Welcome to our second roundup of 2024. We look at what was announced, released and delayed across Microsoft 365 and Copilot in January.
These hand-picked highlights are mainly from the admin centre, Microsoft 365 Roadmap (I call these ‘ones to watch’) and Microsoft blogs…thank you to the Microsoft product teams for the information, updates and images they share. I aim to deliver my versions in plain English, in a simplified format and with end-users in mind.
Once you are all caught up with January, check out the February running blog, and remember to look back at December in case you missed anything.
Do you just want to watch the highlights on YouTube? Scroll to the end of this page.
Here’s this month’s topics:
Copilot
Microsoft made two big Copilot announcements on 15th January:
- For individuals: the new Copilot Pro will be available at home for £19 per month, get it here
- For business & enterprise: the 300-seat minimum purchase has been removed. Copilot is now being offered to Office 365 E3 and E5 customers (previously Microsoft 365 customers only), buy via Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider partners. Not just for the enterprise; you can now purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium for $30 per month, buy now in the Admin Centre)
Read more: Microsoft makes Copilot available to individuals and businesses of all sizes.
🆕 All about Microsoft Copilot for end users
Looking for an easy-to-understand introduction to Copilot? Check out All about Microsoft Copilot for end users here on Super Simple 365. It’s my first step towards a Copilot hub for news, hints, tips and training. Find it on the main menu, bookmark it and check back soon to see what’s new!
Microsoft Copilot Dashboard for Viva Insights licensed customers
Microsoft: “Additional insights that combine Microsoft Copilot usage metrics with collaboration and sentiment data will be available to Viva Insights licensed organizations in the Copilot Dashboard. These additional insights provide more granular views of Copilot adoption, usage patterns, user sentiment, and return on investment across teams, functional roles, and more. Viva Insights analysts can create custom reports based on these metrics as well”. Ref: MC709985. Due early mid-February 2024. Read more: Connect to the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard (Preview) | Microsoft Learn.
One to watch in Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365: OneDrive – Share Word Documents with AI summary
Microsoft: “Users can now opt to include an AI-generated document summary inside the share dialog when they share a Word document with other users. The document summary is included in the share notification email sent to the recipient(s) giving them more context around the contents of the shared document. This feature is only enabled for customers with a Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 license and works only when sharing a Word for the web file”. Due February 2024?
One to watch in Microsoft Teams: Copilot for Sales plugin for Copilot in Teams meetings
Microsoft: “Admins can enable the Copilot for Sales plugin in the plugin menu. All plugins are toggled ‘off’ by default, and users can toggle it ‘on’ from the plugin menu. When Copilot for Sales plugin is set to ‘on,’ Copilot in Teams meetings will be able to access Sales and Dynamics 365 data to return insights for a summary of the sales opportunity for the meeting based on the transcript, as well as retrieve brand information for the account from Dynamics 365 if the account name was mentioned”. Due April 2024?
Lists
Last year’s Lists updates coming to Lists in Team sites, Lists PWA and Teams
This update hopes to improve the overall performance of Microsoft Lists and introduces new features including the ability to add ratings to any list, drag and/or paste images directly into a list, see who is collaborating with you in real-time, switch views by clicking tabs and more. Due late February to late June 2024. Read more.
One to watch: Microsoft Lists – Drag to order list items
Microsoft: “Easily organize your list by dragging and dropping items into a custom sort order for you and your team.”. Due February 2024?
OneDrive
Available now: Want easy access to an individual file in OneDrive and SharePoint using a shortcut?
You will soon be able to create a shortcut to files stored in other people’s OneDrive and document libraries to find them within your OneDrive or document library. Available now. Read more.
Delayed: Want to access your OneDrive files using OneDrive for the web or Teams…when offline? You need the new Offline Mode
Soon, on your Windows and macOS devices that have the OneDrive sync app installed, a new feature called “Offline mode” will be enabled for OneDrive. This feature will allow you to continue working with the OneDrive web app in your browser, OneDrive PWA (Progressive Web App), or Microsoft Teams when you’re offline. You can view, rename, move, and copy your files, as well as create new folders when offline. You’ll also be able to open your files that are available offline on your device from inside OneDrive on the web and you’ll be able to resolve conflicts once back online, if there are any. Now due mid-February 2024 to mid-April 2024. Read more.
Outlook
Switch to the new Groups experience in Outlook on the web
An optional new Groups experience is coming to Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows. The Groups Home page is described as a place to connect, communicate, and collaborate with your team and get information from your groups. Due mid-February to late March 2024. Read more.
