Play of the Week

Microsoft Teams will soon have new admin policy settings for enabling and disabling tenant user abilities for joining externally hosted meetings. The new policy will help meet compliance requirements and strengthen controls around Teams meetings. It is scheduled for release in February 2024.

In Development

Microsoft Teams: Live meeting status

Teams calendar on mobile devices displays the live status of a meeting with avatars of the participants who are in the call, whether the meeting is being recorded and the duration of the meeting.

ID: 98328 Release: Microsoft Teams – GCC, GCC High, DoD, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Location-based routing for Teams on VDI

When making or receiving a PSTN call, location-based routing for Teams on VDI, enables the bypass of toll restrictions based on where the user is located. Such as when the user is not physically located on a corporate network.

ID: 98501 Release: Microsoft Teams – DoD, GCC High, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: March CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Support PowerPoint Live and Whiteboard for Watermark meeting (Premium)

Watermark enabled Microsoft Teams meetings will now support PowerPoint Live and Whiteboard to also be watermarked.

ID: 100066 Release: Microsoft Teams – DoD, GCC High, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: February CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Simplified channel creation

We added the option to create a channel directly from the + button in the Teams app, making it easier for the user to create a channel.

ID: 163363 Release: Microsoft Teams – GCC High, DoD, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Simplified team create

When creating a team, the new default experience will be ‘create a team from scratch’, making it a simpler and quicker experience.

ID: 163364 Release: Microsoft Teams – GCC, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), DoD, GCC High Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Chat between multi-tenant organization contacts will default to external chat

1:1 chat between multi-tenant organization (MTO) contacts will now default to external chat, creating a single conversation thread. As part of this change, existing B2B chat threads will be available as read-only.

ID: 185006 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Control your activity notifications from the activity card

Users will be able to control what shows in their activity feed by clicking on the ellipsis from the activity card, helping them to stay on top of the information that matters most to them.

ID: 186571 Release: Microsoft Teams – DoD, GCC, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC High Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Discover feed for channels

Users can access a personalized feed based on important updates in the channels they are a part of.

ID: 187084 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Teams: New Admin policy for enabling/disabling tenant users to join externally hosted meetings

As an admin, you can control which meetings your org users can attend – only internally hosted meetings or externally hosted meetings as well. This can help your org to meet compliance needs and strengthen controls around Teams meetings.

ID: 187230 Release: Microsoft Teams – DoD, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC High, GCC Tags: February CY2024

Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Information Protection – Modernized user-defined permissions experience

A modernized experience for selecting which users should have which permissions when a sensitivity label configured for user-defined permissions is applied to a file in M365 apps or when a user applies protection using standalone Information Rights Management.

ID: 189826 Release: Excel, Visio, Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Purview compliance portal – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: March CY2024

Outlook: Coaching by Copilot in classic Outlook for Windows

Copilot combines the power of LLMs and Outlook data to help you do more. Copilot coaches you on how to best get your message across and you can adjust the tone and length of your message.

ID: 190927 Release: Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, Outlook – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: February CY2024

Outlook: Draft by Copilot in classic Outlook for Windows

Copilot combines the power of LLMs and Outlook data to help you do more. Copilot can now help you draft new messages or replies.

ID: 190937 Release: Outlook, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: February CY2024

Microsoft Viva: MyTopics for all users in a Topics tenant

If your tenant has completed AI-indexing, a very small subset of topics will now be available to all users, even without an assigned Topics license. Any user in your organization will be able to view their associated “MyTopics” that appear in their “suggested” and “confirmed” connection webparts of Topic Center home, the Topic adaptive card for Viva Connections, and the People Profile card. They can confirm or remove these associations.

ID: 191967 Release: Microsoft Viva – DoD, GCC Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Teams: Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 in Teams Chat list

The Copilot for Microsoft 365 app is available in the Teams Apps Store for Copilot licensed users. This update will make the Copilot app visible in the Teams Chat list for easy access.

