Microsoft Cloud

Monday

Issue #168 / 31-AUG-26

A cleaner, simpler Engage: what's changing now and next

Microsoft is simplifying the Viva Engage experience to make navigation more intuitive and reduce clutter. These changes help community members find information more easily while giving community admins a cleaner, more streamlined management experience.

AI Skills Navigator is now available in Microsoft Copilot

Learning Agent in Copilot is a personalized AI upskilling experience that helps you build Copilot and AI skills in the flow of work. It brings personalized recommendations directly into Copilot, helping you discover learning opportunities and build skills. Microsoft is extending that experience through a new integration with AI Skills Navigator, its agentic skilling platform. Learning Agent can now also recommend training, skilling experiences, and credentials from AI Skills Navigator directly within Copilot.

SmartArt is becoming more accessible in PowerPoint

Historically, screen readers announced SmartArt content without conveying structural context. While Accessibility Checker previously required authors to manually write alt text to bridge this gap, those descriptions easily became outdated whenever visuals were edited. A new PowerPoint update resolves this issue by automatically generating meaningful accessibility descriptions that accurately reflect SmartArt relationships.