Tag: Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams, the well-known communication and video conferencing platform geared towards the business environment, has added the option for users to rate and review various applications compatible with its ecosystem. In this way, users can get an idea of which apps are most useful within Teams.

This is another step for Microsoft Teams in strengthening its position as a platform with useful functionalities for users. Thanks to the ability to rate and review existing applications, many companies, employees, freelancers, or students can choose more thoughtfully the apps to install in Teams.

Rating applications in Teams

As Microsoft announces, thanks to user feedback, when you search for an application with a specific function, you can choose the most appropriate one for your needs based on reviews from other users. Additionally, with their ratings, you can make a more informed decision about which application to download for carrying out your task.

With the ability to view user ratings and reviews, the most useful applications will stand out among the sea of existing services and make finding the perfect app easier than ever. Therefore, this change will represent a significant improvement in the user experience.

The competition among workspace platforms

There are quite a few brands with services focused on remote work or computer-mediated communication. Microsoft Teams is integrated into many companies, but there are also many others that prefer Google’s workplace and Google Meet services, while other brands opt for options like Zoom or Slack.

There are many interesting options within these ecosystems, and all of them are trying to evolve to continue attracting users. In the case of Teams, Microsoft is opting for improvements that come through Copilot, the AI that assists with work-related tasks and even attends meetings to synthesize their content.

Microsoft Teams continues to enhance its functionalities. If in recent days we saw improvements like Copilot’s assistance in meetings, now users can also archive old channels without the need to delete them entirely. It’s a small change but highly useful for users who frequently utilize this feature of Microsoft’s communication platform.

This improvement aligns with the roadmap set by Microsoft 365, the premium subscription that provides users with access to all Microsoft services for professional use.

Simpler cleaning of Teams history

The ability to archive channels will allow for a cleaner interface by putting inactive channels “in the drawer” that clutter menus. Additionally, this feature also serves to protect information that users do not want to be visible. If a channel is archived by the manager, invited users will temporarily lose access to its content, files, and spreadsheets.

Similarly, the archive of these channels can be reversed, restoring access to any previously invited user. This facilitates the manager’s work in channel administration, saving them the effort of recreating it from scratch.

Teams, a cornerstone of Microsoft

Microsoft Teams has managed, through hard work and investment, to become a leading application in many professional fields. In times when remote work is becoming increasingly common, Teams has positioned itself as one of the favorite choices for companies. This achievement is noteworthy considering that Google’s Workplace is one of its competitors, and other brands like Slack also had an advantage due to the longevity of their services.

The professional environment demands high levels of loyalty, prompting Microsoft Teams to continually evolve by implementing improvements and updates that enhance users’ quality of life. This is why the previously mentioned Copilot is increasingly integrated into the Teams ecosystem, representing one of Microsoft’s significant investments in Artificial Intelligence.

Microsoft announced yesterday that some Teams users can now enjoy new features that allow them to access a lot of relevant information about participation in the meetings conducted through the mentioned program. With these new measures, users can firsthand check the reactions and interactions generated during the specific meeting. However, as mentioned, this is only available to users of Microsoft Teams Public Preview and those using the Microsoft 365 version with a Premium license.

Therefore, at this moment, only users of Teams Public Preview and the similar version of Microsoft 365 with a Premium license can use these new features. However, they can only access them through the Edge and Google Chrome browsers since they are available on the web version. But don’t worry too much, as Microsoft has confirmed that these new features will be implemented in the Windows and Mac apps “soon,” although an exact or approximate date has not been provided.

Microsoft Teams provides more details about meetings

Microsoft announced the news with the following message: “Attendance information is particularly useful for measuring interest in the topic discussed, as well as the suitability of the meeting format and structure. Meeting organizers can now collect and view participation data, such as total reactions, raised hands, cameras on, and more, in the Attendance tab after a meeting or webinar.”

These are new features, although they all fall under one umbrella. In other words, everything can be checked by simply going to the meeting you want to review and clicking on the ‘Chat’ panel, where you can view Attendance data for the specific meeting. This includes start time, end time, and average attendance duration. Additionally, you can also review the number of reactions, raised hands, the attendees who were muted at any point, and those who turned off their cameras, all accessible from the ‘Participation’ menu.

However, the U.S. company has stated that if any of the attendees of the Teams meeting did not set up the ‘Attendance Report’ within the service itself, their data will not be displayed once the said meeting is concluded. That being said, it appears to be a matter of time before this addition is integrated into the Windows and Mac app, although it is expected to remain exclusive to Microsoft Teams Premium customers.

Microsoft is often faced with recurring lawsuits for anti-competitive practices, such as when in 2022 it was denounced by Slack before the European Union or, more recently, when the European Commission forced Microsoft to uncouple Teams from its Office Suite. Now, without waiting for the company to recover from the blow, Zoom’s CEO is trying to convince the Federal Trade Commission in the United States (FTC) to follow in the footsteps of the European Union.

