It’s time for our end-user focused catch up of updates from the 20th – 27th February 2021 across Microsoft 365. This week is a strange one; lots of delays revised timelines and only a few updates across Forms, OneDrive, Planner then just the one(!) for Teams. Maybe the slow week is something to do with Microsoft’s big Ignite event on the 2nd and 3rd March?
Generally, these updates look at topics of interest to end users and anyone supporting them such as trainers and super users.
Revised timelines
If you would like more details on any of these delayed features check out a previous blog or video.
Block Download Permissions for Teams Meeting Recordings on OneDrive: roll out due to begin in early April (previously February) and is expected to complete in early June (previously end April).
Introducing an enhanced Teams Calling experience: coming mid-March (previously end of February) through to the end of April (previously mid-March):
Teams: use an iPad to present in a live event: due early February (previously January) and you can expect the rollout to be complete by early March (previously late February).
Introducing text predictions in Outlook for iOS: rollout started early January and is expected to be complete by early March (previously late February) (US and Canada only for now).
Add Microsoft Teams to your SharePoint team site: Roll out started in early January and is expected to be complete by mid-March:
Microsoft Teams introduces meeting recap in the calendar event details tab: Roll out starts early March (previously end of January) and will be complete by early April (previously mid-February).
Large gallery view and Together Mode for web meetings in Edge and Chrome browsers: roll out start due late March (previously late-January) and expected to be complete by late-April (previously late-February):
SharePoint web part toolbox updates: coming early March (previously mid-February) and roll out should be complete by mid-March (late February):
SharePoint page authoring – new first run experience: rolling out early January through to the end of March (previously end of February).
Introducing intelligent file recommendations for Planner – roll out begins mid-March (previously mid-February) and is expected to be complete by the end of April (previously March):
Introducing Designer in Word – roll out begins February (previously early February) and is due to be complete in early May (previously mid-March):
Forms
Microsoft Forms – Increased form limits: Microsoft Forms currently limits forms and quizzes to 200 per user/group and provides a bonus 200 specific for polls. They are increasing these limits to 400 forms or quizzes per user or group; the bonus poll quota will also increase to 400. This feature rollout has begun for some customers, but will be rolling out mid to late March 2021 for most of us.
Learn more about Form, question, response, and character limits in Microsoft Forms.
OneDrive
First delete dialog alert for OneDrive files: With this update, you will see a warning message the first time that you delete file(s) from the OneDrive sync client (Windows and Mac). The warning advises that your file will be deleted from OneDrive everywhere and teaches you about the OneDrive recycle bin where you can restore your file if necessary.
Unless your organisation blocks this alert, you will see it after your first delete, and keep seeing it until you select “Don’t show this reminder again.”
This feature rollout will begin early March and should be complete in late March 2021.
OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online upload capability increased to 250GB. Previously, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint online customers had an upload limit for 100GB per file. And customers have been asking for increased upload limits. Now, customers can upload files up to 250GB across OneDrive for Business and SharePoint online. All users of OneDrive for Business and SharePoint online will be able to upload files sizes up to 250GB via the sync client as well as the web app. This feature has already rolled out.
Considerations from Microsoft:
If your tenant has large files that could not be uploaded previously, we recommend you test a few large files (sync client recommended for uploading large files) and review how to create large dummy files here. Please keep in mind there are many factors that may impact your upload capability including bandwidth, location and other network traffic
If your tenant has large files that could not be uploaded previously, we recommend you test a few large files (sync client recommended for uploading large files) and review how to create large dummy files here.
Please keep in mind there are many factors that may impact your upload capability including;
- bandwidth
- location
- other network traffic
Planner
Add up to 25 task labels and colours in Planner and Tasks in Teams – This update will please a lot of users; you will be able to choose up to 25 coloured labels per task in Planner and Tasks in Teams…up from the current 5.
More labels allows for greater flexibility when organising tasks. You can use labels to flag risks, signal delays, help fine tune task prioritisation, clarify accountabilities, or categorise tasks around a theme spanning multiple buckets.
The new colours look great and include Marigold, Teal and Lavender:
This feature rollout has already begun and should be complete by early March 2021.
Learn more:Flag your tasks with labels (Microsoft)
SharePoint
See OneDrive section for upload limit increase.
Teams
New Video only Meeting stage experience: A recent change has enabled a new Video only Meeting stage. With this new meeting layout experience, video-only participants will fill the meeting layout even if they aren’t dominant speakers.
Prior experience:
In Microsoft Teams meetings where some attendees had videos on and some had videos off, users would see up to 9 attendees on screen in a “mixed grid”: a mix of video-on and video-off participants. Audio-only participants (those who have their video turned off) would be shown as avatars (see examples below; avatars can be either initials or a profile picture). This occupied substantial space on the screen which could be used instead to show more video participants as available.
New experience:
With the new view optimised for video experience, the meeting prioritises showing participants who have their video turned on. This makes it possible for the user to simultaneously see up to 9 video participants in a meeting. For meetings with more than 9 participants, we prioritise participants with video to be shown on the stage. Participants with audio are clubbed together and shown below the videos.
This feature has already rolled out. If you don’t see it, restart Teams.
Wrap up
Microsoft Ignite
Microsoft’s annual developer and IT professional event. It is free to join remotely on 2 – 4 March 2021. Teams, virtual reality, Power Platform, Edge and tonnes more will be getting sessions. Learn more and sign up here: https://news.microsoft.com/march-2021-ignite/
Blog focus: Tom Morgan. Tom is a Microsoft Teams developer and has a knack of talking about development in a way that makes (some) sense to the rest of us. If you are into Microsoft Teams check out his blog, YouTube channel or podcast (my preference). Even if development is not your thing, he’ll probably still keep you engaged and up to date with his weekly, ten minute(ish) updates. https://blog.thoughtstuff.co.uk/
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