Published 28 November 2023
With a mix of technical and communication updates, this month has a feature for many internal-facing staff members who use Microsoft products on the daily!
1. Microsoft Teams: Preview the new Microsoft Teams web client on Edge and Chrome
What’s new?
This update seeks to bridge the gap between the browser and desktop user experience.
Why is this important?
The new Teams web client is built on the same foundation as our new Teams desktop clients and brings Edge and Chrome web users new speed, performance, and flexibility when using Teams. The aim of the new browser experience is to bridge the gap between the browser and desktop user experience; both new web and desktop application will share the same underlying infrastructure built to improve load times, improve channel and chat switches, and reduce memory usage.
Note: Web users will see the same “Try the new Teams” toggle as desktop users, except the web experience requires no additional download or installation. Learn more about perquisites for the new experience here.
When is it coming?
Rollout commenced on 2 November for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers.
2. Microsoft Purview: Upcoming retirement announcement
What’s new?
Microsoft have announced a long-term retirement plan for older features used for records management in SharePoint Online that are not part of the Microsoft Purview Records Management or Purview Data Lifecycle Management.
Why is this important?
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management and Microsoft Purview Records Management features offer organisations a flexible and scalable solution to proactively retain or delete content in Microsoft 365. As part of Microsoft’s long-term retirement plan, the first set of features that will be retired are:
- Record Centre site template, used to create a new Record Centre site.
- Configure systems to submit files to a site using the Record Centre programmable interface (commonly referred to as “send to” location).
- Content Organiser.
The retirement of these features may impact your organisation if you are using any of these features or feature behaviours including:
- Feature may no longer be supported by Microsoft support.
- It may no longer be visible in the user interface.
- Configurations may not be available through the user interface or programmatically, including enable and disable actions.
Learn more about how this may impact your organisation here. Unsure where to start preparing for the feature retirements? Contact us now to talk to our Information Management Practice.
When is it coming?
Retirement of these features will commence at the beginning of January 2025.
Note: Microsoft will not automatically migrate your older information management and SharePoint records management features in SharePoint Online. If you choose not to migrate to supported features, the older features may no longer be supported. This means that, when fully deprecated, backend services supporting behaviours for the feature might no longer function as expected.
3. Microsoft Teams: Private line
What’s new?
This new feature will allow users to have a private second phone number that they can make available to a select set of callers to call them directly, bypassing delegates, admins, or assistants.
Why is this important?
With the introduction of private line, inbound calls to the line will be distinguished by a unique notification and ringtone. The private line will support incoming calls only.
When is it coming?
Standard release commences early December with expected completion by mid-December 2023.
4. Microsoft Teams: Upcoming retirement announcement
What’s new?
A friendly reminder that the ‘Who’ bot in Teams will soon be retired as it transitions to Microsoft Copilot.
Why is this important?
The ‘Who’ bot within Teams was designed to help you find information about anyone in your organisation. As we are working to improve the functionality delivered in this feature and provide a better user experience the current version of the Who bot will be retired. This functionality will transition to Microsoft Copilot in the future.
When is it coming?
Retirement is expected to commence mid-December 2023.
5. SharePoint Online: Out-of-the-box (OOTB) document library templates
What’s new?
This update introduces new ready-to-use OOTB document library templates!
Why is this important?
Depending on your scenario, creating document libraries will soon be much easier with Microsoft’s ready-to-use templates. There will be four new experiences:
- Blank library: this experience will replicate the current library creation experience where a document library will be created with the basic columns of Name, Modified and Modified by.
- From existing library: this experience will allow you to choose any document library from a site you have access to, and replicate the structure, formatting, metadata and content types in a new document library. The data will not copy over, only the structure will.
- From templates: in addition to the existing templates, there are now three brand new templates: Media library, Invoices and Learning. Each template will come with a pre-defined schema, formatting, views etc. to kickstart your content management journey. These new template can be disabled so they don’t appear in your tenant.
- Flows packaged into the out-of-the-box-templates: the Media Library and Invoices templates also come with pre-packages Flows that can be skipped or completed depending on your needs.
When is it coming?
Standard release commences mid-November 2023.
6. Microsoft 365: Icon update
What’s new?
As part of the unified branding, the Office 365 logo in the Outlook Mobile for Android will soon be replaced by the Microsoft 365 logo.
Why is this important?
This update will only impact Android users.
When is it coming?
Originally timelined to start early November, standard release now commences mid-November with expected completion by late November 2023.
7. Microsoft Bing: Microsoft Search in Bing renamed
What’s new?
This update introduces a new name for Microsoft Search in Bing.
Why is this important?
The Microsoft Search in Bing configuration setting on the Search & Intelligence portal within the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre will be renamed to: Microsoft Search and Microsoft 365 Chat in Bing. Don’t get tripped up; admins who wish to configure Microsoft Search in Bing in the Search & Intelligence portal will see the new name instead.
When is it coming?
Rollout commences mid-November 2023.
8. Microsoft 365 Archive: Now in public preview
What’s new?
This feature will be a cost-effective solution to securely and compliantly store long-term data within Microsoft 365.
Why is this important?
Microsoft 365 Archive enables you to save on costs of storage exceeding the quota limit by archiving the inactive sites in SharePoint. When archived, the storage occupied by the site is deducted from active storage, and it will then be charged as a part of archived storage, which is charged based on consumption. This feature is a part of the pay-as-you-go features in Microsoft Syntex and can be enabled through Microsoft 365 Admin Centre. Additionally, you will be able to:
- Select and archive or reactivate full sites in place without needing to migrate your data outside of Microsoft.
- Maintain full admin-level search, eDiscovery, access policy, sensitivity label, DLP (Data Loss Prevention), retention policy, access control settings, and other security and compliance functionality.
- Gain additional de-cluttering experiences and site lifecycle control capabilities.
When is it coming?
Public preview commences November with expected completion by early December 2023.
9. Microsoft Teams 11: QR code to reserve a room on Microsoft Teams Panels
What’s new?
This update will soon support reserving a meeting room via a QR Code.
Why is this important?
This feature will let staff easily book a room for meetings now, in the future, or as part of a scheduled meeting by scanning a QR code on the scheduling panel with their mobile device. Requires the Teams mobile app on an Android or iOS mobile device. In order to access this feature, staff will need to have the most up-to-date release of Teams Panels (from Teams Admin Centre), a Teams Rooms Pro or Teams Shared Devices license assigned to the account on the Panel. Be sure to check that your users have access to the latest version of the Teams app on their mobile phones.
When is it coming?
This feature is available in your tenant today – start using it today!
Note: External tenants are currently not able to use this feature.
10. Microsoft Teams: On-demand recording feature in webinars
What’s new?
This update will allow event attendees to automatically receive a recording of a webinar without need to follow-up with the event organiser.
Why is this important?
Organisers will have the ability to pre-approve the recording prior to publishing it for their event attendees to view. This will provide the opportunity for the organiser to either publish the default recorded event or upload their own custom video from their personal OneDrive. From there, they will then be able to publish the recording of their webinars and automatically send an update to their attendees, in which they will receive a link to watch the on-demand recording hosted on their event page.
When is it coming?
Originally scheduled to rollout in August, rollout commenced in September with expected completion by late November 2023.
