Content is at the heart of nearly every organization, whether it’s invoices, contracts, design files, RFPs, claims, or financial statements. And as every organization digitizes their business, the volume of content increases exponentially, resulting in time-consuming tasks, higher storage costs, and greater risks. On an average workday, our customers add over 2 billion new files to Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
Launched at Ignite last fall, Microsoft Syntex is a set of AI-powered cloud content management services. Syntex puts content to work – optimizing your business processes, managing your content better, and now accelerating custom development at scale.
Building content-rich apps can be a time-consuming and lengthy process, and one that can quickly invite security and compliance challenges. This changes today. It’s now easier than ever to maximize the value of your content, by extending the Microsoft 365 Copilot experience and building on your Microsoft 365 content.
Today at Microsoft Build 2023, we’re excited to announce the new Microsoft Syntex plugins for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Syntex repository services. We’re also launching previews of two new capabilities, Syntex eSignature and “Project Archimedes”.
Syntex Plugins for Copilot: Bringing Microsoft 365 Copilot into your everyday content-centric workflows
Introduced earlier this year, Microsoft 365 Copilot delivers breakthroughs in productivity with AI – combining the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. And Microsoft Syntex is already one of the best ways to prepare your content for next generation AI, using document processing to add structure and security to unstructured files.
This week at Build, we’re introducing Syntex plugins for Microsoft 365 Copilot, which brings Syntex actions and skills into your Copilot experiences. To enhance Copilot, Syntex delivers critical content management skills for securing, grounding, and processing high value information. Syntex plugins will make it easier than ever to bring AI-powered document processing like classification, content assembly and eSignature to Copilot. Your Copilot experiences for Teams, Word, and more can leverage your organizational knowledge to work with files and documents quickly, accurately, and at scale.
For example, users can launch file-focused actions such as content assembly to build new documents from structured templates and data sources (e.g., legal agreements or RFPs). Copilot will also be able to invoke Syntex document processing to automatically classify documents with extracted metadata and security policies. And you’ll also be able to request electronic signatures through Copilot.
With the plugins, we’re also bringing Copilot to file experiences onto the SharePoint platform -including OneDrive and Teams - where you can review suggested questions or ask your own questions about your content.
Microsoft Syntex plugins for Copilot brings content management skills to your M365 experiences.
Syntex plugins require access to Microsoft 365 Copilot through the Early Access Program. We’ll begin preview of Syntex plugins for Copilot with select customers in June 2023. Subscribe to our Syntex newsletter to get the latest information on preview and general availability.
Syntex repository services: Build content-rich apps at scale
We’re also excited to announce a new Syntex offering for developers, Syntex repository services. Syntex repository services are the fastest way for developers to build and manage file and document centric apps that leverage the rich content platform services of Microsoft 365. Syntex repository services also make it easy for every developer to include critical Microsoft 365 file and document capabilities in every app they build. Unlike basic file storage, Syntex repository services offers developers the richness of the Microsoft 365 content management backend – versioning, coauthoring, sharing, search, security, compliance and more. Syntex repository services will allow developers the freedom to design user experiences outside the constraint of the SharePoint and Teams user experience. Syntex repository services are completely headless, and fully API driven.
Microsoft Syntex repository services helps you accelerate content-rich app development
Syntex repository services enable unique new app capabilities, dramatically accelerating your content management roadmap.
• Build inside the Microsoft 365 trust boundary for both enterprise and ISV apps. ISVs can now manage files and documents within their customers’ individual Microsoft 365 tenants, rather than building their own repository solution from scratch.
• Embed Microsoft 365 trusted content management capabilities powered by SharePoint into your app. Syntex repository services includes capabilities such as versioning, granular permissions, recycle bin, search, thumbnails, sharing, and a whole lot more.
• Extend advanced Microsoft 365 security and compliance to your app. These include Microsoft Purview features like auditing, eDiscovery, data loss prevention (DLP), sensitivity labels, retention labels, encryption controls and more.
• Enable rich Microsoft 365 collaboration among your customers, users, and guest users for Office document types as part of your app. Apps powered by Syntex repository services include the features you know and love, such as presence indicators, @ mentions in comments to draw attention and drive document sharing, real-time co-authoring, and more.