OneDrive for Business opens in Outlook on the web
Microsoft: “Quickly access your OneDrive for Business files without leaving Microsoft Outlook on the web! Previously, the OneDrive for Business button in Outlook on the web opened a new tab for OneDrive. With this change, you will see OneDrive folders and files inside of Outlook for the web, for a consistent and fast experience.” Refs: MC709988 and 365 Roadmap ID 369520. Due mid-February to March 2024.
Teams chat embedded in Outlook Web (Enterprise)
Microsoft: “Currently, Office 365 Enterprise users can chat with colleagues in Outlook on the web using Microsoft Teams. The functionality opens a new browser tab redirecting you to Teams web when users click on the Teams chat icon in the suite-header. With this new feature, the chat icon will open an embedded experience in Outlook Web, which will help users stay in the flow and not have to leave Outlook. Regarding New Outlook recently launched in Windows 11, we will continue our investments and you can expect some Teams integrations in the app coming next year”. Refs: MC692028 and 365 Roadmap ID 95601. Due between now and “within a few months”.
Hide favorites in the New Outlook for Windows and web
Microsoft: “Users now have the flexibility to configure the visibility of the favorites section in the folder pane. To adjust these settings:
- Navigate to the ‘View’ tab > ‘Layout’ > ‘Folder Pane’ > ‘Favorites.’ Here, you can choose to ‘Show’ or ‘Hide’ your favorites
- Alternatively, right-click on the favorites section and select ‘Hide favorites’ to conceal the entire section
- If you add a Folder, Category, or Person to your favorites, the favorites section will automatically reappear”
References: MC709262 and 365 Roadmap ID 167071. Due by late February 2024.
Delayed: Create Stream video recordings in Outlook on the web and the new Outlook for Windows.
Microsoft: “Soon you will be able to record a video of yourself, your screen or both, directly from Outlook and insert the recording in your email”. Refs: MC690606 and Roadmap ID 185369. Now due mid-February to mid-May 2024.
New Sync Feature
Microsoft: “A button option to initiate email sync is coming to the new Microsoft Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web. This will allow users to ensure that their send and receive email experience is up to date. This functionality will be in the View tab of the Ribbon”. Refs: MC707650 and 365 Roadmap ID 375743. Due mid-February to early March 2024.
More people will see the toggle to try the preview of the new Outlook for Windows from January
From January, Microsoft is expanding the scope of who will see the toggle to try the preview of new Outlook for Windows whilst at work. Whether you see the toggle or not will depend on the choices made by your organisation. Learn more about new Outlook: Getting started with the new Outlook for Windows – Microsoft Support.
Delayed: View Stream video recordings in the new Outlook for Windows and web
Microsoft: “Soon, if someone pastes a Stream video link in a supported Outlook app and sends it to you, you will be able to watch it directly in your inbox. The videos will play inline for recipients within the same organization, meaning you will not have to leave Outlook to watch the video. Recipients outside the organization, and those not using the new Outlook or web, will see a link to the video which they can watch in the Stream web app (depending on the organization’s file sharing settings)”. Refs: MC692026 and Roadmap ID 185389. Now due mid-February to mid-May 2024.
Delayed: New to Outlook: choose how many days of email to sync on iOS and Android devices
The new sync window will allow you to choose how many days of email and attachments to download to your iOS or Android device for offline viewing…great for managing storage and data usage. Now due late March to mid-April 2024. Read more.
Delayed: Outlook Web: Ability to Hide Favourites From Folder List
Microsoft: “Users in Outlook for the web will have the ability to update their settings in order to hide Favorites if they do not use or want to see them. By default, Favorites will be visible, but with this feature, users can opt to hide the Favorites experience from their view. Once hidden, users can always go back and unhide their Favorites”. Refs: MC676546 and Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 167071. Now due late October 2023 to late January 2024.
