Microsoft Places overview
Microsoft Places is an AI-powered workplace app for flexible work. Places helps organizations reimagine flexible work with AI, modernize how employees connect so that everyone makes the most of in-office days, and optimize space management with occupancy and utilization data. Microsoft Places also supports individual desk booking.
Many features of Microsoft Places depend on a fully established hierarchy of buildings, floors and rooms/workspaces. Tenant admins must take action to configure this hierarchy, as described in Configuring buildings and floors.
License requirements
Microsoft Places includes core, enhanced, and AI-driven features.
Customers with a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription have access to core features, which include setting up and updating work plans, viewing collaborators’ work plans, accessing the Places card experiences in calendar, scheduling in-person meetings, managing hybrid RSVP, and workplace presence related capabilities.
Customers with a Teams Premium license have access to enhanced features such as Places finder, intelligent suggestions, Places explorer, team guidance, space analytics, and auto-release policies.
Customers with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license have access to additional features such as managed booking and recommended in-office days.
Customers enrolled in the Preview will retain access to all core and enhanced features until January 6, 2025.
Qualifying Microsoft 365 subscriptions for core features
The following subscriptions provide access to core Places features:
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 or Office 365 (E1, E3, E5)
Microsoft 365 or Office 365 for Education (A1, A3, A5)
Microsoft 365 for frontline workers (F1, F3)
Additionally, these subscriptions provide access to core Places features in Teams:
Microsoft Teams Essentials
Microsoft Teams Enterprise
Microsoft Teams EEA
Feature description
| Feature | Description | Where | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work plans | Set your work location schedule ahead of time, to let your coworkers know when you're planning to be in the office or remote. | Calendar in New Outlook¹; New calendar in Teams²; Microsoft Places app³ | Core |
| Workplace presence | Update your work location to let your coworkers know you’ve arrived in the office, and see who else is there that day. | Calendar in New Outlook; New calendar in Teams; Microsoft Places app | Core |
| In-person events | Request invitees to attend your meeting or event in person, and see each person's attendance mode along with their response in the event tracking pane. | Calendar in New Outlook; New calendar in Teams | Core |
| Hybrid RSVP | When an event is marked as in-person, participants can share whether they will attend in-person or virtually. | Calendar in New Outlook; New calendar in Teams | Core |
| Places card | Easily see who's coming into the office and quickly adjust your work plan from your calendar. | Calendar in New Outlook; New calendar in Teams; Microsoft Places app | Core |
| Places explorer | Get a singular view of the people, spaces, and experiences at each workplace location. | Microsoft Places app | Premium |
| Places finder | New experience to book rooms and desks, with rich metadata including pictures, floorplans, A/V capabilities, accessibility, and more. | Calendar in New Outlook; New calendar in Teams | Premium |
| Individual desk booking | Allow users to select and book individual desks for their day in the office. | Calendar in New Outlook; New calendar in Teams | Premium |
| Room check-in and auto release | Allow users to check in to rooms, and for reserved rooms to be automatically released if unoccupied. | Teams chat, Teams panels, Microsoft Teams Rooms | Premium |
| Quick book | When you're in the office and haven't booked rooms for your meetings, you can get recommendations and quickly add rooms for some or all of your meetings that day. | Calendar in New Outlook; new calendar in Teams; Microsoft Places app | Premium |
| Team guidance | Allows leaders and managers to define work patterns, set in-office expectations and adjust the rhythm to meet the needs of their teams. | Microsoft Places app | Premium |
| Intelligent suggestions | Tailored recommendations to organize your day, such as adding rooms for in-person meetings. | Calendar in New Outlook; new calendar in Teams; Microsoft Places app | Premium |
| Space analytics | Visualize intended and actual occupancy data for your buildings, rooms and workspaces. | Microsoft Places app | Premium |
| Managed room booking | Copilot will recommend rooms based on various factors, and will rebook rooms in case of update or conflict. | Calendar in New Outlook; new calendar in Teams | Copilot |
| COMING SOON: in-office days recommendations | Copilot will recommend the best days to come into the Office, based on your scheduled meetings and your coworkers' work plans. | Calendar in New Outlook; new calendar in Teams; Microsoft Places app | Premium+Copilot |
| COMING SOON: Space analytics with Copilot | Copilot will help analyze and explain key data points and trends in your space utilization graphs. It will compare current utilization metrics (such as occupancy, desk usage, and room bookings) against previous time periods, highlighting important changes and trends. | Microsoft Places app | Premium+Copilot |
¹: New Outlook is currently available on Windows and on the web.
²: The new calendar experience in Teams is currently in preview, on Windows, MacOS and on the web.
³: The Microsoft Places app is available on the web and as a connected app inside Outlook, in Teams, and in the Microsoft 365 app (formerly Microsoft Office) - on desktop and mobile.
Frequently asked questions for Preview
Can I access all Microsoft Places features during the Preview?
Customers enrolled in the Preview retain access to all core and enhanced features, but need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license to evaluate AI-driven features.
When is the Microsoft Places Preview ending?
We stopped accepting sign-ups for the Preview on November 19, 2024.
The Preview program will remain open until January 6, 2025, at which point we'll begin enforcing license checks. After that date, users with a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription will retain access to core Places features. Enhanced features will require a Teams Premium license, and Copilot features will require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. If you’re no longer using enhanced features, associated data such as Space analytics will be securely deleted in accordance with Microsoft’s privacy policy.
Why was there an opt-in form for Microsoft Places Preview?
This form was used to enable your organization for enhanced features in Microsoft Places.
All form entries will be deleted on or around January 6, 2025, when the Preview program closes. Review the Microsoft Privacy Statement for further information on how Microsoft handles your data.
More resources
You can find more resources here:
Tip
As a companion to this article, we recommend using the Microsoft Places Advanced Deployment Guide when signed in to the Microsoft 365 admin center. This guide customizes your experience based on your environment. To review best practices without signing in and activating automated setup features, go to the Microsoft 365 setup portal.