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Welcome to our October 2023 update on What’s New in Microsoft Teams. This month, we are excited to showcase 35 new features and enhancements that will help you collaborate more effectively, streamline your workflow, and stay connected with your team. From the new Microsoft Teams app to improvements in meetings, webinars, and town halls, there’s something for everyone. Read on to learn more about the latest updates and how they can benefit you and your organization.
My personal favorites are the new Microsoft Teams app and the new Meet app. New Teams is a whole new Teams app that was reimagined from the ground up to be faster, simpler, smarter and more flexible to help you stay in the flow of work without Teams consuming as much system resources. The Meet app provides a new way to interact with upcoming and past meetings by enabling quick discovery of meeting content like chats, files, agendas, and shared documents. The Meet app is available in new Teams, so make the switch today!
And every month we add new devices that certified and ready to use for Teams. You can find more devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices.
Please read about all the updates and let me know your thoughts! I’ll do my best to respond and answer questions as they come up.
IT Administration and Security
New Microsoft Teams
The new Microsoft Teams app is now generally available for Windows and Mac including for education customers. We’re also beginning to roll out new Teams in public preview for our Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and government cloud customers (GCC, GCC-H, DoD).
The new Teams app was reimaged from the ground up to deliver improved performance and enhanced reliability, security, and IT management. The result is a faster, simpler, smarter, and more flexible app that is up to two times faster while using 50% less memory.
We have made notable progress since the launch of new Teams in public preview. New Teams now has full feature parity for almost all features including custom line-of-business apps, third-party apps, breakout rooms, 7×7 video, call queues, PSTN calling, contextual search in chats and channels, cross-post a channel conversation, and more.
New Teams allows us to release new capabilities faster. Moving forward, new features as well as enhancements to existing features will be available exclusively in new Teams.
Upgrading to new Teams is quick and seamless – no migration is required. If you use Classic Teams, you will be automatically upgraded to new Teams in the coming months. With just one click, you can upgrade to new Teams today. If you want more information, read how to enable new Teams in your organization and visit the new Teams microsite.
Meetings
Meet app in Microsoft Teams
Meet is an app available in the new Microsoft Teams that centralizes all your common meeting preparation and catch-up activities. It helps enhance meeting efficiency by simplifying the prep work and reducing time spent revisiting past meetings. The Meet app provides a single view of upcoming meetings as well as recent meetings, and enables quick discovery of meeting content like chats, files, agendas, and shared documents.
Live translated transcript
Now you can view live meeting transcripts in your preferred language and choose to show the translated transcript with the original transcript as a reference. You can select from more than 30 languages. The transcript is displayed on the side panel of the meeting, which can help make your meeting more productive and inclusive. This capability is available in Teams Premium.
Collaborative notes in Teams mobile
Collaborative notes allow meeting attendees to co-create and collaborate on the meeting agenda, notes, and action items. Since collaborative notes are a Loop component, they are always in sync regardless of how many places they live in. Assigned tasks in collaborative notes automatically sync with Microsoft To Do and Planner.
Portrait Blur
You now have two options to blur their background during meetings. In addition to the existing Standard Blur, you can also choose Portrait Blur. Portrait Blur creates a depth-of-field effect, with a sharper focus on the subject and more subtle blurring of the background.
Webinars and Town Halls
Town hall in Microsoft Teams
Organizers can set up and host large scale events across an organization with the familiar Teams experience you use for meetings and webinars. Town hall capabilities include a new template, capacity for up to 10,000 attendees, 15 concurrent events across a tenant, third-party eCDN support, green room, manage what attendees see, moderated Q&A, RTMP-in, live translated captions, and more.
Advanced functionality in town hall includes additional scale of up to 20,000 attendees with Q&A support, up to 50 concurrent events across a tenant, real-time insights, customizable email templates, Microsoft eCDN support, and additional language support for live translated captions, and more. Advanced features require a Teams Premium license. Learn more about town halls in Microsoft Teams.
External presenter join link in webinars and town halls
As organizers add external presenters to a webinar or town hall, the external presenters receive an email that contains a unique join link to join the event. This unique link allows the external presenter to automatically bypass the lobby and join a town hall directly as a presenter, streamlining the process for organizers and external presenters.
Chat and Collaboration
New channels experience
The new channels experience makes it easier to focus on key topics, engage with the right stakeholders, and find specific information so your team can accomplish more together. The new experience features a new conversation view in channels, a revamped compose box, a streamlined information pane, an enhanced in-channel search experience, and more.
