Change is constant but does not need to be disruptive. In this on-demand webinar, our experts share strategies you can use to minimize end user disruption and get employees bought into technology changes.
If you are a user of Live Captions in a meeting, you can now set the toggle switch in your Settings under “Captions and transcripts” to not display profanity when you are running Live Captions during a meeting.
Now when you create a new standard channel in a team, a Notes tab is automatically added. This tab links to a dedicated OneNote notebook for the channel in the team. Team members will be able to add notes and more via Teams (or from the client application). It will also allow users to search across all OneNote files in the tenant that they have access to.
Now when you look at Files from the Teams navigation bar, you will see a consistent user experience with what you would see if you opened OneDrive. You now have the OneDrive navigation right in the Teams user interface. You should now see all the same navigation options you see in OneDrive. Whether you are in Teams 1.0, or you are trying out Teams 2.0, the experience is the same.
You should soon see an expanded profile card view in Teams. When you hover over a profile image, you will see more contact information including details like birthdays, their leader, their LinkedIn profile, and more. You can find the same information in Teams that you are used to seeing in Outlook and other Microsoft 365 applications.
Now you can use the Teams calendar to add time blocks for personal focus time or meetings that are not online. When you create a new meeting for your calendar inside of Teams, there is now a toggle switch in the Location line that lets you say it is not an online meeting. This finally brings us closer to feature parity with Outlook for scheduling meetings.
Users on VDI can now use breakout rooms in a Teams meeting. Meeting organizers can set up breakout rooms, and participants can now join them. More information for administrators on how to enable this is available here.
A new view that is available in meetings is the “Active Speaker” view. It will render the video of the person speaking during a meeting in a higher resolution – making it easier to see them. This view is not presented by default, and you have to select it from the View option during a meeting. Get more information on enabling this feature here.
When you need a break from being on camera in back-to-back meetings, create an avatar for yourself. Be sure to have an avatar created that you can switch to for a video break.
Users can now communicate via chat through the lobby with a Teams Premium account. This works great prior to a meeting beginning.
Teams Premium users now have a Recap tab for meetings that provides a new and engaging user experience. The Recap combines in one place the meeting recording, any files shared, notes, and transcripts. This makes it easy to find personalized timeline markers in the recording, as well as the speaker timeline. It also includes AI-generated notes and AI-generated tasks.
If you have any feedback on Teams features you want to give to Microsoft, you can do it right from Teams. Just click on the Help button in the lower left corner of your Teams client, select the Give feedback option, and you will be presented with a form to complete within Teams.
If you’re interested in learning more about how these features can improve your day-to-day work, contact us. Our Modern Work team will be happy to help you make the most of this impactful collaboration tool.
National High Five Day is celebrated on the third Thursday of April and is all about giving high fives and spreading good vibes. In honor of National High Five Day, the first Together Emoji was released by Microsoft. It demonstrates the true “high five.” A “Together Emoji” brings together two emojis to express a sentiment. In chat, two people can perform an actual high five! Just message someone in chat and send them the “high five” emoji. When they send you the “high five” emoji back, you will see the emojis meet up on your chat and perform an actual high five.
More Together Emoji sentiments will be coming in the future.
When you hover over a person’s profile picture, it expands and gives you information about them – including their LinkedIn profile. If your organization has this enabled, you will be able to view an external person’s public LinkedIn profile in the expanded view of the profile card in Teams without needing to switch apps.
Want to improve your speaking skills during a meeting? Give Speaker Coach a try. Similar to Rehearse with Coach in PowerPoint, Speaker Coach will monitor your presentation during a Teams meeting and give you feedback. The areas of feedback include:
The Speaker Coach lets you know how you rated in each of these areas at the end of your meeting (after you hit the Leave button).
Turn on the feature during a meeting from the More options under Language and speech.
You will receive a notification to look at your report when the meeting ends.
Click on the notification banner or on the Speaker coach tab in the meeting chat to access your report.
Clicking on any feedback button gives you information on how you did and what you can do to improve the next time you speak.
These insights are live and seen only by you and no one else. They are not saved in meeting transcripts or audio. Only the summary report is saved for you after the meeting.
Currently, the Speaker Coach only supports the English language, but additional languages are planned. It does not work in Channel meetings or meetings started with the Meet now option.
You can set the speaker coach to automatically start in all meetings.
Admins: Learn how to turn this on or off here.
Improved sharpness and definition for video around your face, head, ears, and hair can be increased by the use of the new green screen feature in Teams meetings. It is currently in public preview and only supported if you are on Windows or Mac with Intel chips (not Mac M1/M2). It also requires that your background be a solid color screen or a clean background wall behind you.
More information on enabling this effect can be found in the Microsoft Tech Community.
Getting screen fatigue from a meeting marathon day? Take a break and use an Avatar in your meetings. Microsoft’s research indicates video usage is highly correlated to meeting participation, inclusiveness, and effectiveness. However, only approximately 30% of participants meet with their video on. Teams now allows you to select customizable avatars and reactions – giving you the opportunity to be more collaborative whether you just need a video break, are joining from a different time zone, or you just prefer not to use video.
Avatars are available in the Teams desktop app on Windows and Mac. It is not available in the consumer version of Teams or in Teams 2.0 yet.
You will need to go to the app navigation bar in Teams, select Apps, and search for the Avatar app and open it. Then create a new avatar.
Select the avatar that looks the most like you and then customize its body, face, hair, appearance, and wardrobe.
Be sure to go through all the tabs across the top of the screen to customize your avatar.
When you join a meeting, keep your video turned off and select Effects and avatars to select your avatar.
When you select a Reaction during a meeting, your avatar will perform the same action.
You can select moods and other actions in the Effects and avatars panel. You can also select a background under Avatar backgrounds.
Note that to use Avatars, you have to meet minimum hardware requirements. You will need a computer with a minimum of a two-core processor (four or more recommended) and at least 4.0 GB RAM (8.0 GB RAM or more recommended).
In addition to the updated look of the Teams admin center, you can now auto-install approved apps for users. The users have to sign into SaaS apps using Azure AD credentials first as it respects app access controls set by admins.
Turn it on under org-wide app settings.
Turn on the apps you wish to auto-install.
Users will see a notification in their Feed panel letting them know the apps are now available for use.
Next month we will cover any new announcements related to the Teams user experience from the Microsoft 365 Conference.