The Microsoft PM teams added roughly 380 new features to their Roadmap since my December update to my tracking table. They updated the release dates on a lot more, hence the large number in the below table of those with potential eDiscovery impact. For Purview users, we are getting Copilot summarization and extraction of keywords from natural language (i.e. discovery request) content. That may support better scoping for selective holds or collections. My key takeaway is the accelerated integration of Copilot into every M365 application or data type. Reading between the lines, Copilot will replace most of your User Interfaces at some point.
Copilot to rule them all, Copilot to find them, Copilot to bring them all, and in the tenant bind them
| Feature | Impact | eDJ | Description | Details | Tags – Product | Tags – Release phase | Release | Last Modified | Published |
| 117569 | 4 | Customer managed keys secure your eDiscovery review content stored in inaccessible Azure. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: eDiscovery (Premium) – CMK (Customer Managed Keys) encryption support for data at-rest in Review sets | This release of eDiscovery features the implementation of customer-managed key (CMK) options, allowing users to manage their own encryption keys for the data stored in eDiscovery review sets in addition to the default, strong Microsoft-managed encryption already in place. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 8/1/2026 | 12/9/2025 | 2026/03/03 |
| 160008 | 1 | Ability to protect and flag image/PDF content by OCR on windows endpoint devices. A possible scenario would be detection of an insider working around filters by printing sensitive content to image before exporting. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Data Loss Prevention – Optical character recognition (OCR) support for endpoint | Optical character recognition (OCR) support will detect sensitive content in images and subsequently apply data loss prevention (DLP) policies to prevent exfiltration of that sensitive data on your Windows endpoint devices. This release supports key file types like JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP and PDF (image only PDF). | Microsoft Purview | General Availability | 6/1/2026 | 2/5/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 160010 | 3 | Users should be aware that Purview currently does not run OCR on embedded images within PDFs, Office or container files. Only stand alone images. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Optical character recognition (OCR) support for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business | Optical character recognition (OCR) support will detect sensitive content in images and subsequently apply data loss prevention (DLP) policies to prevent exfiltration of that sensitive data in SharePoint Online and OneDrive. This release supports key file types like JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, and PDF (image-only PDF). | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 6/1/2026 | 2/5/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 392456 | 1 | While retention labels are generally not critical ESI metadata, I can see edge cases where bulk replacement of a retention class across a tenant could result in unexpected or explained data expiry. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Data Lifecycle Management – Bulk replacement or removal of a retention label | Admins can perform a bulk replacement or removal of a retention label using the Purview compliance portal. They can perform the action across the entire tenant or targeted to specific content using KQL and static or adaptive scopes. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 5/1/2026 | 12/5/2025 | 2026/03/03 |
| 396562 | 3 | Copilot activities are already surfaced in Purview eDiscovery. Graph will enable Pshell, custom apps and partner apps to access this new information. | Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft365): Graph API – Copilot for Microsoft 365 usage | Copilot for Microsoft 365 usage will be added to the Microsoft Graph API, allowing for the creation of customized reporting and analytics. Metrics included in the Graph API will match those available in the Copilot for Microsoft 365 usage report in the Microsoft 365 admin center, including tenant-level count of enabled users and active users, as well as last activity date per user (all up and per Microsoft 365 app). #copilotcontrolsystem | Microsoft 365 Admin Center, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | General Availability, Preview | 11/1/2025 | 2/2/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 421612 | 1 | Departing user workflows are an essential part of your overall governance process and Loop’s collaborative nature add complications to preservation | Microsoft 365 app: Microsoft Loop – Departed user content workflows for user-owned Loop workspaces | Manage retention and deletion workflows for user-owned Loop workspaces like Copilot Pages when users leave the organization. Notify and provide temporary access to other employees or administrators to save important data before deletion policies take effect. | Microsoft 365 app | General Availability | 3/1/2026 | 1/15/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 484086 | 3 | This feels like they are adding the search statistics from collection into the review set. I hope that it is stable and does not drag performance with the review index. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: eDiscovery – Advanced Review Set Explorer | The Advanced Review Set Explorer empowers reviewers to harness the power of real-time big data analytics on their review set data leveraging. This tool enhances data analysis by offering insights such as identifying top item types, spotting patterns, and trends within the review set. Reviewers can utilize powerful Kusto query constructs like complex filtering, pattern-based text extraction, and data format parsing to analyze and find key information specific to their case or organization. The results can then be visualized using various flexible charting solutions, providing a comprehensive understanding of the data’s story. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 8/1/2026 | 2/27/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 490561 | 1 | This is long awaited protection to protect sensitive meeting content. I have encountered screenshots of meetings in custodian local PC collections during investigations. | Microsoft Teams: Enhanced Meeting Protection – Prevent Screen Capture | To address the issue of unauthorized screen captures during meetings, the Prevent Screen Capture feature ensures that if a user attempts to take a screen capture, the meeting window will turn black, thereby protecting sensitive information. This feature will be available on Teams desktop applications (both Windows and Mac) and Teams mobile applications (both iOS and Android). For users joining from unsupported platforms, they will be placed in audio-only mode to maintain the integrity of the meeting’s content. | Microsoft Teams | General Availability, Targeted Release | 11/1/2025 | 12/19/2025 | 2026/03/03 |
