Connecting and Conferencing Updates
Check out updated features below for:
'Forms' app polling features for Teams meeting will be replaced by 'Polls' app
February 20, 2023 - Microsoft will be retiring the polling feature in the 'Forms' app in Microsoft Teams. Microsoft recommends utilization of the 'Polls' app, which is where Microsoft will continue to invest their development resources.
When this will happen:
Microsoft will retire this feature by late September 2023.
How this will affect you:
You will no longer be able to add the polling feature in the 'Forms' app to your meeting for polling experiences when this change is implemented.
What you need to do to prepare:
Your polls and response data in Forms app will be automatically synced to Polls app. All you have to do is add the Polls app to your existing or upcoming meetings/chats, and you're ready to go.
Click here for additional information.
Teams Mobile - Large Gallery in Meetings Update
June 2, 2021 - The "Large Gallery" layout for meetings on Teams mobile is getting an upgrade! This layout will become mobile-optimized, letting you swipe through all the participants in a meeting. This is rolling out on the Teams iOS and Android app.
We will begin rolling this out in mid-June and expect to complete rollout late July.
This release will improve the experience for users who join Teams mobile meetings by positioning up to 10 participants per page on your screen on both phone and tablets, and allowing you to swipe through all attendees while in a meeting.
Device compatibility: The above mentioned experience will be available for iOS 13+, Android OS 9+ or any version with more than 4GB RAM. Devices below these configurations will continue to see the current experience of lower resolution videos with no swipe through ability.
Large gallery mobile:
(Updated) Announcing Annotations in PowerPoint Live in Teams
June 1, 2021 - We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.
This new release will allow users to use a virtual laser pointer and make ink annotations when presenting through PowerPoint Live in Teams. Just as a presenter would use a physical laser pointer in a room, PowerPoint Live allows users to highlight by pointing at different places or data so the audience can easily follow along. This is rolling out on Microsoft Teams desktop, web and Mac.
We will begin rolling this out in early June (previously late May) and expect to complete rollout mid-June (previously early June).
With this update, the active "in control" presenter will be able to use these new annotation tools. These tools enable presenters to better express or add content and engage more with their audience by drawing attention to certain sections within the PowerPoint slide show.
- Only the active “in control” presenter will be able to see and make annotations via the annotation toolbar.
- Annotations made by the presenter will only remain for the duration of the Microsoft Teams meeting.
- Meeting attendees joining late will be able to see annotations previously made by the presenter.
- No annotations will be saved in the PowerPoint file.
General Availability of Live Events in Microsoft 365
March 28, 2019 - Live events in Microsoft 365 is a new capability that has been in preview and will become generally available in the next few weeks. Live events enable users to broadcast video from Microsoft Stream, Teams and Yammer, and can be used for a wide range of scenarios, from screensharing and webcams, to studio-quality broadcasting that supports the use of third-party encoders.
Events can be created by Teams users that have meeting capabilities enabled, Yammer users that own or manage a group, and all Stream users that have licenses which include video upload capabilities.
We will begin rolling this out mid-March and expect to be complete by the end of the month.
Learn more about Live events in Teams
Learn more about Live events in Yammer
Learn more about Live events in Stream
Outlook Mobile Supports Teams Meetings
February 20, 2019 - As announced at Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft will be rolling out native support for creating and joining Microsoft Teams meeting in Outlook for iOS and Android in late-March. The ability to create Teams meetings will be available to all Outlook mobile customers.
In late-March, you will start to see the option to add Teams when creating or editing calendar events in Outlook mobile. In addition, the option to create Teams meetings will replace the option to create Skype meetings in Outlook mobile. If you still need to create Skype meetings, you can continue to do so from Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, and Outlook on the web.
Note: If you receive invitations to Skype meetings, there is no change to the current experience, and you will continue to see the Join button in those calendar events.
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.
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.
