Microsoft is retiring the Targeted release preferences for Microsoft 365 services in January 2027. Microsoft 365 will move to the three-tier release model (Frontier, Standard, and Deferred), as introduced in April 2026 for Copilot.
This retirement affects all organizations that currently configure the Targeted release preferences in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
The Microsoft 365 Targeted release preferences can affect the following products:
- Microsoft 365 admin center
- Microsoft Teams
- The new Outlook and Outlook on the web
- Office for the web
- SharePoint and OneDrive for Business
- Some components of Exchange Online
Timeline
- Starting November 2026: Changes to the Targeted release for Microsoft 365 are disabled. Microsoft introduces the three-tier release model for Microsoft 365 with a new unified setup.
- January 2027: Targeted release for Microsoft 365 retires for configured users.
How does this affect your organization?
Microsoft is retiring the settings in Microsoft 365 admin center > Org settings > Organization profile > Release preferences.
These settings are also documented here: Set up the Standard or Targeted release options for Microsoft 365 services.
Starting in November 2026, administrators can no longer add users to, remove users from, or modify Targeted release enrollments.
Users already assigned to Targeted release continue to receive eligible features through their existing assignments until retirement in January 2027. After retirement, Targeted release assignments are no longer used for feature delivery.
Feature rollout timing then follows the configured Frontier, Standard release, or Deferred release preference. Microsoft introduced this model in April 2026 for Copilot, and is now extending it to non-AI features. Existing Targeted release assignments are not migrated automatically.
Compared with the current release preferences, the new three release preferences are:
| Unified release preferences (starting in November 2026) |
Description | Current release preferences (retiring in January 2027) |
|---|---|---|
| Frontier | Opt in to preview eligible AI and non-AI features before general availability. | Targeted release |
| Standard release | Receive updates at general availability. | Standard release |
| Deferred release | Receive eligible major updates approximately 30 days after Standard release begins, which allows additional time for validation and readiness activities. | Not available |
In November, Microsoft will also introduce a unified release preferences experience to manage the three-tier release model. It replaces the current experience for managing Standard release and Deferred release preferences.
Currently, AI admins can configure them in two places in the Microsoft 365 admin center > Copilot > Settings: one for Frontier (currently available if the tenant has at least one Microsoft 365 Copilot license) and one for Standard release and Deferred release. These two places will be unified in a new setup.
Administrators should review users currently assigned to Targeted release and prepare the users who need early access to preview experiences.
This is also a reminder: Compared to the current Targeted release preferences, the three-tier model supports group assignment (up to 100 accounts) since July 2026.