Learn more here about the new channels experience in Microsoft Teams.
People app in Teams
Quickly finding the person you need to contact is essential to staying productive. The new People app in Teams syncs your Outlook contacts across all your Microsoft 365 apps and devices. With just a few clicks, you can create, view, and edit contacts. Then you can quickly sort and filter them, making it easier to find the people you need when you need them. Learn more about the People app in Microsoft Teams.
Specify a link for requesting new external organizations to join a shared channel
Microsoft Teams admins are now able to capture and redirect requests for external collaboration in shared channels. When you attempt to add a new external member who is not from an approved organization to a shared channel, you will now have the option to file a request to add the external organization. To enable it, the organization’s admin will have to set up an internal support page or request form in advance. Learn more about this improvement to shared channels.
Teams Phone
Microsoft Teams Calling Plans available in Hong Kong
Microsoft Teams Calling Plans are one of the several options available for Microsoft Teams Phone customers to enable PSTN connectivity. We have expanded coverage of Teams Calling Plans to now include Hong Kong, bringing our total coverage to 36 markets. Learn more about Microsoft Teams calling plans.
SIP Gateway overhead paging devices support
SIP Gateway enables organizations to use compatible 3rd party SIP devices with Microsoft Teams. We are continuing to expand on the devices supported. SIP Gateway now supports overhead paging devices from Algo, allowing you to use Teams calling functionality on pages, ringers, and speakers, while in noisy environments such as manufacturing plans. Learn more about SIP Gateway and the full list of supported devices from Algo.
New partner integrations for Teams Phone contact center
The Teams Phone contact center and compliance recording certification programs provide validation through rigorous third-party testing to ensure seamless and reliable integration of contact center and compliance recording solutions with Teams. Two new ISV partners have been certified this quarter, Audiocodes and Netcall. With these additions we have 23 Contact Center certified solution partners and 13 Compliance Recording certified solution partners, with many more in the pipeline.
Learn more Contact Center certified partners and Compliance Recording certified partners. Click here if you would like the join the program.
Teams Rooms and Devices
Microsoft Teams Rooms, Display, and Panel solutions
Find devices that are certified for Teams for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices.
Cisco Room Bar Pro + Room Navigator
The Cisco Room Bar Pro and Room Navigator are now certified for Teams Rooms on Android. The Room Bar Pro is a flexible video bar appliance for high-quality video conferencing and content sharing in small rooms and huddle spaces, offering advanced meeting room AI, camera intelligence, spatial sound, and rich content sharing. It has a far-reaching dual camera system for incredible video, speakers and microphones tuned for pure sound, a supercharged computing engine, and versatile connectivity options, and includes an intuitive touch controller and smart accessories. The Room Navigator is a table-stand unit that enables you to easily control your Cisco devices and amenities inside the room, and experience intuitive room booking. Learn more about the Cisco Room Bar Pro.
MAXHUB XCore Kit
The MAXHUB XCore kit, certified for Teams Rooms on Windows, includes a Windows-based Microsoft Teams Rooms compute, plus console, driven by a powerful 12th Generation Intel® 10-Core™ i3 Processor. This setup, featuring a motion-sensing high-resolution 10.1-inch console, delivers an intuitive Teams Rooms experience in rooms with a front-of-room display. Deploying it is a breeze, with a single MAXHUB USB-C cable, connecting effortlessly to both your front-of-room display and any existing USB peripherals, ensuring a cost –effective transition from BYOD scenarios to Microsoft Teams Rooms smart spaces. Learn more about the MAXHUB XCore Kit.
Nureva HDL310 audio system certified for large Microsoft Teams Rooms
The Nureva HDL310 audio conferencing system , certified for Teams Rooms on Windows, offers a simple and scalable way to achieve professional AV performance in large spaces (up to 30′ x 30′ or 9.1 x 9.1 m) without the complexity of a custom AV system. It joins Nureva’s HDL300 system as the only microphone and speaker bar solutions to be certified for large Team Rooms. Utilizing patented Microphone Mist™ technology, it creates a virtual array of microphones to ensure clear audio throughout the meeting room, enhancing the remote participant’s listening experience. With its powerful processors and expanded memory, spatial audio is available right out of the box. Learn more about the Nureva HDL310 audio system.
