November 2018

Teams: Blur background to improve video call focus

The new Background Blur feature in Teams eliminates potential distractions that might be lurking behind you on video calls and keeps the focus on you. Once you’re in a meeting, select the more options button (that’s the one that looks like an ellipsis), then click Blur my background. You’ll appear nice and clear while everything behind you is subtly concealed.

This feature is currently available in the desktop app for most newer PCs. To find out if it’s available on your device, select more options while in a meeting.

teams_blur_background — Teams: blur background to improve video call focus

Find out more: What’s new in Microsoft Teams

10 new ways for everyone to achieve more in the modern workplace

SharePoint: SharePoint migration tool to migrate your files to the cloud

At Microsoft Ignite several new capabilities were annonced as coming soon to the SharePoint Migration Tool. This tool provides a simple, no cost, and intuitive point and click interface that helps you migrate your existing SharePoint, OneDrive, and File Shares content to SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams.

Find out more

New capabilities coming soon to the SharePoint Migration Tool

Download the SharePoint Migration Tool

Release Notes: New and improved features in the SharePoint Migration tool

New to Microsoft 365 in October: Tools to create impactful content and help transition to the cloud

SharePoint: Revamped SharePoint admin center

Microsoft are introducing a completely revamped SharePoint Admin center that draws heavily on our modern design principles. It’s designed to help IT achieve more, so their users can achieve more.

Microsoft are making it much easier to manage Office 365 group-connected sites by allowing SharePoint administrators to manage ownership, change sharing settings, and delete and restore sites.

Admins can now more easily manage existing hub sites, and associate existing sites with a hub site, even in multi-geo scenarios.

Finally, Security and compliance enhancements in the admin center include access control policies for unmanaged or non-compliant devices, idle-session sign-out, and the ability to restrict or allow access from known IP address ranges.

SP_admin_center — New SharePoint admin center with access control

Find out more:

Unleash your SharePoint admin superpowers with new admin center capabilities

New to Microsoft 365 in October: Tools to create impactful content and help transition to the cloud

Office 365: HITRUST CSF Certification

Office 365 has earned HITRUST Certification from the Health Information Trust Alliance, the widely adopted security and risk management framework in the U.S. healthcare industry. This also includes the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, Cybersecurity Framework certification. The HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) helps health organizations address security, privacy and regulatory compliance through a comprehensive, flexible, framework of both prescriptive and scalable security controls.

Office 365 now enables health and life sciences organizations to be trusted data stewards and grow capabilities to transform patient care and experiences.