The Microsoft 365 monthly update includes updates and recently recent features across all of Microsoft 365. Press a button to read about an individual technology or continue reading for more. You can take a look back at previous monthly updates here, plus take a look at our weekly roadmap roundup.

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SharePoint

In SharePoint: Create from the SharePoint app bar, comment on a video or audio file in SharePoint/ OneDrive, Lists for Android, ‘unscheduled’ calendar view in Lists, access to standard & private channels

Create from the SharePoint app bar

This new feature allows you to create sites, files, and lists right from within the SharePoint app bar. Select the Create command (the plus sign) on the app bar and then select an option from SharePoint sites, Microsoft Lists, or Office files (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote).

• Site creation will launch the SharePoint site creation panel in the site you are in; if you are in a hub, the site will be associated with this hub when created
• List creation will open in a new tab and take you to the create experience in Microsoft Lists
• Office files will create the document in your OneDrive site until you select to save to a different location.

Find out more: Introduction to the SharePoint app bar

Comment on a video or audio file in SharePoint/ OneDrive

This feature allows you to have threaded conversations on a video or audio file saved in OneDrive or SharePoint through a cohesive and familiar commenting experience like the one used in Lists, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Find out more: Comments for Stream Files Stored in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business

Microsoft Lists for Android

With this new app, you can access your lists on the go anytime, anywhere. Manage events, track issues and assets, help with new-employee onboarding, and keep coordinated across inventory. With access on the go, easy sharing, and quick photo capture, you can keep everyone connected with the latest information using Microsoft Lists.

Find out more: https://aka.ms/MSLists/app/Android

Microsoft Lists Calendar view experience: ‘Unscheduled’ Pane

You will see a new ‘Unscheduled’ tab within the events pane to the right within a list Calendar view. The items with missing start and/or end dates and those with start date later than the end date would appear on this pane. You can then select the items to open the edit form and make appropriate edits to schedule these items.

Find out more: Create a calendar view from a list

SharePoint/ OneDrive: Access your Teams standard and private channel files

There is now an “In channels” section visible and collapsed by default. This “In channels” section includes all standard and private channels content within the Team, and private channels – if you have permissions to them – will be distinguished with a specific icon. The “In channels” section will only appear when a user navigates to the default document library of a SharePoint site that’s connected to a Teams team.

Note: The “In channels” section will not be visible if the SharePoint site is not connected to Teams. And when shared channels become available, they will also appear in this new section.

Find out more: Roadmap ID 88911

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Teams

In Teams: Text prediction for mobile, Power Automate templates, Fluent emojis, suggested replies, file upload for approvals, chat filter for non-meeting chats, admins can pin message extensions, Teams device store, follow office preview policy, user request flows for blocked apps

Anonymous meeting join, iOS improvements, share system audio on web, improved support in Firefox, move/ resize presenter, auto detect music, live caption support, Outlook contacts available for calling, emergency calling banner, config for call forwarding, present button for Teams Rooms
Government
Education
Front line workers

Text prediction for Teams mobile

When you compose or reply to a message in Teams, Editor Text Predictions anticipates your writing and suggests a suitable word or phrase inline. This saves time and helps you reduce typos.

Find out more: Start a chat on the go on Teams mobile

Power Automate templates to be added to teams templates

Need to create a team? Use Team templates to create the right team with predefined channels and preinstalled apps. Select Microsoft provided team templates will include a new Power Automate tab where you can find a variety of Power Automate flow templates that support a template type.

Find out more: Use flows in Microsoft Teams

New Fluent Emoji style coming to Teams emojis and reactions

Teams is joining M365 and Windows in updating all emojis and reactions to the new Microsoft Fluent emoji style, bringing users with over 1800 vibrant and expressive emoji experiences to choose from.

Find out more: Fluent Emojis

Suggested replies in chats

Suggested replies in Teams chat now in desktop uses assistive AI to create three short authentic responses based on the context of the previous message. Instead of typing a response, simply click on one reply that is most relevant to your conversation.

Find out more: Use suggested replies to respond to messages without typing

Upload files to your approval request via Power Automate portal

Files that are uploaded within the Power Automate portal will now show within the view details window of an Approval request within Teams.

Find out more: File attachments in Approval Flows

Chat filter for non-meeting chats

Quickly find chat messages and conversations you need most in your chat app with a new chat filter function. This new filter will find one-on-one or group chats and will filter out meeting chats and chat with bots.

Find out more: Search for messages and more in Teams

Admins can pin message extensions

Admins can manage the pin order of messaging extensions in the compose experience. Setup policies today allow admins to promote personal apps that show in the left rail of Teams Apps navigation. The apps that are handy while composing a message can differ from the personal apps, so we are bringing the ability to control these separately.

Find out more: Manage teams in the Microsoft Teams admin center

Teams device store in Teams admin center

The Microsoft Teams device store resides in the Microsoft Teams Admin Center aimed to help IT admins to search for and purchase certified Teams devices in a familiar interface. IT admin accounts are authenticated and integrated, helping streamline and automate device setup—removing the need to manually register the devices. All major Microsoft partners offering devices certified for Microsoft Teams will be included in the device store, with fulfillment provided by a third party. The store is now available in the US and Canada and is expected to be available in other international markets later this year.

Find out more: Microsoft Teams: Managing your devices

Follow Office preview policy on Mac

Public Preview has provided IT admins with the ability to allow their users to receive preview features before they are released to the public. The existing follow Office preview policy allows users to automatically be in the Public Preview Channel of Teams if they are in the Office Current Channel (Preview) on Windows.

