New and Improved Features for Office 365
Updates: Social Networking and Conferencing
Check out updated features below for:
- Newsfeed (within SharePoint)
- Skype for Business
- Teams
- Yammer
Microsoft Teams Introduces Meeting Recap in the Calendar Event Details Tab
Jan 9, 2021 - The new meeting recap feature in Teams helps meeting attendees and those unable to attend a meeting stay up-to-date by providing the meeting recording, transcript, and chat all in one place. These are automatically shared in the Chat tab and viewable in the Details tab.
We will start rolling this out by the end of January and will be complete by mid-February. For each scheduled meeting, users will see an updated view on the calendar Details tab that utilizes existing meeting data.
- There is no impact on administrative settings or policy, nor how data is shared or handled.
- This update will not be enabled on channel meetings.
Invitee view: End of meeting summary in calendar event details page
Update: We're Simplifying Your Skype Meeting Sign In Process on Mac
November 13, 2018 - In an effort to provide a streamlined and efficient meeting experience for your users on Mac, Microsoft will now direct your users to the Skype for Business for Mac desktop app instead of the Skype Meetings App. This change will take place on December 12, 2018.
Currently, Mac users can download the Skype Meetings App to access Skype for Business meetings. After December 12, 2018, Mac users that attempt to download the Skype Meetings App will be directed towards the Skype for Business on Mac desktop app instead. The Skype for Business on Mac desktop app now offers the ability to join a meeting as a guest without signing in, so if a user doesn’t have a Skype for Business account, or if the user is in a different organization than the meeting organizer, they will still be able to use the Skype for Business on Mac desktop app to access the meeting.
Click additional information to learn more.
New Feature: Live Events in Microsoft 365
July 30, 2018 - Live events in Microsoft 365 is a new feature that enables you and your users to broadcast video from Microsoft Teams, Stream, and Yammer. We will initially be launching this feature in preview. Additionally, Microsoft Teams Yammer and Stream now support third-party encoders that enable studio-quality broadcasting.
How does this affect me?
Live events in Microsoft 365 enables you and authorized users to communicate broadly across your organization with interactive experiences that include conversations, video, and content delivery.
You can create a live event in Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Teams, or Yammer — wherever your audience, team, or community resides. The event can be as simple or as sophisticated as you’d like.
With Quick Start in Microsoft Teams, you can create casual presentations and panels, using webcams, content and screen sharing. This uses the built-in encoding in Teams so you don't need additional software for presenters.
For more formal events, you can use a third-party encoder to enable the use of high-end cameras and other inputs to broadcast a studio-quality production in Teams, Stream, or Yammer.
We will begin gradually rolling these updates out over the month of August, and we anticipate rollout completion by the end of September.
What do I need to do to prepare for this change?
Live events in Stream and Yammer will be on-by-default, however, as an Office 365 administrator, you will need to assign permissions for end users to access this feature.
Scheduling a "Quick Start" event or enabling a third-party encoder in Microsoft Teams is also on-by-default, but only available to users in your organization that have Teams meeting capabilities enabled.
Rationalizing Experiences in Yammer and Office 365
April 20, 2018 - In recent months, Microsoft has shared their commitment to Yammer and have unveiled innovations that deepen Yammer’s integration with Office 365. As part of that journey, Microsoft is removing several features from Yammer that are now supported with more modern alternatives in Office 365.
In May 2018, Microsoft will remove the following Yammer features and they encourage customers to explore the following alternatives in Office 365:
- Yammer’s native org chart feature. Use the rich, interactive organization chart in Delve, Microsoft Teams, people search, and people cards that surface in many Office 365 experiences including Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
- Recent Activity module on the home page. Activity from your connections can be seen in Delve, in the activity web part in SharePoint, and in people cards that surface in many Office 365 experiences including Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
- Syncing contacts on the mobile apps. User profile data is automatically synced via Azure Active Directory, while Yammer uses the Microsoft Graph to recommend colleagues most relevant to you.
- The Yammer desktop notifier application. The new Yammer desktop application surfaces notifications and provides a fully-featured Yammer experience for desktop users.
Microsoft knows that any change to services may disappoint some customers, but they are confident that customers will appreciate the investments they are making to ensure that Yammer is the most secure and capable platform for employee engagement and communications, integrated with best-of-breed experiences in Microsoft 365. Microsoft remains as committed as ever to Yammer, and looks forward to sharing new capabilities of Yammer – including deeper integration with Office 365 groups and SharePoint, at the SharePoint Virtual Summit. Stay tuned for details!
Updated Feature: LinkedIn Integration with Microsoft Apps
March 16, 2018 - The LinkedIn profile experience improves the way your users collaborate and build relationships by providing rich LinkedIn insights about internal and external contacts, right from within their Microsoft apps.
You can see information from LinkedIn public profiles in Microsoft apps and services, for example when you hover over a person's image in Outlook. If you connect your LinkedIn and Microsoft accounts, you may see additional LinkedIn profile information. Over time, you can also expect your networking experience on LinkedIn to be improved and enriched with data from your Microsoft account.
- LinkedIn integration is currently rolling out to Targeted Release organizations, and we plan for the rollout to Targeted Release to be completed over the course of the next few months. We anticipate rollout completion to all Office 365 organizations by July 2018.
- Currently, users that have connected their LinkedIn and Microsoft accounts see personalized LinkedIn information in their Microsoft apps and services. For example, when hovering over a person's image in Outlook, they can see LinkedIn information about that person.
- Enabling LinkedIn account connections allows Microsoft apps and services to access some of your users' LinkedIn information in order to enrich the user’s network experience over time. For example, LinkedIn members could see their coworkers as suggested connections in the near future.
- When users connect accounts, and allow data to be shared from their LinkedIn account to their Microsoft work or school account, there are no in-service mechanisms for administrator access to this data.
Please click Additional Information to learn more.
We're Making It Easier to Share and Join Private Teams in Microsoft Teams
February 24, 2018 - Until now, it was not possible for users to find and request access to a private team in the Teams app. Users had to either be invited to a team or search for the underlying group in Outlook in the Outlook app.
Now, private teams will be discoverable via search and the Suggested teams gallery, making it easier to share and discover private teams across an organization. If a user requests to join a private team, the team owner will receive a notification and can approve or deny the request directly in Teams.
What do I need to do to prepare for this change?
We recommend that you inform team owners about this change. If team names or descriptions include sensitive information, team owners may want to update them before this change occurs on March 23, 2018.
