Smarter AI defaults and model choice arrive in Visual Studio Copilot

Microsoft has rolled out a major update to Copilot in Visual Studio, introducing smarter defaults and expanded model options. The improvements aim to give developers greater control, improved performance, and a more seamless coding experience.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Smarter by default: Copilot now runs on GPT-4.1 by default—bringing faster responses, higher-quality suggestions, and overall better performance.

• More model choices: You can now choose from a wider range of models, and your selection stays active across threads for a smoother workflow.

• Easier usage tracking: A new Copilot Consumptions panel lets you monitor usage across chat, inline suggestions, and more. Just click the Copilot badge in the top-right corner of Visual Studio.

• All-in-one Visual Studio Hub: Stay up to date with the latest release notes, videos, social content, and community discussions—all in one place.

Microsoft enhances customer experience with adaptive CCaaS Callback APIs

Microsoft has introduced a new availability-aware callback scheduling capability in Dynamics 365 Contact Center. Designed to improve both customer satisfaction and agent efficiency, the update leverages enhanced CCaaS APIs. This smarter approach to callbacks sets the stage for more personalized and responsive service experiences.

• Why use it?

  Let your customers choose when they want to be contacted — no more frustrating hold times. Callback scheduling also helps your contact center balance CSR workloads more efficiently.

• How it works:

  You can schedule a callback by passing parameters such as the customer’s phone number (DestinationPhoneNumber), a reference to the runtime configuration (ProactiveEngagementConfigID), the CRM contact ID (ContactId), preferred callback time slots (Windows), and optional personalization data in JSON format (InputAttributes).

• Where it fits:

  Callback scheduling can be used in website widgets, mobile app click-to-call features, chatbot escalations, or voice AI agent deflection scenarios.

Copilot evolves: Visual Studio 2022 introduces ‘Next Edit Suggestions’ for smarter code editing

Microsoft has launched Next Edit Suggestions (NES) in Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14, extending GitHub Copilot's capabilities beyond code generation to logical code editing by anticipating your next move anywhere in the file. NES tracks your recent edits and offers predictive insertions, deletions, or replacements, helping streamline refactoring, syntax updates, and variable logic changes with intuitive keyboard or gutter navigation.

• How to enable it: Head to Tools > Options > GitHub > Copilot > Copilot Completions and check "Enable Next Edit Suggestions."

• How it works: When Copilot detects an edit opportunity, it displays the suggestion in a diff view — with red for your original code and green for Copilot’s improved version. You’ll see exactly what’s being changed or removed.

• Working with edits on different lines: If the edit is on a line you're not currently on, Copilot will prompt you to Tab to navigate to it. The arrow in the hint bar shows where the next edit is, so you no longer need to hunt for changes manually.

• Accepting edits: Once you're on the suggested line, press Tab to accept the edit seamlessly.

• Prefer clicking over keyboard shortcuts? Keep an eye out for the arrow in the gutter—it opens the edit suggestion menu, so you can review and apply changes with your mouse.

Power BI delivers June 2025 update with new tools for smarter reporting

Microsoft has released its Power BI June 2025 update, continuing its mission to streamline data analysis and reporting. This month’s improvements bring usability enhancements and pave the way for more intelligent data experiences across organizations. Whether you're an analyst or a business user, these updates aim to make working with your data even more intuitive.

Here are some of the updates:

• General: Sensitivity labels in Power BI Desktop just got smarter—making it easier to protect confidential data while collaborating seamlessly with your team.

• Reporting: Visual calculations get a preview boost this month. These updates move us closer to a code-free future and improve reliability when switching visual types.

• Modeling: Power Query editing for import models is now available on the web—so you can get, transform, and refresh data entirely online, no Desktop needed.

• Mobile: Organization apps are now supported on Power BI mobile, bringing the full power of apps right to your fingertips.

• Visualizations: Create stunning financial visuals with Drill Down Waterfall PRO by ZoomCharts packed with customization options and intuitive drill-downs for deeper insights.

You can view the full list here.

Game-changer for coding: Visual Studio debuts fully‑featured Agent mode with MCP support

Microsoft’s June release for Visual Studio unlocks full general availability of the Copilot Agent Mode, offering developers a truly autonomous coding assistant. The feature, now fully integrated into Visual Studio and VS Code, can plan multi‑step workflows, edit across files, resolve errors, and even self-correct—all without stopping at a single prompt. Developers can now accelerate complex development tasks with a proactive AI partner embedded directly into their IDE.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Agent Mode: Analyze your codebase, propose and apply edits, run commands, fix build/lint errors, and even self-correct — all through a single agent.

