M365 Changelog: Microsoft PowerPoint Copilot: Support for protected and encrypted Word documents in “Create presentation from file”

Summary

The upcoming Microsoft PowerPoint Copilot update will enable the "Create presentation from file" feature to support protected or encrypted Word documents. Rollout starts early June 2024 and finishes by late June. Presentations created from protected Word files will inherit the highest sensitivity label. No admin action is needed for the update.

MC798323 – Coming soon for Microsoft PowerPoint Copilot: The Create presentation from file feature will be able to support Microsoft Word documents with a protected or encrypted sensitivity label. A Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 license is required to use this feature.

When this will happen:

General Availability (Worldwide): Microsoft will begin rolling out early June 2024 and expect to complete by late June 2024.

How this will affect your organization:

Before this rollout, users who attempt to create a new presentation based on an encrypted Word document will see an error message asking them to try again with an unprotected file.

After this rollout, users will be able to create a new presentation based on an encrypted Word document. To ensure that there are no gaps in document protections, when a new presentation is created from a protected Word document, the newly created presentation will inherit the Word document’s sensitivity label, if it is higher than the new presentation.

If a source Word document has been protected with Double-key Encryption (DKE) or has restricted Extract privileges, PowerPoint Copilot will respect these protections and will not create a new presentation based on the source file.

What you need to do to prepare:

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified dates with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

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