In Microsoft 365 news this week, the supplier introduced a new service plan that includes encrypted sync for Microsoft Edge. Keep reading for details about that new feature as well as other announcements related to the Microsoft 365 suite.
New Features
- SharePoint and OneDrive dropdown menu
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced plans to add a dropdown menu to facilitate easier navigation between various document libraries. When end users select sites or teams in OneDrive, they will be directed to the default document library.
- Rollout start: Early January 2022 for targeted release; mid-January 2022 for standard release
- Rollout finish: Mid-January 2022 for targeted release; early February 2022 for standard release
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced plans to add a dropdown menu to facilitate easier navigation between various document libraries. When end users select sites or teams in OneDrive, they will be directed to the default document library.
- SharePoint and OneDrive dropdown menu
- Microsoft Edge encrypted sync
- What’s happening: Microsoft has introduced a new service plan that allows you to utilize encrypted sync with Edge.
- Microsoft Edge encrypted sync
- Option to pin your own video in Teams
- What’s happening: Microsoft is expanding Teams users’ ability to pin and increase the size of their own videos. This will allow end users to have a better view of themselves when presenting, among other benefits.
- Rollout start: Early January 2022 for standard release; late January 2022 for GCC; mid-February 2022 for GCC-H; end of February 2022 for DoD
- Rollout finish: Early February 2022 for standard release; end of February 2022 for GCC; end of March 2022 for GCC-H; mid-March 2022 for DoD
- What’s happening: Microsoft is expanding Teams users’ ability to pin and increase the size of their own videos. This will allow end users to have a better view of themselves when presenting, among other benefits.
- Option to pin your own video in Teams
- Preview: Surface Hub device management from Teams admin center
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced a preview of Surface Hub device management from within the Teams admin center.
- Preview: Surface Hub device management from Teams admin center
- Markup (ink) for photos in OneDrive and SharePoint
- What’s happening: Microsoft is introducing markup (ink) for high-value controls (HVC), which will allow end users to draw on photos when sharing or teaching.
- Markup (ink) for photos in OneDrive and SharePoint
- New role-based access control permission (RBAC) for creating Win32 app supersedence and dependency
- What’s happening: Starting in February 2022, a new RBAC permission, Mobile apps / Relate, will be necessary to establish or alter Win32 supersedence and dependencies.
- New role-based access control permission (RBAC) for creating Win32 app supersedence and dependency
Updated Features
- Updates for Microsoft 365 Apps released to Current Channel
- What’s happening: The supplier has issued updates to Microsoft 365 Apps to the Current Channel.
- Updates for Microsoft 365 Apps released to Current Channel
- Teams SLAs
- What’s happening: Microsoft has updated the service level agreements for select Microsoft Teams Phone services (Calling Plans, Phone System, and Audio Conferencing) from 99.9 percent to 99.99 percent.
- Teams SLAs
- Temporary user interface change for Microsoft Endpoint Manager
- What’s happening: In the 2112 service release, Microsoft plans to temporarily remove the iOS/iPadOS Assignment on the configuration and compliance profile reports.
- Temporary user interface change for Microsoft Endpoint Manager
- Explorer and Real-Time Detections user experience
- What’s happening: Microsoft plans to update the user experience for Real-Time Detections and Explorer. The enhancements will improve workflows and hunting experience.
- Explorer and Real-Time Detections user experience
- “In Development for Microsoft Intune” page
- What’s happening: Microsoft has updated the “In development for Microsoft Intune” page in its documentation.
- “In Development for Microsoft Intune” page
Announcements
- Delayed rollout of spotlight email prioritization for Play My Emails
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to give the Play My Emails feature for Outlook mobile the ability to identify and prioritize spotlight emails. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for this feature.
- Rollout start: Mid-November 2021
- Rollout finish: End of January 2022 (previously end of November 2021)
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to give the Play My Emails feature for Outlook mobile the ability to identify and prioritize spotlight emails. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for this feature.