One to watch: Filter Calendar Items in Message List in new Outlook for Windows and web
Microsoft: “You can now filter your message list for conversations that have calendar invites when using the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web. Getting an overview of new meetings you’re invited to and RSVP-ing to them directly in the message list becomes much easier with this new filter”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: New context menu experience in the new Outlook for Windows and web
Microsoft: “We’re thrilled to bring you an enhanced folder creation experience! In this update, we’ve introduced a more intuitive way to manage your folders and accounts. Starting soon, the creation links will be removed, streamlining your interface for a cleaner and more efficient workspace. What’s New: A new ellipsis icon will appear in your left nav bar when hovering the folders and accounts for a quick and easy way to create folders, subfolders or execute the existing folder and account actions ensuring a smoother workflow. As part of this update, we’ll be removing creation links to provide a more focused and user-friendly experience. Rest assured, the traditional right-click method will still be available for your convenience”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: New options to copy email items in the new Outlook for Windows and web
Microsoft: “We’re thrilled to introduce two new ways to copy email items in the new Outlook for web and Windows that will make your email management even more seamless and efficient. Ctrl + Drag and Drop: Simply hold down the Ctrl key while dragging and dropping your email items to effortlessly duplicate them. It’s a quick and intuitive way to manage your emails with precision. Ctrl C + Ctrl V: For those who prefer the classic copy-and-paste method, we’ve got you covered! Just use Ctrl C to copy the email item and Ctrl V to paste it wherever you need”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: New search UI for contacts and global address list
Microsoft: “A new in-flow experience for searching contacts and the global address list while addressing mail and calendar events”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: Newsletters
Microsoft: “Newsletters in Outlook enable customers to create, distribute, and track success for their internal email newsletters. This feature will be available in the new Outlook for Windows and the web”. Due July 2024?
One to watch: OneDrive for Business available in classic Outlook for Windows
Microsoft: “Quickly access your OneDrive without having to leave Outlook! Users can find and use the OneDrive app in classic Outlook for Windows, for a consistent and fast experience”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: Organise and reorder folders in the new Outlook for Windows and web
Microsoft: “Users can arrange folders in any desired order effortlessly by dragging and dropping the folders in the position that they want”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: New search UI for contacts and global address list
Microsoft: “A new in-flow experience for searching contacts and the global address list while addressing mail and calendar events”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: Sync feature
Microsoft: “A button option to initiate email sync is coming to the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web, this will allow users to ensure that their send and receive email experience is up-to-date. This functionality will be within the View tab of the Ribbon”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Shared Mailboxes as Accounts
Microsoft: “Shared Mailboxes can be added as Accounts in the new Outlook for Windows. The Shared Mailbox will appear at the Account Level in the Folder list. Access to the Shared Mailbox requires the user’s credentials and associated permissions”. Due July 2024?
One to watch: To Do app opens in the new Outlook for Windows
Microsoft: “Use the To Do app without leaving the new Outlook for Windows! Click the To Do icon in the navigation bar to open inline without opening in a separate browser window.”. Due June 2024?
👀 Check out last month’s Outlook updates.
SharePoint
One to watch: Custom image as Section Background
Microsoft: “SharePoint lets you customize the sections backgrounds with your own image. We’ve enhanced the focal point and introduced more settings like fill mode, overlay, opacity to help you adhere to accessibility best practices and make sure that your contents are clear and readable with customized background. This gives you more power over the image to make your page beautiful”. Due April 2024?
One to watch: Section Background
Microsoft: “SharePoint now allows you to add an image or gradient color to the sections of the page from a new set of options, including image settings to ensure readability. With this release, we’re providing authors to make beautiful pages with featured sections”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Create themes for SharePoint in brand center
Microsoft: “We’re bringing a new theme creation experience into the brand center, allowing you to easily create and manage themes for your sites and related experiences.”. Due June 2024?
One to watch: Customize your individual sites and experiences with fonts and themes
Microsoft: “Site owners will now be able to create branded fonts and themes for their sites and experiences in the brand center by combining the branding assets that the organization provides or by creating their own”. Due June 2024?
One to watch: Introducing custom fonts for SharePoint
Microsoft: “Fonts are more than just letters and symbols, and we’ve heard you. We’re bringing font customization to your SharePoint and Viva Connections experiences with the brand center. Express your personality, style, and brand by adding custom fonts to your sites and related experiences”. Due March 2024?
👀 Check out last month’s SharePoint updates.
Stream
Delayed: Add a hyperlink or text callout to a video at specific times
Microsoft: “Make your video interactive and more engaging by adding annotations that can include hyperlinks and text. Call out important moments or share documents and other links to additional resources. You can add text and links anywhere in the video timeline to help guide your viewers to the right information. Viewers can use video timeline markers to navigate interactive content”. Refs: MC688631 and Roadmap ID 180795. Now due from early February 2024.
