In Microsoft Office 365 news this week, Outlook on the web will soon let users schedule emails to send at a later time and end meetings early. Additionally, starting in June, Teams users will be able to view calls and meetings in separate windows, among other updates.
New Features
- New Microsoft Teams experience for meetings and calls
- What’s happening: Microsoft Teams will soon allow end users to view calls and meetings in separate windows.
- Rollout date: June 2020
- New Microsoft Teams experience for meetings and calls
- Teams support for Egnyte
- What’s happening: Teams will soon support Egnyte as a third-party cloud provider – in addition to integrations with Citrix Files, Google Drive, Box and DropBox.
- Rollout date: Mid-June 2020
- Teams support for Egnyte
- Outlook on the web suggested text
- What’s happening: Outlook on the web will soon leverage intelligent technology to implement suggested text for users composing messages. This feature will initially only be accessible for Targeted Release clients in North America.
- Rollout date: End of May 2020 for Targeted Release customers
- Outlook on the web suggested text
- Outlook on the web send later option
- What’s happening: Outlook on the web will soon give users the ability to schedule emails to send at a later time.
- Rollout start: Early May 2020 for Targeted Release customers
- Rollout finish: End of June 2020
- Outlook on the web send later option
- Outlook on the web option to end meetings early
- What’s happening: Due to the increase in virtual meetings, Microsoft has decided to implement an option to end appointments and meetings early when scheduled via Outlook on the web.
- Rollout start: Mid-May 2020 for Standard Release customers
- Rollout finish: Late July 2020
- Outlook on the web option to end meetings early
- SharePoint pre-publish panel
- What’s happening: Microsoft will soon implement a pre-publish overview in SharePoint to allow page authors to review key info prior to publication.
- Rollout start: Late May 2020
- Rollout finish: Early June 2020
- SharePoint pre-publish panel
- SharePoint page author scheduling capability
- What’s happening: SharePoint page authors will soon be able to schedule pages and news posts to publish at a future time.
- Rollout start: Late May 2020 for Targeted Release customers
- Rollout finish: Early June 2020
- SharePoint page author scheduling capability
- Full screen Microsoft Authenticator account views for Android
- What’s happening: Microsoft has updated Microsoft Authenticator so full screen account views are now possible on Android devices. This feature was already released for iOS at the beginning of March 2020.
- Rollout date: Mid-May 2020
- Full screen Microsoft Authenticator account views for Android
- SharePoint home sites
- What’s happening: With the new SharePoint home sites feature, users can configure and launch a top organization-wide landing page.
- Rollout start: Early May 2020
- Rollout finish: End of May 2020
- SharePoint home sites
- SharePoint Spaces preview
- What’s happening: Microsoft has introduced SharePoint spaces – a web-based platform that allows for the creation of mixed reality experiences. This new feature is already available to Targeted Release customers.
- Rollout date: End of May 2020
- SharePoint Spaces preview
Updated Features
- Outlook on the web in Europe suggested replies in Italian and French
- What’s happening: Outlook on the web will soon support suggested replies in Italian and French for European end users.
- French rollout dates: Targeted Release in mid-May 2020; Standard Release in late May 2020
- Italian rollout dates: Targeted Release in late May 2020; Standard Release in early June 2020
- Outlook on the web in Europe suggested replies in Italian and French
- Policies for user interaction with Teams meeting background effects
- What’s happening: Tenant admins will soon have the ability to establish a user-level policy concerning interaction with Teams meeting background effects – e.g., allowing users to upload images to create custom backgrounds.
- Rollout date: Early May to late May 2020 for policy setting management abilities; Mid-May to late May 2020 for user image uploading capability
- Policies for user interaction with Teams meeting background effects
- csTeamsMeetingPolicy updates to manage past meetings access
- What’s happening: Microsoft is updating the settings in csTeamsMeetingPolicy. Beginning in mid-June 2020, the supplier will make changes to meeting policies related to meeting creation and scheduling.