The “follow Office preview” policy is now available to Mac users who are in the Office Current Channel (Preview).

Find out more: Microsoft Teams Public Preview

User request flows for blocked apps

Enable users to discover Teams apps in the store and request approval from administrators. When apps are blocked in the tenant, the end users were not able to discover them in Teams Client marketplace, while they are looking for tools to support their modern workplace. The ‘User request’ is going to act as an indicator of the user’s interest in the app.

The user will have an option to click “Request access”. When the request is submitted, the admin will see the aggregate count of the request Apps. This enables admins to have clear indicators or requested Apps.

Find out more: Microsoft Teams apps permissions and considerations

Government

These features currently available to Microsoft’s commercial customers in multi-tenant cloud environments are now rolling out to our customers in US Government Community Cloud (GCC), US Government Community Cloud High (GCC-High), and/or United States Department of Defense (DoD):

Attendance Dashboard – Measure meeting and webinar registration and attendance data in the new Attendance Dashboard. After the meeting, simply open the meeting invite and navigate to the Attendance tab. This feature is on by default. To disable, turn off the AllowEngagementReport policy within the Meeting policies section in the Teams admin center. Available in GCC. Learn more.

Teams webinar capabilities – Schedule and deliver webinars for up to 1,000 attendees with the same Teams app you use for meetings! Webinar capabilities support registration page creation, email confirmation for registrants, host management for attendee video and audio, attendee reporting, plus interactive features like polls, chat, and reactions. Available in GCC. Learn more.

Auto-answer meeting invites with video on for iOS devices – The ability for iOS devices to automatically answer incoming meeting nudges or invites with their video on is now here. Available in GCC-High and DOD.

Invite-only meeting options – A new meeting setting is now available in Teams meeting options that automatically sends those who were not originally invited by the organizer to the lobby. This helps prevent those uninvited from joining the meeting. Available in GCC. Learn more.

Share the system audio from meetings on web – Web users can now include audio when sharing their desktop or window during a Teams meeting. You can find this setting in the share content. Available in GCC.

Large Gallery and Together Mode in Teams Meetings on Web and VDI – Web and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) users are now able to change the Teams meeting layout to Together mode and Large Gallery. With Large Gallery, you have the ability to see up to 49 participants in a single screen, enhancing your overall virtual meeting experience. Available in GCC-High.

Voice enabled channels for GCC H and DoD – We added the ability to use a Teams channel with members as call agents for call queue call answering. Now we are bringing this capability to GCC H and DoD.

Roaming bandwidth control for GCC-High and DoD – Admins will now be able to set a bandwidth control policy to disable video calls when users are working in bandwidth constrained areas – this protects the reliability of the connection, automatically just based on where the users are located.

Dynamic Caller ID for Voice enabled channels, now available for GCC High and DoD – Last year we enabled the capability where agents can use Dynamic Caller ID to call on behalf of a Call Queue from within Voice Enabled Channels. We are now bringing this capability to Government clouds including GCC High and DoD.

Up to 25K members per team in DoD – Customers in DoD can now create a team with up to 25,000 participants, reaching broadly across your organization and beyond. Members of a team can cross-post a message into multiple channels at once, making it easy to share information across teams and workgroups.

New default for Teams notification style for DoD – Teams notification style will be defaulted to native notifications for new users. Currently the default style is Teams purple, with this change to native notifications the user will benefit from support for assist mode, action center, accessibility and more.

Teams for Education

Here’s what’s new in Teams for Education this month:

Students and educators get a notification when a new Class Notebook page is distributed – We are making a new update that will allow any Educator using Page Distribution in the OneNote client to ensure that all students get a notification in Teams after a page is distributed! This notification will work for educators using the Class Notebook Toolbar in OneNote Windows 10, iPad, Web and Mac.

Data reports after Teams meeting class – If a teacher has used Forms polls in a Teams meeting class, a summary report for all the polls used in this meeting will be generated and shared with teacher.

Frontline workers

Here’s what’s new for front line workers in Teams this month:

Virtual appointments through Microsoft Bookings in Teams – Microsoft Forms integration  – Through the new integration of Microsoft Forms into the Microsoft Bookings app in Teams, organizations can now collect and review responses from customers for virtual appointments. This can help provide organizations with enhanced insights, reduce administrative burdens, and streamline the virtual appointment experience.

Walkie Talkie app in Teams is available on Kyocera 5G Rugged Smartphones – The Walkie Talkie app in Teams with a dedicated push-to-talk button on Kyocera’s DuraForce Ultra 5G and DuraSport 5G is available for frontline workers to enjoy clear, instant, and secure communication at their fingertips. Learn more.

New Tag Management Settings – This feature will update default tag management settings in the Teams Admin Center to include ”Team owners and members” and not just “Team owners,” reducing the burden of creating and maintaining Tags solely on Team owners. Learn more about the new Tag Management Settings.

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Power Apps

In Power Apps: In-app notifications in Model-driven apps GA, support for SharePoint image column, String interpolation, Index function, RandBetween function in Power Fx, AAD User Virtual Table, Power Automate pane, wrap for Power Apps public preview, code components, Power Apps app on Windows, Dataflow refreshes in Power BI

General Availability (GA) for In-app notifications in Model-driven apps

The Power Apps team have announced that in-app notifications feature has reached General Availability (GA).  In-app notifications enable a user to receive a notification while they are working within the web or mobile model-driven app.  Notifications can be sent from Power Automate, app logic or web service calls allowing flexibility in where notifications are triggered.

