Here’s what’s announced as coming to Microsoft 365 this week: New Teams app & more

Kevin Okemwa

Microsoft 365

We’ve come to the end of this feature-packed month and as usual, it’s time to recap the key features that were announced as coming to Microsoft 365 this week. Here’s everything you need to know:

New and Fast Microsoft Teams app

This week, Microsoft announced that it was starting to roll out the preview of the new Microsoft Teams desktop app for Windows. The app is fast and easy to use. Additionally, it provides flexibility by allowing users to better manage multiple tenants and accounts. Microsoft has also injected AI capabilities into the platform to make the whole experience smarter and more efficient.

Pin workspaces

Microsoft has announced the availability of the pin workspace feature that allows users to pin their workspaces on top of the list for easy discoverability and navigation.

The feature has already started shipping to some users and is expected to hit general availability in early April.

Office Apps on the Web can create PDFs that inherit the source files sensitivity labels

Additionally, a new capability is making its way to Microsoft 365 Apps on the web for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint which will allow files that feature a sensitivity label to also be applied to PDFs created in those apps. It’s worth noting that it’s not possible to convert documents with encryption to PDF because of the protection.

The feature tagged 117594 in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap is expected to start rolling out in early May and hit broad availability in early June.

Offline meetings in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft has also announced that users will also be able to create a true appointment in Teams calendar by turning off the online toggle for a meeting for events such as personal appointments, lunch break slots on the calendar, and more.

It’s worth noting that despite this change, all meetings created from Microsoft Teams will be Teams online meetings by default. The toggle to disable this feature is exclusive to private meetings and appointments at the moment. However, these offline Teams meetings will not feature key components like chat threads and other teams meeting artifacts.

The feature tagged 122483 in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap is expected to start rolling out towards the end of May. In related news, Microsoft also launched Avatars for Teams in public preview, designed to revolutionize how people communicate especially during meetings.

That’s it for this week folks! Let us know which Microsoft 365 feature you’re anticipating most in the comments below.