A look back at all the latest updates and releases in the past month. in this months update:
SharePoint – page diagnostic tool, new web parts, CAD file preview in GA, activity highlights, site permissions panel, per site anyone link expiration policy, sharing reports
OneDrive – personal storage options, differential sync for all files, OCR scan support in iOS
Teams – filter chats, mute conversations, secondary ringer, cloud voicemail, reverse number lookup, calling in Chrome, phone updates for GCC, meet now with no invite, pin participant, missed meeting, meeting capabilities for more browsers
Related – To Do updates, multi-language support for Forms, Visio-Flow export, user templates in M365
SharePoint
Updated Page Diagnostic Tool
The diagnostic tool is a browser extension for Chrome and Microsoft Edge that helps identify modern/ classic Site Pages in SharePoint Online that may not be delivering optimal performance.
By comparing characteristics of a site page to known best practices, the tool provides remediation guidance, leading to suggested fixes across three analysis results: Attention required, Improvement opportunities and No action required.
Find out more:
New/ updated web parts
Lots of new and updated web parts are coming to SharePoint Online, here’s a look at them:
- Button & Call To Action – engage your page viewer by providing focused text on and above a button
- World Clock & Weather – add individual cities or a group of locations to highlight local times and weather
- Divider – put a line in between sections and web parts, choosing the width and thickness
- Highlighted Content adds Custom Query – use custom CAML or KQL queries to display precise sets of content, with the ability to combine filters using AND, OR, and NOT operators
Find out more:
- Roadmap ID 53221
- Roadmap ID 53222
- New web parts coming to SharePoint – August 2019
- Using web parts on SharePoint pages
CAD file preview enters GA
Utilising AutoCAD technology, you can now preview rich DWG files inline for OneDrive, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams.
Find out more:
- Roadmap ID 33414
- Now generally available: Explore CAD drawing files in OneDrive powered by Autodesk AutoCAD
Activity highlights in the file card
The file card now shows relevant file activities, like if someone you work with edits, comments, or @mentions you, that activity is displayed with a link to take action.
Find out more:
Manage sharing/ access request settings from site permissions panel
Sharing and access requests for a SharePoint site have moved. Now located in the “Change sharing settings” link, site owners can use the new panel to allow only owners to share files, folders, and the site – restricting everyone else from sharing.
Find out more:
Per site anyone link expiration policy
Admins will now be able to customize the expiration length on a per-site basis for Anyone or anonymous sharing links. Admins can now override the tenant policy and set a more or less restrictive expiration policy for specific sites.
Note: This functionality will only be available via the SharePoint Online Management Shell.
Find out more:
Sharing reports
Site owners can now get a CSV file report to see all the items in their site that have been shared with any user, both inside and outside the organization. Useful for providing external sharing reports, the export can be filtered to only show content from the “Shared with External Users” option to view every unique user, permission, link, and item that has been shared externally.
Find out more:
OneDrive
More personal storage options
You can now add more storage to your existing Office 365 subscription (Personal or Home) in 200 GB increments, starting at $1.99 per month.
Note: the 200GB incremental additional storage plans are only available for Office 365 subscribers. The Basic plan is free and offers 5GB, and non-subscription paid is $1.99USD/mo. and offers 100GB.
Find out more:
Differential sync for all file types
Differential sync brings the ability to sync only the parts of large files that have changed, not the entire file. The ability to leverage differential sync to all file types, stored in OneDrive and SharePoint is being rolled out this month.
Note: differential sync is already available for Office file types.
Find out more:
iOS app OCR in scan support
The OneDrive mobile app already has built-in scanning capabilities for scanning documents, whiteboards, business cards to name a few, as well as converting them into an easy-to-read PDF format. Scans taken for iOS 11.1.5 or later are now available for optical character recognition.
Find out more:
Teams
Filter chats
Newly released filters added in Chat and Teams help you filter more than just your activity. In chat, type a person’s name to filter for every group, meeting, or one-on-one chat you have with them.
Find out more:
Mute conversations
Now you can mute a conversation in a channel. Alternatively, when you want to follow a conversation in a channel you’ve hidden from your list, all you need to do is turn on notifications.
Find out more:
Secondary ringer
With the secondary ringer functionality, if you wear plugged in headsets you will still be able to hear an incoming call ring from your computer.
Find out more:
Cloud voicemail improvements
You can now directly transfer a call to Cloud Voicemail. You can also now configure call answer rules, choose the greeting language, customize the TTS for the standard greeting and the ‘out of office’ greeting, and choose when you want your ‘out of office’ greeting to be played.
Find out more:
Reverse number lookup
Now when you receive a call, Teams will display the PSTN Caller’s name based on Azure Active Directory data and/or the Telco provided display name. Available now on the desktop, and coming soon to Teams mobile.
Calling in Chrome
If You use Teams on the web, you can now add Google Chrome to your list of browsers that support making calls from your web browser.
Find out more:
Telephony updates for Microsoft GCC
Several updates are coming to Microsoft Government Community Cloud (GCC) this month, such as:
Call Handling Enhancements, Teams Calling improvements for VOIP users, Group Call Pickup (GCP), phone number blocking, Multiparty Calling without Conference License, Call Park (CP), and Shared Line Appearance (SLA).
Find out more:
No invite required for Meet Now
The “Meet Now” feature on desktop allows you to skip the invitation and instead go straight to in a new meeting. All you need to do is go to Calendar on the left side of Teams, then select Meet now in the top right corner and add the people to the meeting.
Pin a meeting participant
You can now choose which meeting attendees to “pin” to create your own personal view. Right-click on a meeting participant and select “pin” (or unpin) to create your own custom layout of meeting participants. Note that this view is your own and does not impact other meeting participants.
Missed meeting-add notifications
Now you will see a notification in the Teams activity feed to notify you that someone tried to add you to a meeting, and if the meeting is still going on you can join directly from there.
Find out more:
Light weight meeting capabilities for Internet Explorer, Firefox & Safari
With the new light-weight meeting join capabilities, users can jump straight into a Teams Meeting in Internet Explorer 11, Safari, and Firefox browsers. Meeting audio is delivered via Audio Conferencing, so meeting organizers will need the respective license.
Find out more:
Related
New version of Microsoft To Do
Microsoft unveiled a new version of To Do this month with a new look and new features. You can change the experience and background (includes dark mode) to suit your needs. To Do can now integrate with other Microsoft 365 apps to create a central view of your tasks.
Find out more:
Multi-language support for surveys in Forms
Microsoft Forms now offers the option to create surveys in multiple languages without having to merge separate documents.
Find out more:
Export Visio diagrams to Flow
Now you can easily create new flows in Visio and export them as a fully functioning workflow to Microsoft Flow. Built-in Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) stencils have sharing and commenting capabilities, simplifying development and collaboration.
Find out more:
- Export workflows designed in Visio to Flow to quickly automate business processes
- Microsoft Flow documentation
New user templates to create users in M365
You can now create and use a template to save time when adding multiple users. Templates are particularly useful if you have users who share many properties, like those who work in the same role and the same location.
Find out more:
Resources
- New in 365 video – September 2019
- Microsoft 365 blog – New to Microsoft 365 in September 2019
- SharePoint community blog – SharePoint roadmap pitstop September 2019
- Microsoft Teams blog – What’s new in Teams September 2019
- Microsoft OneDrive blog – OneDrive roadmap roundup September 2019
SharePoint Stuff 