Power Apps January 2025 latest enhancements

Microsoft has kicked off 2025 with a new Power Apps update, bringing fresh enhancements to streamline app development and boost user experience. This latest release continues to build on innovation, empowering both developers and businesses to create more efficient, customized solutions.

Here are some of the latest updates:

• Plan Designer (Public Preview) – Turn business requirements into complete low-code solutions in minutes.

• Enhanced Data Workspace – Visualize and manage existing tables with the improved ERD table designer.

• Simplified Maintenance – Power Fx updates now support enhanced component properties, user-defined functions, and user-defined types.

• Enterprise-Grade Governance – SQL Server environment variables make it easier to move solutions across environments.

• Advanced Code Components – React- and Fluent-based virtual code components are now generally available, enabling seamless component creation without extra packaging.

View the full list here.

Customizing AI-generated Git commit messages in Visual Studio 2022 is now available

Microsoft Visual Studio just introduced a game-changing update—developers can now customize AI-generated Git commit messages to better fit their coding style and project needs. This new capability enhances productivity by allowing developers to fine-tune AI suggestions, ensuring clearer and more meaningful commit histories.

Here’s what you can do with the feature:

• Enhanced feedback and suggestions ensure clear, effective communication in collaborative development.

• Customize commit messages effortlessly, adjusting line count, length, and style.

• Seamlessly integrate this capability into your workflow for more structured and meaningful commits.

• Enable the feature via Tools > Options > Copilot and set your preferred parameters.

Unlock the power of data with AI tools in Dynamics 365 solutions to accelerate sales

The future of sales is here, and it's powered by AI and unified data. Microsoft is redefining sales strategies with intelligent insights, seamless automation, and enhanced collaboration—helping businesses drive revenue with greater efficiency. Discover how Dynamics 365 is leading the way in AI-driven sales transformation.

See how Copilot and AI agents in Microsoft solutions can transform insights into action:

• Unified Customer Profiles: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights consolidates data from sales, marketing, and service to create a comprehensive 360-degree customer view.

• AI-powered recommendations: The Sales Qualification Agent in Dynamics 365 Sales provides real-time lead insights, empowering sales teams to close deals faster.

• Predictive analytics: Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Insights use predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs, enabling timely and personalized engagement.

• Time-saving automation: Automate repetitive tasks with AI-driven workflows, allowing sales teams to focus on building meaningful customer relationships.

Visual Studio 2022 now preserves font when changing themes

Microsoft has introduced a new update to Visual Studio, ensuring that custom font settings are preserved when switching themes. This improvement eliminates the need to reconfigure fonts after a theme change, providing a more seamless and personalized development experience.

Here is why you should use this feature:

No manual adjustments needed – Your selected font face and size remain unchanged, while font colors still adapt to the theme.

Enabled by default – This feature is automatically on for all users, ensuring a consistent coding experience.

Easily revert if needed – Prefer your fonts to follow the theme? Go to Tools > Manage Preview Features, find Separate font settings from color theme selection, and uncheck it.

Boost productivity – The right font settings can improve focus and readability, so you can code more efficiently.

Microsoft Fabric Copilot now assists with writing DAX queries in the latest Power BI update

Microsoft continues to push the boundaries of AI-driven analytics with the latest Power BI update. This release brings new capabilities designed to enhance productivity and streamline data analysis, making it easier than ever for users to unlock insights. With AI playing a bigger role in business intelligence, this update marks another step toward smarter, more efficient reporting in Power BI.

Here’s how to use this feature:

- Copilot in DAX Query View: Use the Copilot button in Power BI Desktop or the browser to generate or explain DAX queries inline.

- Descriptions: Provide additional context for tables, columns, or measures to help users understand their purpose.

- Synonyms: Allow alternative names for elements to improve Copilot's ability to recognize different terminology.

- Sample Values: Offer example data to enhance Copilot’s understanding and improve DAX query suggestions.

Boost mobile offline data monitoring with Azure Monitor Application Insights

Managing offline data efficiently is crucial for mobile users of Dynamics 365, and Microsoft is enhancing this experience with new insights. The latest updates bring Application Insights integration, allowing IT professionals to monitor mobile offline data performance, diagnose issues, and optimize usage. Learn how these improvements can enhance reliability and user experience in the full blog post.

Benefits of using Azure Monitor Application Insights:

Create actionable dashboards – Build queries and dashboards to monitor mobile offline telemetry and gain deeper insights.

Identify potential issues early – Test offline mode during user acceptance testing to analyze real-world sync times and detect errors before they impact users.

Optimize sync performance – Investigate and refine slow-running queries to ensure efficient offline data synchronization.

Track data changes effectively – Monitor record volumes and sync duration to measure improvements and adapt to evolving business needs.

Enhance coding experience in Visual Studio 2022 with collapsed text indicators

Visual Studio is making it easier to navigate your code with customizable collapsed text indicators. A new update allows you to personalize how collapsed regions appear, improving readability and efficiency. Check out the latest enhancements and learn how to tailor them to your workflow.

Here are the benefits of using this feature:

- Easier Navigation: Distinguish different sections of collapsed text with enhanced visual cues for better readability.

- Customizable Appearance: Set unique colors for both collapsed and expanded text indicators to personalize your editor.

- Simple Setup: Navigate to Tools > Options > Environment > Fonts and Colors to tailor your collapsed text indicators.

- New Customization Options: Modify two new entries in the Text Editor settings: Collapsed Text Indicator (Collapsed) and Collapsed Text Indicator (Expanded).

- Full Control: Customize both the foreground and background colors independently for a more intuitive coding environment.

Power Automate releases new updates this January 2025

Microsoft has released the January 2025 update (version 2.52) for Power Automate for desktop, introducing several new features and enhancements. Notably, users can now utilize Copilot to summarize selected actions and subflows, aiding in quicker understanding of desktop flows. Additionally, the update allows a child desktop flow to run concurrently with its parent flow on the same machine, and introduces dedicated Access actions for improved database management.

Here is a more detailed description of each feature:

Copilot Summaries – Get quick insights into your desktop flows with Copilot, which can now summarize selected actions and subflows.

Parallel Execution – A new toggle allows child desktop flows to run concurrently with their parent flow on the same machine, boosting performance.

Built-in Access Actions – A dedicated set of Access actions is now available out of the box for seamless database operations.

Enhanced Variable Support – Excel, Word, and Outlook instance variables can now be used as input/output variables in desktop flows.

Improved Error Handling – The "On block error" action now supports a retry policy, ensuring greater resilience in automated processes.

GitHub Copilot Edits in Visual Studio 2022 is now available in preview mode

Microsoft Visual Studio has introduced a powerful new feature, GitHub Copilot Edits (Preview), designed to streamline code editing across multiple files. This feature leverages AI to suggest and apply changes consistently, saving developers time and reducing manual effort. Discover how this innovation enhances efficiency and boosts productivity in your development workflow.

Here’s how to use the new feature:

- Preview a clear summary highlighting affected files and proposed changes.

- Review code diffs inline in your editor, using the TAB key to accept or Alt + Del to reject changes individually or in bulk.

- Use checkpoints to revisit earlier iterations or try alternative approaches for new ideas.

- Start an edit thread by clicking the Edit Threads button, describing your changes, and letting Copilot Edits analyze files across your codebase.