Delayed: Automatic Transcription for Video Uploads to SharePoint Online, Yammer, and Office.com
Microsoft: “Videos uploaded to SharePoint Online, Yammer, and Office.com will have transcriptions automatically generated shortly after upload. This feature will not be available for A1 and trial tenancies”. Refs: MC635989 and Roadmap ID 124932. Now due late July 2023 to late January 2024. Learn more about how to view, edit, and manage video transcripts and captions (Microsoft Support).
One to watch: Pay-as-you-go transcript translations
Microsoft: “Make your content more inclusive by creating videos that your coworkers can easily view and understand in their primary language. Transcript translations in Stream (on SharePoint) give you the option to translate the transcript and closed captions of your Stream videos into more than 100 supported languages. To enable translations Admins must first setup billing using an Azure subscription, then they must be enable the feature in the M365 Admin center. Once enabled translations are billed via pay-as-you-go meters”. Due January 2024?
One to watch: Add video to a playlist from an embedded video
Microsoft: “Users will be able to add a video to a playlist directly from embedded videos across Microsoft 365 (SharePoint pages, Outlook, teams, Viva Engage, etc.) without having to open the video in Stream”. Due March 2024?
👀 Check out last month’s Stream updates.
Teams
Hide the General channel
You will soon be able to hide the General channel in Microsoft Teams, just like any other channel. If the General channel is the only channel, hiding it will hide the team too. Due mid-February to mid-March 2024. Read more.
🆕 Mute with Windows Taskbar available in the new Microsoft Teams on Windows
MIcrosoft: “The Muting Teams with Windows Taskbar is now available. This feature, available in the new Teams experience on Windows, enables you to mute and unmute your audio by clicking the mic icon in Windows taskbar”. Refs: MC709270 and 365 Roadmap ID 191528. Due early to late April 2024.
Content from Camera on New Teams
Content from camera on new Teams enables meeting attendees to see your whiteboards, printed documents and books etc. It will detect, crop, frame and then share the content with meeting participants.
If you move in front of the content, meeting participants will be able to see through you! Due early to mid-March 2024. Read more.
Webinars and townhalls: Edit meeting options within Teams, not a browser
Microsoft: “In Microsoft Teams, configuring meeting options for events like webinars and townhalls required users to be taken to a web page after the event had been created. In order to optimize the user experience, we will now allow users to configure meeting options within the Teams app before event creation. This will provide users with more flexibility”.
“Webinar and townhall organizers will no longer be sent to a web page to edit their event’s meeting options. The meeting options will now show up as an inline window within the scheduling form. This will occur for both the create and edit experiences”.
Refs: MC710212 and 365 Roadmap ID 373420. Due mid to late February 2024.
You will soon be able to duplicate Microsoft Teams webinars
Microsoft: “To simplify event creation Microsoft Teams is introducing the ability to create a new webinar by duplicating the information for an existing scheduled one…”. Due early to late March 2024. Read more.
Boring, but important changes in file open behaviour in classic Teams
Microsoft is making changes to the file open experience in classic Teams that will affect users in select scenarios, including Shared channels and the apps OneNote, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Due February to March 2024. Read more.
New Teams is losing the ability to open the website tab in the client
Microsoft Teams is losing the ability to show websites inside the new Teams client when using the Website tab, these links will open in a new browser tab instead. This is to better align with best practices in web security and privacy and make the opening of links more reliable. This will affect new and existing Website tabs. Due from early April 2024. Read more.
Allow meeting participants to create Collaborative notes
Microsoft: “Currently, only Microsoft Teams meeting organizers can create Collaborative notes before and after meetings. We are rolling out enhanced Collaborative notes that allow any meeting invitee to create notes before, during, and after the meeting. This enhancement helps to improve collaboration and efficiency and provides a seamless teamwork experience”. The Agenda, Meeting notes, and Follow-up tasks are Loop components, which is currently a blocker to the use of these features in some organisations. Refs: MC708499 and 365 Roadmap ID 374515. Due mid to late February 2024.
Incoming external call routing settings
Microsoft: “End users will now be able to change their external call routing settings directly from the Teams app, allowing them to decide how incoming PSTN calls are routed. Calls can be redirected based on existing unanswered call settings or sent to voicemail. This new capability provides more flexibility for handling customer communications”. Refs MC708501 and 365 Roadmap ID 372120. Due early to mid-March 2024.
Tags are coming to Shared and Private channels
Microsoft: “Tags will now be supported in shared channels in Microsoft Teams. Users can now use tags to @ mention groups of people in shared channels” and “Tags will now be supported in private channels in Microsoft Teams. Users can now use tags to @ mention groups of people in private channels”. Refs: MC707670/MC707674 and 365 Roadmap IDs 373555 / 373545. Due late February to late March 2024.
