Play of the Week

After listening to customer and community feedback, Microsoft has announced their decision to hold off on setting Bing as the default search experience when installing Office 365 using Pro Plus.

In Development

Microsoft Teams – Messaging extensions

We have a new set of messaging extensions coming to Teams. Three new types of messaging extensions – Checklists, Polls, and Surveys – will help you and your team to digitize and streamline daily business processes and get instant feedback to shared items or questions. You will be able to easily access these by clicking on “…” at the bottom of the compose box in a chat or channel.

ID: 57022    Tags: Microsoft Teams: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: March CY2020

Microsoft 365 Apps management and deployment

IT admins can discover, purchase, acquire, manage and deploy Microsoft 365 Apps from partners including web apps and add-ins all from one single location of the Microsoft 365 admin center.

ID: 60203    Tags: O365: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: March CY2020

Power Apps can read context from Microsoft Teams

Custom apps built using Microsoft Power Apps can now read context from the Microsoft Teams channels that they are added to. App makers can now build or update their apps to enable custom dynamic experiences based on the channel in which the app has been added.

ID: 61064    Tags: Microsoft Teams: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: February CY2020

Communication Compliance now includes Yammer monitoring

You can now detect inappropriate conduct in Yammer conversations. Communication Compliance support multiple company channels, including Microsoft Teams messages, Exchange email, Skype for Business Online, and third parties such as Instant Bloomberg.

ID: 61066    Tags: O365, Admin Center: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: Q3 CY2020

Communication Compliance now detects repeat code of conduct violations over time

Communication Compliance will now surface during the investigation flow repeated violations over time such as bullying to help you prioritize remediation actions.

ID: 61067    Tags: Admin Center, O365: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: Q3 CY2020

Communication Compliance now supports more granular permissions

We are introducing new Communication Compliance roles to help you better manage roles & responsibilities across the different solution stakeholders (IT, legal, compliance, etc.).

ID: 61068    Tags: O365, Admin Center: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: Q3 CY2020

New Communication Compliance reports

We are introducing new Communication Compliance reports such as review activity to help you track matches and actions taken by reviewers over time.

ID: 61089    Tags: Admin Center, O365: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: Q3 CY2020

Outlook on the web – GA of new experience in mobile browsers for special instances

We are releasing the new Outlook on the web experience to mobile browsers. Similar to the new Outlook on the web on PC, users accessing Outlook in mobile browsers will see a new experience.

ID: 61092    Tags: Exchange: GCC High, DoD, GCC   Release: March CY2020

Updates to sharing page in Admin center

We are bringing the admin sharing settings from the classic sharing page to the modern sharing page. This will make it easier to set up and configure external sharing for OneDrive and SharePoint. Key settings include the ability to configure who is allowed to share externally as well as the default link permissions for your organization.

ID: 61116    Tags: SharePoint: All environments  Release: February CY2020

Rolling Out

File hover card – conversations

This new file hover card feature, alongside file details and actions like ‘Inside Look’ and ‘Activity,’ will show relevant emails, meetings and Teams conversations to the individual reviewing the file hover card information. So, when someone sends an email, a Teams message, or a meeting invitation that references a file from SharePoint or OneDrive, that conversation is displayed in the file hover card with a link to the conversation(s).

ID: 56183    Tags: OneDrive for Business: All environments   Release: Q1 CY2019

Introducing Safe Documents

Safe Documents is now available in public preview, rolled out by Feb 28th. Instead of prompting users to exit Protected View, Safe Documents automatically checks untrusted Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files against Office ATP and Windows Defender Antivirus before allowing the files to open. This feature brings the power of the Intelligent Security Graph to the desktop, enabling users to focus on their work rather than balancing security against productivity. More info is available here: https://aka.ms/announcement/SecureProductivity

ID: 56993    Tags: O365: All environments   Release: February CY2020

Office What’s New management is generally available

Each release of Office includes new and improved features. The What’s New content in the Office desktop apps highlights an editorially curated list of new features being released for that application, with a short description, and often a picture or a video to help customers learn how to use the feature.? This content is created by the team that is releasing the feature. Historically, Microsoft has chosen which set of features are promoted to end users in the What’s New section of Help. The Office What’s New management feature in the Microsoft 365 admin center puts you in control by allowing your organization to decide which features are shown to or hidden from end users in the Office desktop app. It gives you visibility into new content for each release version and channel, along with the capability to hide or show each feature’s What’s New content.

