Microsoft Office 365 News 08-05-2020: Teams Live Captions Add Speaker Attribution

In Microsoft Office 365 news this week, Microsoft adds speaker attribution to Teams live captions to make it easier to identify who’s talking during meetings. Additionally, the supplier has announced new features and updates for SharePoint, Azure Active Directory (AD), Power Platform and more.

New Features

• • New SharePoint image column type
    • What’s happening: Microsoft is adding a new image column type that you can use to add a single image file from your computer to a list or library item.
    • Rollout start: Early August 2020 for Targeted Release customers
    • Rollout finish: Mid-August 2020 for all customers

• • New Azure AD Conditional Access policies taking effect for all client apps
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to retire legacy protocols in Exchange Online. As a result, all client apps will soon be subject to new Azure AD Conditional Access policies. This includes legacy authentication as well as modern authentication clients.
    • Rollout start: Early August 2020
    • Rollout finish: Mid-August 2020

• • Organizer only option for bypassing Teams meeting lobby
    • What’s happening: Previously, Microsoft introduced the “Only me” user setting for meeting organizers in the “Who can bypass the lobby?” menu. Now you can configure a default setting for your organization so that only meeting organizers are allowed to bypass the lobby.
    • Rollout date: End of August 2020

• • Ability to download SharePoint site usage data in Excel
    • What’s happening: Microsoft is making it possible for SharePoint site owners to download 90 days of usage data in Excel via the Site Usage page.
    • Rollout start: Early August 2020
    • Rollout finish: End of August 2020

• • Power Apps and Power Automate operated by 21Vianet to become available soon
    • What’s happening: Microsoft will soon make Power Apps operated by 21Vianet and Power Automate operated by 21Vianet available.
    • Rollout start: Early September 2020
    • Rollout finish: End of September 2020

• • New Power Platform governance features
    • What’s happening: As part of the 2020 Wave 1 release, Microsoft has issued two new Power Platform governance features: Email exfiltration blocking and DLP Audit Logging. These features are currently in Public Preview.

• • Teams Power Platform features
    • What’s happening: Microsoft is adding new Power Platform features to Teams to facilitate the creation, deployment and management of business apps and chatbots within the app.
    • Rollout start: Mid-August 2020
    • Rollout finish: End of August 2020

• • Yammer Communities app for Teams mobile
    • What’s happening: Earlier this year, Microsoft implemented the Yammer Communities app for Teams on the web and desktop. The supplier will soon roll the Communities app out to Teams for iOS and Teams for Android as well.
    • Rollout date: End of July 2020

• • SharePoint admin center migration landing page
    • What’s happening: The supplier is introducing a new migration landing page in the SharePoint admin center. This page will let you go over your migration options. This feature has already been rolled out for Targeted Release customers.
    • Rollout start: Early August 2020
    • Rollout finish: End of August 2020

Updated Features

• • Speaker attribution for Teams Live Captions
    • What’s happening: Microsoft Teams already includes live captions for meetings. The app will soon also add speaker attribution so you know who’s talking.
    • Rollout start: Mid-August 2020
    • Rollout finish: End of August 2020

• • Security report exportability
    • What’s happening: Microsoft is making improvements so end users can export all security reports from the security and compliance center.
    • Rollout start: End of August 2020 for standard and Germany data center customers; Mid-September 2020 for Government tenants
    • Rollout finish: Mid-September 2020 for standard and Germany data center customers; Early October 2020 for Government tenants

• • Updates to Teams usage reports
    • What’s happening: Microsoft is improving the Teams usage reports in the Teams Admin Center and Microsoft 365 Center to achieve better alignment and consistency with the definition of a Teams “active user” in Microsoft’s public disclosures and financial reporting.

• • Updates released for Microsoft 365 Apps
    • What’s happening: The supplier has issued updates for Microsoft 365 Apps for the Current Channel.
    • Rollout date: July 30, 2020

• • Update to Outlook for Android mobile device mailbox policy settings
    • What’s happening: Outlook for Android will soon modify its support for mobile device mailbox policy settings to include the AllowBluetooth setting. This setting can disable wearable sync for customers who don’t have Intune.
    • Rollout date: Week of Aug. 31, 2020

• • Advanced eDiscovery limit enhancements
    • What’s happening: Microsoft will soon increase two limits for Advanced eDiscovery cases and review sets.
    • Rollout date: End of July 2020

Announcements

• • Reminder: Skype for Business Online will retire next year
    • What’s happening: Microsoft would like to remind all clients that its Skype for Business Online service will retire effective July 31, 2021, since Teams has become the supplier’s main communications client. This will not impact that Skype consumer service or Skype for Business Server deployments.

• • Delayed rollout for new Outlook resource booking feature
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced that Exchange Online users would gain the ability to configure workspaces, which would then become available for booking through the Outlook calendar. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the implementation of this feature.

• • Delayed rollout for new Teams audio and video policies
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to introduce new settings to control IP video (IPVideoMode) and IP audio (IPAudioMode) for IT administrators managing Teams meetings and group calls. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the rollout of these new controls.

• • Delayed rollout of support for native device camera and location capabilities for Teams developers
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to give developers building Teams apps with tabs the option to leverage native mobile device functionalities. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the rollout.

• • Delayed rollout of encrypted email revocation option for senders
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the planned extension of encrypted email revocation abilities to let senders revoke email access via Outlook on the web. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed the implementation of this feature.

• • Delayed rollout of SharePoint average time spent per user report
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to add a report on average time spent per user on the SharePoint site usage page. Based on findings from early rings, the supplier has decided to alter the code before moving forward with this rollout.

• • Delayed rollout of SharePoint Fluent design coherence updates
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to apply its Fluent design system to modern SharePoint, resulting in visual changes to promote a cohesive and accessible interface. To ensure the best possible customer experience, the supplier has delayed this rollout.

• • Delayed rollout of AutoClaim Policy for Teams products
    • What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced the planned implementation of a policy that lets end users automatically claim an available Microsoft Teams license. Based on learnings from early rings, the supplier has decided to make additional code changes before moving forward with the rollout.

• • Preview of new Outlook for Mac experience available to Insider Slow users
    • What’s happening: Insider Slow users can now preview the new Outlook for Mac experience by turning on the “New Outlook” toggle located at the top right of the Outlook window.

• • Recommended app upgrades for Microsoft Authentication Library usage
    • What’s happening: Microsoft recommends that all customers upgrade their apps to use the Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL). The supplier is no longer adding new features to the Azure AD Authentication Library (ADAL) and will also cease tech support and security updates as of June 30, 2022.

For more information about the Microsoft Office 365 suite, 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.