| 491632 | 1 | Automated workflows that create content should be assessed for downstream eDiscovery impact and labeled for filtration or handling. | Microsoft Teams: New Workflows app experience in Teams and SharePoint | The new Workflows app is to provide an experience that is both simpler and faster to enable everyday Teams and SharePoint users to create automations in three steps or less. This item is still In Development for production release; we apologize for any inconvenience. | Microsoft Teams, SharePoint | General Availability, Targeted Release | 2/1/2026 | 2/19/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 492621 | 2 | Nice tool to generate scoping reports for counsel in large SharePoint/Teams tenants | SharePoint: Permissions report for a given user – SharePoint admin center | This report, under Data access governance within SharePoint admin center, provides SharePoint admin with a list of sites where the given user has direct and indirect permissions at a site/lib/folder/file level | SharePoint | General Availability | 12/1/2025 | 1/28/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 494160 | 5 | Exposing data sources and custodian association sounds great. Deletion of searches opens potential compliance gaps. I have requested clarification on the indexing changes. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Modern eDiscovery additional enhancements | We are introducing a new set of enhancements to the modernized eDiscovery user interface aimed at improving both functionality and user experience. These updates include the ability to delete searches and direct exports; bulk add data sources and populate the custodian field for items in review sets and exports. We are also rolling out a tenant-level premium feature toggle to provide greater administrative control. Additionally, users will benefit from a new analytics process report and improvements to the search condition builder, which now supports logical operators such as AND, OR, and NEAR for more precise and flexible keyword queries, along with country and language selection for the query. The ability to configure the maximum export package size, with an updated default value to better support large-scale exports is also included. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability | 6/1/2025 | 12/12/2025 | 2026/03/03 |
| 497638 | 4 | There are many scenarios where importing external collections to review sets make sense. Users should test import/export for preservation of content first and watch carefully for when/if Microsoft starts charging for Purview storage. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Import Non-M365 data into review set for modern eDiscovery | Microsoft Purview modern eDiscovery experience now enables legal and compliance teams to import non-Microsoft 365 data directly into review set as part of the modern eDiscovery workflow. This feature allows organizations to consolidate all their data into a single secure review environment for streamlined review. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability | 12/1/2025 | 1/6/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 498159 | 3 | Expanding the potential discovery targets because 1:1 and group chats are stored in user mailboxes instead of the Team site mailbox. | Microsoft Teams: Chat Notes | A new collaborative space is now available directly from your Teams chat, enabling real-time collaboration, organization of key information, and streamlined communications. Chat notes is available in 1:1 and group chat, and is accessible only to the chat members. Add images, format text, share Loop components, and mention chat members when you require their attention. | Microsoft Teams | General Availability, Targeted Release | 10/1/2025 | 2/27/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 498640 | 2 | Another potential custodial data type and target location for preservation and collection | Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Capture voice notes in the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile app | With a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, transform offline discussions into structured, actionable, and searchable content with voice notes in Copilot. | Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | General Availability, Preview | 5/1/2026 | 3/3/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 499659 | 1 | Legal should evaluate how Copilot generated content embedded in excel will be identified and processed. | Excel: =COPILOT Function | Use the new =COPILOT function directly in Excel formulas to generate, classify, and summarize text and data. | Excel, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | General Availability | 12/1/2026 | 2/27/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 500869 | 1 | While API access is useful, the limits of Standard eDiscovery E1 license cases limit the impact. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Graph APIs for Standard eDiscovery Cases | Releasing Graph APIs supporting case management, search management and export for tenants with standard eDiscovery licenses. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 11/1/2025 | 12/5/2025 | 2026/03/03 |
| 501201 | 5 | Now even Teams chat has a Copilot summary that may need to be preserved, collected or filtered out. | Microsoft Teams: Enhanced Copilot chat summary | Missed many messages? Copilot will automatically generate a summary of the new messages in a chat conversation, so you can catch up quickly without reading every message. | Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | General Availability, Targeted Release | 5/1/2026 | 1/22/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 505444 | 3 | Depending on how transparent this is in the UI it could be very useful OR a nightmare to explain to counsel how you got the results. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: eDiscovery – Generate keyword query language from natural language prompt in eDiscovery with Copilot for Security | Copilot for Security is embedded in eDiscovery to enable users to provide a search prompt in natural language and will translate into keyword query language to help expedite the start of an eDiscovery search. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability | 1/1/2026 | 2/24/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 506220 | 3 | Improvements in the reports are welcome. The sensitivity labels can be very useful. It may take extra work to get this information into your review platform. | Microsoft Purview compliance portal: eDiscovery – Metadata Field Enhancements in Process Reporting | Introducing enhancements to metadata reporting in item.csv exports and Add To Review set CSVs, including new fields such as error details, isEncrypted, and sensitivity label. These updates provide clearer, more detailed insights into items processed during export and review workflows. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability | 10/1/2025 | 12/5/2025 | 2026/03/03 |
