MC1269210 – M365 Change Digest

One-line summary

The expanded people card view in Classic Outlook will be retired June 1-30, 2026; only the standard contact card will remain. Advise users of feature removals and alternatives.

Similar updates

Details

Summary

The people card expanded view in Classic Outlook will be retired between June 1-30, 2026, leaving only the standard contact card available. Users relying on expanded features should switch to Outlook on the web or New Outlook. No admin action is required; users should be notified.

Body (from Message Center)

[Introduction]

The people card experience in Classic Outlook is simplifying. As part of this update, the people card expanded view in Classic Outlook will be retired. This change streamlines the experience and ensures consistency with other Office applications where only the standard contact card is available.

[When this will happen:]

We will retire the people card expanded view from Classic Outlook starting June 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 2026.

[How this affects your organization:]

Who is affected:

Users who use Classic Outlook and access the people card expanded view.

What will happen:

The people card expanded view in Classic Outlook will be retired.

user settings

Only the standard contact card view will be available in Classic Outlook.

user settings

Users will continue to find the standard contact card when hovering over a recipient. This experience already exists in other Office applications and in some Outlook configurations today.
Today, users can access the expanded view in Classic Outlook by right‑clicking an email recipient and selecting Open contact card, or by double‑clicking an email recipient. After retirement, these same actions will display the standard contact card instead.
The standard contact card does not include the following features that were available in the expanded view:

Local time
“Works with” in the organization chart
Change picture entry point (accessible from Outlook by selecting File, then clicking the Change link under your photo)

Users who rely on these features can use Outlook on the web or New Outlook, which provide a richer people card experience.
The expanded view being retired was not customizable. Any customizations made to the standard contact card will remain after this change.

[What you can do to prepare:]

No admin action is required; this change will occur automatically.
Notify users about the retirement of the people card expanded view in Classic Outlook.
Update internal documentation or helpdesk guidance, if applicable.
Encourage users who rely on features such as local time, works with, or changing profile pictures to use Outlook on the web or New Outlook.

Admins and users who want to familiarize themselves with the standard contact card experience can test it in Office apps where this change already exists. For example:

Open Word and author some text.
Save the file to OneDrive.
Right-click text and select New comment.
Add a comment, @mention yourself or another user, and select the mentioned name.
Select Contact, Organization, or Membership to view the abbreviated people card.

Learn more

[Compliance considerations:]

No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.

Raw JSON (for debugging)

Expand/collapse the full payload below.

Show/hide raw

{
  "snapshot_item": {
    "action_required_by": null,
    "ai_action_required_by": "2026-06-01T00:00:00Z",
    "ai_actions": [
      "Notify users about people card changes",
      "Update internal documentation",
      "Encourage affected users to use Outlook web/New Outlook"
    ],
    "ai_master_tags": [
      "User",
      "Admin"
    ],
    "ai_model": "gpt-4.1",
    "ai_summary": "The expanded people card view in Classic Outlook will be retired June 1-30, 2026; only the standard contact card will remain. Advise users of feature removals and alternatives.",
    "ai_topics": [
      "Microsoft 365 Apps",
      "Outlook"
    ],
    "category": "planForChange",
    "details_map": {
      "Summary": "The people card expanded view in Classic Outlook will be retired between June 1-30, 2026, leaving only the standard contact card available. Users relying on expanded features should switch to Outlook on the web or New Outlook. No admin action is required; users should be notified."
    },
    "id": "MC1269210",
    "importance": 5,
    "is_major_change": true,
    "last_modified": "2026-04-03T05:13:03Z",
    "ms_products": [
      "Microsoft 365 Apps"
    ],
    "platforms": null,
    "roadmap_ids": [],
    "services": [
      "Microsoft 365 apps"
    ],
    "severity": "normal",
    "tags": [
      "User impact",
      "Retirement"
    ],
    "title": "Classic Outlook: Retirement of people card expanded view"
  }
}