ID: 60010    Tags: O365, Admin Center: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: February CY2020

New default background image for Microsoft 365 and Azure AD login

We are updating the default background image for the Microsoft 365 and Azure AD login screens. The new image is 1% the size of the previous default image which will reduce bandwidth requirements and improve perceived page load times. This change will not affect users if you have configured a custom background image in Company Branding for your tenant; users will continue to see your custom image.

ID: 61054    Tags: Azure Active Directory: All environments   Release: March CY2020

Interactive Yammer Emails in Outlook on the Web

Participate in Yammer conversations without leaving your Outlook on the Web inbox. Now, the Yammer email notifications render an interactive Yammer thread, so you can get the full context of the discussion and take action such as liking, replying or voting on polls right from Outlook Web App.

ID: 61055    Tags: Outlook: All environments   Release: March CY2020

Launched

Autoapply retention labels based on content types and metadata

Use content types, taxonomy or any document metadata column to automatically apply retention/record management labels

ID: 33754    Tags: SharePoint: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: Q4 CY2019

PowerApps integration with document libraries

Build custom forms for any document library.

ID: 33756    Tags: SharePoint: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: Q4 CY2019

Outlook for iOS: Do Not Disturb settings

Set time and work/personal situations when you do or don’t want email notifications and reminders.

ID: 45917    Tags: Outlook: No Info Provided   Release: Q4 CY2019

SharePoint: Site usage page update – popular platforms

Employees today use a variety of devices to connect to their sites, news lists and files. To support a best experience, we want to make sure that site owners and publishers have access to data about the different types of devices from where users are accessing their sites. Very soon, users will be able to see the most popular platforms from where their sites are accessed on the Site Usage page to best determine any information presentation methods to optimize the user experience. You will see trends for 7, 30 and 90 days. This new data insights compliments what is also available on the Site usage page already – unique viewers, site visits, site traffic (‘heat map’), most viewed content and visibility on external use if granted.

ID: 52155    Tags: O365, SharePoint: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)   Release: Q3 CY2019

Activity Highlights in the File Hover Card

This feature shows relevant activities related to the files you’re working on. If someone you work with edits, comments, or @mentions you, that activity is displayed in the File Hover Card with a link to the relevant activity.

ID: 52721    Tags: SharePoint: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Release: Q3 CY2019

Outlook for Android: Report spam and phishing messages

Report spam and phishing messages as soon as you notice them in your inbox.

ID: 53117    Tags: Outlook: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), Education, GCC, DoD, GCC High   Release: Q4 CY2019

File hover card – people who viewed

This new file hover card feature, alongside file details and actions like ‘Inside Look’ and ‘Activity,’ will show you who has viewed your files and pages in OneDrive and SharePoint. So, when someone views your file, a page or news article, that people information is displayed in the file hover card with a profile image of the viewer.

ID: 56515    Tags: SharePoint: All environments Release: Q4 CY2019

Office What’s New management Preview supports Office Apps admin role and Semi-annual Channel

The Office What’s New management Preview now supports the Office Apps admin role, extending the feature to this new role best suited for admins managing the Office end users’ experience. It enables admins to manage the What’s New content in the Microsoft 365 admin center without having to have Global admin permissions. In addition, starting on 1/1, admins will be able to see the Semi-Annual release What’s New content and proactively manage it in the Office What’s New management Preview. It will appear under version 1908, along the Monthly and Semi-Annual (Targeted) content.

ID: 60009    Tags: O365, Admin Center: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) Release: Q1 CY2020

Canceled

No cancelations to announce in this week’s update.