Stay ahead with the latest innovations from Microsoft 365! with Speedster IT Whats New From Microsoft 365 This Month publication.
This month, we’re bringing you a host of exciting updates designed to enhance your productivity and collaboration.
From powerful new features in Microsoft Teams to enhanced security measures across the platform, there’s something for everyone.
Dive in to discover how these updates can transform your work experience and keep you at the forefront of technology.
Microsoft Teams Updates September & October 2024
Refreshed View of All your Teams and Channels Page
How this will affect your organization
This update to Microsoft Teams will make it easier for team owners and members to manage and access their teams and channels. Here are the key benefits:
- Centralized View: The “Your teams” page provides a centralized location where users can see all their teams in one place. This makes it simpler to navigate and manage multiple teams.
- Quick Access to Channels: By accessing channels directly from the “Your teams” page, users can quickly jump into the conversations and content they need without navigating through multiple menus.
- Improved Navigation: The update streamlines the process of finding and accessing teams and channels, reducing the time spent searching and increasing productivity.
To navigate to the “Your teams” page, simply select “Your teams and channels” from the three dots in the top right corner of the left panel. This intuitive navigation ensures that users can easily find and manage their teams and channels.
When will this happen:
Mid-October 2024 and expect to complete by late October 2024.
Add Location to Your Presence Signal
How this will affect your organization:
With the latest update in Microsoft Teams, you can now enhance your presence signal by adding your location.
This feature allows you to indicate whether you’re in the office or at a specific office building using the Microsoft Places building lookup.
This addition helps colleagues know your exact location, improving coordination and communication within your organization.
When will this happen:
Early November 2024 and expect to complete by mid-November 2024.
Volume Ratio Setting for Meeting Participants Using Language Interpretation
How this will affect your organization:
In Microsoft Teams, participants who utilize language interpretation can now control the volume ratio between the original meeting audio and the interpretation audio.
This feature allows users to adjust the balance to their preference after selecting their desired language.
When a meeting organizer enables language interpretation, participants will be prompted to choose their preferred language upon joining the meeting.
Alternatively, they can navigate to the More menu > Language and speech > Language interpretation to select their language at any time during the meeting.
When will this happen:
mid-November 2024 (previously mid-October) and expect to complete by late November 2024 (previously late October).
Voice Isolation Will be Available for MacOS Desktops
Previously, Teams users on macOS desktops did not have access to the voice isolation feature. With this rollout, macOS users can now benefit from enhanced audio quality during Teams calls and meetings.
To enable this feature:
- Admins must activate the enrollUserOverride policy and the Voice isolation feature policy in the Teams admin center.
- Users need to enroll their voice profile in Teams Settings under the Recognition tab to utilize the voice isolation feature.
This update ensures clearer audio input, reducing background noise and improving communication during meetings.
- Voice isolation in Microsoft Teams calls and meetings – Microsoft Support
- Manage voice isolation for your users’ Microsoft Teams calls and meetings
When will this happen
The rollout will begin in mid-October 2024 and is expected to be completed by late October 2024.
Enhanced Image Viewing in Chat
New Feature – How this will affect your organization:
With this update, users can now easily view and cycle through multiple images within a chat.
Each image is deep-linked, allowing users to jump directly to the specific point in the chat where the image was shared.
This improvement enhances the user experience by making it more intuitive to navigate and reference images in conversations.
When will this happen: The rollout will begin in mid-September 2024 and is expected to be completed by mid-October 2024.
Block a User for Your Organization
New Feature – How this will affect your organization:
Admins now have the ability to create a list of users who are blocked from collaborating with your organization.
Once a user is added to the block list, they will be unable to participate in 1:1 and group chats with members of your organization.
Any existing chats involving the blocked user will automatically remove them from the conversation.
This feature is disabled by default and must be enabled by an admin.
When will this happen: The rollout is scheduled to begin in early November 2024 (previously late October) and is expected to be completed by mid-November 2024 (previously early November).
Increase in Meeting Passcode Length for Added Security
New Feature – How this will affect your organization
In response to recent global security threats targeting online meetings, Microsoft Teams is enhancing security by increasing the minimum length of meeting passcodes from 6 to 8 characters. The passcodes will continue to consist of letters and numbers, ensuring robust protection.
This update will not affect the typical usage of Teams meetings within your organization, as most users join meetings via links or calendar invites. However, users—both within and outside your organization—who join meetings using a Meeting ID and passcode will need to enter the longer passcode after this update.
When will this happen:
The rollout will begin in early November 2024 and is expected to be completed by mid-November 2024.
Microsoft Outlook Updates September & October 2024
Drag Emails into the Calendar Icon to Create an Event
New Feature – How this will affect your organization
This update introduces a convenient feature that allows users to drag and drop emails directly into the Calendar icon on the left app bar of Microsoft Outlook to create an event.
