Microsoft March 2022

This month Microsoft has customised the number of chat messages you see on the screen as well as other interesting updates.

When this will happen:
Mid-February and expect to complete rollout late February.

2. List of the joined teams per user in Teams Admin Center

NEW FEATURE

How this will affect your organization:

Admins can open the user detail page of any user by going to the Users > Manage users page and selecting any user from their tenant. In the user detail page that opens, they can select the tab ‘Teams’ to view the list of teams that the user is part of.

When this will happen:
Early February and expect to complete the rollout by late February

3. Teams Connect shared channels public preview

NEW FEATURE

How this will affect your organization:
Shared channels will be rolled out as part of Teams public preview program. Team owners who are enrolled in the Teams public preview program will see shared channels as an additional channel type while creating a channel. They will be able to share the channel with anyone in the tenant.

DEMO VIDEO

External collaboration in shared channels is powered by Azure AD B2B direct connect, a new way to collaborate with other Azure AD organizations. With B2B Direct connect, there's no need to add the external user as a guest in your organization. Cross-tenant access policies let admins manage B2B direct connect for their organization. A shared channel can be shared with as many organizations that can be specified in the Azure AD cross-tenant access policy. External collaboration is off by default.

When this will happen:
Late March and expect to complete by early April

4. LinkedIn Integration coming to Teams

NEW FEATURE

How this will affect your organization:
Once available, the new LinkedIn tab will appear at the top of the 1:1 conversation in Teams alongside the existing tabs for Chat, Files, Organization and Activity, and will work just like the contact card in Outlook does today.

When this will happen:
Mid-March and expect to complete by early April

Admin Updates

1. Microsoft Office default change – Blocking VBA macros in files from the internet

SECURITY ENHANCEMENT

How this will affect your organization:

Previously, it was possible for end users to enable these macros by simply clicking a button on the Trust bar.

Now, with this change, once a user opens an attachment or downloads from the internet an untrusted Office file containing macros, a message bar displays a Security Risk that the file contains VBA macros obtained from the internet with a Learn More button.

Further Reading: Helping users stay safe: Blocking internet macros by default in Office - Microsoft Tech Community

The Learn More button goes to an article for end users and information workers that contains information about the security risk of bad actors using macros, safe practices to prevent phishing and malware, and instructions on how to enable these macros (if absolutely needed).

When this will happen:
Version 2203, starting with Current Channel (Preview) in early April 2022.

2. Public Preview of Tenant-level analytics for Power Automate

SECURITY ENHANCEMENT

How this will affect your organization:

With this update, admins will have the ability to monitor Usage, Maker Activities, and Inventory of cloud flows across the environments they manage. By default, Tenant-level analytics is turned off. Admins can opt-in to using Tenant-level analytics using the steps described here.

When this will happen:
Rollout to Public Preview will begin in mid-February