- csTeamsMeetingPolicy updates to manage past meetings access
- Updated SharePoint communication site footer layout
- What’s happening: Microsoft has introduced a new site footer layout for SharePoint communication sites. The improved layout gives site authors more navigational control and enhances the viewer experience.
- Rollout date: May 2020
- Updated SharePoint communication site footer layout
- Updated search experience for Outlook for iOS and Android
- What’s happening: Microsoft is implementing various updates to improve the search experience in Outlook for iOS and Androids. The enhancements will allow for more relevant results and help users find people, events, emails and files faster and more easily.
- Updated search experience for Outlook for iOS and Android
Announcements
- New Azure AD Apps and Profile experiences to take effect July 20, 2020
- What’s happening: On July 20, 2020, Microsoft will switch all users over to the new My Apps and My Account experiences. The supplier recommends moving your users to the new experiences before the automatic switch so they have more time to adapt to the updated interface.
- New Azure AD Apps and Profile experiences to take effect July 20, 2020
- Delayed Teams meeting experience improvements
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the implementation of various improvements to the Teams meeting experience, such as background effects in meetings, a new experience for launching instant channel meetings, and more. While the rollout of these changes is still in progress, the supplier has delayed some deployments to ensure the best possible user experience.
- Delayed Teams meeting experience improvements
- Delayed rollout for Advanced eDiscovery tenant reports
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the beginning of the rollout of Advanced eDiscovery tenant reports in preview. Based on the results of early rings, the supplier has decided to alter the code before continuing the rollout. An update will be issued when implementation resumes.
- Delayed rollout for Advanced eDiscovery tenant reports
- Revised rollout timeline for Pages library publishing commands
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the rollout of new publishing commands and visual cues in the Pages library for SharePoint users with page editing permissions. Based on the results of early rings, the supplier has decided to alter the code before moving forward with the rollout of icon and file card changes.
- Revised rollout timeline for Pages library publishing commands
- Delayed deployments for file syncing behavior updates
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced updates to the process of syncing machine-specific files. To ensure the best possible user experience, the supplier has decided to delay some deployments to limit the amount of change affecting services.
- Delayed deployments for file syncing behavior updates
- Microsoft 365 Records Management becomes generally available
- What’s happening: The Records Management solution is now generally available, via the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center.
- Microsoft 365 Records Management becomes generally available
- Records Management disposed records view rollout resumed
- What’s happening: Microsoft is introducing a new way to see disposed records via Records Management. After a pause, the rollout for this feature has resumed.
- Rollout finish: End of May 2020
- Records Management disposed records view rollout resumed
- SharePoint and OneDrive sensitivity label support now generally available
- What’s happening: In November 2019, Microsoft announced a public preview of SharePoint and OneDrive support for sensitivity labels. This feature is now generally available.
- SharePoint and OneDrive sensitivity label support now generally available
- Recommended move to Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center for Intune management
- What’s happening: On Aug. 1, 2020, Microsoft plans to remove Intune administration at https://portal.azure.com. The supplier recommends using Microsoft Endpoint Manager instead at https://endpoint.microsoft.com.
- Recommended move to Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center for Intune management
- Delayed rollout for Outlook on the web personal calendars, TeamSnap accounts
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the rollout of the ability to add personal calendars and connect TeamSnap accounts to Outlook on the web. To ensure the best possible experience, the supplier has updated the rollout timeline.
- Rollout start: Mid-May 2020 (previously April)
- Rollout finish: July 2020
- Delayed rollout for Outlook on the web personal calendars, TeamSnap accounts
If you’d like to learn more about the Microsoft Office 365 suite, please check out our blog series on the business value of the suite. Additionally, our technology advisors have a lot of experience working with Office 365 and can answer any questions you might have. For more information, feel free to give us a call at 877-599-3999 or email sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
