In Microsoft Office 365 news this week, Teams meetings will have a breakout rooms feature in the near future. Additionally, end users will soon gain the ability to transfer Teams meetings between devices and add devices to meetings. Keep reading to learn more about new and updated features for Office 365.
New Features
- Teams breakout rooms
- What’s happening: Organizers will soon be able to split up Teams meetings into virtual breakout rooms.
- Rollout start: Mid-November 2020
- Rollout finish: End of November 2020
- Teams breakout rooms
- Teams meeting transfer between devices
- What’s happening: Teams end users will soon have the option to transfer meetings between different devices (e.g., a smartphone and desktop computer), as long as they’re logged into the same AAD account. They’ll also have the option to add devices to meetings.
- Rollout date: This feature is currently rolling out.
- Teams meeting transfer between devices
- One year of free dial-in for Teams
- What’s happening: You can now opt to receive one year of free dial-in audioconferencing. This offer expires on March 31, 2021.
- One year of free dial-in for Teams
- New Teams meeting surfaces
- What’s happening: Microsoft will soon introduce three new surfaces for meetings in Teams: in-meeting content notifications, a pre- and post-meeting tab, and an in-meeting side panel.
- Rollout start: Late October 2020
- Rollout finish: Early December 2020
- New Teams meeting surfaces
- Teams notifications via Windows 10
- What’s happening: End users will soon have the option to receive Teams notifications via the app’s built-in system or through their native OS notification system.
- Rollout date: Mid-November 2020 through late November 2020
- Teams notifications via Windows 10
- Cortana briefing email Spanish support
- What’s happening: Microsoft 365 Enterprise end users with Exchange Online mailboxes in English already receive a briefing email from Cortana to help them start their day. The supplier is adding support for Spanish for end users with an Exchange Online license.
- Rollout start: Mid-October 2020 for Targeted Release customers; Mid-November 2020 for Standard Release customers
- Rollout finish: Early December 2020 for all customers
- Cortana briefing email Spanish support
- Teams PowerShell Module
- What’s happening: Microsoft has released a single Teams PowerShell module containing all cmdlets from Skype for Business Online PowerShell Connector. Admins for Teams and Skype for Business Online can just install this module, with no need to also install the Skype for Business online connector.
- Teams PowerShell Module
- Project Moca available as public preview
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced that Project Moca in Outlook is now available as a public preview. This new tool lets end users organize elements like tasks and emails in a visual way. You can currently utilize PowerShell to enable Project Moca.
- Project Moca available as public preview
- SharePoint modern capability for addition of custom content types
- What’s happening: Microsoft has announced plans to gradually roll out a modern capability for SharePoint that allows for the easy addition of custom content types to lists and libraries that permit multiple kinds of content.
- Rollout date: Gradual rollout from mid-October 2020 to late November 2020 for Targeted Release customers; gradual rollout from December 2020 to end of January 2020 for Standard Release customers
- SharePoint modern capability for addition of custom content types
- OneDrive and SharePoint video file sharing links that block downloads
- What’s happening: OneDrive and SharePoint will soon support the creation of sharing links for video files that block downloading the file.
- Rollout start: Late October 2020 for Targeted Release customers; Early November 2020 for Standard Release customers
- Rollout finish: End of November 2020
- OneDrive and SharePoint video file sharing links that block downloads
- New PowerPoint for Mac workflow and tools
- What’s happening: Microsoft is updating PowerPoint for Mac to make it easier for end users to record rich slide show sessions.
- Rollout date: Mid-November 2020 to early December 2020
- New PowerPoint for Mac workflow and tools
Updated Features
- Improvements to required properties for SharePoint pages
- What’s happening: Soon SharePoint page authors won’t be able to publish a page or news post without providing required information if required properties are established in the pages library.
- Rollout start: Late October 2020 for Targeted Release customers; Late November 2020 for Standard Release customers
- Rollout finish: Early December 2020 for all customers
- Improvements to required properties for SharePoint pages
- Outlook add-in behavior changes when optional connected experiences privacy setting disabled
- What’s happening: Microsoft is changing how Outlook add-ins behave when the optional connected experiences privacy setting is disabled. This update will soon be rolled out to the Microsoft 365 Monthly Enterprise Channel and Semi-Annual Channel clients.
- Rollout date: Mid-September 2020 for the Monthly Channel; Mid-October 2020 for the Monthly Enterprise Channel; Early January 2021 for the Semi-Annual Channel
- Outlook add-in behavior changes when optional connected experiences privacy setting disabled
- Modified meeting chat moderation options
- What’s happening: Meeting organizers will soon be able to manage attendees’ ability to chat before, during and after the meeting.
- Rollout start: Mid-November 2020
- Rollout finish: End of November 2020
- Modified meeting chat moderation options
- Microsoft 365 Apps updates available
- What’s happening: Microsoft has released updates for all channels, including the following: Current Channel, Monthly Enterprise Channel, Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview), and Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel.
- Rollout date: A gradual rollout started Oct. 13, 2020.
- Microsoft 365 Apps updates available
- Teams firmware update for Lenovo ThinkSmart View devices
- What’s happening: Microsoft will soon issue a firmware update with the new Teams experience on Lenovo ThinkSmart View devices.
- Rollout date: Early November 2020
- Teams firmware update for Lenovo ThinkSmart View devices
- Office 365 threat hunting experience updates
- What’s happening: Microsoft will soon make updates to Real-Time Detections and Threat Explorer as part of Hunting Improvements. These changes will involve data consistency, data enrichment and overall better experiences to drive efficiency and effectiveness.
- Office 365 threat hunting experience updates
- Teams Meeting Notes enhancements
- What’s happening: Microsoft is improving the Teams Meeting Notes feature in various ways. The supplier is eliminating the 20-person limit for meeting notes. By default, notes will now support meetings with up to 100 attendees. Additionally, end users won’t lose access to notes they could originally access.
- Rollout date: Available now for Standard production. For GCC, GCC-High and DoD, the rollout will begin mid-October 2020 and be complete by the end of October 2020.
- Teams Meeting Notes enhancements
- New update channel names for Mac, iOS and Android apps
- What’s happening: Microsoft is changing the update channel names for Mac, Android and iOS Microsoft 365 Apps. The supplier already changed the update channel names for apps running on Windows in June 2020 and is taking action to achieve consistency across platforms.
- Rollout date: Nov. 10, 2020
- New update channel names for Mac, iOS and Android apps
Announcements
- Retirement of Yammer Groups API endpoints support for Yammer OAuth tokens no longer in motion
- What’s happening: Based on customer feedback, Microsoft has decided not to proceed with the retirement of Yammer Groups API endpoints support for Yammer OAuth tokens at this time.
- Retirement of Yammer Groups API endpoints support for Yammer OAuth tokens no longer in motion
- Updated rollout timeline for next phase of new Yammer experience rollout
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to implement the next phase of the new Yammer experience rollout, which involves all classic Yammer end users seeing the opt-in toggle for the new Yammer. To ensure the best possible user experience, the supplier has adjusted the deployment timeline.
- Rollout date: End of October 2020 (previously mid-October 2020)
- Updated rollout timeline for next phase of new Yammer experience rollout
- Updated rollout timeline for Teams meetings live transcription
- What’s happening: Microsoft previously announced plans to introduce live transcription for Teams meetings. To ensure the best possible user experience, the supplier has updated the timeline for this deployment.
- Rollout start: Mid-November 2020 (previously mid-October 2020)
- Rollout finish: End of November 2020 (previously end of October 2020)
- Updated rollout timeline for Teams meetings live transcription
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.
