Announcement that Microsoft Teams will support 7×7 videos

We spoke on the podcast previously that Microsoft may be planning to support up to 49 video feeds in a Teams Meeting – but there is some speculation about what the performance will be like, and the use cases for it.

Joining us on this week’s podcast is Emily Kirby, Program Manager in Teams Engineering, responsible for meetings. We chatted to her today to understand a bit more about the feature, what’s driving it, when it’s likely to arrive and how it will affect performance.

Find out more in this article.

Exchange Server 2016/2019 – June 2020 Quarterly Exchange Updates Released!

The quarterly cumulative updates for Exchange Server 2016 and 2019 were released last Tuesday. These updates include fixes for customer reported issues as well as all previously released security updates.

To improve security, the following file types have been added to the OWA Mailbox Policy BlockedFileTypes list:

  • .appref-ms – Windows ClickOnce
    • .cdxml – PowerShell cmdlet definition
    • .pssc – PowerShell session configuration
    • .udl – Microsoft Data Link, used by Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)
    • .wsb – Windows sandbox
    • .vhd
    • .vhdx
    • .py
    • .pyc
    • .pyo
    • .pyw
    • .pyz
    • .pyzw

Remember: make sure that the Windows PowerShell Script Execution Policy is set to “Unrestricted” on the server being upgraded or installed to prevent installation issues.

For Exchange Hybrid and Exchange Online Archiving (EOA) users, make sure you stay “supported”:

  • Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 23
    • Exchange 2016 Cumulative Update 17 or 16
    • Exchange 2019 Cumulative Update 6 or 5

Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 6 (KB4556415), VLSC Download

Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 17 (KB4556414), Download, UM Lang Packs

Read more here.

Teams and Skype interop is fully rolled out

As previously announced in the Message Center, there is a delayed roll-out of Skype Consumer interop with Microsoft Teams.

Yammer gets new “All company” features

It is the year of Yammer, and as we move into the second half of 2020, we get some new functionality for all company feeds. These include:

  • All company announcements, including polls
    • Customization of the all company feed, including photo, description and cover photo
    • Hosting of live-event for company “town hall” meetings
    • Restrictions on who can post in all-company and the ability to promote members to admins

Read more here.

PowerPoint Presenter Coach arrives on Android

If you are still mobile then you will be pleased to find out that the presenter coach has now arrived on Android, both in the PowerPoint app and Office app.

Presenter coach first came to PowerPoint Online and is designed to give you tips on improving you presentation skills, helping you remove filler words, inappropriate phrasing and similar, and to help you improve your pacing. You’ll find the feature in the “more” (three dots) options in the app itself

Read more here.

Interesting announcements on the Roadmap

  • Walkie Talkie in Teams client for Android
    • Walkie Talkie, which provides instant push-to-talk communication, will soon be available in Public Preview on Teams for Android.
    • During Public Preview, you need to enable Walkie Talkie using the Teams Admin Center to provide access to people in your organizationThe Practical 365 Weekly Update: Ep 34 – Teams 7×7 support, Exchange Server
    • Rollout begins in mid-July, expected to be complete by end of July 2020.
Microsoft Teams Walkie Talkie
  • Office 365 Advanced Message Encryption: encrypted message revocation by sender
    • Currently, only admins can revoke an already sent encrypted email.
    • This feature will allow the sender (a user in your org)  of an encrypted email to revoke email access using Outlook on the web.
    • Starting in mid-July and complete by mid-August CY2020
  • Sensitivity labels in Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 groups, and SharePoint sites generally available
    • Sensitivity labels that can be applied to Microsoft Teams sites, Microsoft 365 groups (formerly Office 365 groups), and SharePoint sites is now general availability.
    • This extends the protection options we announced in May, when sensitivity label protection for Office files in SharePoint and OneDrive became generally available.
    • The new Sensitivity labels for Microsoft 365 groups will be available here:
      • Admin centers:
        • Azure Active Directory (AAD)
        • Security & Compliance
        • SharePoint
      • Forms
      • Outlook
        • Outlook desktop app for Windows
        • Outlook for the Mac
        • Outlook for the web
        • Outlook mobile app for Android and iOS
      • SharePoint
      • Stream
      • Teams
    • The following apps do not support the new sensitivity labels:
      • Admin centers:
        • Exchange
        • Microsoft365
        • Teams
      • Dynamics 365
      • Planner
      • Power BI
      • Project
      • Yammer
    • Roll-out starts late June, and completed in early July CY2020
  •  Microsoft To Do: Support for Outlook Categories in To Do
    • If you used categories in your Outlook, those categories will also be available in the To Do web app soon.
    • Currently in development, planned release: July CY2020
  • Microsoft Teams – Virtual Breakout Rooms
    • Meeting hosts can create breakout rooms to be used by meeting participants for smaller group discussion. They can assign participants to a room and call them back to the larger group when the breakout is complete.
    • Currently in development, planned release: Q4 CY2020.

About the Author

Siegfried Jagott

Siegfried is a Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services. He has great expertise in Office 365 implementations with a special focus on Security, Messaging and Identity for international customers.

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