This streamlined process simplifies scheduling and ensures important information from emails is easily transferred to your calendar.
When will this happen:
The rollout will begin in late October 2024 and is expected to be completed by late November 2024.
“Online Archive” Feature for iOS and Android
New Feature – How this will affect your organization
Microsoft Outlook for iOS and Android is introducing the Online Archive feature, which provides users with advanced archiving capabilities.
This feature allows users to store older email messages in an online archive mailbox, freeing up space in their primary mailbox. The online archive mailbox will appear alongside other mailbox folders in Outlook.
Once this feature is rolled out, if you have enabled the Mailbox archive for your users, the Online Archive mailbox will be accessible in the folder list.
Users can easily access it by tapping their profile icon in the top left corner of their screen.
When will this happen?
The rollout will begin in late September 2024 and is expected to be completed by late October 2024.
Microsoft OneDrive Updates
Confirmation Prompts for Deleting Shared and Mass Items
New Feature: How This Will Affect Your Organization
Before the Rollout:
- Users could delete shared items in File Explorer without any confirmation.
- Users were prompted to confirm before mass deleting local items, which might include shared items.
After the Rollout:
- When OneDrive is running and not paused, users will see a new confirmation prompt before deleting shared items.
- An updated prompt will appear before mass deleting local items (more than 200 items by default) in File Explorer.
Timeline
- Start: Mid-September 2024
- Completion: Early October 2024
- We’re updating the current web version of Planner to the new Microsoft Planner.
- The new Planner will align with the Planner in Teams, allowing users to switch seamlessly between Teams and the web.
- Unified Experience: The new Planner for the web (https://planner.cloud.microsoft) combines the simplicity of Microsoft To Do, the collaboration features of Planner, the robust capabilities of Microsoft Project, and the intelligence of Copilot for Microsoft 365.
- Versatile Solution: It offers a scalable solution for everything from individual task management to professional project management.
- Start: Mid-October 2024
- Completion: Late November 2024
- What’s New in Excel (September 2024) – Microsoft Community Hub
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2: Pages, Python in Excel, and agents | Microsoft 365 Blog
- permission state report
- AI driven semantic matching of sites
- Site ownership policy
- Restricted Content Discovery
- Restricted Site Creation
- Inactive SharePoint sites policy
- Data Access Governance report on content shared with ‘Everyone except external users’ in last 28 days
Microsoft 365 Apps
Introducing the New Microsoft Planner for the Web
How This Will Affect Your Organization
What’s Changing:
Benefits:
Timeline
Microsoft Copilot Updates October 2024
Copilot Pages
New Feature – How this will affect your organization
Pages takes ephemeral AI-generated content and makes it durable, so you can edit it, add to it, and share it with others.
You and your team can work collaboratively in a page with Copilot, seeing everyone’s work in real time and iterating with Copilot like a partner, adding more content from your data, files, and the web to your Page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxxqw0E7Io8&t
When will this happen?
Later September 2024
Copilot Agents in SharePoint
New Feature – How this will affect your organization
Creating a Copilot agent in SharePoint is a simple starting point for users looking to use AI tools tailored for their particular needs. Make Copilot your own.
Use it to collaborate with others using the same relevant knowledge base and make critical decisions efficiently, or to spend less time consuming information so you can focus on more meaningful work.
And you can create these agents right from where you’re already working in SharePoint.
Microsoft 365 Copilot | Copilot agents in SharePoint – YouTube
When will this happen?
Early October 2024
Copilot in Excel With Python
New Feature – How this will affect your organization
Now using Copilot in Excel with Python, you can conduct advanced analysis that was previously out of reach.
You can use natural language to describe the analysis you want to perform, and Copilot will automatically generate, explain, and insert Python code into your Excel spreadsheet.
Copilot in Excel with Python also renders stunning visuals that were previously not possible or were difficult to create.
Unique visuals like heatmaps, pairplots, multiplots, and violin plots help you understand and communicate your analysis.
(7) Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel with Python – YouTube
More information:
Microsoft SharePoint Updates October 2024
Governing Data for GenAI with SharePoint Advanced Management
New Features – How this will affect your organization
SharePoint Advanced Management (Add-On License) is a suite of features designed to help simplify data governance and hygiene in Microsoft 365, enhancing both your security posture and your Copilot experience.
Today we’re pleased to announce several new features to help customers keep sensitive data secure and prep for generative AI by identifying overshared content, enabling AI focused access controls, and enabling easier removal of irrelevant content.
When will this happen?
Mid-August 2024 and expect to complete by mid-September 2024.
Embrace the Future of Work with Microsoft 365 Today
With these expert tips and hidden features, you’ll be amazed at how much more you can accomplish. Get ready to take your productivity to new heights and leave your colleagues in awe of your tech-savvy skills!