Learn more about Using tags in Microsoft Teams.
Navigating away from Microsoft Teams Chat and Channel Copilot will no longer close Copilot
Before this feature is released, navigating away and then returning to Chat Copilot or Channel Copilot, you would find that Copilot has closed. Copilot will now remain open when you navigate away and return. To close Copilot, deselect the Copilot icon. Due early to mid-February 2024 on desktop and web. Read more.
Private and shared channels links
Microsoft is adding support for channel links to private and shared channels. Members of private and shared channels will be able to create links to private and shared channels and to channel posts to share with other members of those channels. Refs: MC707648 and 365 Roadmap ID 325325. Due mid to late February 2024.
Meeting invitation improvements are coming to Microsoft Teams
Microsoft is making design improvements to emphasise the most important information and improve information grouping. Due mid-February to mid-March 2024. Read more.
Meeting participants’ time zone
Microsoft: “Currently the scheduling form in Microsoft Teams does not show the time zone or work hours of the attendees, which can make it difficult for users to find a common time to schedule a meeting. A new feature will address this issue by allowing meeting organizers to see the time zone for all meeting attendees in the scheduling form of the scheduling assistant”. Refs: MC706177 and Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 123963. Due early February to late April 2024.
Real-time calendar notifications are coming to your Teams activity feed
Coming to the Activity feed:
- Meeting invites (including channel meetings you are explicitly invited to)
- Meeting updates/cancellations
- Meeting forwards (if you are the organiser)
Due mid to late February 2024. Read more.
Coming to Microsoft Teams chat: an easy way to share colleague contact information
You will soon be able to share the contact information of colleagues who are not participants in a chat. This will be an easy and accurate way of passing on someone’s details. Due early to mid-February 2024. Read more.
Access to Teams meeting recordings
The Recap tab for scheduled meetings will soon include access to the meeting recording and transcript. If a meeting has a Recap tab, the Recording & Transcription tab will be removed as these will move to the Recap tab. If your meeting does not have a Recap tab, you should continue to access the recording and transcript from the Recording & Transcription tab. Refs MC704958 and 365 Roadmap ID 181918. Due late February to early March 2024.
Teams is integrating chat notification settings with the meeting RSVP
Microsoft: “You will not receive notifications or see chats from meetings you declined. You will be able to set how you want to be notified for meetings you RSVP with Accept or Tentative from Microsoft Teams settings”. Refs: MC704035 and 365 Roadmap ID 161739. Due mid to late February 2024.
Join Teams work meetings from Microsoft Teams (free) and vice versa
Microsoft: “This feature enables users with personal Microsoft accounts (MSA) using the free version of Microsoft Teams to join and participate in Teams for work (or school) meetings with their signed-in personal account when joining meetings from within the Teams app. This feature also lets these users stay connected with the other meeting participants (retain access to the meeting chat) after the meeting has ended. These users are no longer prompted to join only via a browser and later treated as meeting guests (anonymous)”. Refs: MC704194 and 365 Roadmap ID 167326. Due early February to mid-March 2024, subject to your organisation’s settings.
New Teams for Web rollout schedule
Microsoft has slightly different rollout schedules for new Teams on desktop and web. The latest dates for the web version can be found here: New Teams for Web – Overview and prerequisites – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn.
🆕 Delayed: Microsoft Teams emojis, GIFs and stickers are to be combined in one easy to use picker
Currently, you see separate emoji, GIF and sticker pickers when composing a message or post in Teams:
With this update emojis, GIFs, and stickers will be combined in one picker under the smiley face icon. Clicking the smiley face will open the new, combined picker. Now due Now due mid to late March 2024. Read more.
🆕 Delayed: Profile Card in Teams Mobile
Microsoft: “When you tap on someone’s name or picture in Teams mobile, you can find information related to them on their profile card. To see your own profile card, select your own name or profile picture. This new profile card in Teams mobile has fresh experiences to help users contact and contextualize other users, as well as express themselves through setting their pronouns and profile picture”. Ref: MC692023. Due January to late February 2024. See full images of own card and colleagues’ card.
Delayed: Addition of Chat button in Missed Call Activity
Microsoft: “Teams users will have an option to chat with Teams users after receiving a missed call from them by simply clicking on an additional ‘chat’ button on the missed call activity”. References: MC682086 and 365 Roadmap ID 176318. Now due late November 2023 to late January 2024.
