Microsoft has made plenty of changes to the Microsoft Teams ecosystem throughout November 2022.
The company has made it easier to collaborate in meetings, improved features for mobile users, and granted certification to new devices, which improves the large meeting experience.
Here are all the changes that Microsoft made to the Teams platform in November.
Teams Meetings
Meeting presenters can now use a ‘1-click’ instant poll during Teams meetings which require a binary response such as yes/no, thumb up/down, heart/broken heart. Users do not have to prepare these polls in advance, and the question can be said out loud. A ‘1-click’ poll can be deployed via the Microsoft Polls app.
Microsoft has added support to meetings of dial-in, dial-out and call-me PSTN participants. Users can now join breakout rooms and then come back to the main room when breakout rooms end.
Currently, Teams Meetings support a maximum of nine videos (3×3) on screen by default. If users wanted to see more than nine videos, they had to select the ‘Large Gallery’ view manually. In the latest update, users will automatically see up to 49 videos (7x) on their screen by default.
Microsoft has extended support to the Teams Meeting experience on web browsers. Users accessing meetings via Chrome and Edge will now see an improved pre-join, dynamic view, and an updated control bar.
Teams Calling
A screen pop for incoming PSTN calls can now be enabled in the Teams Admin Centre so that on acceptance of the call, an automatic browser launch can happen alongside Teams. This allows for relevant information, such as CRM or case data, to be available to the user.
Microsoft Teams for Android users can now access transcriptions for one-to-one calls via the Teams app. It means that calls can be transcripted on the go rather than via a desktop.
Teams Devices
By utilising Proximity Join, Microsoft Teams Rooms on windows now suppresses the video streams of in-room participants on the front-of-room display. When users join an existing meeting in Teams Rooms with a personal laptop, the video galleries on the Teams Room and the in-room laptops will be optimised to display only the video streams of remote participants.
In November, Microsoft rebranded its Common Area Phone (CAP) licence to the Teams Shared Devices licence to enable broader functionalities for shares devices.
Teams Certified Devices
Microsoft has granted Teams certification to the Poly G7500. The device is a modular system that connects cameras, microphones, and additional components. It is certified for large meeting rooms for Microsoft Teams on Android.
Teams Chat and Collaboration
Teams users can now accept or block a group chat invitation from an unmanaged user. The ability to accept or block a one-on-one chat from an unmanaged user already exists; however, Microsoft has extended the feature to provide an additional safety layer.
Chat messages can now be manually delayed for scheduled delivery, with the sender being able to select a date and time. Microsoft says that the feature is designed to help those working in a different time zone or working hours. It aims to avoid disrupting the recipient’s ‘off-work’ hours.
Teams users can now start a chat with Distribution Groups, Mail-enabled Security Groups, and Office 365 Groups. It means that up to 250 members can be involved in a Microsoft Teams chat.
When clicking on the chat message search result, users will now be presented with the entire message thread, no matter how old it is. Microsoft has designed the feature to ensure users have the full context of their conversations.
According to Microsoft, Teams users will now find it easier to view, triage and catch up with their unread chat message notifications by turning on the unread toggle button in their activity feed. Users can also turn off the unread toggle to view both read and unread notifications.
When Teams users create an e-signature request in Approvals, they can now upload a document to be signed from OneDrive for Business directly. This feature enables access to the document from anywhere and on any device.
Teams Management
Administrators can now use the Teams Admin Centre to manage the entire lifecycle of Surface Hubs as Teams devices. Admins will have access to features such as remote restart, download of logs, configuration of settings, and detailed device information.
Teams Government
The Government features of the November update are only currently available to Microsoft’s commercial customers in the multi-tenant cloud environment.
They are also being rolled out to customers in the US Government Community Cloud (GCC), US Government Community Cloud High (GCC-High), and the United States Department of Defense (DoD).
For quick sessions that don’t need a formal meeting, users can deploy Teams casting to wirelessly connect to a Teams Rooms and display content from the Teams desktop client. Users will be able to broadcast their screen and cast content that is stored on their computer or content accessible via Office 365.
