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Posts tagged "Teams"

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Microsoft Teams update will save you from this embarrassing meeting mistake
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Having music or other audio playing during a video call can be distracting for attendees and embarrassing for users which is why Microsoft added a noise suppression feature to its video conferencing software earlier this year.

This feature is now enabled by default for most users and as a result, any background noise is automatically removed during meetings in Microsoft Teams.

While you may want music and other background noise to be removed from your speeches and presentations, this isn't always the case which is why Microsoft also created a high-fidelity music mode. When enabled, this mode streams the sound from your laptop or PC including all background sounds in high quality.

Enabling high-fidelity mode

According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the software giant has developed a new machine learning-based music detector that can let users know whenever music is detected.

Once this feature rolls out in January of 2022, Teams users will see a notification at the bottom of their screen which reads “Music is detected and may be suppressed. Enable High fidelity mode to make sure everyone clearly hears your music” alongside a button to enable high fidelity mode as well as another button to dismiss the notification altogether.

While you still may not want background music to be heard during important business meetings, this feature could be useful for those giving music or even dance lessons over Teams.

Also check out our roundups of the best business webcams, best video conferencing software and best headsets for conference calls

Via MSPoweruser

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Microsoft Teams update minimizes the opportunity for miscommunication
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Getting your ideas across in Microsoft Teams will soon be even easier as Microsoft is working on a new update for its video conferencing software that will allow users to see messages in chat and participants in a video call at the same time.

Back in June, the software giant added chat bubbles to its online collaboration tool so that users wouldn't miss private messages sent during a video call. Just like in WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, these chat bubbles display a floating notification on your screen and according to Microsoft, they also make “chat more central to the conversation”.

While the introduction of chat bubbles enabled Teams users to see their private messages during meetings, Microsoft is now planning to make them available for group chats so that everyone can keep up with the conversations happening via text as well as those taking place in a video call at the same time.

Chat bubbles during Teams meetings

According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Microsoft plans to add a new feature to Teams that will allow everyone to view chats sent during a meeting on the front of room display in a Teams Room.

For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Teams Rooms is a dedicated hardware and software solution for video conferencing that was previously called Skype Rooms. With a Teams Rooms display set up in a meeting or conference room, in-person attendees can all focus on one screen at the front of a room as opposed to having to stare down at their laptops.

Now though with chat bubbles on a Teams Room display, those working from home will be able to add to the conversation taking place in a meeting room as attendees will be able to see their messages in chat alongside a meeting's video feed.

This new feature is set to roll out in April of next year and will likely be a welcome addition for organizations that have implemented hybrid work policies. 

Looking to improve your video calls? Check out our roundups of the best video conferencing software, best business webcams and best headsets for conference calls

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Microsoft Teams isn’t adding this terrible feature just yet
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Video call users around the world may have breathed a big sigh of relief after the launch of filters for Microsoft Teams has been delayed.

The company had been working on a new feature for its online collaboration platform that would have allowed users to customize their appearance before joining a video conferencing call.

The tool was set for launch sometime in 2021, but its Microsoft 365 roadmap entry, simply entitled “Microsoft Teams: Video filters” now shows a release date of March 2022.

Lights, camera, filters

The roadmap entry explains that Teams users will soon gain access to a number of different video filters, which will give them the ability to dial up and down certain aspects of their feed.

“Before joining a meeting, you can use filters to subtly adjust lighting levels and smooth out facial features to customize your appearance,” wrote Microsoft.

The company first announced its intention to introduce Microsoft Teams video filters in summer last year, before then targeting an August 2021 release window until today's update.

It added that the feature could prove useful to a range of users, especially those working out of a dimly lit home office or using a poor-quality webcam.

Filters are also already present in competing offerings such as Google Meet, which recently revealed a new settings panel to help both you and your workspace look the best you can when joining video calls.

With Google Meet's new settings panel, users will be able to quickly access effects such as background blur, background images and styles before and during a video call.

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This Microsoft Teams update will help enforce social distancing rules
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Keeping control of your Microsoft Teams meetings could soon get a lot easier thanks to a new update aimed at limiting participant numbers.

The video conferencing service has announced new meeting room capacity notifications for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android, hopefully helping prevent virtual overcrowding.

The feature could also help in-office staff decide whether to move an in-person meeting online as concerns over Covid continue to rise.

Overcrowded

According to its entry on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, users will now see a notification on the front of room display alerting in-room meeting participants if the room is over-capacity.