Find out more: Send in-app notifications within model-driven apps

Power Apps supports the new SharePoint list image column type

Power Apps now supports the SharePoint list image columns for read scenarios. You can create a Power App and see the images directly in a Power App, as well as choose from the full version of the image or various thumbnail sizes:  Small, Medium, and Large. 

Note:

• The current implementation is Read only.  Update capabilities are in progress.
• The Small, Medium, and Large sized images are created on demand and temporarily cached.  An image that has been cached too long will be removed and will be regenerated on demand.
• Power Apps generally refreshes image meta-data every 30 seconds.  If you are authoring an application and want to immediately refresh images, choose the “…” item on the data source and choose to refresh the data.
• Images stored in a collection will not be rendered correctly.  It is best to access them directly from the list with a Filter expression.
• Images may still appear in the Power Apps field list even if the image column is hidden in the list

Find out more: Power Apps supports the new SharePoint list image column type

Power Fx: String interpolation, Index function, and RandBetween function

Three features are available in version 3.22041 and later of Power Apps Studio – string interpolation, Index function, and RandBetween function.

• String interpolation – Most modern programming languages have the ability to embed expressions within a string and now Power Fx does too. 
• Index function – Excel has an Index function for, among other things, returning a row out of a range and so Power Fx has adopted the same function.
• RandBetween function – Another Excel function, RandBetween( Low, High ) that returns an integer between Low and High inclusive.  

Find out more: Power Fx: String interpolation, Index function, and RandBetween function

AAD User Virtual Table – Find and add any AAD user to your records

The Power Apps team have announced support for an Azure Active Directory – AAD User virtual table for Dataverse. The AAD User table makes it easy to retrieve any user in your organization’s Azure Active Directory – not just users who have a Dataverse license assigned to them.  You can also retrieve details like job title, email, phone number and more.

The new AAD user table is available automatically with no additional configuration required.

AAD User Virtual Table.

Find out more: Announcing the AAD User Virtual Table – Find and add any AAD user to your records.

The new Power Automate pane in Power Apps

The new Power Automate pane brings the ability to add flows to the left-pane, in the same way you add other resources like data and media to your canvas app. When you click the Power Automate button, a new pane appears allowing you to see flows already included in in your app or add existing flows.

You can also create new flows; selecting “Create new flow” now opens a new experience where you can choose from Power Apps based flow templates or start from blank.

Find out more: Introducing the new Power Automate pane in Power Apps!

Wrap for Power Apps (Public Preview)

The Power Apps team have announced that the wrap public preview – enabling you to create mobile apps with Power Apps – is now open. Power Apps is now officially a Mobile Application Development Platform (MADP/MXDP) stuffed with great new capabilities:

• Low-code mobile app creation – we build the app for you!
• Seamless end-to-end branding from home screen icon to app UX
• Embed multiple Canvas apps into a single mobile app
• Distribute your app natively to meet end users where they are
• Enterprise governance with Intune for individual Canvas apps

Find out more: Announcing Public Preview of wrap for Power Apps

React (virtual) and Fluent UI code components (Public Preview)

The Power Apps team have announced the public preview availability of React based virtual code components. 1st and 3rd party developers now have the ability to make use of platform provided libraries to build their diverse set of code components.

No more React or Fluent library packaging inside individual component bundles. Code components can now use one common set of platform provided React and Fluent UI React libraries.

Find out more: React (virtual) and Fluent UI code components using platform libraries

Power Apps application on Windows (Public Preview)

The Power Apps team have announced the public preview availability of Power Apps (Preview) for Windows. With the new Power Apps (preview) application, your will be able to run apps in offline within a brand new application fully integrated within the Windows OS and supporting the native Dataverse connector and native device capabilities like barcode scanner or Camera controls.

Find out more: Announcing Public Preview of a new Power Apps application on Windows

Monitor Dataflow refreshes with a Power BI dashboard

You can now use the managed Dataverse tables to report over your dataflow refresh history. You now get two new managed Dataverse table with details about refreshes of your dataflows in your environment. We populate the tables with new data automatically after each refresh.

DataflowRefreshHistory – Contains the overall dataflow refresh history data
EntityRefreshHistory – Contains data of all entities involved in the refreshes

Using the new tables you are able to extract information about errors , duration of the refreshes and, how many new records got inserted into your Dataverse table.

Find out more: Monitor all your Dataflow refreshes with a Power BI dashboard

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Power Automate

In Power Automate: Power Automate desktop update, 3 new verified connectors, 4 independent connectors, process advisor sharing analytics

Power Automate desktop April 2022

The April 2022 update of Power Automate for desktop (version 2.19) is out now. There are several new features and updates, including:

• Built-in examples are now available
• Cloud or Region picker is now supported in the console
• New action ‘Hover mouse over UI element in window’
• Support of physical keyboard interaction in ‘Populate text field on web page’ action
• Improved recorder performance

Find out more: Power Automate for desktop – April 2022 update

3 new verified connectors and 10 updates

Take a look at all the new and updated connectors released in March 2022 for Power Automate:

New connectors

• allGeo – allGeo provides an enterprise-grade field service management platform that bridges the gap between operations and payroll.
• Nodefusion Portal – A Nodefusion Portal Connector is used for various actions, such as opening support case, managing subscriptions, checking service roadmaps and more.
• Open Experience – Open Experience GmbH provides innovative solutions for the digitization of construction work. 

