In Microsoft 365 news this week, the supplier announced that Teams end users will soon have the option to create tasks from chats or channel posts. The unified communications platform is also adding new meeting registration and webinar features. Keep reading for more news about Teams and other Microsoft 365 apps.
New Features
- Microsoft Teams new meeting registration and webinar capabilities
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced the planned introduction of Teams webinar features and additional meeting registration options, including reporting for registration and attendance and registration page creation with email confirmation. End users with Office 365 or Microsoft 365 E3/E5/A3/A5/Business Standard/Business Premium licenses will have access to these new features.
- Rollout start: End of April 2021
- Rollout finish: May 2021
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced the planned introduction of Teams webinar features and additional meeting registration options, including reporting for registration and attendance and registration page creation with email confirmation. End users with Office 365 or Microsoft 365 E3/E5/A3/A5/Business Standard/Business Premium licenses will have access to these new features.
- Microsoft Teams new meeting registration and webinar capabilities
- AAD Authentication for Yammer Network access
- What’s happening: Microsoft will require AAD Authentication to access Yammer Networks effective July 9, 2021. Networks that don’t already have AAD Authentication enabled will have it switched on automatically on that date.
- AAD Authentication for Yammer Network access
- New conditions for Exchange Online auto-labeling
- What’s happening: With this update, a policy will be able to apply a label to mail according to the recipient, sender, header or subject matches without needing you to scan for sensitive content.
- New conditions for Exchange Online auto-labeling
- General availability of Microsoft built Graph connectors
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced a preview of the on-prem Graph connectors Windows file share, MSSQL, Oracle DB and Enterprise websites. They will move to general availability in late April 2021.
- General availability of Microsoft built Graph connectors
- Deep link in end user spam notification to the quarantine portal
- What’s happening: Microsoft is inserting a quarantine console deep link in the end user spam notification.
- Deep link in end user spam notification to the quarantine portal
- Ability to create tasks based on Teams chats and channel posts
- What’s happening: Teams end users will soon be able to create tasks from channel posts or chats. This new feature will also help users pinpoint tasks that come up in Teams conversations.
- Ability to create tasks based on Teams chats and channel posts
- Service Health Dashboard translator feature
- What’s happening: Microsoft is adding a translator toggle to the Service Health Dashboard page. It will translate incidents and advisories to the preferred language indicated by the end user.
- Service Health Dashboard translator feature
- New policy settings for end user feedback on Microsoft 365 products
- What’s happening: The supplier is introducing new policies to streamline the management of in-product feedback that end users send to Microsoft.
- New policy settings for end user feedback on Microsoft 365 products
- Word Cloud for open text questions in Microsoft Forms
- What’s happening: This AI-based data insight feature will extract and visualize essential phrases from open text responses.
- Word Cloud for open text questions in Microsoft Forms
- Outlook mobile access to delegate mailboxes
- What’s happening: Delegates will soon have the ability to access those mailboxes via the mobile app, and end users will also gain the ability to add and remove delegates on Outlook for Android and Outlook for iOS.
- Outlook mobile access to delegate mailboxes
Updated Features
- Backend infrastructure change could necessitate firewall and Proxy setting alterations
- What’s happening: Microsoft plans to change its backend networking infrastructure on May 15, 2021. This will alter public IPs of Defender for Endpoint Command and control communication.
- Backend infrastructure change could necessitate firewall and Proxy setting alterations
- Updated email alert notifications
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced plans to improve the functionality of MDE alert notifications.
- Updated email alert notifications
- Yammer discovery and digest emails get new design
- What’s happening: With this update, Yammer community members will have the ability to react to and engage with Yammer digest and discovery emails directly from their inboxes.
- Yammer discovery and digest emails get new design
- Enhancements to post-delivery detections and investigations in Microsoft Defender for Office 365
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced the implementation of new alert policies concerning post-delivery detections and improvements to their associated Automated Investigation & Response (AIR) playbooks. The supplier is also adjusting the severity classification for six default alert policies to improve the alignment between those alerts and the effect they have on your business.
- Enhancements to post-delivery detections and investigations in Microsoft Defender for Office 365
- “Tasks by Planner and To Do” become “Tasks” in Teams
- What’s happening: Microsoft is shortening the name of the app “Tasks by Planner and To Do” in Teams to simply “Tasks.”
- “Tasks by Planner and To Do” become “Tasks” in Teams
- Updates to Microsoft 365 Apps
- What’s happening: Microsoft has released updates to Microsoft 365 Apps to all channels, including the Current Channel, Monthly Enterprise Channel, Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel, and Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview).
- Updates to Microsoft 365 Apps
- Enhanced retention and label policies for Microsoft 365 groups
- What’s happening: Microsoft plans to give compliance admins the ability to establish and update retention policies and label policies in order to impact a Microsoft 365 group mailbox or its corresponding SharePoint site.
- Enhanced retention and label policies for Microsoft 365 groups
- 2021 release wave 1 rollout
- What’s happening: Microsoft began implementing the 2021 release wave 1 around the world starting on April 2, 2021, to bring new Dynamics 365 and Power Platform features to the global customer base.
- 2021 release wave 1 rollout
Announcements
- Rollout paused for Microsoft Rewards points for end users signed in to Microsoft Search in Bing
- What’s happening: The supplier previously announced plans to allow end users logged in to select Microsoft 365 services with their work or school account to earn Microsoft Rewards points. Based on customer feedback, Microsoft has decided not to move forward with the implementation at this time and will make changes based on the feedback received.
- Rollout paused for Microsoft Rewards points for end users signed in to Microsoft Search in Bing
- Rollout paused for new Roster containers in Planner
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to allow plans to be established independent of an M365 group with a new kind of container in Planner. Based on customer feedback, the supplier has decided not to move forward with the deployment of this feature at this time and will make adjustments per the feedback received.
- Rollout paused for new Roster containers in Planner
- Rollout paused for code match for multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the release of code match for MFA for iOS and Android devices, allowing you to switch on code matching for Microsoft Authenticator. Based on customer feedback, the supplier has decided to pause the rollout at this time and make changes before moving forward.
- Rollout paused for code match for multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Retirement of reports
- What’s happening: Microsoft will retire the following reports starting on June 14, 2021: The Safe attachment file types report and the PowerShell cmdlets associated with it (Get-MailDetailMalwareReport and Get-AdvancedThreatProtectionTrafficReport), Safe attachment message disposition report, and the Malware detected in email report. Additionally, the supplier plans to retire the Spam detection report and its associated PowerShell cmdlet (Get-MailDetailSpamReport) starting on July 30, 2021.
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Retirement of reports
For more information about Microsoft 365, please take a look at our blog series detailing the business value of the suite. Our expert techs also have extensive experience working with Microsoft 365, as well as other types of IT solutions. To learn more, give us a call at 877-599-3999 or email sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
