M365 Changelog: New Feature: Cortana Briefing email – update

MC242828 – As originally announced in MC217997 (July ’20) the Briefing email from Cortana helps users start their day on track by surfacing information on upcoming meetings and outstanding tasks as well as protecting time for independent work. After this feature rolls out, your end users will receive an automatically generated Briefing email (from Cortana) unless you disable the feature for your tenant. Only users who have an Exchange Online license and whose Office language is English & Spanish will receive the Briefing email.

The feature went into General availability in Dec, 2020 but because of a technical issue we were unable to enable it for your tenant. We’re fixing the issue now and we will enable it for your tenant in approximately 1 month from now.

Key Points:

• Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 57204
• Timeline: Starting in early April and completing by the end of April.
• Roll-Out: User level
• Control type: Admin via PowerShell or Admin center | User via Unsubscribe

How this will affect your organization:

The Briefing email is a personalized brief in Outlook with important information on upcoming meetings and outstanding tasks, so you’re prepared for the day ahead. If there is relevant content, users will receive the Briefing email at the beginning of each workday; at least one actionable insight for the current day must be detected for there to be a Briefing mail delivered on that day.

This feature is enabled by default and Exchange Service Administrators or Company Administrators can disable this feature using PowerShell.

Your users can opt-out of the Briefing email by selecting Unsubscribe, located near the bottom of all Briefing emails.

The customized email is only available to an end user; no administrator or manager can see another individual’s Briefing email. All data is stored inside the user’s mailbox. Briefing email is subject to the same GDPR compliance terms as Office 365.

What you need to do to prepare:

Review and assess the impact for your organization. If you wish to disable the Briefing email using PowerShell you can do so now.

To disable the feature:

• Install the Exchange Online PowerShell V2 module
• Use the Exchange Online PowerShell V2 module and run the following command
• Set-UserBriefingConfig-Identity [email protected] -Enabled

Additionally, you might consider updating your training and documentation as appropriate. Learn more about Cortana Briefing email and how Microsoft protects your privacy.