware as the timer comes to an end. A small but mighty feature for sure.  

 

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s been another exciting month of Evergreen Updates this July from Microsoft, and we are excited to see more integration of Copilot into the M365 ecosystem regardless of whether you hold a licence or not. Keeping up with all the new features can be a challenge and we are here to guide you; you can find more information about our Evergreen service where our M365 experts can provide a bespoke and comprehensive update every month to help your organisation thrive in the ever-changing Microsoft environment.