ID: 192177 Release: Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: February CY2024

Outlook: Admin apps pinned by default in Mail Compose and Read

When an app is deployed in Integrated Apps (Get Apps & Upload Custom LOB apps) in the Microsoft Admin Center, it will be available in Outlook on the web in Read Message Actions and Compose Ribbon.

ID: 192236 Release: Outlook – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: January CY2024

Microsoft Search: Customize default verticals, add verticals and filters

New support for Microsoft Search allows you to customize out of the box verticals for Microsoft Search and add new verticals and filters based on SharePoint content.

ID: 192834 Release: Microsoft Search – GCC, GCC High Tags: December CY2023

Rolling Out

Microsoft Teams: Unified fun picker

Users can now find all their emojis, GIFs, and stickers in a combined picker. Browse and discover all the fun stuff you need, all in one hub of content.

ID: 84023 Release: Microsoft Teams – GCC High, DoD, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Viva: Topic engagement analytics

This update will introduce usage and engagement analytics on topics (views, edits, etc.) to the Microsoft Admin Center.

ID: 88699 Release: Microsoft Viva – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Viva: Topics engagement analytics in Topic center

Usage and engagement analytics showing Topics adoption and value will be available to knowledge managers in a new analytics tab in Topic center. Analytics will include Unique users and Usage counts for Topics usage activities all up; Unique users and Usage counts for Topics for consuming, contributing and sharing Topics activities; Usage count details for Topics consumption activities from Topic card, page, search, Topic center cards; Usage count details for Topics for contribution activities like Editing and publishing topics, providing feedback.

ID: 118768 Release: Microsoft Viva – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: Simplified compose box

A simplified compose box UI will make it easier to create and send messages. Edit your message, insert an emoji or call Copilot right from the compose box, or click on the plus button to choose from the extended menu of actions. Note: This is for the new Teams experience only.

ID: 123486 Release: Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 – GCC High, DoD, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft OneDrive: Open in App

With this feature, users on OneDrive and SharePoint web can open non-Office files in desktop apps to view and make changes to those files. Any changes they make will sync back to OneDrive or SharePoint.

ID: 124813 Release: OneDrive, SharePoint – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC High, DoD, GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Information Protection – Exact Data Match to support multi-token corroborative evidence

Exact Data Match (EDM) will support string match detection of multi-token (i.e., fields with multiple words separated by spaces or punctuation) corroborative evidence without requiring mapping Sensitive Information Types (SITs) to multi-token corroborative evidence fields.

ID: 124847 Release: Microsoft Purview compliance portal – GCC, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC High, DoD Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: Walkie Talkie: automatically listen to multiple channels

Walkie Talkie, a push-to-talk experience that enables clear and secure voice communication over the cloud, enables teams to communicate instantly on a channel. Through this new functionality, users can now connect to, up to 5 favorite channels in multi-channel mode, automatically listen to incoming transmission from these favorited channels and initiate easily initiate PTT transmission on these channels.

ID: 161725 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Outlook: Modern Translation in Outlook on the Web

In Outlook, you can translate words, phrases, and full messages when you need them. You can also set Outlook to automatically translate messages you receive in other languages. When you receive an email message in another language, you’ll see a prompt at the top of the message asking if you’d like Outlook to translate it into your preferred language.

ID: 164486 Release: Outlook – GCC, GCC High, DoD Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Viva: Viva Goals – Customizable goal terms

Organizations and teams now have the flexibility to customize terminology in line with their own goal setting methodology and preferences, beyond the OKR framework.

ID: 165684 Release: Microsoft Viva – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: Manage Microsoft Surface Hub as a Teams Rooms on Windows device

With the transition of Microsoft Surface Hub devices to the Teams Rooms on Windows platform, Admins can now manage Surface Hub devices as Teams Rooms on Windows devices in the Teams Admin Center and Teams Rooms Pro Management (available for Teams Rooms Pro license customers).

