What’s New in Power BI? October 2026 Feature Summary

Microsoft has released its October 2026 Power BI feature summary, introducing new capabilities across Copilot and AI, reporting, and semantic models. The latest updates aim to simplify report creation, improve data visualisation, and enhance capacity management for more efficient analytics.

Here’s What You Need to Know:

• Copilot and AI: Simplify Report Creation with Custom Visuals

  The Power BI Report Authoring skill now supports custom visuals, allowing you to create and customise reports using natural-language prompts. Connect visuals to report data, apply formatting, and validate visualisations with less manual configuration.

• Reporting: Make Filtering Easier with the New Dropdown Slicer

  The new list slicer dropdown makes long filter lists easier to navigate, with selected values displayed at the top for quick access. Customisable formatting, removable selection pills, and clearer filter indicators help you manage filters and improve the report experience.

• Semantic Models: Strengthen Capacity Management with Smarter Surge Protection

  Power BI semantic models now report capacity unit (CU) usage continuously during long-running background operations, helping surge protection respond more accurately to actual consumption. This improvement enables earlier capacity interventions, increasing proactive rejections while reducing late-stage Fabric throttling rejections without requiring configuration changes.

See the full list of Power BI’s October 2026 update.

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Visual Studio 2026 Introduces Stop-on-Failure Builds

Microsoft has introduced a new feature in Visual Studio 2026 version 18.11 that helps developers save time when a project fails to compile. The opt-in setting allows solution builds to stop after the first project failure, reducing unnecessary waiting and helping developers focus on fixing errors sooner.

Here's what you need to know:

• Stop the Build at the First Error

  Enable Stop solution build after first failure under Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Build and Run to stop the solution build when a project fails. Visual Studio stops starting queued projects and safely stops projects already building, while still reporting the build as failed.

• Spend Less Time Waiting

  In four test builds, the average time spent waiting after a failure dropped from 26 seconds to just 1.5 seconds with the setting enabled. That's approximately a 94% reduction in post-failure waiting time, although your results may vary depending on your solution's size, dependencies, and parallel build activity.

• Choose the Build Behaviour That Works for You

  This setting stops the entire solution build, not just projects that depend on the failed project, so you won't collect results from every remaining project. If you prefer to review those results before troubleshooting, leave the option disabled to preserve the existing build behaviour.

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Power Pages Simplifies Multilingual Website Development with AI

Microsoft has introduced localization support for the Power Pages plugin for GitHub Copilot CLI and Claude Code, making it easier for developers to create multilingual websites. The new /add-localization skill supports more than 43 languages, including right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.

Here's what you need to know:

• Simplify Multilingual Website Development

  Localising a website traditionally involves choosing an internationalisation library, extracting text, building language selectors, and manually testing right-to-left layouts. With the new /add-localization skill, you can specify your preferred languages, review the proposed changes, and let the AI agent handle the implementation.

• What's New?

  The update introduces multilingual support for React, Vue, and Angular sites, with options for AI-generated or blank translation files. It also adds right-to-left layout support and integrates localisation into the /create-site workflow.

• How Does It Work?

  The skill detects your framework and presents a browser-based plan for your approval before making changes. It then installs the required package, generates translation files, adds a language selector, tests each language in a real browser, and prepares your site for deployment.

• What Should You Know?

  The /add-localization skill localises your website's user interface but does not translate Dataverse records, change environment languages, or localise Power Pages system messages. Support for Astro sites is not yet available.

• Get Started

  Install or update the Power Pages plugin to access the latest localisation features and Power Platform CLI updates. Then run /add-localization in an existing Power Pages SPA project, or use /create-site and opt in when prompted to add more languages.

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Power Pages Introduces SPA Templates for Faster Website Creation

Microsoft is making it easier to build websites with Power Pages through support for ready-made single-page application (SPA) templates. This update gives developers a faster starting point for creating websites, reducing the need to build every page and component from scratch.

Here's what you need to know:

• Discover What’s New in Power Pages

  The Power Pages plugin for GitHub Copilot CLI and Claude Code now supports ready-made SPA templates that match your project requirements. With /create-site, you can preview a recommended template, provision your site with Dataverse solutions and sample data, and customise it to your needs.