This decision is based on the capacity defined in a room account, which for Android users of Microsoft Teams can be limited in order to cope with computing power and battery life.

Microsoft notes that only cameras that support people counting will support this feature.

When a panel is deployed outside a Teams Room that supports this feature, an alert will also be visible on the Teams panel, notifying people outside the room that it has reached capacity.

Microsoft introduced people counting to Teams in 2020 as more and more users flocked to the platform after being told to work from home. Currently, up to 1,000 people can chat and call in to a Microsoft Teams meeting, although this number rises to up to 20,000 for view-only and listen-only calls, such as presentations or webinars.

The new meeting room capacity notifications are set to roll out in February 2022, with all Microsoft Teams on Android users around the world able to experience it.

Users will need to ensure their devices are running some of the latest Android builds, after Microsoft recently revealed it will soon revoke support for versions of Teams running on older versions of the software. Support will be pulled for Teams on Android 5 on March 1, 2022, while Android 6 and 7 will retain support until July 1 and September 1, respectively.

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Microsoft Teams update will help you see eye-to-eye with co-workers
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Microsoft is readying an update for collaboration platform Teams that will supposedly help make video calls feel more natural in the world of hybrid working.

As per a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, Microsoft Teams users will soon benefit from an additional video call layout, called Front row.

“Front row is a new layout that enables better hybrid meetings,” explained Microsoft. “It brings remote participants to eye level with participants in [conference] rooms and adds additional data like chat to give in-room users better context of what’s happening in the meeting.”

The new layout is still under development, but should be available to all Teams users via the layout picker by the end of January.

Microsoft Teams calls

Since the start of the pandemic, vendors of video conferencing services like Teams, Zoom and Meet have fought to optimize call layout for maximum engagement and productivity.

Until now, the emphasis has been on creating new layouts that help remote workers present more effectively. In June, for example, Microsoft launched two new layouts for Teams, called Reporter and Side-by-Side. The former positions content above the presenter’s shoulder, as if they were a news anchor, and the latter displays content next to the presenter’s video feed.

On the side, there has also been a race to see who can support the largest number of video call participants on-screen at once. Currently, Teams and Zoom lead the way with massive 49-person gallery layouts.

Now, however, Microsoft appears to have turned its attention to augmenting its collaboration platform for hybrid working, whereby employees split their time between the home, office and any other location.

A major priority among businesses is to ensure meetings remain equitable when half the participants are in the room and the other half are dialling in remotely. According to Microsoft, a small change like the new Front row layout can help create “a more inclusive environment” and head off some of these potential issues.

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Your Microsoft Teams calls are finally getting this essential security boost
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Protecting your Microsoft Teams calls and messages will soon be easier than ever thanks to a new update coming to the service.

After months of planning, Microsoft has revealed that end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is finally set to launch for its video conferencing software soon.

This should make it harder for outside forces such as hackers or fraudsters to gain access to Microsoft Teams and the chats within, hopefully keeping private or valuable information being discussed safe.

Teams security

According to an entry in the Microsoft 365 roadmap, full E2EE will be coming to Teams calling by March 2022.

“End-to-end encryption is the encryption of information at its origin and decryption at its intended destination without the ability for intermediate nodes to decrypt,” the company noted. 

“End-to-end encryption would be an optional mode of real-time media collaboration where one-to-one Teams calls between two parties would be end-to-end encrypted.”

The update is classified as general availability, meaning it should be on offer to all Microsoft Teams users across desktop and mobile – including both Android and iOS.

Microsoft revealed back in October 2021 that it was trialling E2EE in Teams as it looks to boost security for its video call platform.

Rival Zoom was forced to up its security protections after several high-profile “Zoom-bombing” incidents saw outside parties able to gatecrash what should have been private calls.

The update will mean that Teams users will soon see an encryption indicator in the upper left corner of the software which shows that their calls are encrypted. Microsoft Teams will also display a security code for the call which both parties can verify on their respective ends.

However it seems that some Microsoft Teams features, recording, live caption and transcription, Call park, Call Merge, Call Companion, Call transfer and the ability to add a participant to make a one-to-one call a group call won't be available when E2EE is enabled.

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Microsoft Teams update will eliminate a common business bottleneck
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Getting your next big project or idea approved by your manager or boss can often slow down productivity which is why Microsoft launched its new Approvals app in Microsoft Teams earlier this year.