🆕 Delayed: Voice isolation
Microsoft: “With Voice isolation, you can enjoy clear and uninterrupted calls or meetings, no matter where you are. This feature uses AI to filter out all background noise, including other people’s voices. By leveraging your voice profile, this advanced noise suppression capability ensures only the user’s voice is transmitted. Whether you are in a busy office, a noisy cafe, or a crowded airport, you can communicate with confidence and clarity. Voice isolation is powered by our advanced deep learning, speech services, and audio processing technology, and it shows our dedication to solving user problems with AI and enhancing audio quality and experience”. Refs: MC690921 and Roadmap ID 125387. Now due late March 2024 to early April 2024.
Delayed: Collaborative Notes in Channel Meetings
Microsoft: “Collaborative Notes will replace Wiki-based Channel Meeting Notes. Collaborative Notes in channel meetings allow attendees to co-create and collaborate on their meeting agenda, notes, and action items. Since Collaborative Notes are a Loop component, it is always in sync regardless of how many places they live in. Assigned Tasks in Collaborative Notes automatically sync with To Do and Planner”. Refs: MC690924 and Roadmap ID 167330. Now due late April to early May 2024.
Delayed: New audio and video flyouts in Teams meetings
Microsoft is improving access to audio and video settings during Teams meetings, key controls will be just one click away in new flyouts. Now due mid to late February 2024. Read more.
Delayed: Immersive spaces in Teams meetings ready for Generally Availability
Immersive spaces allow you to have a fun, 3D meeting experience during your Teams meetings. Experience Spatial Audio, play team building interactive games and express yourself with live reactions to engage with others during discussions. Now due late January to late February 2024 in new Teams. Read more.
Delayed: Love Loop components? You’ll soon be able to create them in Microsoft Teams Channels
Collaborative Loop components, which you may know from Teams chats, are coming to channels. You will be able to create, share, and edit components to collaborate without leaving your channel conversation. Copy and paste Loop components between channels and other locations and apps across M365 and always see the latest updates. Now due November 2023 to late January 2024. Read more.
Delayed: Workflows within the Microsoft Teams chats menu
The rise of Workflows in Teams continues. Microsoft: “To make sure Microsoft Teams provides the best workflow experience for our users we are making it easier to configure workflows for chats. From the list of chats users will be able to go into the overflow menu for a specific chat (…) and select “Workflows”. Here they will see a list of workflow templates specific to chats within Teams. Users can then configure these templates to their needs and deploy them to the chat”. Refs: MC683929 and Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 180364. Now due mid-November 2023 and late January 2024.
Delayed: Additional Teams meeting types added to Outlook Teams add-in
You will soon be able to create Virtual appointment, Webinar, and Town Hall meeting types in the Outlook Windows client in the Teams Meeting Add-In, previously these could only be created in Teams. Refs: MC690180 and Roadmap ID 181621. Now due early December 2023 to January 2024.
Delayed: Together mode and content share layout improvement
Microsoft: “With the new layout, Together mode will be displayed under the shared content. The users will be able to see the participants in Together mode and shared content simultaneously in a completely new way. Full Together mode experience is available including raised hands, reactions and name labels”. Refs: MC689501 and Roadmap ID 181615. Now due mid to late February 2024.
Delayed: Co-organiser experience upgrades for Microsoft Teams Webinars and Townhalls
Microsoft says the co-organiser will have full parity of experience as the Webinar/Town hall organiser. Now due early to late April 2024. Read more.
Delayed: Microsoft Teams webinars get a brilliant on-demand recording upgrade
Webinar organisers will soon be able to publish the recording of their webinars and automatically send an update to attendees, including a link to watch the on-demand recording hosted on the event page. Now due late September to late January 2024. Read more.
One to watch: 4K display UI scaling for Teams Rooms on Windows
Microsoft: “4K-enabled displays, including front of room displays and touch boards, are natively supported on the Teams Rooms experience. Additional disclosure: 4K video is not supported”. Due April 2024?
One to watch: 4K local HDMI content sharing quality for Teams Rooms on Android
Microsoft: “Users can see HDMI content in 4K quality on Teams Rooms on Android devices that support 4K HDMI input, when they share content without joining a Teams meeting”. Due April 2024?
