2020 has been an incredibly busy year for Microsoft Teams so far. The company is always in the middle of one new update or the other, each designed to make your Teams experience slightly better. To catch up on what’s happening so far, please check out our monthly conversations with Microsoft MVP, Tom Arbuthnot, here and here. So, we aren’t surprised that Teams updates are a big part of Microsoft Ignite 2020. The company is scheduled to formally announce several new capabilities that will transform calling, chat, video conferencing, integrations, and accessibility on Teams.
Today, let us quickly run down the top three features coming to Microsoft Teams Chat and conversations very soon, and why they make a difference.
1 - Teams channel gets an info pane
Depending on where you’re situated, you might be able to see info panes already on your Microsoft Teams channels. Info panes provide a snapshot view of channel details, including the number of channel members, people who posted recently, who was recently added to the channel, and short channel description. There is also an update section, where you can see all recent channel updates from the last 12 months.
Info panes must be enabled by your Teams admin, after which you need to click the button on the top right corner of the channel to open the info pane.
2 - Now add up to 25,000 members to an individual team
Microsoft Teams is constantly working to exceed their own numerical thresholds. Last time we spoke about this, Microsoft had announced that one organisation could have up to 500,000 teams. On the occasion of Microsoft Ignite 2020, the company has revealed that you will soon be able to add up to 25,000 members on a team – which is good news for large organisations working with an expensive partner ecosystem they want to collaborate with using the Teams platform.
This update is yet to be officially rolled out to most geographies.