What’s New in Microsoft Teams - May 2021
What’s New With Microsoft Teams?
Welcome to the monthly update with Excel & Flourish! Each month, we go over any exciting new Microsoft updates, formulas, and/or useful information with current updates in general. Since there have been a couple of updates with Microsoft Teams Meetings features, we’d like to share the main features we think you’d like to start utilizing in your meetings. Let’s get started!
Teams PowerPoint Presentations
Microsoft continues to provide management tools for companies working locationally, especially with the integration of PowerPoint. Instead of needing to share your screen with your Teams Meeting, look for the “Present In Teams” button in the upper right corner when you’re using PowerPoint (or in the Slide Shows tab), while your meeting is already in progress.
Updated Share Tray
Your Share Try is now a dropdown, organized for a more pleasant user experience. In Share Try, there will be options for computer audio, options for Presenter Mode (which hasn’t fully rolled out yet), and the options to jump between Windows or sharing your Screen. Microsoft Whiteboard is in a much easier spot to find, along with the options on the bottom of this Share Try to start presenting live, and upload a document or presentation.
Microsoft Whiteboard Updates
Love your Microsoft Whiteboard Sticky Notes? Stay more organized with even more colors to choose from! Keeping certain colors with different job categories or tasks, “can produce a higher level of attention,” and increase memory. Not only are there more colors with sticky notes, but also with Whiteboard ink colors and highlights.
To increase productivity and understanding with visual learners, the Whiteboard update also allows users to add shapes, change shape colors, and insert line connectors between notes, such as flowcharts and other graphics.
Bye-Bye, Distracting Teams Videos!
Teams Meeting organizers now have the power to disable every meeting participant’s video, and audio. This can be helpful with participants with more exciting computer audio and/or memorable background visuals. Furthermore, the organizer also has the ability to adjust the video and audio of each participant separately.
Breakout Rooms for Teams
After creating some Breakout rooms, you can go into Room Settings to set time limits for each group, allow users to come back to the group meeting, or by turning that feature off, everyone will rejoin the meeting after time is up.
It seems like Microsoft also understood the need for users to access Teams meetings with multiple devices. Instead of realizing someone’s phone is in one breakout room while that same user’s computer is in another breakout room too late, organizers can also reassign in open Breakout Rooms.
Want everyone to get a chance to interact with all attendees? Teams Meetings now gives you the option to reassign following Breakout rooms. After you’ve created the first set of Breakout rooms, just click on those 3 dots to select the option to Recreate rooms to a set of new rooms.
Any Questions?
Excel & Flourish hosts a live webinar every month so Jennifer, our Microsoft Certified Trainer and Excel & Flourish Founder, can help answer any questions that might have come up in the last month. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and/or LinkedIn for updates and alerts to register, or just follow us for helpful Microsoft tips & tricks.