One to watch: Preset Organizational Backgrounds (Premium) 💷
Microsoft: “When enabled, a user will have a preset background defined by the IT admin without the ability to change the background”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Privacy statement customisation in Virtual Appointments
Microsoft: “Admins can customize the privacy statement shown to attendees joining the appointment to address specific considerations and concerns for their online engagement. Admins can update the content for the privacy statement under the privacy profile in the Microsoft Admin Center”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: Registration Form Updates in Webinars
Microsoft: “Organizers can rearrange the sequence of registration form questions that are presented to attendees during the webinar registration process. The questions available for reordering include address, city, state, zip/post code, country/region, job title organization, industry, and custom questions”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: View, download and delete OneDrive transcript files in Teams
Microsoft: “We are simplifying the storage and management of meeting transcript files by focusing transcript actions such as view, download, and delete to source from one place (OneDrive for Business) instead of two places (OneDrive for Business and Exchange Online)”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: External call routing settings
Microsoft: “End users will now be able to change their external call routing settings directly from the Teams app, allowing them to decide how incoming PSTN calls are routed. Calls can be redirected based on existing unanswered call settings or sent to voicemail. This new capability provides more flexibility for handling customer communications”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Ability to duplicate an existing town hall/webinar for simplified event creation
Microsoft: “Organizers can schedule a new webinar [or Town Hall] by duplicating information from an existing scheduled one. This includes duplicating information such as details, presenters, theming, and more. The organizer can also edit and update the information as needed for the new event”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Intelligent Recap now available for Copilot users
Microsoft: “Copilot users can access intelligent recap after meetings to get a summary of the meeting, including: personalized timeline markers to easily browse the recordings by when you joined or left, when a screen was shared, and when your name was mentioned; browse recordings by speakers, chapters, and topics; as well as access AI-generated meeting notes, tasks, and jump to name mentions in the transcript”. Due January 2024?
One to watch: Join meetings and make calls on Android Auto
Microsoft: “Teams on Android Auto lets you easily join meetings from the calendar view, quickly call your speed dial contacts and see your recent calls on your Android phones”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Organisers can select languages for translation in a town hall (Premium)
Microsoft: “Town hall organizers will be able to select the caption languages that will be available to the attendees for translation. Currently the languages are preset for attendees to pick from; now organizers will be able to select the 10 translated languages available to attendees”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Walkie-Talkie Support for Multiple Channels
Microsoft: “Walkie Talkie, a push-to-talk experience that enables clear and secure voice communication over the cloud, enables teams to communicate instantly on a channel. Through this new functionality, users can now join up to 5 channels in multi-channel mode, easily switch between these preselected channels to listen to incoming transmission or initiate PTT transmissions”. Due January 2024?
👀 Check out last month’s Teams updates.
Viva
Viva Goals – Enhanced goal sharing experience
Microsoft: “Microsoft Viva will offer an enhanced experience to facilitate effortless sharing of goals and goals progress with the introduction of a new share modal in Viva Goals”. Refs: MC705348 and 365 Roadmap ID 375220. Now due late March to early April 2024.
Viva Engage: Answers in Communities 💷
Microsoft: “Answers in Microsoft Viva lets people learn from each other by asking and answering questions. Now, if you have a premium license, you can use Answers in your Viva Engage communities. This new feature lets you:
- See related questions to avoid duplicates and save time
- Ask questions with separate titles and details for easy scanning
- Earn badges for answering questions in communities
- Track question activity in communities with Answers Analytics and Global Answers Analytics
- Reach more people with your questions through Answers feeds and digests”
Refs: MC700929 and Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 152480. Now due late January to in early April 2024.
One to watch: Code Snippets in Viva Engage
Microsoft: “Users will be able to add code snippets to their posts, discussions, replies, questions, polls, and praises on Viva Engage. Additionally, if customers are licensed for Answers in Viva Engage, this feature will also be available when asking questions on Answers. To add code snippets, locate the new button on the publisher toolbar”. Due February 2024?
One to watch: Viva Learning – Date and numeral standardisation
Microsoft: “All the dates that appear in Viva Learning will match the layout local to the user. This also applies to standardization of numerals”. Due June 2024?
One to watch: Introducing custom fonts for SharePoint and Viva Connections Desktop
Microsoft: “Fonts are more than just letters and symbols, and we’ve heard you. We’re bringing font customization to your SharePoint and Viva Connections experiences with the brand center. Express your personality, style, and brand by adding custom fonts to your sites and related experiences.”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: Viva Engage question post update
Microsoft: “Viva Engage is updating its questions to include two parts: a required field for the main question and an optional larger field for extra details.”. Due March 2024?
