Are you keeping up with Microsoft updates? The Microsoft Mondays: Microsoft Service Updates series from Total Solutions is here for your needs, and remember that Total Solutions also provides tailored, expert guidance during our consulting process. We are highlighting a few of the Microsoft announced upcoming updates from March:
• New Indicator “EA” on Profile Picture for Microsoft Teams Public Preview users
• Microsoft Teams: Force Public Preview Setting (Updated)
• Microsoft Loop App Coming to Public Preview (Updated)
• SharePoint: Improving the Page Authoring Experience
• Outlook: Bookings with me going Public
Keep an eye out for Microsoft Mondays for your Microsoft updates or speak with our technical team for your Microsoft needs.
* Updates posted here originally posted by Microsoft in the Microsoft 365 Message Center
New Indicator “EA” on Profile Picture for Microsoft Teams Public Preview users
[MC532194 · Published Mar 23, 2023]: Microsoft Teams Public Preview provides early access to pre-release features for product quality, internal planning, adoption & training readiness before they roll out to the rest of their company. There are no program requirements or commitments. This is an opt-in channel controlled via IT admin policy.
Up until today, users who were enrolled in Public Preview had a “P” next to their profile picture, however, that will change to “EA” indicating users have Early Access to Teams features.
When this will happen:
This feature is now available for Preview.
How this will affect your organization:
Users who are in the Public Preview channel of Teams will see “EA” next to their profile picture/avatar indicating that they have early access to Teams features (as shown in the image below).
ADMINS – What you need to do to prepare:
Update your training and documentation as appropriate.
We also welcome feedback on any feature in Public Preview. Please encourage your users to send feedback about Teams features through Help > Give feedback and following the prompts. Their feedback will help shape the Microsoft Teams experience for the rest of your organization.
Microsoft Teams: Force Public Preview Setting (Updated)
[MC509574 · Published Jan 31, 2023 · Last updated Mar 23, 2023] Updated March 22, 2023: We have updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.
Microsoft Teams Public Preview provides early access to pre-release features for product quality, internal planning, adoption & training readiness before they roll out to the rest of their company.
Public preview is enabled on a per-user basis, and the option to turn on Public Preview is controlled via Teams admin policy as described here: Microsoft Teams Public Preview
Today, when admins enable this policy for an end user, that user needs to opt-in via Teams app to get into Public Preview. Microsoft is adding a new value named ‘Forced’ for this policy that will allow IT admins to move users to Public Preview without having users to opt-in to Public Preview via Teams app.
When this will happen:
Microsoft will begin rolling out early March and expect to complete by the late March (previously mid-March).
How this will affect your organization:
This policy will allow IT admins to move users to Public Preview without having users take an extra step to opt-in to Public Preview via Teams app.
ADMINS – What you need to do to prepare: This policy can be managed via the Teams Admin Center > Teams > Teams Update Policies.
You can also use PowerShell to update this setting (CsTeamsUpdateManagementPolicy). Here is an example cmdlet to set the Teams global policy to follow the Office preview via PowerShell:
Set-CsTeamsUpdateManagementPolicy -Identity Global -AllowPublicPreview "Forced" We also welcome feedback on any feature in Public Preview. Please encourage your users to send feedback about Teams features through Help > Give feedback and following the prompts. Their feedback will help shape the Microsoft Teams experience for the rest of your organization.
Microsoft Loop App Coming to Public Preview (Updated)
[MC525137 · Published Mar 9, 2023 · Last updated Mar 22, 2023] Updated March 22, 2023: Microsoft has updated this message to show as intended. Thank you for your patience.
Microsoft Loop is a web and mobile co-creation app. It is designed for your team to think, plan, and create together. The Loop App will be disabled by default for your organization. If you wish to enable the Loop App in your tenant, please follow the steps outlined below. You can learn more about Loop here: https://loop.microsoft.com/.
When this will happen:
The Loop app will be released to Public Preview late March 2023!
