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Last Week in Microsoft Teams: Week of February 15th

This week’s review covers new Teams apps available in the catalog, retention policies in private channels, and road map items for controlling attendees’ video.
Jeff Brown
2 min read
Published February 15, 2021
Last updated January 17, 2023

Direct from Microsoft

This week Microsoft released two new Teams apps: Milestones and Bulletins. You use Milestones to track projects across the company, and Bulletins publishes news articles to everyone in the company.

The Microsoft 365 Developer Blog announced a new version of the Microsoft Teams App Generator. The app generator quickly creates files and folder structure to get you started on creating your first Teams app.

Check out Inside Microsoft Teams, a weekly webcast series for IT professionals. The webcast interviews Microsoft engineering staff and community experts on best practices for the modern workplace.

Community Contributions

Chris Hoard outlines (with lots of screenshots) how to create and assign a retention policy to a Teams private channel. Private channel retention is a new capability Microsoft is releasing in March 2021.

Shawn Harry goes deep into how to configure call recording with AudioCodes SmartTAP. AudioCodes provides call recording compliance for Teams Direct Routing users that does not rely on native Teams compliance capabilities.

Matt Ellis updated his article on using Exchange Online & Microsoft Teams PowerShell on a Mac. First posted in 2018, he provides biannual updates on how you can manage Office 365 services on a Mac using PowerShell.

Josh Blalock provides another great video demoing the AudioCodes C470HD Microsoft Teams certified IP phone device.

Tony Redmond outlines the new format for the Teams meeting attendance report. The report includes more information and is now available for download after the meeting has ended.

For all the Teams app developers out there, Waldek Mastykarz demonstrates how to securely connect to Microsoft Graph from a Teams tab using single sign-on (SSO).

Road Map and Message Center Updates

Road Map: Disable/Enable a Single Attendee’s Video

Meeting organizers can disable or enable a single attendee’s video during a Microsoft Teams meeting. This feature is an excellent add-on for organizers to manage an attendee’s potentially disruptive video stream. Microsoft is releasing this feature in April 2021.

Road Map: Disable/Enable all Attendee’s Video

Along with the single attendee from above, organizers can also control all attendees’ video feeds during a meeting. This feature is also slated for April 2021.

Road Map: Manage team templates with template policies

Administrators can choose which templates are shown to users using a new policy setting. Microsoft is scheduling the release of this feature for February 2021.

Message Center: Share to Teams from Outlook

Microsoft is updating the Share to Teams action in the Outlook app (Windows, Mac, and Web). Users can share an email conversation Outlook to a chat or channel in the Teams client. Teams stores the email in the Email Messages subfolder in the channel’s SharePoint folder. Administrators can control this functionality using a PowerShell cmdlet (documentation coming soon). Microsoft is releasing this feature in March 2021.

Message Center: 1:1 Call recording policy introduction

Microsoft is creating a new policy setting for 1:1 call recording. The recording settings in the user’s meeting policy currently control their recording capability for 1:1 calls. Microsoft is moving this setting to the Teams calling policy under the attribute AllowCloudRecordingForCalls. By default, Microsoft is setting this policy to false. Administrators should make changes to this policy by March 11, 2021, if they want users to continue having 1:1 call recording capabilities.

Message Center: Align the experience for creating a Team from different Teams interfaces

Microsoft is aligning the team’s creation experience in the Teams admin center to match the Teams client experience. Moving forward, teams created in the admin center will:

  • Send Welcome Emails to new members.
  • Members will not receive updates for group calendar events.
  • New teams will not auto-display in the Outlook client or the Outlook address book.

Microsoft is resolving the issue I pointed out in another article Not All Microsoft Teams and Groups are Created Equally. Microsoft is releasing this update in mid-March 2021.

Training Resources

Microsoft Docs keeps a regularly updated list of resources for Microsoft Teams admin training. It includes videos, PowerPoint presentations, and interactive guides for all your training needs.

Commverse released recordings from their Collaborating in the Universal Workplace event from earlier this month. You can find the session recordings here.

Tip of the Week

The Minnesota IT Services has a fantastic list of Microsoft Teams accessibility tips that outline many service features. Recommendations range from using status indicators, built-in screen reader, and turning on live captions in meetings.

What you should do now

Below are three ways we can help you begin your journey to reducing data risk at your company:

  1. Schedule a demo session with us, where we can show you around, answer your questions, and help you see if Varonis is right for you.
  2. Download our free report and learn the risks associated with SaaS data exposure.
  3. Share this blog post with someone you know who'd enjoy reading it. Share it with them via email, LinkedIn, Reddit, or Facebook.

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