• Build Faster With Ready-Made Templates

  Templates help reduce development time and AI credit costs compared with building a complete site from scratch. They also provide WCAG 2.2 compliance, responsive layouts, recommended Power Pages development patterns, and code that is free of known vulnerabilities at release.

• Choose a Template for Your Business Needs

  Choose from two React-based templates: the 311 Citizen Services Portal for managing citizen requests and city services, or the Supplier Invoice Portal for supplier onboarding, purchase orders, and invoice tracking. Each template includes site code, a Dataverse solution, and sample data to provide an end-to-end starting point, with more templates coming soon.

• From Site Idea to Live Website

  Describe the site you want, preview the recommended template, and confirm your choice before provisioning begins. The plugin then imports the Dataverse solution, uploads the site, applies sample data, activates the site, and opens it in your browser so you can start customising.

• Start Building Your Power Pages Site

• Install or update the Power Pages plugin and Power Platform CLI using the installer script to get the latest tools and updates. Then, run /create-site, describe your requirements, and follow the guided process to build your site from a template.

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Microsoft Expands SQL Server Deployment Options With Azure Local

Microsoft has announced the general availability of SQL Server on Azure Local, giving organisations more flexibility to modernise their database infrastructure while maintaining control over data location and connectivity. The release supports both connected and disconnected environments, helping businesses run critical workloads locally while meeting operational, regulatory, and data sovereignty requirements. It also opens new possibilities for running AI closer to enterprise data.

Here's what you need to know:

• Keep SQL Server Workloads Where Your Data Belongs

  Organisations can run SQL Server on Azure Local infrastructure in their own datacentres and edge locations, maintaining greater control over data placement and connectivity. With options for connected environments and Azure Local Disconnected Operations (ALDO), businesses can choose a deployment model that meets their operational, security, and connectivity requirements.

• Enable AI-Powered Innovation at the Edge

  With Foundry Local, organisations can run AI models on Azure Local infrastructure alongside SQL Server, bringing AI inference closer to their data. This helps businesses explore AI-powered applications while keeping sensitive data processing within their environment, particularly in regulated, sovereign, and edge scenarios.

• Maximise the Value of Your SQL Server Licences

  Modernising your infrastructure doesn't mean starting from scratch. Eligible existing SQL Server licences can help organisations build on their current investments, with licensing options depending on the deployment model and applicable terms. Connected deployments can also use pay-as-you-go licensing through Azure Arc, while fully disconnected deployments can use eligible existing licences through Azure Hybrid Benefit.

• Support Sovereign, Regulated, and Edge Environments

  Not every workload belongs in the public cloud. SQL Server on Azure Local gives organisations more flexibility to modernise across datacentres, edge locations, and environments with strict sovereignty or connectivity requirements. By combining Azure-consistent infrastructure with local data processing capabilities, businesses can support mission-critical workloads while maintaining control over their infrastructure and operations.

• Want to Learn More?

  Explore Microsoft's SQL Server on Azure Local announcement and deployment guidance to learn how your organisation can modernise its data infrastructure while meeting its operational requirements. Learn more at Microsoft Learn.

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Microsoft Brings Dynamics 365 CRM and AI Agents Into Everyday Workflows

Microsoft is advancing its vision for agentic CRM by bringing customer insights, CRM capabilities, and AI-powered actions directly into the tools sales and service teams use every day. The latest innovations in Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot aim to improve productivity, streamline customer interactions, and help organisations rethink how business processes are managed.

Here's what you need to know:

• Access Customer Insights Where Your Teams Work

  Microsoft is introducing 30 pre-built Copilot skills across Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to help employees access customer insights and complete tasks within their AI-powered workflows. With Dynamics 365 CRM in Microsoft Teams, sales, service, and marketing teams can access customer information, insights, and actions without leaving the tools they already use.

• Put AI Agents to Work Across Business Processes

  AI agents can carry business processes forward across teams and systems while involving people when human judgment, expertise, or approval is needed. Service Agent and Sales Development Agent help organisations handle customer requests, qualify sales opportunities, and reduce repetitive tasks across everyday workflows.

