Microsoft Viva Engage: Smarter delivery of Community Announcement notifications
From Microsoft 365 Message Center Archive by Merill Fernando · Microsoft may not have sent this notice to your tenant.Rollout
Rollout dates are often only in the text. When Microsoft moves them, the change shows under "What changed".
Schedule dates changed in the text
Date phrases in schedule sentences differ between the versions this installation saw- Seen 24 Jan 2026
end of January 2026→ February 6, 2026 - Seen 4 Dec 2025 end of January 2026
- Seen 20 Nov 2025
early November 2025 - Seen 3 Sep 2025
early September 2025, the end of September 2025→ mid-September 2025, early November 2025
Read from date phrases in Microsoft's text, not from notice metadata. A changed phrase can be a moved rollout, a new milestone or just rewording; "What changed" below shows which.
What the notice says
Microsoft’s text, safely structuredUpdated January 23, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.
Introduction
We hear your feedback about ways we can improve the notifications experience in Viva Engage. It's always a fine balance between ensuring your users are notified of relevant content without notifications feeling too overwhelming or noisy. In response to your feedback, we're rolling out an intelligent notifications experience. Specifically, this change will improve how Community Announcement notifications are delivered. This smarter delivery approach optimizes notifications delivery based on a user’s engagement behavior, helping to reduce notifications fatigue while ensuring timely visibility of announcements.
When this will happen
General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out this change in mid-September 2025 and expect the rollout to reach GA (General Availability) by February 6, 2026 (previously end of January).
How this affects your organization
Previously, when an admin created a new Community Announcement, this would send a notification in Teams and Mobile Push immediately, followed by an email notification two hours later if the announcement was not opened already in Teams and/or Mobile Push. With this new update:
- Users will now receive the notification in one channel only—either Teams, Mobile Push, or Email. This notification channel may differ by user and is selected based on where a user has engaged with Engage notifications most frequently in the past 30 days.
- If the announcement is not opened within two hours in the first notification channel, a secondary notification channel will be sent, also determined by where a user engages with Engage notifications most frequently.
We will continue to respect all user notification preferences and settings where applicable. If a notification channel is disabled or the app is not installed, it will not be selected as a potential notification channel for the Community Announcement delivery.
Note that this change applies only to regular Community Announcements in Viva Engage and does not affect the "immediate" Community Announcement feature (where admins can still select the checkbox to send emails immediately —this functionality remains unchanged).
Can I still notify Community users via email immediately (along with other notification channels)?
Yes! In Viva Engage, we offer an option to send an “immediate” Community Announcement. With this feature, Community admins can choose to send email notifications immediately after posting a Community Announcement, even if a user has opted out of receiving emails. All other notification channels will also send immediately along with email, including Teams and Mobile Push. Therefore, we recommend admins to use this feature when there is a Community Announcement that requires immediate attention from users.
Community Admins can find this “immediate” Community Announcement option by firstly navigating to the announcement publisher and selecting the hyperlinked “option to send emails immediately” at the bottom of the publisher. Upon clicking this option, an additional pop-up box will open called “Immediate email delivery”. By selecting this checkbox, this will ensure that all three notification channels – Email, Teams, and Mobile Push – will send to customers immediately after a Community Announcement is made.
What you can do to prepare
No admin action is required. However, we recommend:
- Informing your users about the new notifications change to reduce confusion
- Monitoring user feedback and engagement with Community Announcements' notifications delivery
- Reviewing internal communication strategies to align with the new notification's behavior
| Compliance Area | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Does the change alter how existing customer data is processed, stored, or accessed? | Yes. Notification delivery logic now uses user behavior data (last 30 days of notification engagement) to determine delivery channels. This data is used to personalize delivery but is not stored permanently. |
| Does the change introduce or significantly modify AI/ML or agent capabilities that interact with or provide access to customer data? | Yes. The system uses behavioral data to determine the most effective notification channel, which is a form of machine learning-based personalization. |
| Does the change provide a new way of communicating between users, tenants, or subscriptions? | Yes. The change modifies how users receive communications (Community Announcements) by introducing a dynamic, behavior-based delivery method. |
What changed
Between archive captures, newest firstUpdated
December 4, 2025:January 23, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. Introduction We … mid-September 2025 and expect the rollout to reach GA (General Availability) by February 6, 2026 (previously end ofJanuary 2026.January). How this affects your organization Previously, when an admin created a new …Updated
November 20,December 4, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. Introduction … rolling out this change in mid-September 2025 and expect the rollout tocontinue in the coming few months. We will share an update on the final GA date once that becomes available.reach GA (General Availability) by end of January 2026. How this affects your organization Previously, when an admin created a new … differ by user and is selected based on where a user hasopenedengaged with Engage notifications most frequently in the past 30 days. If the announcement … secondary notification channel will be sent, also determined by where a useropensengages with Engage notifications most frequently. We will continue to respect all user notification …Updated
September 4,November 20, 2025: We have updated thetimeline and content.timeline. Thank you for your patience. Introduction We hear your feedback about ways … We will begin rolling out this change in mid-September 2025 and expect the rollout tocompletecontinue in the coming few months. We will share an update on therollout by early November 2025.final GA date once that becomes available. How this affects your organization Previously, when an admin created a new …Updated September
3,4, 2025: We have updated the timeline and content. Thank you for your … this change in mid-September 2025 and expect to complete the rollout bytheearly November 2025. How this affects your organization Previously, when an admin …- Tags
Feature update, User impact, Admin impact→ Updated message, Feature update, User impact, Admin impact
Updated September 3, 2025: We have updated the timeline and content. Thank you for your patience. Introduction We hear your feedback about ways we can improve the notifications … happen General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out this change in
early Septembermid-September 2025 and expect to complete the rollout by theend of Septemberearly November 2025. How this affects your organization Previously, when an admin created a … to regular Community Announcements in Viva Engage and does not affect the"essential""immediate" Community Announcement feature (where admins can still select the checkbox to send emails immediately —this functionality remains unchanged).- Tags
- · first version seen
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