Updated connectors

• Connect2All
• IA-Connect Dynamic Code
• IA-Connect Session
• IA-Connect UI
• IA-Connect Web Browser
• Impexium
• SmartDialog
• Sociabble
• Trasnform2All
• Virus Total

Find out more: 3 New Verified Connectors and 10 Updates released in March 2022

4 new independent publisher connectors

Take a look at all the new independent publisher connectors released in March 2022 for Power Automate:

• EmojiHub by Troy Taylor – EmojiHub provides an opportunity to get random emojis from already sorted categories and groups. 
• Infura Ethereum by Sebastian Zolg – The Infura Ethereum Connector uses the Infura JSON-RPC API to access the Ethereum Blockchain.
• AIHW MyHospitals by Paul Culmsee – The MyHospitals national reporting platform allows users to explore information about their local hospital and Local Hospital Network (LHN), as well as trends across Australia.
• Word Cloud by Textvis by Troy Taylor – Generate great looking word clouds from text. Customize size, color and more.

Find out more: 4 Incredible New Independent Publisher Connectors in March 2022

Share analytics and invite tenant users in process advisor

The Power Automate team have announced the ability to share data-based processes with others via a viewer role. The viewer role grants the invited user read access to the process analytics and the ability to invite others with the viewer role. This feature empowers process owners to share process insights with anyone who would benefit, such as teammates, analysts, managers, etc.

Find out more: Get Quality Process Insights by Sharing Analytics and Inviting Tenant Users

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Power BI

In Power BI: On-prem data gateway, Power BI desktop feature summary, additional gateway security roles, update to required permissions for composite models

On-premises data gateway April 2022 update

The Power BI team have released the April 2022 update for the On-premises data gateway (version 3000.122.7). This version of the gateway will ensure that the reports that you publish to the Power BI Service and refresh via the Gateway will go through the same query execution logic/run-time as in the April Power BI Desktop version.

Find out more: On-premises data gateway April 2022 update is now available

Power BI desktop feature summary – April 2022

The April update for Power BI desktop is out now – with updates for new format panes and Power BI Goals, tooltips drill actions support for more build-in visuals, plus lot’s more!

Find out more: Power BI April 2022 Feature Summary

Additional gateway security roles for Power BI

Additional security roles allow for more granularity in assigning roles for the gateway. The new change is that non-admins of the gateway can be allowed to create connections (data sources) on the gateway. This way, your gateway admins are not the bottleneck anymore for creating connections (data sources).

Find out more: Additional gateway security roles for Power BI

Update to required permissions when using composite models on a Power BI dataset

For datasets in Premium or PPU workspaces, a user that consumes a report that leverages a composite model based on a Power BI dataset is required to have just Read permissions (or have the Viewer role) on all datasets in the chain.

Note: While this is great news for those that only use Premium or PPU workspaces, this is concerning to those that leverage Pro workspaces, or a mix of types. Microsoft plan to make the same change for Pro workspaces as well, but for technical reasons they have not announced that as of yet.

Find out more: Update to required permissions when using composite models on a Power BI dataset

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BONUS! Even more updates

Support neurodiversity in the hybrid workplace

Microsoft have been working to cut down the noise by providing more ways to customize which notifications Microsoft Teams shows you and when, and new ways to protect time with Microsoft Viva Insights. They’ve also added new capabilities to support and improve reading and writing like text prediction options, voice control tools, and accessible authoring features—great for everyone, but a true game changer for workers with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

Find out more: what’s new in Microsoft accessibility for spring 2022 blog

Yammer updates

A series of updates to Yammer have been released that help make it easier to find what you need, share ideas, and customize to your preferences. First, community members can now upvote a response if it’s a helpful or useful contribution to the question, making it easier for others to find answers. You can now also bookmark a conversation to see the post and its replies later. Finally, dark mode for Yammer web will be available soon.

Find out more: Yammer Blog

Widows Autopatch

Windows Autopatch as a feature of Windows Enterprise E3, enabling IT pros to do more for less. This service will keep Windows and Office software on enrolled endpoints up-to-date automatically, at no additional cost. IT admins can gain time and resources to drive value. For organizations who select this option, the second Tuesday of every month will be ‘just another Tuesday’.

Find out more: Get current and stay current with Windows Autopatch

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The Microsoft 365 monthly update includes updates and recently recent features across all of Microsoft 365. Press a button to read about an individual technology or continue reading for more. You can take a look back at previous monthly updates here, plus take a look at our weekly roadmap roundup.

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SharePoint

In SharePoint: SharePoint Syntex: Content assembly, management of content types, new taxonomy (managed metadata) column, list templates for MSA, top news card on Viva Connections dashboard, Viva Insights Enroll in Focus plan

SharePoint Syntex: Content assembly

With Content Assembly, you can build that new contract, invoice, letter, or other document from existing data sources, or, by leveraging AI, you can turn your existing document into a template to be used for your business-specific needs.

Find out more: Syntex content assembly and the content lifecycle

New Taxonomy managed metadata column

You will see a new Managed metadata option as a column type within the Add column menu in SharePoint lists and now libraries.  On selecting the option, users will be able to specify the column information such as its name and description and select the desired term set or term that exists within your organization, to associate the column with.  

Find out more: Enable management of content types and add taxonomy columns from modern libraries and lists view

Enable management of content types

SharePoint admin’s can now enable management of content types directly from SharePoint modern document library and list views, instead of having to navigate to classic library settings.