• Simplify Your Journey to Agentic CRM

  Moving from legacy CRM systems to modern business applications can be time-consuming and complex. Dynamics 365 Activate uses AI to analyse an organisation's existing CRM environment, with customer authorisation, and recommend a clearer, lower-risk path to Dynamics 365.

• Explore What's Possible With Dynamics 365

  Dynamics 365 and AI agents help organisations bring customer insights and actions into everyday workflows while improving sales and service operations. Explore the resources below to discover these capabilities and prepare your organisation for an agent-powered future.

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Microsoft Shares Four Ways to Learn and Build With Copilot Studio

Microsoft has introduced four ways to help users learn how to build with Microsoft Copilot Studio, whether they are just getting started or looking to advance their AI skills. The learning pathways combine guided training, hands-on projects, professional credentials, and personalised learning resources to help users develop their agent-building capabilities.

Here's what you need to know:

• Explore: Discover What You Can Build

  Not sure where to begin? Join a skilling webinar to explore Copilot Studio's capabilities, discover the latest features, and identify the right learning resources for your goals. You can also explore Agent Academy and Microsoft Official Curriculum for guided learning and practical experience.

• Learn by Doing: Build Hands-On Experience

  Agent Academy is a free, open-source training programme that helps you develop practical Copilot Studio skills through guided projects. Start with Recruit NextGen to learn the fundamentals of agent building, then progress to Operative NextGen to explore advanced capabilities, multi-agent systems, AI safety, and integrations through 12 hands-on missions.

• Advance: Build and Validate Your Skills

  Microsoft Official Curriculum offers structured, role-based training, hands-on labs, and credentials to help you validate your Copilot Studio expertise. Explore courses ranging from AI agent fundamentals to integrated agent solutions and agentic AI business architecture, along with Microsoft Applied Skills and certification pathways.

• Grow: Personalise Your AI Learning Journey

  Use AI Skills Navigator to find learning resources that match your role, interests, and career goals. With curated learning paths, resources from Microsoft Learn, LinkedIn Learning, and GitHub, and a range of learning formats, you can continue developing your technical and professional skills at your own pace.

• Connect With the Copilot Studio Community

  Learning doesn't have to happen alone. Join workshops, community events, agent-a-thons, and hackathons to exchange ideas, ask questions, and gain practical experience with other builders. You can also use the Copilot Studio adoption page as a central resource for documentation, learning materials, and guidance tailored to makers, IT administrators, and adoption champions.

• Take Your Next Step With Copilot Studio

  You don't need to master everything before getting started. Choose a learning path that suits your experience, build something practical, and keep growing your skills with each project.

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Microsoft Expands Copilot Studio With New Ways to Build Apps, Agents, and Workflows

Microsoft has introduced new capabilities in Copilot Studio that bring apps, workflows, and agents together in one platform. The September 2026 updates are designed to help organisations build more complete business solutions while giving makers greater control over agent behaviour, enterprise knowledge, evaluation, and production readiness.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Turn Ideas Into Interactive Business Apps

  Apps are now available in public preview in Copilot Studio, giving makers a new way to create interactive business experiences alongside agents and workflows. You can describe what you want to build in natural language, preview the generated app, refine it conversationally, and access the underlying code for deeper customisation.

• Keep Agents Flexible, With Control Where It Matters

  Hooks are now in preview for agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness, giving makers more control over what happens at specific points in an agent’s lifecycle. They can help consistently load context, inspect or block tool calls, transform results, handle errors, and capture logging and telemetry.

• Give Agents The Knowledge They Need

  The Foundry IQ integration with Copilot Studio is now generally available, allowing organisations to connect agents to reusable enterprise knowledge. Agents can retrieve information from shared knowledge bases, provide citations with their responses, and connect through private networking for more secure access.

• Measure What Your Agents Can Really Do

  Copilot Studio evaluations are expanding to cover automation, individual AI nodes, and broader agent performance. New evaluation dimensions such as Task Completion, Tool Accuracy, Safety, and Latency can help teams measure whether agents are delivering the intended outcomes.

