Tag: event

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What’s new in OneDrive + Copilot?…. Lots.

This week was Microsoft’s third annual OneDrive digital event (October 8th, 2025), where their key message was that OneDrive is much much more than “just” file storage.

Whether you are looking at this as a consumer or information workers, the theme this year was “Intelligence in every click, inspiration in every memory” .

Yes OneDrive is getting a true AI overhaul the event was about showcasing what is coming (soon) revealing and demoing how Copilot and AI are being woven into the very fabric of OneDrive, transforming it into both a personal and professional productivity and imaging hub.

Perhaps the biggest thing for at the event was the Hero Link… Read on!

The 3rd Annual OneDrive Event

The virtual event itself was led by many familiar with the keynote from Jeff Teper (President, Microsoft 365 Collaboration Apps & Platforms) and Jason Moore (VP of OneDrive Product Management).

The core event was 25-minuts long and included an hour ish live AMA (Ask Microsoft Anything) with the OneDrive engineers and product lead.

You can watch it on YouTube here.

OneDrive and Copilot Key Annoucements

Copilot is being deeply embedded across OneDrive consumer and OneDrive for Business and we will see Copilot now natively integrated into OneDrive across web, desktop (coming soon), and mobile. This includes:

Core OneDrive changes and innovation from everywhere.

  • Natural language file search: you can ask direct from OneDrive “show me the Q3 financials with margin analysis” and Copilot surfaces the right file instantly.
  • File summarisation and insights: With a single click or prompt, Copilot can summarise long documents, extract key points, and even suggest next steps.
  • Actionable collaboration: Instead of static files, OneDrive becomes more of a springboard into actionable steps. It can can draft responses, prep presentations, or analyse data directly from the file context in OneDrive.

Smarter Photos Experience for all

Smarter Photos Experience for personal users with huge updates to ‘rival‘ Google Photos especially around memories and search.

  • AI-powered photo organisation: new AI powered auto tagging, grouping, and contextual search. For example simply ask “show me photos from our Isle of Wight  trip last summer”.
  • Memory highlights: Curated collections that feel more like a story than a folder, presented a blood and crisp new way with fluid animation and scrolling.

As I said, this is Microsoft’s answer to Google Photos, but with enhanced “enterprise-grade” compliance and privacy baked in.

OneDrive as a  Hub for content.

OneDrive as a Hub for Work + Life
The tagline here is about positioning OneDrive as the “always ready” hub for both professional and personal content.

  • Work content becomes more discoverable and actionable without having to switch context.
  • Personal content (like photos) becomes more meaningful and shareable and ups the standard for AI management and organisation.
  • Photos Agent: allows users to use Copilot to find all your  best shots from anytime anywhere or anytime and Copilot will help find the best photos. Soon it will also help build albums too.  It is coming soon to  Microsoft 365 Copilot Windows and Web experience for Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers.
  • IT leaders retain control, with governance and compliance intact along with powerful new sharing controls known as the hero link.

The new Hero Link.

This for me was this big one. Microsoft say that after a decade of feedback and innovation, the biggest update to sharing in Microsoft 365 is here – the hero link!

Having seen this at MVP Summit last year at the early testing phases, I am uber excited by this.

This  marks a major evolution in file sharing within Microsoft 365, designed to simplify and streamline collaboration.

  • Single, primary URL: identical to the address bar link, it governs access to shared content without multiple links. This means users can update permissions (e.g., expand access to their organisation) without needing to resend or regenerate links, significantly reducing the risk of “access denied” errors. It means you can change permissions without resharing links.
  • Copilot summaries when sharing: enhances this experience, ensuring recipients open files with immediate context. This update reflects over a decade of user feedback and aims to make sharing more predictable, secure, and efficient.
  • Simple for sharers and collaborators: With the hero link, content sharers distribute a single, permanent URL to all stakeholders, adjusting access levels as needed without worrying about outdated links. This not only improves continuity and reduces complexity but also supports seamless collaboration across teams, especially in dynamic environments where content and contributors frequently change.
New OneDrive Hero Link

Timeline and Availability

Many of the new features showcased are already in preview for Microsoft 365 Copilot users, with general availability expected in early 2026.

The new Photos experience updates will start rolling out to consumer (personal) OneDrive accounts over the next few months.

New OneDrive native app for Windows in preview now for Windows Insiders using Copilot Plus PCs.

My Take

Who would have thought a few years ago that OneDrive would have its own special annual event!

