Microsoft regularly introduces new features to its software each month. Earlier today, it recapped all the capabilities it added to Excel in November 2022, and now it has done the same for Microsoft Teams.
In the meetings category, one-click polls can be instantly spun up with attendees allowed to give binary responses. Microsoft claims that Teams is the first software to offer this as other software requires polls to be prepared in advance. Moreover, dial-in, dial-out, and call-me attendees can now easily join breakout rooms and then rejoin the main room when they are done with their discussion. Depending upon hardware specifications, Teams can also switch automatically to Large Gallery view, which enables 49 video streams simultaneously. Microsoft has also announced that the modern meeting experience comprising of pre-join, dynamic view, and an updated control bar is rolling out to Chrome and Edge.
Coming over to calling capabilities, Teams admins can configure a policy so that when an incoming PSTN call is accepted, any relevant information can be displayed in a pop-out browser window. Additionally, transcription for 1:1 and group calls on Teams for Android are finally available.
Changing gears to the devices front, Teams will utilize a feature called Proximity Join to optimize and suppress video streams to only show attendees who have joined remotely. Moreover, hot desking now works in Teams portrait mode and users can also extend their reserved time. As a reminder, Microsoft has also renamed the Common Area Phone (CAP) license to the Teams Shared Device license with some improvements. In related news, the Poly G7500 is now Teams-certified.
There are a bunch of new features in the chat and collaboration domain too, namely:
- Teams users can now accept or block a group chat invitation from an unmanaged user
- Schedule send
- Start a Teams Chat with Distribution Groups, Mail-enabled Security Groups, and Office 365 Groups
- Click on search message results to view the entire chat conversation history
- Unread toggle
- Upload documents form OneDrive for Business in E-signature Approvals
On the management side, Surface Hub devices can be managed by Teams admins for remote restart, downloading logs, and more. Moreover, the unread toggle in activity feed can be leveraged to easily see which notifications you haven"t seen yet.
Finally, U.S. Government Community Cloud (GCC) customers will soon be able to utilize Teams Connectors while GCC-High users can already cast Teams from a desktop (Windows/Mac) to a Teams Room display.