The Approvals app can be accessed from any chat or channel conversation or by using the dedicated app entry point in the left navigation bar in Teams.

With the app open, all you have to do is fill in the details of the approval like the title, description and the users who need to approve it and hit 'Send'. However, you can also add attachments from Microsoft's office software or custom responses to tailor the request to your business needs.

Once submitted, the approvers are notified within Teams and can act on an approval request either from the chat directly using the Approvals card or from within the Personal app. They can also quickly review the details of the approval right within Teams before making a decision to approve or reject it.

Microsoft 365 groups as approvers

After launching in January of last year, Microsoft is now working on a new feature for the Teams Approval App that is slated to roll out next month.

According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the software giant is adding the ability to select Microsoft 365 groups as approvers when creating a new approval request within Teams.

For those unfamiliar, Groups in Microsoft 365 let you choose a set of people that you wish to collaborate with and easily set up a collection of resources for those people to share. These resources may include a shared Outlook inbox, shared calendar or a document library in OneDrive for collaboration on files.

When this new feature becomes available, Teams users will be able to send approval requests to their Microsoft 365 groups which could be useful if approvers aren't using the company's video conferencing software and online collaboration tool.

Looking to improve your video call experience? Check out our roundups of the best video conferencing software, best business webcams and best headsets for conference calls

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Microsoft Teams update will let you flirt with the forbidden fruit
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Microsoft is preparing an update for collaboration platform Teams that will help people make use of the full breadth of available features.

As per a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, Microsoft Teams will soon give users a way to petition admins for access to blocked apps and integrations.

“[The new feature will] enable users to discover Teams apps in the store and request approval from administrators,” the company explained.

The access request system is still currently under development, but is slated to roll out to all users by the end of next month.

Microsoft Teams apps

Since the start of the pandemic, the volume of third-party integrations available for platforms like Teams, Zoom and Slack has shot through the roof, affording users access to a wider range of functionality (e.g. cloud storage, CRM, calendaring etc.) from within a single client.

However, it’s not uncommon for administrators to limit the type or number of Microsoft Teams apps employees are allowed to install, in an effort to ensure neither security nor productivity is compromised.

But soon, if an employee feels a third-party application has been unduly banned, they will have a formal avenue through which they can request access.

This isn’t the only way Microsoft has attempted to augment the Teams app store in recent weeks, either. Last month, the company announced a new system to help identify the most useful and relevant apps on a user-by-user basis.

Once the update takes effect, users will benefit from intelligent recommendations and “a landing page optimized for ease of discoverability”. Microsoft also says it will rejig the app categories to make it simpler for people to find the services they are actively searching for, including those built and deployed by in-house developers.

Combined, the two updates should help reinforce the status of Teams as a central hub for working (a long-time goal of Microsoft’s), by ensuring users have access to all the functionality they need.

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You can now put yourself front and centre (or anywhere you want) in Microsoft Teams
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You'll soon be able to be the star of all your work video calls thanks to a new update coming to Microsoft Teams.

The video conferencing software has revealed plans for a new tweak that will let users pin their own video feed wherever they like on their display when on a call.

Previously, users could only pin video feeds of other participants when on a call, letting you focus on a particular presenter, boss or co-worker.

Pin on Microsoft Teams

The change will also mean that users can have their own video feed at whatever size they desire – a change which could be particularly useful if you want to check your appearance or background while presenting or speaking – especially if using sign language.

Microsoft says the new feature will also mean no more overlaying of the user's video window over that of other participants, and hopefully mean users will feel like they are taking a much more active role in a call.

Microsoft Teams pin video feed

(Image credit: Microsoft)

The feature is set to begin rolling out to Microsoft Teams Standard users on Windows and Mac devices from January 2022. It can be activated by going to the “Me” box and clicking on the three dots, then selecting “Pin for me”, with users also able to pin or unpin their feeds when clicking on the menu next to their name in the roster.

The release is the latest in a series of upgrades to Microsoft Teams as the company looks to maintain its strong position in the video conferencing market.

This includes the ability to now mute or even turn off notifications while on a Teams call, with users able to choose to mute notifications for all meetings or on a per meeting basis.

Microsoft 365 users are also currently able to work uninterrupted with Teams notifications silenced thanks to focus mode in Viva Insights. The tool means Teams users will be able to make progress on important work with focus music from Headspace playing in the background.

Via MSPowerUser

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