People Skills: New admin setting to delete skills data

Starting July 2026, admins can permanently delete all People Skills data from their Microsoft 365 tenant via a new removal control. This affects skills data used in Copilot, profile cards, Viva, and more. Deletion is irreversible, admin-initiated, and supports compliance and offboarding needs. What and Why: Starting July 2026, we’re introducing a new People Skills removal and deletion admin control. This feature enables administrators to permanently remove all People Skills data from their tenant. This update gives organizations greater control over their Microsoft 365 data by supporting offboarding scenarios for People Skills and helping meet enterprise data governance and compliance needs. People Skills is an AI-powered service that creates and uses skills data across Microsoft 365 experiences such as Copilot, profile cards, and Viva. Learn more about People Skills. This message is associated with Roadmap ID 565905. Rollout Schedule: General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in mid-July 2026 and is expected to complete by early August 2026. Impact on Your Organization: Who is affected:  Tenants that have already deployed People Skills and those who will deploy it in the future can use this new feature, including those with: People Skills Foundation service plan People Skills Advanced service plan Microsoft 365 Copilot in Productivity Apps Platforms/Services where skills data appears: Microsoft 365 profile card Microsoft 365 Copilot Viva Insights Viva Learning Org Explorer and People experiences What will happen: A new People Skills removal and deletion control will be available in admin settings. This feature is admin-initiated only. When initiated: The organization’s skills library and all associated data will be permanently deleted. All user skills (confirmed, inferred, imported) will be permanently deleted. Skills will no longer appear on profile cards. Skills data will no longer be used in Copilot, Viva Insights, or other experiences. For details, refer to: Where does People Skills data appear. Deleted data cannot be restored. Deletion timing: Most data deleted within 48–72 hours Viva Learning data removed within up to 7 days Action Required / Recommendations: No immediate action is required. If your organization needs to remove People Skills (for example, to meet compliance or governance requirements): Navigate […]

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