Microsoft 365 News 04-29-2021: Supplier Introduces Location-Based Access Control Policies

In Microsoft 365 news this week, the supplier has announced the implementation of location-based access control policies to meet the needs of clients that must comply with stringent standards (e.g., those in the financial services industry). Keep reading to learn about more new features as well as updates and announcements related to the Microsoft 365 suite.

New Features

• • PDF table of contents for better navigation in OneDrive for iOS
    • What’s happening: With the new OneDrive for iOS release, Microsoft is introducing a table of contents that will make it easier for end users to navigate PDFs.

• • Out of office message feature for Teams
    • What’s happening: End users will soon have the ability to set an out-of-office message within the Teams desktop app or Teams on the web. The message will sync with your presence, contact card info and Outlook calendar.

• • Conditional access policies based on GPS data
    • What’s happening: To better serve clients that must adhere to strict regulations, Microsoft will soon give admins the ability to establish conditional access policies that allow or deny access to sensitive information based on GPS data instead of IP addresses. End users will need to share their GPS location from the mobile device they’ve installed Microsoft Authenticator on.

• • Exact Data Match testing for Microsoft Information Protection
    • What’s happening: The supplier has announced plans to give clients the ability to test customized Exact Data Match Sensitive Information Types.

• • Preview: Operator Connect for Teams
    • What’s happening: Microsoft has announced the public preview of Operator Connect, which will serve as a way to integrate calling abilities in Teams, in addition to Direct Routing and Calling Plans. This feature will allow admins to choose an operator and enable them for number provisioning.

• • Ability to stop newly added OneDrive files from syncing on macOS devices
    • What’s happening: Microsoft has announced a new feature that will let end users opt not to sync recently added OneDrive files to the cloud as specified by file name or extension.

• • SharePoint Events Web Part audience targeting
    • What’s happening: End users will soon have the ability to target events to different audiences to deliver a more personalized SharePoint page experience.

• • PowerShell cmdlet to shorten all events created in Outlook
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously implemented a feature allowing individual end users to reduce their default meeting length. The supplier is now deploying a new cmdlet that will give you the option to shorten all of the events created via Outlook.

• • Ability to lock meetings in Teams desktop app
    • What’s happening: Microsoft is enhancing the Teams desktop app in-meeting experience by giving organizers the ability to lock meetings and block unwanted attendees from joining via any method (web, desktop, mobile and PSTN).

Updated Features

• • Cortana voice assistance in Teams mobile app extended to additional regions
    • What’s happening: Microsoft has announced the expansion of Cortana voice assistance in Teams for iOS and Android for end users that have specified their phone region as the U.K., Australia, India, or Canada. This support is currently available exclusively in English.

• • Improved visibility for connections between SharePoint folders and Teams channels
    • What’s happening: With the new Teams release, it will be clearer which folders in your SharePoint library are connected to a Teams channel.

• • Teams meeting noise suppression availability extending to MAC users
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously introduced an AI-driven background noise reduction feature for Teams meetings. The supplier will soon make this function available to MAC users.

• • Updates for Microsoft 365 Apps released to Current Channel
    • What’s happening: Microsoft has released updates to Microsoft 365 Apps for the Current Channel.

• • Enhancements to Office App for Desktop
    • What’s happening: Microsoft plans to improve the Office App for desktop, including enhancements to reliability and performance. Additionally, the new version will allow end users to open multiple instances of the app simultaneously.

• • Microsoft Productivity Score: Content collaboration alterations
    • What’s happening: Microsoft plans to change the collaborators metric found in the Content collaboration category in the People experiences area.

• • Microsoft Lists for iOS configurable as first-party app in Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center
    • What’s happening: This update enables targeting to safeguard the data accessed with app protection policies. Microsoft has also updated the app to support conditional access deployment via the Azure admin portal.

Announcements

• • Retirement paused for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Top Senders and recipient report
    • What’s happening: In response to feedback from customers, Microsoft has decided not to move forward with the previously announced retirement of this report.

• • Microsoft Graph privacy controls will replace Office Delve controls
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the availability of Microsoft Graph privacy controls to enhance admins’ ability to configure Graph-derived insight visibility. These new controls will fully replace classic Office Delve controls in May 2021.

• • Rollout paused for macOS native notifications in Teams
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the planned introduction of macOS native notifications for Teams. Based on takeaways from early rings, the supplier has decided to stop the implementation at this time and make alterations before moving forward with the deployment of this feature.

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