Ashville NC IT Support Company | Blue Ridge Technology, Inc.

Microsoft Teams Keeps Getting Better: 3 Upcoming Features

Three new Teams features to look forward to
We love Microsoft Teams here at Blue Ridge Technology, we offer Microsoft Teams consulting services. In fact, we think Team is one of the smartest new products Microsoft has introduced in years. This powerful collaboration app offers the kind of instant, lightweight team-based communication businesses love from Slack, combined with reliable videoconferencing of Zoom or Skype. But under the hood, Teams goes far deeper than Slack or Zoom ever could. Microsoft’s app just has so much to offer — and its full integration with the rest of the Microsoft 365 office and productivity suite is a game changer for businesses already using 365. We aren’t the only ones that love Teams: the app now enjoys over 270 million users every single month. And Microsoft keeps innovating, regularly adding new features to Teams, one of the latest is the Teams integration with LinkedIn. This week, we’re sharing three upcoming features coming soon to your Teams environment so you’ll be ready to take full advantage when the updates hit.

#1: Automatic SharePoint Updates

The first change is a small change that lives somewhat behind the scenes, but it will make some significant quality of life improvement for heavy SharePoint users. Every time you create a new Teams channel, a new SharePoint folder is automatically generated to correspond with that channel. Files shared within a channel are actually being stored in that SharePoint folder, and power users may access the SharePoint location directly (from a browser or Windows Explorer). Currently, if you change the name of a Teams channel, the SharePoint folder retains the original name. Before long, organizations end up with dozens of SharePoint folders that no longer make any sense. If you need to operate in those SharePoint folders outside of Teams, well…good luck. That’s changing soon, though: When the update arrives, changing a channel name within Teams will automatically update the corresponding SharePoint folder to match. It’s a technical change that many users won’t encounter, but for the ones who need it — this is a huge improvement.

#2: Unified Teams Calls (Browser and App)

Video calling is a massively important function within Teams, and Microsoft continues improving your video call setup and experience on Teams daily. Early on, the video experiences in the Teams mobile and desktop apps were pretty different. Microsoft fixed that years ago, bringing the mobile experience up to par with the desktop version. For the most part, you can do everything in the mobile app that you can do from your desktop. Some users join Teams calls from their browser instead. This is common for vendors and clients outside your organization that might not use Teams regularly, or for your own employees when on an alternate computer. This browser-based experience has been a limited, stripped-down affair, until now. But in Microsoft’s Jun 2022 update, Teams calls will work the same in the browser as they do in the desktop and mobile apps. No more confusion about who can do what within a call.

#3: Chat With Yourself

This one’s a little goofy, but we bet you’ll start using it anyway! Have you ever sent yourself an email? It’s unorthodox, but everybody does it. Sometimes it’s the easiest way to get an attachment from one device to another. Some people use it as a kind of reminder system. Extending that concept a bit, have you ever wanted to chat with yourself on Teams? (No? Anyone?) Well, until now you couldn’t. But that ability is expected in an upcoming Teams release. It will be another convenient way to access files quickly across devices, even if there are other more elegant ways to do so.

Need Help? We Know Teams.

We understand the good side and the dark side to Microsoft Teams, and we know that Teams is a powerful app, but configuring a Teams environment for your organization can be a challenge for many organizations (at least if you want to do it right). If you’re not sure how to get started — or if your existing implementation is growing chaotic or getting too cluttered — our team of experienced techs is ready to help. We know Teams, and we know how to make it work optimally for businesses like yours. Ready to get help with Teams, or anything else in your IT environment? Let’s chat.