Admin’s will see the Content Type option in the Add Column menu, even when they have not enabled Allow management of Content types from the Advanced settings option of Library Settings. Once the admin selects the desired Content types for the library and clicks on Apply, we will enable content types for the library automatically and then sync the content types to the library or list. 

Find out more: Enable management of content types and add taxonomy columns from modern libraries and lists view

New list templates for the Microsoft Lists – MSA Preview

Three new list templates recently launched in Microsoft Lists for MSA (consumer) preview:

• Gift ideas: Easily organize your gift planning for your family & friends in one list and make gift buying and giving a breeze.
• Expense tracker: We all have expenses. This template helps you record all your expenses in one place.
• Recipe tracker: Create your very own virtual recipe book. Preserve links for recipes to try and recipes you love and organize them with tags. Add images to the ones you’ve cooked and show them off in a customizable recipe card view.

Find out more: Microsoft Lists – MSA Preview

Top news card on Viva Connections dashboard

Authors can  boost news posts to highlight important announcements to all employees. The update this month extends the value of the overall news service throughout Microsoft 365. Ensuring that important news expands its reach out to intended employees and peers.

Find out more: Boost SharePoint news from organization news sites

Microsoft Viva Insights: Enroll in Focus plan from the Insights app in Teams

Viva Insights is introducing updates to better enable users to protect time for focus from the Viva Insights Teams app. These updates to the protect time page will allow users to enroll in a focus plan and adjust preferences to auto book focus time on one’s calendar from within the Insights app in Teams. Users enrolled in a focus plan will also see insights about their progress towards their focus time goals.

Find out more: Microsoft Viva Insights

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Teams

In Teams: New search results page, new search on mobile, customer lockbox, automated webinar invite + custom domain, calendar day view, auto-answer meeting invites with video iOS, live caption support on VDI, auto-expiration of meeting recordings, roaming bandwidth, hold music VoIP, casting from desktop to rooms
Teams admin: Admin search phase 1, export teams list, virtual visits usage report, list of joined teams per user
Teams (Government)
Teams (Education)
Teams (Firstline)
Teams (Healthcare)

Search results page in Teams

A new search results page experience from Microsoft Search in Teams will make finding messages, people, answers, and files faster and more intuitive. A new All page will show top results from each domain, Bookmark, and Acronym.

Find out more: New and improved search results experience on Microsoft Teams

New Search experience in Teams mobile app

When searching in the Teams mobile app, you will now have a new header, get suggestions as you type (top results show up as soon as you start typing and will be modified as typing progresses), and meetings will appear in search results as well. You also will be able to scroll to past and future dates in the calendar using a date picker.

Find out more: Download Microsoft Teams Desktop and Mobile Apps

Customer Lockbox

Customer Lockbox ensures that Microsoft cannot access your content to perform a service operation without your explicit approval. Already available for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business, Customer Lockbox brings you into the approval workflow for requests to access your content. This update brings the capability to Microsoft Teams as well.

Find out more: Customer Lockbox in Office 365

Automated webinar invite, custom domain for communications

Two new updates for webinars. First, as webinars are set up, invites are sent to attendees to register. When attendees register, the webinar invite will now automatically be added to the attendee’s calendar, making it easy to plan ahead and to remember when the event takes place.

Once attendees have registered for a webinar, as confirmation emails are sent to keep attendees informed, the sender name and domain email will now include the tenant’s name. This will make it easy for attendees to recognize who is sending communications for the event.

Find out more: Schedule a webinar

Day view in calendar on iOS and Android

View all hours of the day beyond scheduled meetings and events, which allows you to see when you’re available or busy throughout the day.

Find out more: Set up your Teams mobile apps

Auto-answer meeting invites with video on for iOS devices

The ability for iOS devices to automatically answer incoming meeting nudges or invites with their video on is now here. This is most beneficial in the healthcare industry, especially in ICU and/or patient virtual rounding scenarios where patient rooms require a no-touch join capability for incoming calls. In this scenario, the Teams device in the room would be invited to a scheduled or ad-hoc meeting where both AutoAnswerwithVideo and video are enabled. The AutoAnswerwithVideo setting is disabled by default.

Find out more: Set up auto answer for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android and Teams video phone devices

Support of Live Caption for Teams on VDI for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365

Teams users on Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) are now able to enable live captions during a meeting. Live captions allow your audience to follow along with what is being said, providing additional clarity and inclusion.

Find out more: Microsoft Teams Live Captions is now generally available on Azure Virtual Desktop

Auto-Expiration of Meeting Recordings stored on OneDrive and SharePoint

Newly created Teams meeting recordings in OneDrive and SharePoint will be deleted automatically by the service based on a default Teams policy setting. Teams admins will be able to modify the default meeting recording expiration time via a setting in the Teams Admin Portal or by modifying policy attributes using Powershell scripts.

Newly created meeting recordings in OneDrive and SharePoint will be automatically deleted after this point unless the meeting owner extends the expiration. Meeting owners will be notified about expired recordings and may extend the expiration date in OneDrive/SharePoint. Compliance policies will override the expiration setting. This rollout will start in the March timeframe and will continue to roll out to tenants over the next few weeks.

Find out more: Admin doc: Meeting policies and meeting expiration in Microsoft Teams | User doc: Record a meeting in Teams

Roaming bandwidth control

Admins can now set dynamic bandwidth policies based upon the geographic location of users’ Teams clients. This capability allows admins to set more limited bandwidth controls and disable video calls when users are in remote or bandwidth-constrained locations to protect the reliability of the connection.

