New Features for Microsoft Teams

In recent months, Microsoft has implemented a number of new features for its communication tool for business and education, such as a new meeting experience with the "Together Mode", the expansion of video conferences with up to 49 participants in the picture or the integration of Microsoft Lists. But there is still no end in sight. The software group has used its virtual conference Ignite 2020 to announce further innovations for Microsoft Teams, which will probably be delivered later this year.

The new "Together Mode", for example, will have additional backgrounds that allow a user to place participants in a video conference in a virtual room. Currently, the mode is in a public preview and only allows a background that resembles a lecture hall.

The "Breakout Rooms" function will be released in October. This function, with which the participants of a team meeting can divide themselves into smaller groups and, for example, continue to work on specific topics, has been expected for some time by the digital training and further education sector. The "Meeting Recaps" function, on the other hand, is only planned for the end of the year. "Meeting Recaps" allows a team meeting to be recorded in its entirety, including chats and shared files, and subsequently called up later from the meeting chat or via a link in the Outlook calendar.

In addition, various functions that have so far only been available to participants in a conference situation will probably also be applicable in private chats and telephone calls in the future. This includes the recording function, subtitles and the transcription of spoken text. The transfer of 1:1 conversations from the cell phone to the desktop and vice versa should then also be possible.

The announcements do not only affect the Microsoft Teams desktop client. Some innovations have also been announced for the Surface Hub and for Teams Room for Windows. Cameras that can detect the number of participants will automatically provide capacity warnings in a Teams Room for Windows; in addition, Teams Room for Windows is to get an integration of the voice assistant Cortana. Proximity Join, on the other hand, is a new feature for the Surface Hub, which enables automatic joining of a scheduled meeting without interacting with the Hub via touch.

Source: Microsoft