We just concluded the month of September, and it is around this period when Microsoft provides a comprehensive list of features and updates made on Teams. However, this month is slightly different because Microsoft has bundled up the nifty features incorporated into the platform for the month of August and September. You might recall our last post where we covered July’s updates on Teams.
Meetings
The ability to conduct meetings via Teams is one of the important features available in the platform because it plays a crucial role when it comes to enhancing hybrid work. The platform has since received nifty features that are in place to enhance the users’ meeting experience. For instance, Cameo in PowerPoint Live combines your camera feed with your presentation thus providing a live-like experience for the meeting attendees. You can also adjust the placement of your camera feed to a suitable position to avoid any hindrances and distractions while making a presentation.
What’s more, the meeting organizer can now you can preassign participants within channel meetings for members not explicitly invited to the meeting. Previously, only invited participants could be assigned to a breakout room. And now, Collaborative Annotations in Teams meetings are now live powered by Microsoft Whiteboard thus allowing meeting attendees to annotate anything on the shared screen.
Also, users can now convert a Word/PDF form or quiz to Microsoft Forms with one click, all you have to do is upload it into Microsoft Forms directly and then edit it out until you are ready to collect responses. Other features added to Teams with the aim of enhancing the meeting experience include the ability to leave a meeting on all devices at once, the creation of transcriptions automatically when making recordings, and the availability of background blur and effects for Citrix and VMWare.
Calling
Teams users will now get Music on hold for call transfer, the music can be either the default tunes provided by Microsoft or custom ones uploaded and configured by admins. Furthermore, organizations that are mandated to record, store and process communications via online meetings and calls, based on an administrative policy by a regulatory body can now easily conform to this by integrating compliance recording solutions with Teams compliance. And finally, users can now block inbound federated VoIP calls from users outside your organizations thus preventing unnecessary interruptions. This feature was previously limited to inbound calls from specific phone numbers
Devices
Users will now be able to join Teams meetings directly from Teams Rooms on a Windows device using a meeting ID and passcode. Moreover, the Teams Rooms on Windows devices with dual front of room displays will now show18 video participants, this is when there’s no presentation being made. “9 video participants can be pinned to one screen with 9 more visible on the second screen when content is not being shared”. However, for meetings with more than 18 attendees, Together mode and large gallery layouts are in place to provide additional support which covers up to 50 video participants.
Other enhancements include the front row experience update which now maximizes the content space, the mute/unmute status will now be displayed on your room video, In-room noise suppression control and the Share tray now has a simpler user interface to enhance its usability.
Chat & Collaboration
Users who use the Teams desktop client will now be able to select where they’d want their downloaded files to be saved. As for those who use it on the web, the files will still be saved where all the stuff you download on the web go.
There’s also intelligent chat message translation in Teams for iOS and Android which enhances communication as it translates messages sent to you in another language to the one you prefer.
Management
Admins will now be able to personalize the Teams admin center dashboard with content that resonates with them. On top of that, admins will also be able to tailor instructions whenever someone requests to have access to a blocked application, and finally, the enhanced Activity log now displays more detailed information around policy operation such as activity name, group name, policy type, policy name, submitted by, submitted time, completion time, impacted users, and overall status.
Teams for Education
Through parent connection, course facilitators and guardians can communicate through this platform and get to discuss the student’s progress in school as well as their performance index. Users will also have access to timed quiz, thus allowing students to equip themselves with time management skills and at the same time enhance consistency.
Other features
Microsoft also added new entries to their list Certified Devices, that is, Poly CCX 505 Business Media Phone and Logitech Brio 500 & 505 Cameras. We hit the highlights above, but there were some additional features that we didn’t touch on such as the Additional filters added to the Approvals list for Frontline workers. Be sure to check out Microsoft’s Tech Community post to get to learn more about these features.
