Microsoft January 2021 Updates

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Microsoft Teams#

Introducing history menu

When this will happen

Roll out begins in early February, and we expect to be complete in late February 2021.

How this will affect your organization:

By hovering over the backward and forward navigation buttons, users will be able to see recently visited locations in Microsoft Teams. The history menu makes it easier to navigate to previous locations, such as nested tabs and documents.

What you need to do to prepare

You might want to notify your users about this new capability and update your training and documentation as appropriate.

Touch Bar Meetings Controls for Mac

IMPACTS END USERS

When this will happen

Early January and complete by the end of January.

How this will affect your organization

Teams Meeting controls for MacBooks with Touch Bars that allow users to mute/unmute, turn camera on/off, open/close sharing tray, open/close participants panel, open/close chat panel and raise/retract hand.

New Teams meeting lobby setting – only invited users join directly

How this will affect your organization

Meeting organizers will be able to ensure that only Calendar meeting invited users can bypass the lobby after they schedule a new meeting. They do this by changing the meeting option Who can bypass the lobby to People I invite. Anyone else with the meeting invitation will be sent to the lobby.

When will this happen:

Roll out will start in early February and will be complete by mid-February.

Microsoft Teams connector apps webhook URL security improvement

How this will affect your organization

Connectors support in Microsoft Teams is transitioning to a new webhook URL format to enhance security. In the future, connector webhook URLs will contain the name of the tenant in them. This will help the organization filter egress traffic.

Old URLs continue to work for now, but users will be prompted to re-create connectors.

When will this happen:

Monday January 11, 2021; however, existing webhooks URLs will continue to work for three (3) months to allow for migration time.

Teams location picker support for security groups and distribution lists

**Only applicable if you currently have licensing for DLP policies like M365 Business Premium**

How this will affect your organization

With this update to the Teams location picker, you will have more granular control of DLP policy scope within the Microsoft 365 compliance center, such as the ability to include or exclude particular departments, business units, or geo-specific security groups.

Note: The DLP policy will apply to the existing membership of security groups (SGs) or distribution group (DGs). The policy will be updated automatically to reflect any changes in membership.

When this will happen

Mid-February and is expected to be complete by early March, 2021.

Microsoft Teams Revised In-meeting Share Experience

How this will affect your organization:

In Microsoft Teams desktop client on Windows and Mac, users will see a new design when sharing their screen, window, Whiteboard, or PowerPoint during meetings, as shown above.

When will this change happen:

mid-February through mid-March 2021

Teams desktop app for Mac: Include computer sound in a meeting

How this will affect your organization

With this update, Mac users can share audio from their speakers with other meeting participants, such as when they share a video with sound as part of a collective viewing experience.

This feature will be available to all Mac users in your tenant unless you have set the ScreenSharingMode policy to None. (opens in new tab)

This feature requires a one-time installation of an audio driver. Users will be prompted to install the audio driver when they select Include computer sound from the Share content tray in a meeting. Once installed, users can freely toggle the functionality on or off before or after they start sharing a desktop or window.

When this will happen

Begins in late January and should be complete in early February 2021.

Microsoft Teams will queue sent messages when offline

IMPACTS END USERS

How this affects your organization:

Currently, should a user attempt to send or edit Teams messages while offline, Teams labels those messages as a failure. Once the device is reconnected, Teams prompts users to retry or delete the messages.

In phase one of this update, Teams messages that are sent while a user is offline will be queued on the local device. Teams will automatically send the messages when the device resolves connectivity issues within 24 hours. However, if the message remains in an unsent state for more than 24 hours, the message will fail and Teams will prompt the user to resend or delete the message.

In phase two, Teams applies this same capability to editing messages that are in a queued state.

When this will happen

begins in late January and should be complete in early February 2021.

Skybe for Business Online Connector Reitrement How this affects your organization: Skype for Business Online Connector will no longer be available for download after February 15, 2021. Teams PowerShell module is where we will continue to invest. All new features, bug fixes and improvements will be delivered via Teams PowerShell module. Administrators can continue to use Skype for Business Online Connector till July 31, 2021 but after Feb 15, 2021 will not be able to download the module.

Microsoft Intune#

Microsoft 365 apps version 16.44 and higher to install on macOS 10.14 and higher Given that Microsoft 365 has ended support for macOS 10.13.x in November 2020 (MC223176) you may not be affected; you have likely updated your OS or devices. You will not be impacted if you are currently managing macOS 10.14 or higher devices. However, if you are currently managing macOS 10.13.x devices that have Microsoft 365 apps installed, these app installations can be updated up to version 16.43 using Microsoft Auto Update. But Microsoft 365 apps are no longer supported on macOS 10.13.x and will not receive any security updates or bug fixes in the future. It is recommended that these devices are upgraded to macOS 10.14 or higher to install the latest Microsoft 365 apps. Intune moving to support Android 6.x and higher in April Given that the Office mobile apps for Android ended support for Android 5.x (Lollipop) on June 30th, 2019 (MC181101) this may not affect you; you have likely already upgraded your OS or devices. However, if you have any device that is still running Android version 5.x, or decide to enroll any device that is running Android version 5.x, please note that these devices will either need to be upgraded to Android version 6.x (Marshmallow) or greater, or they will need to be upgraded to a device that supports Android version 6.0 or greater.

Microsoft Outlook#

Outlook on the web – Message reminders

IMPACTS END USERS

How this will affect your organization

After Outlook assesses that a user might have forgotten to respond to or follow up on emails, the user might start seeing these messages brought to the top of their inboxes. If applicable, a maximum of one email will be brought to the top of the user’s inbox at a time.

Users can disable this in Settings/Layout/Message reminders.

What you need to do to prepare

This feature will roll out default on. If you don’t want this feature to roll out to your users, please follow the below instructions to disable it using PowerShell:

• Parameter is set under Set-OrganizationConfig.

The MessageRemindersEnabled parameter enables or disables the message reminders feature in the organization. Valid values are:

• $true: Message reminders are enabled
• $false: Message reminders are disabled

When this will happen

• Targeted Release (organization): mid-February through mid March 2021
• Standard Release: early March through late July 2021

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