In Microsoft Office 365 news this week, the supplier announced a new optional interactive first-run experience to assist end users in creating their first SharePoint page or post. Read on for additional updates and details on new features related to Office 365.
New Features
- Contact subfolders when syncing contacts to Outlook for iOS and Android
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced plans to add contact subfolders when syncing contacts from Outlook for Mac, Outlook for Windows, and Outlook on the web to Outlook for Android and iOS.
- Contact subfolders when syncing contacts to Outlook for iOS and Android
- New optional first-run experience for SharePoint page authors
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced the introduction of a new optional interactive first-run experience to assist end users in creating their first SharePoint news post or page.
- New optional first-run experience for SharePoint page authors
- Response download and email receipt options in Microsoft Forms
- What’s happening: Forms designers will soon be able to give respondents the option to copy their responses to a form via two methods: downloading or emailing.
- Response download and email receipt options in Microsoft Forms
- New options for large Teams meetings in Outlook for Windows
- What’s happening: Microsoft is introducing a prompt to set meeting options for Teams meetings in Outlook for Windows with 10+ distribution lists or 40+ attendees.
- New options for large Teams meetings in Outlook for Windows
- Branch office survivability extended to all Teams customers that have configured voice resiliency
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced that all Teams customers that have configured voice resiliency now have access to the branch office survivability capability, which ensures end users can still make and receive calls even if the central site hosting Teams becomes unavailable.
- Branch office survivability extended to all Teams customers that have configured voice resiliency
- Public preview: Microsoft 365 informed network routing
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced that Microsoft 365 informed network routing will soon enter public preview. This feature establishes a bi-directional data sharing channel between your SD-WAN solution and Microsoft.
- Public preview: Microsoft 365 informed network routing
- Teams channel shared calendar option
- What’s happening: Microsoft is introducing the ability to add the Channel calendar app to a Teams channel via the Teams desktop app.
- Teams channel shared calendar option
- Microsoft Teams Approvals
- What’s happening: End users with an F3 license or above will soon have access to the Approvals app in Teams, which will serve as a centralized location for creating and viewing approvals.
- Microsoft Teams Approvals
- Public preview: New conflict of interest template in the Microsoft 365 compliance center
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced the introduction of the public preview of a new policy template for communication compliance to assist with the management of insider risks.
- Public preview: New conflict of interest template in the Microsoft 365 compliance center
Updated Features
- Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) integration with Office to include inspection of Excel 4.0 macros
- What’s happening: AMSI integration with Office will soon expand to encompass runtime inspection of Excel 4.0 macros. This builds on existing support for Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
- Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) integration with Office to include inspection of Excel 4.0 macros
- SharePoint Online search improvements
- What’s happening: Microsoft will soon make various changes and enhancements to classic SharePoint search experiences.
- SharePoint Online search improvements
- Updated Teams meeting recording download permissions
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced that new Teams meeting recordings will be stored in SharePoint and OneDrive for Business as part of the New Stream experience. Based on customer feedback, the supplier has adjusted this feature so that end users with view-only permissions can’t download those recordings.
- Updated Teams meeting recording download permissions
- Suggested replies in Outlook on the web for customers worldwide
- What’s happening: Outlook on the web is extending the suggested replies feature to customers around the world in these languages: Spanish, Italian, French, German and Portuguese.
- Suggested replies in Outlook on the web for customers worldwide
Announcements
- Extension of temporary limit increase for live events
- What’s happening: Microsoft is extending the temporary limit increase for live events hosted via Stream, Teams and Yammer until June 30, 2021.
- Extension of temporary limit increase for live events
- Updated rollout timeline for PowerPoint for Mac slide show recording improvements
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to implement a new workflow and tools to make it easy to record a rich slide show session in PowerPoint for Mac. To ensure the best possible user experience, the supplier has updated the timeline for this deployment.
- Rollout date: Mid-December 2020 to end of February 2021 (previously mid-January 2021)
- Updated rollout timeline for PowerPoint for Mac slide show recording improvements
- Attack Simulator retirement announced
- What’s happening: Microsoft will soon retire Attack Simulator from https://protection.office.com. The supplier recommends utilizing Attack Simulation Training instead at https://security.microsoft.com.
- Retirement date: Jan. 24, 2021
- Attack Simulator retirement announced
For more information about Microsoft Office 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 Office 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.
