Microsoft constantly adds new features and improvements to its Teams service for paid commercial users. However, it also adds a few new features every month for personal users, under the Microsoft Teams (free) brand. This week, the company revealed what it added to the free edition for the month of March 2024.
In a blog post, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 users of the free edition of Teams can now create what it calls a Community Bot. It"s a new automatic welcome message that is sent to a user when they join a Teams (free) community group. Microsoft stated:
Community Bot can be used to share important details, prompt new members to introduce themselves, acquaint new members to the community or whatever you would like to say!
Community group leaders can add the bot message by selecting the community they wish from the list, and then clicking on the More options (…) menu next to the community name. They can select the Community Bot option and write the welcome message. They can then preview it and finally, they can select the Save option to have it ready for any new community members.
Microsoft Teams (free) also added two new features for iOS and Android users in the past month. One is a new noise suppression feature for meetings. You can use the default Auto setting in the apps which will automatically make the changes to the noise suppression levels, or manually switch it from Low to High. Be aware that the High option will block all noise except your own voice.
Finally, mobile app users for Microsoft Teams (free) can now add a website link in community groups. Once added, the link will be available for all members of that community along with anyone who gets an invite link to that group.