Find out more: New-CsTeamsNetworkRoamingPolicy

Music on Hold for VoIP Calls

Music on hold is now available for calls on hold and consult-then-transfer scenarios for both VoIP and PSTN calls. Music on hold is enabled by default.  The music that is played for callers on hold is either the default music provided by Microsoft or custom music that administrators can upload and configure.

Find out more: Music on Hold

Casting from Teams desktop client to Microsoft Teams Rooms

Now you can use Teams casting to wirelessly connect to Teams Rooms and display content from your Teams desktop client. You also can broadcast your screen and cast content stored locally on your device or accessible via Office 365.

Find out more: Cast content from a mobile device to a Microsoft Teams Room

Teams admin

Team Search on Teams admin center – phase 1

Searching for a user call, a ‘team’ searching for an App by its name, or the name of the publisher. Search of the left navigation bar, allowing IT admins to easily find content from across the admin center and to be navigated to the corresponding page. The next phase that will be released in the coming month will introduce search for entities as documentation, policy, diagnostics and access the search history.

Export Teams list from Teams Admin Center

Administrators can export Teams and Users lists as a csv file from the Teams admin center.

Virtual Visits usage report in Teams Admin Center

Customers can view detailed activity for virtual appointments scheduled through the Bookings app and the Microsoft Teams Electronic Health Records (EHR) connector. Customers also will be able to understand virtual visit appointment volume and key associated metrics to improve virtual visit adoption, to understand wait time and appointment duration for a given period, as well as evaluate quality customer experience and manage ROI.

List of the joined teams per user in Teams admin center

Teams administrators can view the list of teams that a user has joined via the User detail page in the Teams admin center. Previously, in order to find out whether a user is part of a team or not, admins had to go to the individual teams and search for a user. Using this feature, admins can view the list of teams that a user is part of from a single place and then take actions like “removing from a team.”

Teams (Frontline)

Task publishing editing – Task publishing enables corporate teams to create and publish tasks through Tasks by Planner and To Do. With this feature, corporate teams can edit published tasks so they can make easy adjustments without having to recall the entire task list and disturb the execution of tasks already in action.

Teams Shifts connector for Blue Yonder – The Microsoft Teams Shifts connector for Blue Yonder Workforce Management (WFM), now generally available, extends the value of Blue Yonder WFM for organizations that rely on it for precise labor scheduling, accurate time and attendance tracking, reduced associate turnover, and simplified compliance with labor laws and corporate policies.

Walkie Talkie app in Teams is available on Sonim XP8 – The Walkie Talkie app in Microsoft Teams is now available on Sonim XP8, with a dedicated push-to-talk button. Learn more about how frontline workers can enjoy clear, instant, and secure communication at their fingertips and collaborate seamlessly with anyone from anywhere across geographic locations.

Global sign in and sign out – Teams iOS app will support global sign in and sign out to simplify the experience for frontline workers. Employees can now use any device from the shared device pool to sign in with their credentials and sign out of it at the end of the shift. This will remove all their personal and company information from the device.

Approvals app in Teams now available in Microsoft 365 F1 SKUs for frontline workers – Get faster approvals by streamlining frontline worker requests with Approvals app in Teams in Microsoft 365 F3 and now Microsoft 365 F1. Easily create, manage, and share approvals directly from a chat, a channel conversation, or from the app. Create approvals from scratch, company-created templates with easy, repeatable structures and preset fields, or with e-sign through Adobe Sign and DocuSign. Learn more about Approvals.

Teams (Education)

Introducing Parent Connection – Parents & guardians, students, and educators all want the same thing – for every student to reach their potential. Educators carry a heavy portion of this responsibility, but they can’t do it alone. Parent Connection is generally available to all Teams for Education customers (included in all Office365 A-SKUS). Learn more here, or talk with your IT administrator about setting up Parent Connection using School Data Sync.

Take action on behalf of your student – Available for both individual & group assignments, educators can now turn-in and upload documents in the Assignments grading tool on behalf of their students.

Notify me when students turn in late work – We have added the ability for educators to be notified when students turn in a late assignment. You can get notified for any assignment that’s turned in late, or only specific assignments.

Assignments Notification customizations – You can now customize the notifications associated with Assignments using the settings menu in Microsoft Teams (in the 3 dots menu to the left of your photo). And you can also get direct access to the assignment from your Teams activity feed.

Giving you space to grade with the mini grader – With this update to the grading experience in Assignments, you can choose to collapse or expand the grading view, allowing you to allocate your screen real estate as you see fit.

Reading Progress – Last week we announced several significant updates, together forming a more well-rounded solution which supports reading fluency and literacy instruction, allowing schools and educators to optimize teacher-student interactions, and delivering the education support each student needs in an individualized, practical, and equitable way. We’re excited to again share the product experiences that will be available in the coming days.

Actionable Insights and personalized Reading Progress assignments – Reading Progress enables readers of all types to practice their skills in a safe, student-centric environment while providing educators with deep insights on each student’s strengths, progress, and challenges. With Actionable Insights, we’re helping educators quickly generate assignments based on the words that students struggled with most. 

Return for Revision – We’ve made improvements to the student experience when an educator returns a Reading Progress assignment for revision. Reading assignments can now be returned for revision so students can see fully marked up passages from their teachers to learn from their mistakes and re-do the assignment.

Video recording for Reading Progress on iOS and Android – With this update, students using Reading Progress across the desktop, web, and mobile Teams applications can all record themselves performing Reading Progress exercises.