Syntex repository services are in private preview with a rich ecosystem of ISVs and customers who are already developing custom apps for use cases across a diverse set of verticals. Customers who use ISV applications based on Syntex repository services can leverage their existing content management and governance uniformly across user and app content hosted in their own tenant.
Here’s are a few examples of how our ecosystem are using Syntex repository services to create the next generation of content-rich apps:
• AvePoint, a Modern Work Solutions partner, built a new version of their AvePoint Confide app architected completely around Microsoft Syntex repository services. Integrated with Microsoft 365, AvePoint Confide enables leaders to create and host collaboration workspaces for projects with unique permissions requirements like external sharing, vendor management, and due diligence.
• Peppermint Technology, a global provider of law firm management software, is integrating Syntex repository services with Peppermint CX365 to deliver a comprehensive document and records management system in our joint customers’ Microsoft 365 tenants. With Syntex repository services, they get the power of Office collaboration and their Microsoft 365 security and compliance configuration right in their app.
• Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the infrastructure engineering software company, strives to enhance Bentley Infrastructure Cloud leveraging Microsoft Syntex repository services to support critical file-based, co-authoring workflows while removing IT barriers to adoption.
• BDO, a global provider of tax, audit and advisory services, is re-architecting a client-facing portal app with Syntex repository services for a scalable universal document layer that leverages built-in Microsoft 365 security and governance solutions.
Microsoft Syntex repository services are in private preview now. Interested in joining the preview? Learn more here.
“Project Archimedes”
For data-driven developers and analysts, we’re happy to announce “Project Archimedes”. It provides big data analytics for your OneDrive and SharePoint content, so you can derive rich security and capacity insights at scale.
Project Archimedes gives you detailed data about your content in the cloud, delivered to the new Microsoft Fabric unified analytics platform. Now you can manage your Microsoft 365 alongside your other data sources in one place to transform your data into competitive advantage.
This opens access to new data sources about sites, groups, files, and permissions to feed into a range of applications at scale. With detailed data on your content, you can build your own reports or dashboards for analysis and insights. Internally at Microsoft, we establish tenant policies on our existing SharePoint site classifications to track oversharing. Our risk teams have deployed this solution to successfully manage hundreds of thousands of SharePoint sites and OneDrive containers.
With Project Archimedes, you can answer important questions about content security such as, “Is sensitive data shared with external users?” or about content capacity, such as “How many sites have over 1 terabyte of storage?” You can also use templates to get started, like the Information Oversharing template for Azure Synapse with a matching Power BI template. Learn more at SharePoint Information Oversharing template.
Project Archimedes is currently in private preview and entering public preview in July 2023. New to public preview are the SharePoint delta datasets, which allow you to pull only what has changed in the data. This gives you daily data updates while keeping your resource utilization under control. The public preview also introduces support for more regions, and more datasets will be added this year. To learn more about information oversharing, watch this on-demand Project Archimedes Webinar.
Microsoft Syntex "Project Archimedes" provides big data analytics to your OneDrive and SharePoint for security and capacity insights at scale
Syntex eSignature
Enriching content is vital to helping you discover content and reuse it in business processes and applications. One of the fastest growing content transactions that digitize business workflows is electronic signatures.
Today, we’re excited to share that Syntex eSignature will soon be in private preview. You can send electronic signature requests using Syntex eSignature and your content stays in Microsoft 365 while it’s being reviewed, signed, and post-signed as records. You can also invoke partner solutions in our ecosystem, such as Adobe Acrobat Sign and DocuSign as you choose.
Electronic signatures accelerate turnaround times, enable seamless user experiences, and reduce costs. Now with Syntex eSignature, users can carry on their everyday and critical business processes while keeping within Microsoft trust boundaries.
Syntex eSignature will be in private preview in July 2023 and generally available later this year. In the initial release at GA, Syntex eSignature will support the PDF format. Other file formats such as Word will follow later.
Microsoft Syntex eSignature
In conclusion
To recap today’s news and availability:
• Syntex plugins for Copilot: select customer previews begin June 2023
• Syntex repository services: private preview begins now
• Syntex eSignature: private preview in July 2023
• Project Archimedes: private preview now, public preview July 2023
We hope you will join us at Build, attend the Day 2 keynote, and talk with an expert at our Syntex Expert Meet-Up station!
Interested in joining the Syntex preview programs? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest details as new Microsoft Syntex services become available. Thanks.