New changes coming to cloud update

We’re introducing new improvements to cloud update in the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center to help you better monitor, manage, and troubleshoot updates for Microsoft 365 Apps across your tenant. This article highlights the changes we’re enabling and what you can expect as they roll out. Check back for updates as we continue to add new capabilities, and follow the Microsoft 365 Roadmap for the latest feature announcements and release timing.

Enhanced rollout waves

Enhanced rollout waves for cloud update

We’re introducing an enhanced rollout waves experience in cloud update. With enhanced rollout waves, you can create more waves, set custom delays between waves, and manage rollout timing from one configuration page. This helps you align update deployment with validation groups, support readiness, and business needs while keeping update management centralized in cloud update.

What’s new

• Create up to nine custom waves by assigning Microsoft Entra groups, for a maximum of 10 waves. A final wave is included by default and contains all remaining devices in the Monthly Enterprise profile that aren't assigned to an earlier wave.

• Set custom delays between rollout waves, up to seven days per wave.

• Manage update deadlines and rollout waves from the new Rollout configuration settings page.

  👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center showing rollout wave configuration for a Cloud Update profile. Rollout waves are enabled, with a Microsoft Entra group assigned to Wave 1. A delay setting of six days is configured before the next rollout wave begins, allowing updates to be deployed in stages across groups of devices.
  

• Review the expanded rollout schedule in the updated wave chart and wave overview flyout.

  👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center showing the Wave overview pane for a Cloud Update profile. The pane displays rollout waves with their start dates, completion status, and device status counts. Rollout waves 1 through 4 are completed, with one device updated in each wave and no failed, in-progress, not-started, or rollback devices.
  

• Channel change now honors rollout waves, so that devices scheduled for channel change follow their assigned wave.

What admins can expect

• The updated experience moves update deadline and rollout wave settings for the Monthly Enterprise profile to the new Rollout configuration settings page.
• The total rollout wave delay and update deadline can’t exceed 25 days. This limit helps devices complete the update cycle within 28 days of release.
• Use the Total delay counter on the Rollout configuration settings page to review the total delay before you save your changes.
• If your current settings exceed the 25-day limit, a one-time reduction to the update deadline will be applied with this update to meeting the new requirement.
• All other existing rollout wave settings are preserved.

New profile assignment and channel experience

We’re introducing a new profile assignment and channel management experience in cloud update. This new approach gives you a simpler way to onboard devices, manage profiles, and move devices between update channels. It also reduces manual steps and makes the experience easier to scale across your organization.

What’s new

• The home page now gives you a view of your available cloud update profiles, their management state, and quick access to each profile’s settings.

  👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center Home page showing the Cloud Update section with a recommendation card and profiles for Monthly Enterprise Channel and Current Channel, each displaying managed device counts and a Manage button, along with navigation links on the left and additional sections for Office policies and Device Configuration.
  

• Profiles are now activated through group assignment, giving you a more flexible way to define which devices each profile manages. You can assign profiles by using Microsoft Entra groups or built-in channel groups.

• Devices that aren't included in a current assignment, or that are removed from all profile assignments, automatically offboard from cloud update. The automatic offboarding helps keep device management aligned with your intended scope over time.

• Device selection criteria is a new profile-level setting that brings profile membership into one place. On this page, you choose the group assignments for each profile. Those assignments determine which devices cloud update manages.

  👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center page for Monthly Enterprise Channel settings showing the Device selection criteria section, with options to add groups or channels and a list of assigned groups, along with left navigation for settings and tabs for Overview, Devices, Issues, and Settings.
  

• Profile assignment now also determines a device’s update channel. If an assigned device isn't already on the channel associated with the profile, cloud update moves it automatically and delivers ongoing enforcement. Profile assignment replaces the previous Switch device update channel control in Inventory.

• Built-in channel groups make it easier to manage devices at scale. You can use them to quickly onboard all devices on a specific channel and to move devices from one channel to another with ongoing enforcement.

  👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center Monthly Enterprise Channel settings page showing the Device selection criteria section, with an Add channels panel open on the right displaying selectable update channels, including Monthly Enterprise Channel and Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel options with object counts, and Add and Cancel buttons at the bottom.
  

• You can now track channel moves from the Devices tab for each profile, making it easier to monitor progress as devices are brought into scope.

  👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center Monthly Enterprise Channel Devices page showing status summary counts for update states such as Completed, Not started, and Failed, and a table of devices with columns including Name, Office version, Build, Update channel, Update status, Error code, Last contact, Last user, and Cloud Update status.
  

• Tenant settings, including exclusion windows and exclude groups, are now available under a dedicated Settings page in the cloud update navigation. The Settings page gives you a more centralized place to manage shared settings across profiles.

  👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center Settings page showing Cloud Update configuration, with the Exclusion windows section selected, an option to add exclusion windows, and a table for defining start and end dates, scope, and status, along with left navigation and links to exclude groups.
  

What admins can expect

• New cloud update customers: Profiles remain inactive until you assign one or more Microsoft Entra groups or built-in channel groups. Devices aren't brought under management until a profile has an assignment.
• Existing cloud update customers: Existing profiles stay active after the update, and cloud update continues managing devices without extra setup. Each active profile is migrated with its corresponding built-in channel group. Existing exclusions, rollout waves, pause controls, and rollback settings continue to apply.
• Switch device update channel: The Inventory control is removed. To move devices to a different channel, assign a Microsoft Entra group or a built-in channel group to the profile for that channel.

Update Health

Update health is a new feature rolling out for cloud update, designed to make it easier for you to identify and resolve update issues for Microsoft 365 Apps in your organization. While many update problems are temporary and resolve as devices retry automatically, update health helps you quickly spot devices that are repeatedly failing, understand what’s preventing the update from applying, and help resolve these issues to keep your environment secure and compliant.

A new update health card is available on the overview tab for each cloud update profile. This card summarizes update issues for devices managed by the corresponding profile and highlights any active issues that may require attention. This makes it easy to confirm at a glance whether updates are progressing as expected or if a subset of devices are falling behind.

👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center showing the Monthly Enterprise page under cloud update. The left navigation menu lists sections such as Overview, Current, Monthly Enterprise, Settings, Health, Inventory, and Setup. The main panel displays rollout information with a status of Active, a current release date of April 14, 2026, and a next release date of May 12, 2026. An update progress section shows 44% of devices updated, with a horizontal bar indicating device states, updated, in progress, failed, and not started. On the right, the update health section reports five failed devices and one total issue, with the top issue listed as 'File operation failed' affecting five devices, along with an error code.

The Issues tab (available for each cloud update profile) provides an aggregated view of update issues detected across devices in that profile. For each issue, you see the number of affected devices, the associated error code, and a description of what the error means, helping you quickly understand impact, identify trends, and prioritize what to fix first. Selecting an issue opens a details pane with the impacted device list, an option to export that list, and a link to our troubleshooting article for Office updates.

👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center showing the 'Monthly Enterprise' page with the 'Issues' tab selected under cloud update. The left navigation menu lists sections such as Overview, Current, Monthly Enterprise, Settings, Health, Inventory, and Setup. The main panel displays 'Update Issues and Troubleshooting' with a table showing a single issue named 'File operation failed' affecting five devices with error code 30033. A details pane on the right highlights 'File operation failed' with five affected devices and error code 30033, followed by a table listing device names, last contact dates, Office version, and last user for each affected device.

The Devices tab (also available for each profile) provides insights for all managed devices in that profile. It includes sort and filter controls to help you narrow in on what matters most. For example, devices that are on a specific update channel or version, devices that are assigned to a particular rollout wave, or devices that are currently blocked or failing. This makes it easier to validate rollout progress, find outliers, and focus troubleshooting on the right set of devices.

👁 Screenshot of the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center showing the 'Monthly Enterprise' page with the 'Devices' tab selected under cloud update. The left navigation menu includes sections such as Home, Cloud Update, Overview, Current, Monthly Enterprise, Settings, Health, Inventory, Learn More, and Setup. The main panel displays device update status summary tiles including 'All 9', 'Completed 4', 'Failed 5', 'In progress 0', 'Not started 0', 'Pending reboot 0', 'Rolling back 0', 'Rolled back 0', 'Cancelling rollback 0', and 'Can't roll back 0'. Below the summary, a table lists devices with columns for name, Office version, build, update channel, update status, error code, last contact, last user, last user email, and cloud update status. Several devices show 'Complete' status while five devices show 'Failed' with error code 30033.