One to watch: Create more than one Connections experience in the same tenant
Microsoft: “This new capability enables customers to create multiple distinct Connections experiences and corresponding home sites within the same tenant. Common scenarios include conglomerates or subsidiaries that require different Connections experiences for different users, each with its own dashboard, feed and resources”. Due February 2024?
👀 Check out last month’s Viva updates.
Around Microsoft 365
🆕 One for the Change Managers: Diary of a Change Manager from The Inform Team
I’m sharing this episode because Katie starts by talking about an award-winning UK government project I worked on with her. Check out Prepare to be inspired by Katie Thompson and Samantha Kinstrey’s episode of the Diary of a Change Manager all on change strategies, wins and future outlooks within the change management landscape on YouTube.
Open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint attachments directly in desktop apps in the new Microsoft Outlook for Windows
Microsoft: “In the new Microsoft Outlook for Windows, when users double-click Word, Excel, and PowerPoint attachments, they will open directly in their respective desktop apps instead of opening in in-app previews”. Refs: MC710412 and 365 Roadmap ID: 167891. Due late January to mid-March 2024.
Update to the sharing experience in Microsoft 365 apps
The file Share control across all Microsoft 365 apps in Web, Desktop and Mobile is being updated to focus on core sharing tasks: Invite and Copy link. Due late January to early February 2024. Read more.
Delayed: Quick access to Teams and SharePoint document libraries from desktop Office apps
Accessing your files in Teams and SharePoint from desktop Office apps is about to get easier. The Quick Access feature will allow you to access shared libraries from your SharePoint and Teams locations. Now due mid-March to mid-April 2024. Read more.
Delayed: Left navigation customisation on Microsoft365.com
This update will allow you to customise the apps on the left navigation on Microsoft365.com. The current set of default apps on the app bar will be removed and you will be presented with a menu allowing you to choose the specific apps you want. After the initial experience, you will be able to add and remove apps to the left navigation from the Apps page at Microsoft365.com/apps. Now due early October 2023 to late March 2024. Read more.
🆕 Delayed: Office documents have a new default theme
Microsoft: “A new default document theme is coming to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook across your endpoints. The new theme will include the new default font, Aptos, a new color palette, and updated default line weights”. Refs: MC666615 and Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 161740. Now due mid-December 2023 (previously mid-August) to early March 2024 in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Web.
Read more about the new Office theme and see the new fonts here: Office has a new default theme (source of image).
Delayed: Microsoft 365 Backup
Microsoft: “Microsoft 365 Backup Service is a product offering spanning across the OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange Online services. This service provides customers with a consistent, cross product solution, to recover their M365 data from cataclysmic events such as: at scale ransomware attacks, or malicious/accidental data deletion/corruption by end users. Microsoft 365 Backup Service is available on a pay-as-you-go basis and can be enabled through the Microsoft 365 admin center”. Refs: MC694388 and Roadmap ID 188799. Preview is now due January to mid-February 2024. Read more: Overview of Microsoft 365 Backup (Preview) – Microsoft Syntex and Set up Microsoft 365 Backup (Preview) – Microsoft Syntex | Microsoft Learn.
One to watch in OneNote: Loop components in OneNote
Microsoft: “Tap into the real-time, online collaborative solution provided by Loop directly within the powerful multimodal OneNote canvas—the opportunities are endless. You can create or insert Loop components into your OneNote notebook. Navigate to Insert > Loop to create a new component or try pasting a link to an existing component to have it show up in your OneNote canvas”. Due May 2024?
One to watch in Whiteboard: Text Styles
Microsoft: “This introduces the ability to choose between three different text styles, allowing greater flexibility and personalization of text in whiteboards”. Due January 2024?
One to watch in Microsoft Forms: Supports live data sync to Excel
Microsoft: “Microsoft Forms supports quickly and easily syncing form responses to an Excel file. Now you’ll always have the latest information, updated automatically, so you can leverage the full range of Excel functions to analyze your data and collab with your peers.”. Due July 2024?
One to watch in Microsoft Forms: New user onboarding experience
Microsoft: “Introducing an upgraded onboarding experience tailored for new Forms users, designed to provide a seamless and user-friendly initiation to the platform. Get started effortlessly with our refreshed interface and streamlined features.”. Due May 2024?
MS Sticky Notes post on Twitter/X, what could this mean?
👀 Check out last month’s ‘Around Microsoft 365’ updates.
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