As reported by Bloomberg, Eric Yuan – the CEO of Zoom – has spoken out in this regard recently, as the inclusion of Teams for free in the Office suite almost killed Slack, which would have forced this move by the European Commission. In Yuan’s words, responding to a question on the subject: “you should ask this question to the FTC as well”.

A problem more serious than it seems

To many people, bundling applications into packages or suites may seem like a secondary issue, but many companies move from one program to another simply because of the synergies between programs in the same group, or even for the convenience of not having to manage multiple accounts and passwords. This is something that is also starting to happen with Google Meets as a result of Google Workspace, with which it is difficult to compete. In the case of Teams, it is even more blatant, since it comes preinstalled in Windows 11 and if you do not deactivate it, it starts automatically every time you log in to your session.

That last one is a simple example of how Microsoft constantly uses its products to get its users to use its other products. Edge is not only the default browser, but also the base reader of the operating system and the one that opens when one tries to search for a solution to a problem (even if the default browser is another one), automatically searching Bing even if Google is the preferred search engine. Microsoft’s practices are at times highly questionable and stifle its competition while greatly degrading the user experience. Perhaps, with any luck, regulations will get stricter and stricter in the face of these facts.

Microsoft has been making changes to its Office suite for some time now, and it has even started adding new features based on artificial intelligence to programs like Microsoft Paint. However, the company is also making moves that might seem a bit unusual to the general public. In this instance, the announcement has come early – in October, Microsoft Teams will be removed from the Office Suite 365, at least in Europe. This decision comes after an investigation into anti-competitive practices by the European Commission.

Microsoft is not the first company to face regulatory actions. This has recently happened to Tesla in the United States, although Microsoft has been particularly cooperative with the authority. They have pledged to remove the Teams application despite stating that “these changes will affect customers of our Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.”

The consequences of Teams leaving Office

This separation means that customers, in any case, will see a reduction in the Microsoft Office 365 fee without Teams or pay an additional license to use the application for 5 euros per month, which ends up being 60 euros more per year. The Office fee, however, will not drop by 5 euros per month, but by just 2.

These new subscription prices will only affect new users and not those who already have an active subscription, although anyone can remove applications from their subscription and even switch to the Office “without Teams” option. In any case, and despite this setback, Microsoft is working on improving interoperability on rival platforms such as Zoom or Slack and will allow Office web applications to be embedded in competing applications, as it does in Teams.

In this way Microsoft hopes to calm the waters and avoid new problems with regulatory frameworks, since Slack in 2020 already filed a complaint against the IT giant. In fact, the company is confident that these two changes will balance the interest of its competitors and thus maintain a clean battle to be the first provider of this type of services.

Microsoft Teams regularly gets new updates and features, which is excellent for companies that incorporate collaboration tools and online communication with their work projects for teams to stay connected throughout the process.

January 2023, Microsoft published yet another detailed changelog, as it does at the end of each month of all the new capabilities added to Teams.

What’s New in Microsoft Teams 2023?

Here are all the latest features in Teams as presented by Microsoft.

Meetings

• View video recordings and attendance reports inside LMS
• Teachers and students will be able to access video recordings and attendance reports inside their LMS itself. 
• The Microsoft Teams Meeting LTI app has enabled the availability of these artifacts inside LMS. This feature will be available for all the LMSs incorporating the Teams Meeting LTI app.

Paging on Video Gallery

• When you are in Gallery view, there are more videos than can be shown at once on the meeting stage.
• Navigation controls will appear below the Video Gallery to see other videos of the attendees. 
• You can use these controls to view more video participants.

Meeting Toolbar Usability Improvements

• The Meeting toolbar in Microsoft Teams just got a usability upgrade! 
• New features include dedicated buttons for raising hands and switching between view modes, and navigating your next meeting just got a little easier.

Live stream Teams meetings and webinars to Meta Workplace Live

• Live stream your Teams meetings or webinars directly to Meta Workplace Live using the new Workplace Live app integration. 
• Allows attendees to watch live meetings and webinars within their Workplace groups or catch up later by watching a recording on Workplace. 
• Simply add the Workplace Live app to your Teams meeting or webinar, sign in using your Workplace account, and select the Workplace Event you’d like to live stream.

Webinars

• Enhanced webinar management experience with customized options
• When you select the webinar template, you’ll see a new structure and expanded opportunities to customize registration details and settings specific to each event. 
• With the unique management experience, you’ll be able to configure your webinar with the following capabilities:

Calling – Federated group calling

• Quickly start a group Teams call from a chat with federated colleagues outside your organization, including video and screen sharing — all over an internet connection without any PSTN usage charges.

Chat and collaboration

• View the entire chat conversation thread after clicking on the search message results.
• Search for a chat message in Teams and click on a message result. Search will now display the full context of the conversations related to the redevelopment regardless of the age of the messages.

Management

• Edit and delete events support for messages in user: bot chats
• Currently, message events can be accessed by developers. 
• This feature allows developers to access, edit, or delete event updates on messages in user: bot chats.

Upload files to your approval request via the Power Automate portal

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

Notification granularity

Admins can use Intune to determine the types of content a user can see in a notification on their mobile lock screen.