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Microsoft Teams is a great product for communicating and collaborating with clients, partners and other external individuals. For this I use the chat feature, as I do not necessarily need to create a Team and invite them in, I am just looking for a quick and simple way to communicate without using email.  However, there has always been one major drawback which is that communication can only be with one external individual. In fact, I cannot even invite a colleague to join the chat let alone another individual from the external company. Teams Group chat with external users in Teams Well no more. Microsoft has recently announced that group chats can now be held with external individuals! MORE DETAIL
Group chat with external users in Teams Category Teams At the moment you can initiate a Teams Chat with an external person (providing they are also a Microsoft 365 user), which is a great way to keep in touch with clients or partners or other individuals. However, should you want to then open the chat to one of your colleagues or another individual in the external organisation, then this was not possible - chats with external individuals are currently only allowed on a one-to-one basis. The good news is that once the enhancement rolls out you will be able to hold group chats that involve external participants. Edit a SharePoint page or news post in Teams As Microsoft further bring together SharePoint and Teams, they have announced that soon you will be able to edit a SharePoint page or a news post from within Teams. So you no longer have to navigate to SharePoint to do this. MORE DETAIL
Edit a SharePoint page or news post in Microsoft Teams Category Teams SharePoint This new feature will allow users to edit modern SharePoint pages or news posts within Teams and to pin important pages or news posts to a Teams channel, ensuring that there is good visibility to the Teams members. All this without leaving Teams and navigating to SharePoint, thereby further harmonising the Teams / SharePoint experience. SharePoint SharePoint auto-news digest improvements The SharePoint auto-news digest feature sends an automated email to users about the latest news posts that are relevant to them, but that they may not have viewed yet. This is a great way for users to catch up on news that they may have otherwise missed. With the new improvements just announced you will be able to tailor the auto-news digest news email with company branding and a logo. Microsoft has also improved the look and feel of the email.  MORE DETAIL
SharePoint auto-news digest improvements
MC248207 Category SharePoint You may already know about and use the SharePoint automatic news digest, which is sent to users with news that is relevant to them. Well Microsoft is adding new features to enhance the experience:
Users who already receive the existing automatic news digest will soon start receiving this updated version. 
More details:
Sharing links for Microsoft Lists is now available In the same way we share documents and folders from SharePoint, you can now not only share an individual list item but also a whole SharePoint List.
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Sharing links for Microsoft Lists is now available
Category SharePoint Microsoft Lists This enhancement will allow users to now share Microsoft Lists using the same sharing links that they have been using for files and folders. With this enhancement you can now share entire lists using sharing links. The experience is identical to the sharing links experiences that are supported for files and folders. The same admin controls that apply to sharing files and folders will also apply to lists and list items. 
Search across images in SharePoint When searching in SharePoint you can currently scope the search results by file type. Now you will also be able to scope search results by image type if that is what you are searching for. MORE DETAIL
Search across images in SharePoint Category SharePoint Microsoft is rolling out image search. Image search in Microsoft 365 provides a new search vertical to provide better search capabilities for images in your organisation. After this change, a new image vertical will be available to allow for scoping your search results to images that satisfy the intent of the search parameters. Individuals in your organisation will now be able to search across images in addition to content stored in Microsoft 365. New capabilities to manage SharePoint pages When you want to change properties of your page such as rename the page or its URL, you must navigate down into the Pages library itself. With this enhancement you will be able to perform these management activities, and more, from the Page details pane that is accessible from the page itself, which will make it easier for page owners. MORE DETAIL
New capabilities to manage SharePoint pages Category SharePoint These updates will allow users to delete their page, edit the page URL, and copy a link to their page from within the page details panel. Users with permission to author SharePoint pages will now see the three new fields in the page details panel. This will provide greater flexibility to page owners and remove the need to dive into the SharePoint pages library to undertake these activities. PowerPoint Option to use 'Office Presentation Service' from desktop PowerPoint Do you use the Office Presentation Service in the desktop version of PowerPoint, allowing you to present your PowerPoint across the web? Well, this feature will soon be disappearing and will be replaced by the 'Present Live' feature of PowerPoint for the Web.  MORE DETAIL