Use OneNote Class Notebook pages as reading passages – Currently, educators can pick reading passages from ReadWorks, a Teams file, OneDrive, or uploading from their computer. We have now added the ability to pick a page from a OneNote Class Notebook in your Class Teams! This will be rolling out starting today.

New languages supported in auto-detect – When Reading Progress launched this August, the auto-detect feature was only available in English. With this update, auto-detect capability will be available in over 100 languages. Find a list of languages supported here.

See Aggregated reaction tags for sticky notes in whiteboards – Now, you can “like” your favorite ideas or provide feedback to your colleagues during brainstorms. Previously, this was done by dropping sticker-like emojis on the board but these new reaction tags are easier to use because they follow the sticky notes, are easier to see, are aggregated into buckets, and give you greater visibility into each reaction.

Add photos and files to whiteboards on mobile devices – Take a picture of your whiteboard or your teaching material with your phone and quickly add it to your digital Whiteboard. Now, users on mobile devices will be able to share content directly from the photo gallery or camera on their mobile device to a Whiteboard in Teams.

Teams (Government)

These features currently available to Microsoft’s commercial customers in multi-tenant cloud environments are now rolling out to our customers in US Government Community Cloud (GCC), US Government Community Cloud High (GCC-High), and/or United States Department of Defense (DoD):

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) for one-to-one Teams calls for GCCH and DoD – Recently we shared that E2EE for 1:1 Teams calls was generally available for commercial and GCC tenants on desktop and mobile clients. We’re happy to share that we have now extended E2EE for 1:1 calls for desktop and mobile clients to GCC-H and DOD tenants. For more information on how to enable and manage E2EE for your organization, please see our docs page.

Guest access support on mobile for GCC-High – Teams now supports guest access between tenants inside the GCC-H Cloud.

Pin or hide your own video in Teams meetings – We have now expanded the ability to pin your own video on the meeting stage. This way, you can see your own video in the increased size on your screen. Inversely, you can hide your own video during a meeting on others’ screens. Available in GCC-High and DOD.

Large Gallery and Together Mode in Teams Meetings on VDI – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) users are now able to change the Teams meeting layout to Together mode and Large Gallery. With Large Gallery, you have the ability to see up to 49 participants in a single screen, enhancing your overall virtual meeting experience. In Together mode, participants are digitally placed in a shared background, making it feel like you’re sitting in the same room with everyone else even when you are apart. Available in GCC.

Video streams out via AJA or Blackmagic Design Hardware – Production teams now can better manage their workflow and use Microsoft Teams as a contribution source for their broadcasts. We have partnered with two industry leaders in the video and audio market, AJA and Blackmagic Design, to provide hardware-out functionality with Microsoft Teams and select hardware devices. When you connect a supported hardware device, Teams will recognize the hardware and enable sending of an individual’s media stream out to the hardware directly as a clean feed. Available in GCC. Learn more.

Isolated audio feed capabilities – Broadcasters can create a high-quality, clean audio mix with our new isolated audio feed capabilities in Microsoft Teams. As broadcasters use Network Device Interface (NDI) or hardware-out, they will be able to capture the isolated audio feed along with the isolated video feed from any Teams meeting, enabling full control of both the feeds going into their studio. This capability is enabled within the meeting settings and is available as a public preview in GCC.

Approvals templates for GCC-High and DoD – Looking to create an approval request quickly? There’s no need to insert your request approvers one by one. Now, users can choose a template provided by their admins or Teams owners to create a new approval request.

Teams (Healthcare)

Microsoft Teams EHR connector for Cerner—generally available – The new integration with Cerner expands the capabilities of the Microsoft Teams EHR connector, making it easier for clinicians to launch virtual appointments with patients or consult with other providers in Teams directly from their health record system. Organizations using Cerner can now easily integrate virtual appointments into their existing clinical workflows.

Virtual appointment device tester—generally available – The new device tester can help you reduce no-shows by allowing patients to test their hardware settings before their virtual appointment. This allows the patient and provider to focus on the appointment and spend less time on technical challenges. It’s now available through the Microsoft Teams EHR connector.

Teladoc Health Solo™ with Microsoft Teams—generally available – In collaboration with Teladoc Health, a global leader in virtual healthcare, we are announcing the general availability of Teladoc Health Solo™ with Microsoft Teams. This new offering transforms the virtual care experience by enhancing clinical collaboration, improving the user experience, increasing system efficiency, and expanding care delivery—making it easier for care teams to collaborate and manage their patients and resources at scale. Teladoc Health Solo™ with Teams simplifies the way healthcare organizations and care providers work by streamlining technologies and administrative processes.

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OneDrive

In OneDrive: OneDrive/ SharePoint library dropdown, Sync activity center visual update

Library dropdown

A new dropdown has been added in OneDrive and SharePoint that allows you to easily switch between multiple document libraries associated with a Team or Site.

Sync activity center visual update

The Activity Center has received a visual update to more align with the Fluent Design language. This visual update applies a modern look to the Activity Center.

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Power Apps

In Power Apps: Power Platform API, runtime localization support for Code Components, Power Platform Tools GA, pas-as-you-go Power Apps GA, model-driven apps offline for makers

Microsoft Power Platform API (preview)

The Power Platform team have announced the public preview of Power Platform API, beginning March 31st, 2022. Power Platform API acts as a gateway or a single API surface that harmonizes the internal APIs from feature areas of the platform.  This results in a single endpoint (ex. api.powerplatform.com) for customers to use along with a unified set of Permissions and claims that can be requested from Azure Active Directory.