• MCP Integration: Take things further by connecting to MCP servers and expanding capabilities with tools from your entire dev environment.

• Real-World Use Cases: From adding “Buy Now” buttons to product pages to creating entire web apps, Agent Mode handles high-level tasks with ease.

• Connected Intelligence: When paired with MCP, Agent Mode taps into real-time context from GitHub, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring tools, and more.

Power BI rolls out two new Copilot experiences

Power BI has officially launched two new Copilot experiences: the full-screen “Chat with Your Data” interface, announced at Build earlier this year, is now fully rolled out. Alongside this, users can now enable Copilot in securely embedded Power BI reports on portals and websites, allowing end-users to interact with insights directly within embedded dashboards.

Here are the two new features:

• Chat with your data: Ask natural language questions and get clear, visual answers powered by the data you have access to. Great for faster, smarter decision-making.

  To enable: Turn on the “Users can access a standalone, cross-item Power BI Copilot experience” tenant setting.

• Copilot in embedded reports: Let users interact directly with Copilot inside embedded Power BI reports on portals and websites.

  To enable: Check “Enable Copilot” when configuring your embedded report (ensure Copilot is on and the workspace is backed by Premium or Fabric capacity).

Power Apps evolves: major enhancements land in May 2025 update

Microsoft continues to push the boundaries of low-code innovation with the May 2025 Power Apps update. This release brings a suite of enhancements aimed at boosting collaboration, governance, and intelligent app development. Whether you're a maker, admin, or enterprise architect, there's something new designed to streamline your workflow and elevate app-building experiences.

Here’s what’s new:

• AI-Powered Development: With the new Plan Designer, collaborate with a team of generative agents to define requirements, map processes, and build complete solutions faster.

• Fully Managed Platform: Admins now get enhanced email digests with actionable insights to strengthen security and ensure licensing compliance.

• Intelligent Apps: Supervise generative agents directly in model-driven apps with the new Agent Feed, giving users better control and visibility.

• Preview and Feedback Programs: Experience a new way for developers to bring Power Apps capabilities into web apps built in code-first IDEs with Code Apps.

You can view the full list here.

Power Pages Component Library gets smarter with generative AI search & summary tools

Microsoft has enhanced its Power Pages component library with two AI-powered tools designed to streamline web development: a natural-language Search component and a content Summary component that delivers concise page previews. These features let users effortlessly drop in generative‑AI modules via drag-and-drop, enabling smarter search experiences and clearer content digestion—no extra coding required.

• AI-Powered Search Component: Let users type natural language prompts and get intelligent, summarized results. Makers can choose to show the summary inline or redirect users to a dedicated search results page for a more focused experience.

• Search Page Layout: Quickly create a site-wide search experience using the new layout from Pages Design Studio — no need to build from scratch!

• AI-Powered Summary Component: Easily add an AI-generated preview of your page content. Just provide an OData URL, drop the component onto any page, and it’ll match your site’s style and branding effortlessly.

Microsoft unifies semantic model editing across Power BI and Fabric

Power BI has reached a new milestone—Power BI Desktop now supports opening and editing any semantic model built in Microsoft Fabric, including those with complex enterprise metadata like partitions and Azure Analysis Services sources.

Until now, models with multiple partitions or rich metadata required external tools or could only be accessed via limited interfaces. This change breaks down those barriers, empowering analysts and developers to manage and refine semantic models directly within Power BI, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity

Here’s what you need to know:

• Write support for external tools: You can now use external tools to perform write operations directly on the semantic model running in Power BI Desktop. This opens up advanced modeling and editing capabilities without leaving your familiar tools.

• Edit queries using TMDL view: Editing queries in partitioned tables or working with legacy data sources? The new TMDL (Tabular Model Definition Language) view makes it easier to modify and maintain your models within Power BI Desktop.

• Refresh support for partitioned and tabular sources: You can refresh tables that use partitions or tabular data sources directly within Power BI Desktop. Note: In this initial release, the ribbon refresh option skips these tables — so use the right-click context menu in the Data pane to refresh them instead.

• Credential prompts and data source settings: When connecting to data sources, you might be asked to enter credentials. Once provided, they're securely stored in your Power BI Desktop data source settings, so you don’t have to re-enter them each time.