Jabra PanaCast P50 Intelligent Speaker
The Jabra PanaCast P50 Intelligent speaker, certified for Teams Rooms on Windows, is packed with game-changing innovations including a unique front-of-room 180° field of view, an integrated content camera, and dynamic composition (using Microsoft Composite IntelliFrame) to upgrade the hybrid meeting experience. With its new intelligent speaker functionality, meeting participants can easily keep track of the conversation, whether in-room or remote. It recognizes up to 10 speakers, annotating live transcriptions, eliminating speaker confusion, and boosting focus on discussions. Even more, this new capability ensures speaker identification in AI-powered meeting notes and intelligent Recap feature in Teams Premium. Learn more about Jabra PanaCast P50 Intelligent Speaker.
Logi Zone Wireless 2 Headset
The Logi Zone Wireless 2 Headset is a versatile and comfortable wireless headset designed for the modern professional. With advanced noise-cancelling technology, crystal-clear audio, and intuitive controls, this headset is perfect for use in the office, at home, or on the go. The Zone Wireless 2 Headset is compatible with a wide range of devices and platforms, making it easy to stay connected and productive no matter where you are. Learn more about the Logi Zone Wireless 2 headset for business.
Lenovo Wired VoIP Headset
Enjoy a seamless user experience and stay focused in virtual meetings with the Lenovo Wired VoIP Headset. Designed for the hybrid workplace, this headset features EPOS BrainAdapt™ and ActiveGard® technology to reduce fatigue and protect your hearing. Learn more about the Lenovo wired VoIP headset.
Lenovo Wired ANC Headset Gen 2
Engineered for today’s hybrid workplace, the Lenovo Wired ANC Headset Gen 2 combines the power of active noise canceling with EPOS BrainAdapt™ and ActiveGard® technology. Learn more about the Lenovo Wired ANC Headset Gen 2.
IT Administration and Security
Controlled-content meeting template
Building on meeting templates, we’ve launched an out-of-the-box template that can be used when meeting with external participants. The controlled-content meeting template has preset defaults for meeting options to provide stricter controls over lobby bypass, who can present, allowing chat in lobby/in-meeting, and who can record. This feature is available when the meeting organizer has a Teams Premium license. IT admins can choose to leverage this out-of-the-box template or create their own custom meeting templates.
Extended real-time telemetry retention for up to 7 days
To facilitate meeting quality troubleshooting for admins in Teams admin center, real-time telemetry available during the meeting will be retained for an extended period, up to 7 days after a meeting has ended, if you have a Teams Premium license. This will enable admins to identify and fix quality issues after the meeting is over, using granular telemetry.
Mobile
Simplifying joining a meeting on mobile
We are improving the join meeting experience on mobile by reducing the steps it takes to join the meeting, especially if you are joining a meeting that is not a part of your organization. If you join without signing-in can now set and/or preview video and audio settings before entering the meeting. This also helps if you with multiple accounts when they need to switch accounts for multiple meetings.
Platform
Workflows app
Workflows is a newly released app that helps automate repetitive tasks and integrate information across Teams, Microsoft 365 and other applications. The app consolidates the existing Power Automate and Workflows apps, giving you one unified way to discover, edit, and manage all your workflows.
Workflows within channels
We are introducing a new entry point to configure workflows within channels. This new menu option in the channel list allows you to automatically post instant alerts or periodic digests of information. It is now much simpler to stay on top of events in other systems, whether a task is overdue in Planner, a new submission was made in Forms, or changes happened within a third-party tool.
Collaborative Apps
Docebo
The Docebo app is a new app for Teams that integrates Docebo’s LMS directly into Teams for a seamless and organic learning experience. The personalized Training Dashboard within Teams allows you to access courses and content, train collaboratively, and share content with others while staying in the flow of work.
Domo
The Domo app is a new app for Teams that gives you simplified access to the Domo data experience platform through the convenience of Microsoft Teams. With this app, you can easily find the Domo visualization cards and data sets they need and incorporate them into discussions to drive business results. Additionally, all cards posted in chat with the Domo app will show a preview of the data visualization.
Growthspace
The Growthspace app is a new app for Teams that helps employees achieve their professional goals through personalized and scalable coaching. The app helps you stay informed and on track with their 1:1 growth programs by delivering notifications and reminders directly within the Teams environment, prompting you to complete important actions, make mentorship arrangements, schedule meetings, and provide valuable feedback. Growthspace is also expanding its capabilities to encompass group mentorship to enable even more collaborative and effective growth opportunities for individuals and teams using Microsoft Teams.