Find out more: Microsoft Power Platform API reference (preview)

Runtime localization support for Code components on Custom pages/ Canvas apps

The Power Apps team have announced the Public Preview of runtime localization for code components on custom page and standalone canvas applications. Inline with the model-driven application behaviour, custom pages and standalone canvas applications can now dynamically display themselves in user preferred language. This not just enables all code components to align seamlessly with the host application language but also  provides significant runtime performance optimizations.

Find out more: Runtime localization support for Code components on Custom pages and Canvas apps

Power Platform Tools for Visual Studio Code general availability

The Power Platform team have announced general availability of Power Platform Tools for Visual Studio Code in addition to our monthly Power Platform CLI refresh. As well as the announced of the terminal interface for the Power Platform CLI in Visual Studio code, there are also added graphical elements, that lets you take advantage of the real estate that Visual Studio Code offers.

Find out more: Power Platform Tools

Pay-as-you-go Power Apps generally available

With a pay-as-you-go-option now generally available, customers now can use an Azure subscription to cover their Power Apps usage and Dataverse capacity costs based on actual usage. With the new pay-as-you-go plan, customers only pay for what they use, giving them more flexibility to get started with low code with low risk and then scale their investments over time based on the usage patterns of their solutions.

Find out more: Announcing the general availability of pay-as-you-go for Power Apps

Model-driven apps offline for makers (Preview)

In this preview, you’ll now also be able to choose the offline mode for your mobile apps. The new offline-first mode is optimized to improve your device performance and it works better in low-network conditions than “classic offline” mode.

Previously, only admins were able to create an offline profile. Now, in just a few clicks, you, the maker, can enable offline for your mobile users, and you no longer need to manage a separate user access list just for offline support. When you configure offline in the app designer, all users who have access to your app will be able to work offline.

Find out more: Model-driven apps offline for Makers (preview)

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Power Automate

In Power Automate: Power Automate Desktop March 2022 update, 23 new connectors, new AI Builder homepage, Teams workflows

Power Automate for desktop – March 2022 update

Power Automate for desktop (version 2.18) has been released and a summary of the new features and updates can be found below:

• Support of Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge browser
• Handling of Java version updates for installing Power Automate Java files
• Enhanced capabilities of extracting web data when handling large datasets
• Support of physical mouse interaction in ‘Click link on web page’ action
• User is informed when trying to interact with app running with elevated rights

Find out more: Power Automate for desktop – March 2022 update

23 new/ updated connectors

Last month saw the release of 23 new and updated connectors for Power Automate:

New

• Actsoft Mobile Workforce Plus – Actsoft Mobile Workforce Plus is an all-in-one service management platform that helps you more effectively manage your remote teams of employees and general business operations away from the office. 
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Constituents – Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT is a comprehensive cloud-based fundraising and donor management software solution built specifically for nonprofits and the entire social good community. 
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Documents – Use the Documents connector to create documentation locations used when storing physical attachments.
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Events – Use the Events connector to manage events and participants.
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Fundraising – Use the Fundraising connector to manage campaigns, funds, appeals, and packages.
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Gifts – Use the Gifts connector to manage gifts.
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Interactions – Use the Interactions connector to manage constituent actions.
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Lists – Use the Lists connector to manage lists.
• Blackbaud Raisers Edge NXT Prospects – Use the Prospects connector to manage prospects, opportunities, and ratings.
• Blackbaud SKY Add-ins – Use the Interactions connector to manage constituent actions.
• SECIB – The SECIB connector allows SECIB users to automate their workflow. 

Updated

• Adobe PDF Services
• AvePoint Cloud Governance
• Cognito Forms
• Connect2All
• Connective eSignatures
• Encodian
• PDF4me Connect
• Plumsail Forms
• Resco Cloud
• SeeBotRun Link
• Staffbase
• WorkSpan

Find out more: Starting 2022 with the release of twenty-three new and updated connectors

New AI Builder homepage

The new AI Builder new home page is now available at https://aka.ms/tryaibuilder. The new homepage includes a getting started video, similar navigation to find models, plus lot’s more.

Find out more: Explore the new AI Builder homepage

Power Automate flows from within Teams store

Microsoft have announced they are providing easy to use workflow automation powered by Power Automate directly within the Teams Store. Creating new automated workflows can all be done with new pre-configured templates in the Workflows section of the store.

Find out more: Automate your work day with workflows in Teams

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Power BI

In Power BI: Service principal profiles in Power BI Embedded GA, on-prem data gateway update, Power BI desktop feature summary

General availability of service principal profiles in Power BI Embedded

The Power BI team have announced a new method that allows a much larger number of customers per one service principal by introducing a new entity named service principal profile. Each service principal profile can administer a customer, and the number of profiles per service principal can reach hundreds of thousands.

Find out more: Announcing general availability of service principal profiles in Power BI Embedded

On-premises data gateway March 2022

The March update for the On-premises data gateway (version 3000.118.2) is out now. This month’s update includes:

• BitSight Security Ratings (New Connector)
• Bloomberg Enterprise Data and Analytics (Connector Update)
• Anaplan (Connector Update)
• FactSet Analytics (Connector Update)
• AssembleViews (Connector Update)

Find out more: On-premises data gateway March 2022 update is now available

Power BI March 2022 Desktop Feature Summary

This month’s update for Power BI desktop includes error bars for line charts, dynamic format strings support for all chart elements, plus updates to the Azure Maps visual and Sensitivity labels, datasets hub and Power BI Goals. 

Find out more: Power BI March 2022 Feature Summary

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