💡 Our Technical Review in summary
This update introduces a new functionality to Microsoft Teams meetings (Windows and Mac desktop) that allows participants to request a collaborative annotation session while another user is sharing their screen. Previously, annotation sessions were typically initiated by the presenter; this change enables a more interactive, bottom-up approach to collaboration. The feature is scheduled for General Availability starting late March 2026, with full rollout expected by late April 2026.
#### Impact
- Participant Empowerment: Users who are not currently presenting can now trigger a request to start annotating on the shared content, rather than waiting for the presenter to enable the feature.
- Presenter Control: Presenters retain final authority. When a request is made, the presenter receives a notification and can choose to either accept or deny the annotation session.
- Feature Availability: Initiation of these requests is limited to the Teams desktop client (Windows and Mac). While Teams on the web users can participate in an active session, they cannot initiate a request.
- Anonymous User Restrictions: To maintain security and prevent disruption, anonymous participants are prohibited from sending annotation requests.
- Default State: This feature will be enabled by default for all organizations upon rollout.
#### Action Required
- Administrative Action: No direct administrative action or configuration in the Teams Admin Center is required to enable this feature, as it will roll out automatically.
- User Education: IT Admins should consider updating internal “Help” documentation or Quick Start guides to inform users about the new “Request Annotation” prompt they may see during presentations.
- Training: Brief presenters on the upcoming change so they are prepared to manage incoming requests without interruption during live meetings.
- Roadmap Tracking: Monitor Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 89975 for any further changes to the deployment timeline.
Microsoft Official Update
Service: N/A
Category: stayInformed
Severity: normal
Updated January 27, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.
Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: Meeting participants will be able to request an annotation session while someone else is sharing their screen.
This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop and Teams for Mac desktop. (Users can view and annotate in Teams on the web but cannot initiate annotations.)
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 89975.
[When this will happen:]
Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early March 2026 (previously early February) and expect to complete by late March 2026 (previously mid-February).
General Availability (WW, GCC, GCC High, and DoD): We will begin rolling out late March 2026 (previously mid-February) and expect to complete by late April 2026 (previously late February).
[How this will affect your organization:]
After the rollout, meeting participants who are not sharing their screens will have the ability to request an annotation session. This request will be sent to the presenter sharing their screen who can choose to accept or deny it:
If the request is accepted, the annotation session will start for everyone in the meeting:
Anonymous users in the meeting will not be able to send a request.
This change will be available by default.
[What you need to do to prepare:]
This rollout will happen automatically by the specified dates with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.
Learn more: Use annotation while sharing your screen in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support (we will update this before rollout)
Watch: How to use Collaborative Annotations in a Microsoft Teams meeting (2022)
