Pop-out chat and 3×3/Brady Bunch/Hollywood Squares video format in meetings is starting to show up in more tenants across Microsoft 365. With pop-out meeting experience coming soon, Teams continues to challenge Zoom and Slack for collaboration dominance.
Last week I wrote a post on managing background effects in Teams. Be sure to update your client to see if it respects the new policy controls as this continues to roll out through the rest of the month. It can take a few hours to be applied to user accounts, so be patient while testing.
Sarah Lean/Techlassie has a great write-up over at Tech Community blog on how she runs the Glasgow Azure User Group virtually on Microsoft Teams.
MVP Tom Arbuthnot outlines the call records and session details API now out in public preview. This has been a huge lack in reporting that many organizations have been waiting on. Tom also talks about automatic firmware updates coming for Microsoft Teams phones.
June Castillote over at Adam the Automator blog outlines getting starting with Microsoft Teams Shifts for your first line workers.
Also came across this script from Lee Ford for backing up your Teams config including multiple policies and audio files used in call queues and auto attendants. Haven’t tried it yet but looks like a great tool to capture configuration changes.
And for something a bit more fun, check out this interactive Microsoft Teams bingo card for your next virtual meeting.
Applications
Audrie Gordon over at the Microsoft Tech Community blog outlines a new application from Microsoft for automating teams provisioning with the Request-a-team app template. This is a PowerApp that uses multiple components like PowerAutomate, Azure Logic Apps, and approvals for automating the teams request and provisioning process. I haven’t had a chance to check this out yet but it looks really cool.
Events
Starting this week at Microsoft Teams Collaboratorium is a four-part series on how to get started on the vision and strategy of Modern Work using Microsoft Teams. These sessions are led by Microsoft experts and include sessions on meetings, collaboration, power platform extensibility, and security & compliance.
Devices
MVP Brian Ricks shares his first vlog on a walkthrough of the Yealink VC-210 collaboration bar.
Road Map Updates
Rooms Management with Teams Admin Center
Remotely manage Teams room devices such as the health of the device, peripherals, troubleshoot issues, or remote restart the device. Great addition to device management and bringing it under a centralized interface with phones and collaboration bars. This is scheduled for release in June.
Suggested Replies
Shows an option of 3 different responses for a user to choose from for select messages. This gives the ability to quickly reply to a given message by selecting the suggested reply. We’ve seen this in other platforms, including LinkedIn message, which is owned by Microsoft. Anticipated released is Q4 of 2020.
Teams Support in the SharePoint Migration Tool
The SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) will soon let users migrate to Microsoft Teams in addition to SharePoint and OneDrive. This is strictly for file migrations, so if you are moving from on-premises SharePoint or a network file share, you can move those files directly into a channel in a team. The rollout should be completed by end of May.
AutoClaim Policy for Products Containing Microsoft Teams
Microsoft is rolling out a policy that will allow users to automatically claim an available license for Microsoft Teams if they log into Teams without an assigned license. Luckily this policy setting is disabled by default, so hopefully this means Microsoft is listening to feedback about auto-enabling new features by default. This will begin rolling out in June.
Ability to Add Distribution Lists and Modern Groups to Scheduled Meetings
Rolling out this month is the ability to add distribution lists and modern groups to scheduled meetings in Teams. This means they will be discoverable from the people picker when scheduling meetings in Teams.
Training
For trainers who might get the question when to use Teams vs. Yammer, Nathan Budryk at AvePoint has a great infographic on when to use each platform as well as others like Outlook and SharePoint.
Tip of the Week
Over at the Tech Community blog is a great post of the Top 10 Keyboard Shortcuts to Make You a Microsoft Teams Super User.
Questions or comments? If so, drop me a note below or find me on Twitter or LinkedIn to discuss further.
