As we step into spring, Microsoft Teams is planning to release a suite of exciting new Teams features and updates that promise to enhance the way we connect and collaborate. Teams is gearing up to offer a more seamless, intuitive and productive virtual workspace. Whether you’re managing projects, hosting meetings or simply catching up with your team, these updates are designed to elevate your Teams experience to new heights. Get ready to dive into the latest Teams version that will empower you to work smarter, not harder, this spring.
Teams Slash Commands
The first May 2024 update is an improvement to Teams slash commands. These slash commands are extending beyond the Teams search bar and will be implemented into the Teams compose box when you go to create a new post in a chat or channel. These commands allow users to complete tasks more efficiently and intelligently by quickly switching their status, sending messages or even calling other Teams members.
Team Meetings
There are also several updates coming to Teams meetings to improve the experience not only as a Teams meeting organizer but also as a meeting attendee.
- The first major update for both Teams meeting organizers and attendees is the integration of chat message notifications that are now determined by the users’ RSVP status to a meeting. This gives Teams attendees more control over their chat notification settings. Now, when you decline a meeting that you are unable to attend, you will no longer receive notifications or see chats within the chat list. Should you choose to accept the invitation, you will receive notifications for new chat messages like normal. This feature will also incentivize people to proactively accept or deny meetings, which will always benefit the organizer.
- The next major Teams meetings update grants Teams meeting organizers enhanced control over their meeting recordings. As it stands in the current landscape, when a user records a meeting, it will be uploaded to the OneDrive of the user who initiated the recording. With this update, these meeting recordings will now exclusively be uploaded to the OneDrive of the meeting organizer. This improves the meeting organizers’ ability to manage access to these recordings as well as file management as the uploads are no longer spread out across multiple users. Teams meeting organizers that have a Teams Premium license will also get access to an additional control when configuring the options for a meeting: “Who can record and transcribe”. This control allows meeting organizers to control the ability to record and transcribe to either “organizers and co-organizers” or additionally allow presenters to initiate recordings and transcription as well as “organizers and co-organizers”.
- There is one additional Teams meeting control planned, which would allow all users to configure the ability of others to optimize the video settings when screensharing during a meeting. This reduces the amount of lag and improves the quality of video playback when users share their screen. The final update we’ll cover is an improvement coming to Teams group chats. Coming soon, group chats and meetings chats with external users will support Teams applications. This change allows both external and internal users to access various Teams’ applications to improve collaboration, interactivity and productivity. The host of the group chat or meeting chat can install, remove and update applications for all the members included in the chat.
These updates on the latest Teams version are only scratching the surface of enhancements and new Teams features Microsoft plans to roll out this upcoming spring and summer season! Hopefully, these changes usher in even more communication, collaboration and efficiency for you and your company this spring.
Author: Joe Hickey | [email protected]
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