Kurt Shintaku's Blog

High Volume Email (HVE) is now generally available in Exchange Online, allowing organizations to send large volumes of internal email (for scenarios where email in excess of 10,000 total to any internal recipients per day is required) without hitting recipient rate limits or risking service health issues associated with user mailboxes.

It delivers a purpose‑built, tenant‑native way for applications and devices to send large volumes of internal email reliably, securely, and at scale without impacting user mailboxes or Exchange Online service health.

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High Volume Email is designed specifically for transactional and operational messaging, not marketing campaigns. It does not include campaign tooling, templates, or engagement tracking. Instead, it supports the high‑trust, high‑reliability use cases that organizations depend on every day.

Common scenarios include:

• Payroll and HR system notifications
• IT monitoring and service alerts
• Business and line‑of‑business application messaging
• Device‑driven workflows, such as printers and scanners
• Security and compliance notifications

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High Volume Email is now generally available in Exchange Online for sending email to internal recipients. Usage will be metered starting June 1, 2026 based on the number of expanded email recipients, with pricing set at $42 per one million recipients through Microsoft commerce (equivalent to $0.000042 per one recipient). This is a pay-as-you-go configuration using billing policies in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

Read more at:

• ANNOUNCEMENT: High Volume Email Is Now Available in Exchange Online | Microsoft Community Hub
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft_365blog/high-volume-email-is-now-available-in-exchange-online/4505302?WT.mc_id=M365-MVP-9501
• DOCS: Manage High Volume Email for Microsoft 365
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/mail-flow-best-practices/high-volume-mails-m365

GPT-5.5 is now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio (Early Release) & Microsoft Foundry.

Today, we’re expanding what Microsoft 365 Copilot can do with GPT-5.5 Thinking and ChatGPT Images 2.0 bringing stronger support for deeper analysis, multi-step work, and visual creation.

GPT-5.5 Thinking is now available in Copilot Studio early release cycle environments as GPT-5.5 Reasoning and is rolling out across Microsoft 365 Copilot in Copilot Chat, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. ChatGPT Images 2.0 is rolling out to Copilot in PowerPoint and coming soon to Copilot Chat.

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Read the entire announcement below:

• Available today: GPT-5.5 Thinking and ChatGPT Images 2.0 in Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft Community Hub
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/available-today-gpt-5-5-thinking-and-chatgpt-images-2-0-in-microsoft-365-copilot/4514243

Open AI GPT-5.5 is also available for Azure AI creators & developers through Microsoft Foundry.

OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 is generally available in Microsoft Foundry, bringing OpenAI’s latest frontier model to Azure and the enterprise teams building agents for real production work.

GPT-5.5 continues a clear progression in the GPT-5 series. GPT-5 brought unified reasoning and speed into a single system. GPT-5.4 brought stronger multi-step reasoning and early agentic capabilities for enterprise use. GPT-5.5 advances this arc with deeper long-context reasoning, more reliable agentic execution, improved computer-use accuracy, and greater token efficiency—designed for sustained, high-stakes professional workflows.

Powerful models alone aren’t enough to operationalize agentic AI at scale. Microsoft Foundry provides the platform layer that turns frontier models into usable, governable systems that enable enterprises to apply security policy and management at the platform level. Foundry is a unified, interoperable environment to build, optimize, and deploy AI applications and agents with confidence. Customers benefit from broad model choice, open and flexible agent frameworks, native integration with enterprise systems and productivity tools, and enterprise-grade security, compliance, and governance. When new models like GPT-5.5 become available, Foundry makes it easy to evaluate, productionize, and scale them without friction.

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Read about ‘what’s new in GPT-5.5 & GPT-5.5 Pro’ in the blog post below:

• ANNOUNCEMENT: OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 in Microsoft Foundry: Frontier intelligence on an enterprise ready platform | Microsoft Azure Blog
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/openais-gpt-5-5-in-microsoft-foundry-frontier-intelligence-on-an-enterprise-ready-platform/

It’s no longer enough to store and share files— content needs to be governed, structured, and connected to the way teams actually work so AI can reason over it responsibly and help people move from information to action.

That’s why we’re excited to share that Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Document Management, positioned highest for Ability to Execute.

We believe this recognition reflects the investments we’ve made in making SharePoint and OneDrive the unified knowledge platform at the heart of Microsoft 365, keeping content trusted and compliant, while making it more discoverable, more actionable, and more valuable as AI adoption accelerates.

In our view, this recognition is also a reflection of the customers and partners who build with us. Every day, users create 2 million new SharePoint sites, add 2 billion files, and run 3 billion automated workflows on SharePoint content each week, a scale that reflects how deeply document management is embedded in daily work. We’re excited to keep building what’s next with you.

For what differentiates Microsoft’s offerings, read the full announcement here:

• Microsoft named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Document Management | Microsoft Community Hub
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/spblog/microsoft-named-a-leader-in-the-2026-gartner%C2%AE-magic-quadrant%E2%84%A2-for-document-manag/4516252

Today we are introducing the Legal Agent in Microsoft Word. Whether you are generating redlines or reviewing counterparty changes, the agent handles tedious work, so legal professionals can focus on high-impact decisions.

The Legal Agent was built in close collaboration with legal engineers to reflect how contracts are reviewed and negotiated. Instead of relying on general AI models to interpret commands, the agent follows structured workflows shaped by real legal practice, managing clearly defined, repeatable tasks like reviewing contracts clause by clause against a playbook.