Option to use 'Office Presentation Service' from desktop PowerPoint Category PowerPoint Office Microsoft has announced that it will be removing the ‘Office Presentation Service' option/button from the “Present Online” menu under the SlideShow ribbon in PowerPoint for Windows. Instead they recommend the utilisation of "Present Live" in PowerPoint for the Web which is where they will continue to invest. Once this change is implemented you will no longer be able to broadcast your presentation from the PowerPoint Windows application Using "Present Live" in PowerPoint for the Web (aka Live Presentations) will allow:
Microsoft 365 Bringing Visio free to Microsoft 365 users Visio has been a staple of flow charts and process maps for years but was never available as part of your standard Microsoft 365 subscription and Microsoft never built any of its capabilities into other office products such as Word. The good news is that Microsoft has announced that a new light version of Visio, suitable for most users needs, will now be available as part of Microsoft 365.  MORE DETAIL
Bringing Visio free to Microsoft 365 users Category Microsoft 365 Visio With the shift to hybrid work comes the need for business leaders to create a new, flexible operating model spanning people, places, and processes. Every business process will need to be transformed and diagrams are often the starting point for many process updates. They enable individuals across the organisation to improve and visually communicate processes to help employees adapt quickly to change. Visio has long been available only as a standalone app for purchase for people with specialised diagramming needs. But this is changing. Microsoft is recognising an increasing need for a diagramming solution for everyone to convey information more effectively, which is why it will be bringing core Visio capabilities to Microsoft 365 for all commercial license subscribers. This lightweight version of the web app will offer core Visio functionalities and allow business users to create, edit, and share professional diagrams. Microsoft Bookings A new, more powerful, and customisable Microsoft Bookings is here
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A new, more powerful, and customisable Microsoft Bookings is here
Category Bookings The new Microsoft Bookings experience is here, massively improving the current experience. Once you’re in the new Bookings view, you’ll see the new experience which introduces many new capabilities in Microsoft Bookings. 
Compliance, Privacy and Tighter Controls
Bookings now has stricter administrative controls, and each user within Bookings has varied levels of control over how calendars are created, edited, and shared as well as how appointments can be booked. Microsoft 365 Admins Admins can now control who has access to Bookings, whether external users can book appointments, and if staff details can be shared with customers. Admins can also control the privacy of the customers' booking appointments and can restrict what information can be collected when making a booking, like phone numbers, email, or contact address. Additionally, they can prevent staff members from requesting customer information by blocking the creation of custom fields. New tenant administrator controls.
Admins can control the information required in a booking and even block custom fields. 
Bookings Admins
Bookings admins have controls to ensure their organisation’s compliance and privacy standards. They can restrict appointments to users within the organisation and can also restrict search engine listings. Admins can also configure data usage consent with their own custom message, privacy policy link, as well as add terms and conditions information on the Bookings page. New Roles To ensure that the correct staff members have the adequate access to Bookings’ pages, two new roles have been created.
Customisation and Branding
Bookings allows organisations to customise their Bookings page with their own logo. A colour theme that best suits the organisation can be chosen as well. Confirmations, cancellations, and reminders can be customised using a rich text editor. 
Simpler Scheduling
Admins can add multiple staff members and get a unified view across all their calendars and availability. Switching between multiple calendars is made easier with an option to filter by staff members and services. There is also an option to pin a specific calendar for easier tracking. 
Admins can navigate to a staff member profile directly from the calendar and get a comprehensive view of their scheduled meetings, contact information, and services offered.
Custom availability can be set for each staff member with multiple slots in a day and certain days marked as non-available. This is synced with the staff’s Outlook calendar to avoid double bookings. Additionally, appropriate lead time can be configured for each service to ensure that staff members are well prepared before an appointment. There’s also an option to add buffer time before and after an appointment to provide sufficient breathing time. Author: Chris Kaye Comments are closed.
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