ID: 168347 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: Synced updates for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android devices and paired consoles.

When Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android devices are updated from the Teams Admin Center, their paired consoles will get updated in tandem, ensuring a seamless experience.

ID: 174344 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Stream: Add a survey, poll, or quiz to a video at specific times

Make your video interactive and more engaging by adding a survey, quiz, or poll using Microsoft Forms. You can add forms anywhere in the video timeline for videos you own. Go to Microsoft Forms to view responses and share a summary link with answers and scores in Microsoft Forms.

ID: 180796 Release: Microsoft Stream – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: Teams Phone and Teams Rooms licenses in device store

IT administrators can already browse and purchase Teams certified devices in the device store in Teams Admin Center. This update will enable IT admins to try and buy Teams Phone and Teams Rooms licenses from the device store.

ID: 180902 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: Domain-specific search

Users will be able to narrow down their search results and find what they are looking for faster. Get more precise search results by picking up a specific domain like files, group chat or Teams and channels. You can also search files or group chats by entering a person name.

ID: 181285 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: New Teams meeting templates added to Outlook Teams add-in

New meeting templates for Virtual Appointment, Webinar, and Town hall are available in the Teams meeting dropdown menu in the Calendar tab in Outlook with the Outlook Teams add-in enabled. This allows organizers to set up these broader Teams meeting scenarios directly within Outlook and these will show up on calendars in both Outlook and Teams apps.

ID: 181621 Release: Microsoft Teams, Outlook – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: School Connection for parents in Microsoft Teams (mobile)

The School Connection app in Microsoft Teams mobile empowers parents and guardians to engage, support, and monitor their student’s learning at school. As a parent, you can stay up to date on assignments, grades, insights from the past month on digital activity, and more. This release will be generally available to all regions except countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa; the GA for those countries will be coming at a later date.

ID: 182046 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft 365 admin center: Adoption Score AI assistance category

We are introducing a new people experiences category in Adoption Score in the Microsoft 365 admin center. The new category helps organizations understand the adoption Microsoft Copilot features in Microsoft 365.

ID: 185700 Release: Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Admin Center – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: March CY2024

Microsoft Search: Microsoft Graph connector results merged inline in “All” vertical for GCC and GCCH

Results from external data sources that are ingested with Microsoft Graph connectors will be displayed in the “All” vertical alongside content from Microsoft 365 apps and services for GCC and GCC-High.

ID: 189062 Release: Microsoft Search – GCC, GCC High Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Viva: Updated post type designs in Viva Engage

The design of the praise, poll, and question post types in Viva Engage are changing to a more streamlined format. Users will retain all the same publishing and engagement features as the previous design. We’ve made this change to put more emphasis on user content and help with the experience across surfaces.

ID: 190366 Release: Microsoft Viva – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: December CY2023

Launched

Microsoft 365: Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise)

Copilot gives your organization protected AI chat for the web with commercial data protection for Entra ID users. With Copilot, user and business data are protected and will not leak outside the organization. What goes in—and comes out—remains protected. Your organization’s chat data is not saved, Microsoft has no eyes-on access to it, and it is not used to train the models. Copilot with commercial data protection is available in Bing, Edge, and Windows.

ID: 151035 Release: Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Tags: December CY2023

Whiteboard: Live text

The ability to see what other users are typing in Whiteboard objects in real-time. i.e. when a user is typing in a sticky note, you will be able to see the text as they type it.

ID: 164891 Release: Whiteboard – DoD, GCC High, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Microsoft Teams: New settings available for your frontline manager in Shifts app

In the Shifts app, we are rolling out the ability for frontline manager to control additional functionalities through our Shifts settings page. Frontline managers will gain the ability to enable and disable swap shift request, offer shift request and/or time off requests for their teams.

ID: 179786 Release: Microsoft Teams – Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), GCC Tags: December CY2023

Canceled