Bigtincan
This app from Bigtincan makes it easy for users to access Bigtincan’s sales enablement content on a mobile-friendly platform. Users can search, share, and preview content, and receive notifications all within Teams. This content empowers customer-facing teams to prepare, engage, measure, and continually improve the buying experience.
Simpatico
The Simpatico app offers a secure and convenient solution for improving mental wellbeing in the workplace. The AI-driven conversational platform enables users to confidentially engage in personalized conversations about their mental health. They can also access diagnostic tools, tips, and resources to help understand and manage their mental health. Anonymous analytics and reporting for organizations, along with psychological risk and satisfactions surveys, offer visibility into the mental health of an organization’s workforce and actionable insights for intervention and support.
Tigerhall
This app from Tigerhall brings business learning directly into users’ daily workflow. The app enables community discussions for social learning and personalized learning journeys for individuals. With over 1,300 curated, bite-size content options for fast learning from industry experts, users can sprinkle micro-podcasts, videos, and power reads into their daily working flow.
1Page
The 1Page app is the all-in-one productivity tool designed to empower sales professionals by streamlining real-time insights, consolidating key data, and creating a platform to connect authentically with prospects and customers. The latest update has enhanced the 1Page user experience with SSO authentication built into Teams, removing friction during app onboarding.
Atlas
The latest Atlas app update brings you a new way to scale your communication in Teams. You can now link an Atlas topic to channels and automatically subscribe to many projects and goals at once. Manage one connection instead of keeping track of individual subscriptions. Learn more about the Atlas app update.
Embark
The Embark app update brings personalization to onboarding via Microsoft platform capabilities. The app helps remote teams work more efficiently and effectively by leveraging the power of AI. Including features like personalized learning journeys and an AI chat bot for employee onboarding, this app helps leaders streamline their process and enables new hires to join teams and become fully productive more quickly.
Frontline Workers Solutions
Walkie Talkie favorite channels
You can now pin up-to 5 favorite channels on the walkie talkie home screen, enabling your team to quickly switch between these preselected channels to listen to incoming messages or initiate push-to-talk with their coworkers. This helps frontline workers to easily engage with multiple departments that map to your favorited channels in walkie talkie and easily switch between channels to communicate effectively.
Choose who to notify when publishing a task list
Now you can select which frontline employees should be notified when a task list is published or unpublished to their team. Each time you publish or unpublish a task list, you’ll be able to choose which members of the receiving teams should get a notification in their Teams activity feed. You can choose to notify all team members and owners of the receiving team, notify only team owners, or no one. This update allows you to improve communication and keep frontline workers informed while minimizing unnecessary notifications.
Approvals Graph APIs
The Approvals Graph APIs allows developers to create and manage Approvals from any application. This set of APIs allows you to integrate Approvals with line-of-business applications and automate creation and updates of approvals.
Virtual Appointments
SMS notifications in Virtual Appointments meeting template
SMS notifications improve your guests’ appointment experience when scheduling business-to-consumer meetings via the Virtual Appointment meeting template. External guests will receive notifications about their appointment in phone text messages, including appointment details and the meeting link so they can join directly from their device. Notifications are sent for appointment confirmation, updates, and a reminder 15 minutes before the appointment begins. This helps make appointments easier and decrease no-shows. This feature is available if you have a Teams Premium license and currently only operate in the United States.
Teams for Education
SharePoint Calendar Webpart added in Viva Connections for Education
“Teams Calendar” is now available for embedding as a Webpart in Viva Connections for Education and will provide a more focused view of the your schedule. It also makes collaborative actions like joining a meeting, chat, and RSVP quickly accessible for students. The webpart updates during the meeting lifecycle and relevant actions are highlighted. For example: “Join” is focused upon just before the meeting and actions like “Chat” are provided after the meeting is over. The Calendar loaded in the webpart will change according to the scenario, the personal calendar will be loaded in the individual/personal context, and the group calendar will be loaded for the class context.
Government
These features currently available to Microsoft’s commercial customers in multi-tenant cloud environments are now rolling out to customers in the US Government Community Cloud (GCC), US Government Community Cloud High (GCC-High), and/or the United States Department of Defense (DoD).
Conversational bot in meetings now supported in GCC-H and DoD
Microsoft Teams is now adding conversational bot and meetings extensibility support for meetings and calls in GCC-H and DoD.
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