The Memorial Day weekend is coming up in the United States, and that means the month of May is coming to a close. While most people will be enjoying the unofficial kickoff to summer this weekend with a relaxing three-day weekend, Microsoft does want to remind you of the hard work they’ve done on Microsoft 365 this month. The company’s usual recap just went live, and there are a couple of notable things, like the addition of Viva Goals, tweaks to in-meeting notifications on Teams mobile, and so much more.
Viva Goals
We’ll start first with Viva Goals. This is the newest module for Microsoft Viva. It builds on Microsoft’s acquisition of Ally.io, and integrates some of that product into Teams. Viva Goals is designed to help align your teams to your organization’s strategic priorities, enabling employees to focus on the work and outcomes that are most critical to the bottom line. We chatted with Sunita Khatri, the Senior Director at Microsoft Viva about this in a recent podcast episode.
Teams notifications on mobile
Next up are the weeks for Teams notifications on mobile. In May, Microsoft changed the app so that managing your inbound notification is a lot easier. You’ll see a lot less annoying popups, with a new notification draw at the top of your screen for in-meeting messages. You’ll be able to preview, collapse, and clear your notifications with just one tap.
Microsoft Lists Android app
Another big addition to Microsoft 365 in May was the launch of the Microsoft Lists Android app. This is for commercial users, and it allows you to access your lists on the go, anywhere. Things like managing events, tracking issues, and assets, and onboarding employees, all are much easier now.
Storytelling in PowerPoint
In May, PowerPoint and Teams got a new Storytelling feature. This is an integration with Microsoft Power BI. With it, you can enjoy live, interactive reports within your slides. This is without losing any data interactivity. A presenter mode enhancement also helps you choose where you want your video feed to show in a slide, and gives you more ways to adjust content.
Other features
In addition to the flagship and highlight Microsoft 365 features we’ve mentioned above, there were some smaller features added this month. That includes a getting started experience in Microsoft Forms, and a cross-device experience for Forms. Other than that, Microsoft introduced new templates in Visio for the web to help you quickly create visual timelines