| 516577 | 3 | This may accelerate Planner adoption. Time to update your custodian questionnaires and scope testing. | Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Planner capabilities in Copilot chat (M365 Copilot) | You’ll soon be able to create Planner tasks and view task details directly in Microsoft 365 Copilot chat. This integration makes it easy to manage and update your tasks seamlessly across Copilot and Planner without switching apps. | Planner, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | General Availability | 5/1/2026 | 1/30/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 516578 | 1 | Useful for scoping exercises to give counsel access without direct search UI access. | Microsoft Purview: eDiscovery – Add Sample to Review Set | This feature allows users to add only a sampled subset of search results to a review set, rather than adding the entire query output. Users can configure sampling parameters—such as confidence level and sample size—to ensure the subset meets their review objectives while reducing unnecessary data ingestion. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability | 3/1/2026 | 2/25/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 518228 | 2 | For internal compliance, HR and other investigations that may evolve into formal discovery it is worth exploring these new features and determining how they would integrate into your workflows. | Microsoft Purview: Data Security Investigations – Introducing new AI analysis capabilities | Data Security Investigations (DSI) now features advanced AI analysis tools, including options to add investigative context for higher-quality results, as well as improvements in vector search relevance and content categorization to better identify risky material. Additionally, we’ve launched a new AI-powered search function that lets investigators use natural language to locate specific files by searching through keywords, metadata, and embeddings. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 2/1/2026 | 2/3/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 527840 | 1 | Currently Copilot file summaries are only created when file is opened. If these summaries are created from OneDrive/File Exporer view or share it expands impact. | Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Use Copilot to Share with Summary for OneDrive files in Windows | We’re bringing the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot directly into your daily file experience in Windows. With this feature, users can summarize files and send the summary within the share dialog. This feature will be available in File Explorer and OneDrive Activity Center. | OneNote, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | Current Channel, General Availability | 1/1/2026 | 1/28/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 534490 | 3 | This may expand the scope of your custodian sources outside of their tenant. Only testing will confirm whether chat/events stay in guest mailboxes for external tenants. | Microsoft Teams: Activity in other accounts and organizations | Users can view and respond to activity across multiple tenants without switching accounts. You can triage notifications, reply to chats, and pin tenants to the left rail for quick access. | Microsoft Teams | General Availability | 3/1/2026 | 1/30/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 542930 | 1 | Legal should test whether purges impact content under legal hold and ensure appropriate workflow, authorization and logging of purges. | Microsoft Purview: Data Security Investigations-Introducing new purge mitigation action | A new Data Security Investigations (DSI) mitigation action, purge, is now available to help admins quickly and efficiently delete sensitive or overshared content during investigations, within the product UX. This addition works alongside DSI’s AI-powered content analysis features, such as categorization, AI search, and examination for risk, which help surface data security risks buried in data. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 3/1/2026 | 3/3/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 547831 | 4 | Strongly recommend consideration of embedded watermarks. Legal should determine how these watermarks can be surfaced in search, processing and review. | Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Enable watermarks for AI-generated content for M365 Copilot | Add watermarks for AI-generated video, audio, and image gen content. | Microsoft Clipchamp, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | General Availability | 2/1/2026 | 2/25/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 551164 | 3 | This will help large or multi-tenant environments to manage oversight of multiple matters. | Microsoft Purview: eDiscovery-Tenant level process report | The tenant‑level process report provides eDiscovery administrators and managers with a centralized view of eDiscovery processes running across cases in the tenant—or across the cases they have access to. It surfaces key details such as process type, status, duration, timestamps, and who initiated each process, enabling better operational oversight, faster issue triage, and clearer end‑to‑end visibility into eDiscovery activity. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability | 2/1/2026 | 2/13/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 557673 | 3 | Further embedding of Copilot generated content to custodial data. How do you know what is from Copilot and what is user generated? | Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Copilot can edit your document by default in Word | The default chat experience with Copilot in Word now allows Copilot to directly edit your document. All changes made by Copilot are fully reviewable and reversible, and users can turn this experience off if needed. | Word, Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) | General Availability | 3/1/2026 | 2/25/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
| 557684 | 1 | This can be useful for MDL’s and other eDiscovery related export workflows on large matters. | Microsoft Purview: eDiscovery- CMK (Customer managed key) for eDiscovery direct export | This release of eDiscovery features the implementation of customer-managed key (CMK) options, allowing users to manage their own encryption keys for the data included in the direct export workflow in eDiscovery, adding to the Microsoft-managed encryption already in place. | Microsoft Purview | General Availability, Preview | 5/1/2026 | 2/25/2026 | 2026/03/03 |
Greg Buckles wants your feedback, questions or project inquiries at Greg@eDJGroupInc.com. Reach out for a free 15 minute ‘Good Karma’ call if he has availability. He solves problems and creates eDiscovery solutions for enterprise and law firm clients.
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