This year (the third year) it wasn’t just about new features it was about deepening the role of OneDrive as the connective fabric that binds Microsoft 365 together. Personally it think the focus was more on consumer to compete in the Google Photo Space with AI packaging features powered by Copilot (which ties in nicely with the new Microsoft 365 Premium SKUs for home, personal and family users.

For corporate IT, the message was for around OneDrive becoming the AI-first content hub (like they have done with SharePoint (after all it’s the same plafrom). With Copilot in OneDrive there are less clicks, it feels more native rather than an after thought and positions their AI in more places.

Sources

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Teams meetings, webinars and Townhalls. What to use when.

We are in the digital age of virtual and hybrid collaboration, where the lines between physical and virtual meetings are increasingly blurred. Meeting platforms like Microsoft Teams have evolved a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond and now different meeting style experiences based on the type of meeting, update, and interaction needed.

Microsoft provide different variants of their meetings which are designed to suite the different needs and format of the event.

For simplicity Microsoft bring this all together into the “New Meeting” category. Each category has subtle differences, including features. capacity changes and controls.

In this article, I explore the nuances of meetings, webinars, and town halls—three distinct formats that cater to different virtual event needs. From interactive team discussions to large-scale presentations, each format offers unique features and considerations. We dip into the key differences, planning strategies, and how to leverage Microsoft Teams to create engaging and effective virtual experiences for your organisation.

Meetings

Meetings in Teams are what most of us will be used to for daily stand ups, client calls, remote or hybrid meetings. Teams Meetings can be scheduled in Outlook or Teams and can accommodate up to 1,000 people and include audio, video, application and screen sharing and even coauthoring. With Teams Meetings, articipants can join directly from the calendar invitation (Teams or Outlook) or via the Join meeting link or call in via audio if available.

Channel meetings are also available, which allow everyone in a particular Team or Channel within a Team to see and join the meeting.

Meetings are best suited for situations where participants need to interact with each other via voice or chat and where multiple people may be presenting.

Webinars

Teams Webinars are structured meetings that support robust registration management, are highly customisable and provide an event-oriented default meeting options (rather than a meeting style).

Webinars are two-way interactive virtual events where presenters deliver information to attendees. They provide extra control for an organizer over the conversation and participants.

Webinars are best suited for situations where presenters and participants have clear roles.

Key features of Teams webinars include:

  • Supports up to 2,000 attendees and allows organisers to gather registration data from attendees before the event. This can also include webinar wait lists, registration restrictions and auto follow up.
  • Manage the following features attendees use for interaction during webinars:
    • Chat: You can set chat to be on for everyone, off for everyone, or on for everyone but anonymous users.
    • Q&A: You can manage which organisers can turn on Q&A for meetings and webinars.
    • Manage attendees’ view with different layouts
    • Brand the webinar experience.
  • Use RTMP-in to stream third party content directly into the webinar.
  • Create a green room for webinar presenters to handout before going live.

Town Halls

Town Hall meetings in Teams are best suited for situations where a limited number of presenters are presenting to a large group of attendees and direct interaction via chat or voice conversation isn’t needed or required. Attendees do not use their cameras and mics, but instead can access a chat based Q&A to engage with presenters and organisers.

With Town Halls, customers can host various types of internal as well as external events including company-wide town halls, all hands, global team meetings, internal broadcasts, fireside chats, and more.

Town Halls enable organisations to extend their reach to scale their message and connect with audiences around the world; create professionally produced, studio-quality events that deliver a more dynamic experience; and structure and manage audience engagement to maximise participation and maintain focus on the event.

Key features of Teams Townhalls include:

  • Supports up to 20,000 attendees
  • Provides real time reporting and analysis of the meeting with rich insights.
  • Enhanced controls and customisations for a professionally produced, studio-quality events that deliver a more dynamic experience.
  • Supports Microsoft eCDN and third-party streaming services.
  • Allows creating green rooms for presenters to handout and chat before going live.
  • Supports video on demand tools for recap, watch later, rewind etc.
  • Full event or corporate branding.

Conclusion

Teams offers different customisations of meeting style based on the purpose / intent of the enagement.

For example, if you want to have a meeting where everyone can interact with each other, then a Teams meeting would be a good option.

If you want to have a structured meeting with clear roles for presenters and participants, and like the option of a registration page, pre meeting comms and engagement reports, then a webinar is be a better option.

If you want to have a meeting where a limited number of presenters are presenting to a large group of attendees and direct interaction via chat or voice conversation isn’t needed, then a town hall would be the best option. This is good for organisational wide updates or broadcast style scenarios.

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