The agent applies edits in the document through a purpose-built insertion algorithm to drive consistency regardless of how each edit was introduced. The agent’s redlining engine understands the structure of a Word document, not just visible text. It understands and structures Microsoft 365 document format into a representation that preserves formatting, lists, tables, and tracked changes. From there, the agent applies a deterministic resolution layer over the edits, including author-specific changes, instead of relying on an LLM to generate every revision directly. This provides a more reliable foundation for handling complex contracts while helping reduce latency and cost.

Read more about the new Legal Agent for Word for Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers at:

• ANNOUNCEMENT: Word: Legal Agent in Frontier
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/word-legal-agent-in-frontier/4516218
• TRAINING: Get started with the Legal Agent
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-with-the-legal-agent-frontier-c72cc686-552b-45d4-9e46-d731f9d57052

Accenture is leveraging Microsoft’s secure, governed & compliant Artificial Intelligence – Microosft 365 Copilot – for their entire workforce:

Deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to 20,000 employees might sound like a big undertaking, but Accenture was just getting started.

The global professional services firm is rolling out Copilot across its workforce to around 743,000 people – the equivalent of a city roughly the size of Denver. It’s the largest enterprise Copilot deployment to date, according to Microsoft, and Accenture says it’s paying off.

Ninety-seven percent of employees reported completing routine tasks 15 times faster with Copilot and 53% reported significant improvements in productivity and efficiency, according to 2025 company data involving 200,000 users.

“Copilot is a personal digital colleague,” says Tony Leraris, Accenture’s chief information officer. “It changes the way our people work, the way they research, ideate, analyze and execute many daily activities.”

The scale of Accenture’s Copilot deployment is striking – as is how the company has approached it. Accenture moved intentionally, starting with a large group, then extending that deployment even wider. Every step of the way was an opportunity to learn, set guardrails and understand how Copilot was changing the way people worked before continuing further.

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Read the full article here:

• Accenture is rolling out Copilot to a workforce the size of Denver. Here’s how they’re doing it.
  https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/digital-transformation/accenture-is-rolling-out-copilot-to-a-workforce-the-size-of-denver/?msockid=06e86a239891619a01c67c42998b60fd

I was recently asked if Microsoft had training available for Executive Assistants/Administrators. 

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LIVE: Executive Office Team Experiences with Copilot and Agents
There is a one-hour, no-cost virtual event coming up on June 8th, 2026 specifically for the Executive Office team interested in harnessing the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot & Agents:

• Monday, June 8, 8:00 AM – 9:00AM
  Executive Office Team Experiences with Copilot and Agents
  Through real-world scenarios and “day‑in‑the‑life” examples, you’ll see how Copilot and role‑aligned agents help Executive Office teams move beyond task execution to strategic enablement—anticipating needs, reducing friction, and accelerating outcomes across the executive agenda.
  
  What You’ll Learn
  • How Copilot supports Executive Office workflows across scheduling, inbox management, meeting orchestration, briefings, communications, and follow‑through
  • Role‑specific use cases for Chiefs of Staff, Executive Admins, Executive Operations, and Executive Communications
  • How prebuilt agents (Researcher, Analyst, Writing Coach, PowerPoint Agent, and others) support executive readiness, decision framing, and leadership communications
  • How agents can automate and assist with repeatable executive-office processes, such as:
    • Agenda and briefing preparation
    • Action item tracking and follow‑ups
    • Executive updates and recurring reports
    • Communication drafting and refinement
  • Best practices for using Copilot and Agents while maintaining security, confidentiality, and consistency in executive-facing work
    
• Date/Time:
  • Monday, June 8, 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
• Registration:
  • https://msit.events.teams.microsoft.com/event/msit.23afe9b5-722b-4f6d-a939-4de5f17d2550@72f988bf-86f1-41af-91ab-2d7cd011db47

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ON-DEMAND: How Executive Admins get more done with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Additionally, the following quick video is specifically for those Admins – orated by 2 of Microsoft Executive Assistants that support a couple of our Corporate Vice Presidents:

• On-demand
  How Executive Admins get more done with Microsoft 365 Copilot
  The final session brings everything together through the lens of an Executive Assistant’s workday. You’d learn how they use Microsoft 365 Copilot to manage busy schedules and keep their boss’s day organized and on track.
  
  You’ll see real examples of how Copilot helps with:
  • Preparing for meetings
  • Drafting and refining emails
  • Planning travel and events
  • Summarizing emails and meetings
  • Finding information across files, chats, and sites
    
• (Part of the “Microsoft 365 Copilot app learning series: Real‑world scenarios for your workday” at https://aka.ms/M365CopilotAppSeries.)
• View recording:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neFVrxeL7mI

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WRITTEN: Empower your Workforce with Microsoft 365 Copilot: Executives Use Case
Lastly, we have some training modules that people in executive leadership roles can go through that may be useful for their administrators as well.

This module enables students to perform a series of Use Case exercises that build their Microsoft 365 Copilot skills in Executive-related business scenarios.

Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Synthesize communication insights using Microsoft 365 Copilot across Microsoft Teams.
• Use Copilot in Word to create an executive briefing report.
• Use Copilot in Excel to perform budget forecast analysis.
• Use the AI Project Manager agent in Planner to create a new project plan.
• Create an agent that provides performance metrics, monitors key indicators, and flags emerging issues.

Try it at: Empower your Workforce with Microsoft 365 Copilot: Executives Use Case – Training | Microsoft Learn