Teams has introduced its Communities feature to Windows 11 devices.
In what Microsoft described as "the most significant set of updates to the free version of Microsoft Teams since December 2022", its Community update allows users to create groups for organising events and keeping colleagues up to date with information. New features added to the Communities section include new camera features and the ability to search for and join public Communities.
The Communities for Teams feature was initially announced last December but was previously only available on Teams for iOS and Android.
Amit Fulay, Vice President of Microsoft Teams Product, described the new solution in a blog post:
On Windows 11, community owners can create communities from scratch, share and invite members, create and host events, moderate content with critical trust and safety features, and get notified about all important activities."
Support for Communities in Teams for Windows 10 and macOS devices is coming soon.
The 'Significant' Raft of Features
The Communities update also introduced a new camera functionality. Community members can use their mobile devices to record videos via Microsoft's capture experience, including updated filters and markup tools.
A new feature, only available on iOS for now, involves community owners using their mobile camera to scan and subsequently invite multiple emails or phone numbers from an online document, paper directory, or any list.
Windows 11, iOS and Android Teams users can also search for and join specific communities in a similar manner to Discord's communities functionalities. "You can join focused on topics like parenting, gaming, gardening, technology, remote work, and more," Fulay added.
Community owners can set their Community to be "visible", currently only available on iOS and Android, to be discovered via Teams. Community owners can now either approve or reject requests to join their Community and assign owner controls to others. Owners can decide to share posts as emails so they can reach members who might not use Teams every day.
Another interesting new feature is that Community owners can canvas opinions from Community members with Polls, powered by MSForms.
Microsoft also announced support for Microsoft Designer in Teams for Windows 11, currently available in Preview. A generative AI-powered feature, Designer intends to streamline the creation of unique and personalised designs. "By describing your idea's vision in words or utilising an uploaded image, you can create captivating one-of-a-kind visuals." Fulay wrote. Users can create an announcement post in communities to design their own banner with Designer.
