MC1187781 – M365 Change Digest

One-line summary

Viva Engage communities will get a new default view sorted by recent posts, with sticky user preferences and improved unread indicators, rolling out January 2026.

Similar updates

Details

RoadmapIds

513275

Summary

Viva Engage communities will default to viewing conversations by recent posts instead of recent activity starting January 2026. The new view is on by default, includes unread indicators in all feeds, and preserves user preferences across communities. No action or compliance changes are needed.

Platforms

Web

Body (from Message Center)

[Introduction:]

We’re introducing a simpler way to view conversations in Viva Engage communities, organized by recent posts rather than recent activity. This new view is designed to make it easier for users to follow discussions and will be available as an option, alongside the current system, for those who prefer sorting by recent activity and filtering to new conversations only.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 513275.

[When this will happen:]

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in January 2026.

[How this will affect your organization:]

This change should align better with how people expect to browse and engage with content in their communities, while still preserving the triage flow for those who prefer it.

Who is affected: All Viva Engage users in your organization.

Current experience:

Communities default to “new” and “recent activity” if there’s any new content (posts or replies).
If there’s no new content, the feed falls back to “all.”
Unread indicators on content only exist in the “new” feed.

New experience:

The feature will be ON by default.
Communities will default to “all” and “recent posts”:

user settings

Unread indicators will exist in both the “new” and “all” feeds.
A sticky user preference will be introduced:
- If someone changes the feed (new/all) or sort order (recent posts/recent activity), we will maintain that setting across their communities.
- If someone picks “new” and there’s no new content in the next community, we will fall back to “all” for that community visit, but “new” will remain the preference for that user.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No action is required.

[Compliance considerations:]

No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate

Raw JSON (for debugging)

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      "Summary": "Viva Engage communities will default to viewing conversations by recent posts instead of recent activity starting January 2026. The new view is on by default, includes unread indicators in all feeds, and preserves user preferences across communities. No action or compliance changes are needed."
    },
    "id": "MC1187781",
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