How this will affect your organization
Since the Microsoft Loop App is default off in Public Preview, this announcement won’t affect your organization unless you voluntarily enable it for your organization.
ADMINS – What you need to do to prepare
The Loop app is entering a public preview phase. It is default off and does not yet meet all of Microsoft’s compliance capabilities. Regulated organizations will note that we are still working on features such as eDiscovery, Sensitivity labeling, and others. A more complete list of these capabilities will come in future roadmap updates.
- If you choose to enable the Loop app:
- To prepare for the Loop App’s release, you can start by enabling it for your organization today, which will make it available the moment the public preview begins. The Loop app availability is controlled via Microsoft Cloud Policy. You can learn more about Cloud Policy here: Overview of Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365
- Target your audience by first creating a Security Group:
- Cloud Policy requires you to first create a Security Group for all the users you want to deploy your settings to, then define the settings. See this article if you want to create a dynamic Security Group to include every person in your organization: Dynamic groups and B2B collaboration
- Use Cloud Policy to deploy the Loop setting to that Security Group:
- If you’re not already familiar, here’s an article that helps you get onboarded quickly to Cloud Policy: How to secure your remote workers with Office Cloud Policy Service (microsoft.com)
Follow these steps for the Loop app in this administrator article: Manage Loop experiences (Loop app and Loop components) in SharePoint.
You can learn more about Loop here: https://loop.microsoft.com/. The Loop app itself comes with a rich onboarding workspace that teaches you about the capabilities and suggests ways to get started quickly. The Loop App is free during public preview. Pricing and licensing requirements for the Loop App post-preview are yet to be determined.
Note: Loop components in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem such as Teams, Outlook, Word, are administrator controlled separately from the Loop app. These additional settings are covered in the same administrator article as the Loop app settings here: Manage Loop experiences (Loop app and Loop components) in SharePoint.
SharePoint: Improving the Page Authoring Experience
[MC531214 · Published Mar 21, 2023] We are releasing new improvements to the Page authoring experience in SharePoint. These new improvements should help reduce clutter, increase productivity, and add more value for users when editing a page.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 117376 and 117377
When this will happen:
We will begin rolling out in late-March and expect to complete rollout by late June.
How this will affect your organization:
The new updates will include:
- Surfacing the layout options in the web part toolbars, including in Quick Links, Events, People, Hero, News, and Title Region
- Moving the “add section” action to be inline on canvas and visible on hover
- Introducing a consolidated and enhanced Image web part toolbar
- Adding new text overlay capabilities in the Image web part, such as the ability to change positions, text size and styling, text box color and opacity, and image overlay color and transparency.
ADMINS – What you need to do to prepare:
There is nothing you need to do at this time.
Outlook: Bookings with me going Public
[MC532606 · Published Mar 24, 2023]: “Bookings with me” is coming to help you reduce the back and forth in scheduling, while helping you maintain control of your calendar. You’ll be able to create custom bookable slots to share with others so they can easily find a time to schedule a 1:1 meeting with you according to your availability and preferences. When someone books a slot with you using your personal booking page, you will both receive an email confirmation. Attendees can update or cancel scheduled meetings with you directly from your personal bookings page.
We will be removing the “preview” tag and making it generally available. Bookings with me will be available in Outlook on the web and the new Outlook for Windows.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap IDs 117571
When this will happen:
Rollout will begin in early May and is expected to be complete by late May.
How this will affect your organization:
Users will be able to access Bookings with me from the Outlook web calendar
All users with the following subscriptions will have access to Booking slots in Outlook by default:
- Office 365: A3, A5, E1, E3, E5, F1, F3
- Microsoft 365: A3, A5, E1, E3, E5, F1, F3, Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium
ADMINS – What you need to do to prepare:
Bookings with me in Outlook will be enabled by default for users that meet the licensing requirements.
To manage Bookings with me, please review: Bookings with me
Check out previous Microsoft Updates that Total Solutions has posted here -> Microsoft Updates Archives – Total Solutions Inc.
