Microsoft is expanding its Frontier program so that eligible public preview features in new Outlook for Windows, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams and Copilot are managed in one place. The Microsoft 365 roadmap lists the change for November 2026 in the Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) cloud. It affects any business that runs Microsoft 365, because the person who administers your tenant now has one switch that decides whether staff see unfinished features.
The default is safe: Microsoft's documentation says Frontier access is set to No access until an administrator changes it. The risk is not Microsoft turning it on for you. The risk is someone turning it on for everyone without knowing what it means.
What Frontier is
Frontier gives organizations preview access to new and emerging Microsoft 365 capabilities before general availability. It has been closely associated with Copilot and AI agents. According to the roadmap entry, it now covers eligible public previews across Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint and Copilot, with a single administrator-controlled enrollment experience.
Microsoft describes three audiences for new features:
- Frontier is opt-in and gives access before general availability.
- Standard release is the default, where users get features as soon as they are generally available.
- Deferred release is for environments that need roughly 30 days after Standard rollout begins to validate changes.
Frontier enrollment is optional and separate from the Standard and Deferred choice. A user can be in Frontier and also on Standard or Deferred release; for features that are not part of Frontier, their Standard or Deferred preference still decides when they arrive. Organizations that already have users in Frontier do not need to re-enroll.
Why a preview setting is a business decision
Microsoft's own guidance on this program is direct about the trade-offs. Frontier features are previews and are subject to change. They may be modified, suspended or discontinued, and may not be covered by standard support commitments. Frontier experiences are governed by your existing customer agreements, including the Data Protection Addendum, and they can process personal data. Microsoft also states that HIPAA Business Associate Agreement coverage is not included for Frontier experiences, and that Frontier features do not comply with ISO 27001, ISO 27002 or ISO 27018 requirements.
For a medical or dental office, a law firm, or a company that signs security questionnaires for customers, those statements matter. A preview feature that touches email, files or chats is not something to turn on across the company because it sounds useful. Defense contractors that handle controlled information should treat this as a question for their compliance lead before any enrollment.
There is a second reason to be deliberate. Some Frontier features and agents need large language models from outside AI providers. Microsoft states that Frontier will never enable an AI provider on your behalf; if you have not approved the provider, the feature will not work for your users.
What the setting looks like
Per Microsoft's documentation, an administrator opens the Microsoft 365 admin center, goes to Copilot, then Settings, searches for Frontier and selects Copilot Frontier. The choices are:
- No access (the default): nobody gets Frontier features or agents.
- All users: everyone automatically receives them.
- Specific users and groups: only the people or groups you name.
The account making the change needs the AI Administrator, Security Administrator or Office Apps Administrator role. After a change, Microsoft says it might take about three hours for Frontier features and agents to become available to users. A Copilot license is not required to enroll someone, but Copilot-related Frontier features only appear for users who hold a license that includes Copilot. The same applies to Teams: without a Teams license, a user does not see Teams previews.
Checklist for the person who runs your tenant
- Open the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Copilot, then Settings, and look up the Copilot Frontier setting. Write down what it is set to now.
- If it says No access and you have no reason to preview, leave it. Nothing else is required.
- If it says All users and nobody decided that on purpose, ask who set it and why. Consider moving it to Specific users and groups.
- If you want to try previews, create a small Microsoft Entra security group of a few willing staff who do not handle regulated or client-sensitive data, and enroll only that group.
- Check the Agent settings in the admin center. Frontier agents need the option to allow agents and plugins built by Microsoft to be checked, and an agent you have turned off stays off regardless of Frontier enrollment.
- Review the AI provider settings and confirm you have approved only the providers you intend to use.
- Tell the pilot group what to expect: features can change or vanish, and they should report oddities rather than work around them.
- Record the decision, who made it, and the date, so the next administrator does not have to guess.
What can wait
If you are not looking for early features, you can wait. Anything that proves useful in a preview will arrive through Standard or Deferred release once it is generally available, and no deadline is attached to Frontier itself. You also do not need to change your Standard or Deferred release choice because of this announcement.
One related date is worth noting. Microsoft's documentation says Targeted release is being retired in January 2027. Users assigned to it will fall back to their general availability preference, Standard or Deferred, and users already enrolled in Frontier will stay enrolled. If anyone relied on Targeted release for early access, decide before then whether a small Frontier pilot group is the right replacement or whether Standard release is enough.
A caveat on the dates
The roadmap entry is marked in development with a November 2026 availability target and no specific day. Microsoft can move roadmap dates, so check the admin center for the options rather than assuming they have appeared.
When to get help
If you are not sure who holds the administrator roles in your Microsoft 365 tenant, or what Frontier is currently set to, settle that first. Our engineers can review your Microsoft 365 release and Copilot settings, help you set up a small, controlled pilot group, and decide whether previews fit your compliance obligations. See our managed IT page for more. You can reach us through our contact page.