• Make Sure Your Agent Is Ready To Go

  The Review panel is now generally available, helping makers identify blockers, warnings, and potential issues before publishing an agent. It can also highlight outdated evaluation results and organisational policy restrictions, making it easier to address issues before an agent goes live.

• Find And Reuse Capabilities Across Copilot

  Microsoft’s centralised plugin registry brings skills, connectors, and agents into a shared catalogue for discovery and governance. With more than 100 plugins already available, the registry is designed to make reusable capabilities easier to find and manage across Microsoft Copilot experiences.

• Take Your Copilot Studio Skills Further

  With Copilot Studio expanding into a unified environment for apps, workflows, and agents, there are more ways to learn and experiment. Microsoft is offering demos, guided learning, Agent Academy projects, official curriculum and credentials, and AI Skills Navigator to help makers build their skills.

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Build, Test, and Experiment in Azure With Visual Studio

Microsoft is highlighting an often-overlooked benefit of eligible Visual Studio Subscriptions: monthly Azure credits that developers can use to build, test, and experiment in the cloud. The benefit provides developers with a personal Azure sandbox, making it easier to explore new services, prototype ideas, and build practical cloud skills without needing a separate Azure budget.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Build and Learn in Your Own Azure Environment

  There’s no substitute for hands-on experience, and your Azure credit gives you room to move from “How does this work?” to “Let me try it.” Configure services, deploy code, troubleshoot issues, and understand how different Azure components work together.

• Explore New Ideas With Azure Credits

  New cloud services, architectures, development tools, and AI capabilities are emerging constantly. Your individual Azure credit gives you a space to explore new technologies, test ideas, and build skills at your own pace.

• Experiment With Greater Peace of Mind

  You don’t need to provide a payment method to activate your individual Azure credit. If you use your full monthly credit without adding a payment method, Azure usage stops until your credit resets rather than automatically charging you for additional usage.

• Know How to Make the Most of Your Credits

  The individual Azure credit is intended for personal development and testing rather than production workloads. Your credit renews monthly while you remain eligible, unused credit doesn’t accumulate, and some services, quotas, and geographic restrictions may apply.

• Turn Your Azure Credits Into Hands-On Experience

  Your Visual Studio Subscription includes more than the IDE, and Azure credits are an easy-to-overlook benefit for learning and experimentation. Try a service you’ve been curious about, build a proof of concept, test an architecture, or simply explore what Azure can do.

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Debug Production Crashes with Visual Studio and GitHub Copilot

Production crashes can be difficult to diagnose when developers don’t have access to the application’s state at the time of failure. Microsoft has shared a practical walkthrough showing how Visual Studio can use memory dumps, Parallel Stacks, and GitHub Copilot to investigate application issues and identify potential thread saturation.

Here's how:

• Capture a Memory Dump

  Start by capturing a memory dump from the production application when an issue occurs. The dump preserves the application's state so it can be opened and investigated in Visual Studio.

• Monitor the ThreadPool

  Monitor how long tasks take to complete in the ThreadPool. If they exceed a defined threshold, the application can capture a memory dump for further diagnostics.

• Reproduce the Problem

  Try to intentionally overload the ThreadPool with long-running asynchronous tasks. As more tasks are added, the application becomes unresponsive, allowing the memory dump to capture the issue.

• Open and Debug the Memory Dump

  Open the .dmp file in Visual Studio and use Debug with Mixed to investigate both managed C# and native code. You can inspect the Call Stack, local variables, and other debugging information to understand what was happening when the application became unresponsive.

• Analyse Parallel Stacks

  The Parallel Stacks window provides a visual overview of the application's threads. By examining the threads and where they are blocked, developers can identify issues such as ThreadPool saturation and pinpoint where the application is getting stuck.

• Analyse With GitHub Copilot

  GitHub Copilot can work alongside the Parallel Stacks window to analyse thread states, stacks, and memory dump information. It can help identify potential root causes and suggest a path towards resolving the issue.

• From Production Issue to Root Cause

  Debugging production problems can be challenging when the application's state is difficult to reproduce. With Visual Studio, memory dumps, Parallel Stacks, and GitHub Copilot, developers can investigate what happened and gain deeper insight into issues affecting their applications.

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