- Delayed rollout of spotlight email prioritization for Play My Emails
- Delayed rollout of Microsoft Viva Insights Praise history
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the planned introduction of Praise app history within Viva Insights. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the rollout of this feature.
- Rollout start: Early January 2022 (previously early December 2021)
- Rollout finish: End of January 2022 (previously end of December 2021)
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the planned introduction of Praise app history within Viva Insights. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the rollout of this feature.
- Delayed rollout of Microsoft Viva Insights Praise history
- Delayed rollout of records management and information governance update
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to better align the user experiences for SharePoint and OneDrive by altering the behavior of retention labels set to “retain items for a specific period” in SharePoint. With the update, users will be able to “delete” the document, which will then stay in the Preservation Hold Library until the end of the specified period. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for this update.
- Rollout start: Early November 2021
- Rollout finish: End of December 2021 (previously end of November 2021)
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to better align the user experiences for SharePoint and OneDrive by altering the behavior of retention labels set to “retain items for a specific period” in SharePoint. With the update, users will be able to “delete” the document, which will then stay in the Preservation Hold Library until the end of the specified period. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for this update.
- Delayed rollout of records management and information governance update
- Delayed rollout of rich text and images in Planner task notes
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to implement support for rich text and images in the Planner task notes field. To ensure the best customer experience, the supplier has delayed the deployment of this feature.
- Rollout start: Mid-February 2022 (previously mid-December 2021)
- Rollout finish: Late March 2022 (previously early February 2022)
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to implement support for rich text and images in the Planner task notes field. To ensure the best customer experience, the supplier has delayed the deployment of this feature.
- Delayed rollout of rich text and images in Planner task notes
- Delayed rollout of continuous compliance assessments in the Microsoft 365 compliance center
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to improve Compliance Manager’s automated testing and evidence generation capabilities. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for these enhancements.
- Rollout start: Early December 2021 (previously mid-November 2021)
- Rollout finish: Late January 2022
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to improve Compliance Manager’s automated testing and evidence generation capabilities. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for these enhancements.
- Delayed rollout of continuous compliance assessments in the Microsoft 365 compliance center
- Delayed rollout of adaptive policy scopes for retention and label policies
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the introduction of adaptive policy scopes to enable data admins to scope policies to a dynamic user set. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the implementation of this feature.
- Rollout start: Mid-January 2022 (previously mid-November 2021)
- Rollout finish: Mid-February 2022 (previously end of December 2021)
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the introduction of adaptive policy scopes to enable data admins to scope policies to a dynamic user set. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the implementation of this feature.
- Delayed rollout of adaptive policy scopes for retention and label policies
- Delayed rollout of Teams Music Mode
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the planned implementation of a Music Mode feature for Teams for the transmission of non-speech content. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for this feature.
- Rollout start: Mid-January 2022 (previously late November 2021) for standard release and GCC; late January 2022 (previously mid-January 2022) for GCC-High; mid-February 2022 (previously late January 2022) for DoD
- Rollout finish: Late February 2022 (previously late January 2022) for standard release; late January 2022 (previously mid-September 2021) for GCC; early March 2022 (previously late February 2022) for GCC-High; end of March 2022 (previously early March 2022) for DoD
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the planned implementation of a Music Mode feature for Teams for the transmission of non-speech content. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has altered the implementation timeline for this feature.
- Delayed rollout of Teams Music Mode
- Planned deprecation of support for management of application users in Dynamics 365 legacy web client
- What’s happening: In February 2022, the list of “Application Users” will no longer be accessible in the Dynamics 365 legacy web client as part of Advanced Settings.
- Planned deprecation of support for management of application users in Dynamics 365 legacy web client
For more information about Microsoft 365, please take a look at our blog series detailing the business value of the suite. Our team has extensive experience working with Microsoft 365 and other types of IT solutions. To learn more, give us a call at 877-599-3999 or email sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
