*2/8/2022 update: "Now available" added to title.
At Ignite we shared with you our vision behind Microsoft Loop – a new app that combines a powerful and flexible canvas with portable components that move freely and stay in sync across apps, enabling teams to think, plan, and create together.
Microsoft Loop has three elements: Loop components, Loop pages and Loop workspaces. Today, we are announcing the release of our first Loop components in Teams chat for desktop and mobile.
Loop components in Teams chat (rolling out now for our Microsoft 365 commercial customers) offer a new way to think, plan, and create together. Send a component—like a table, task list, or paragraph—where everyone in your chat can edit inline and see changes as they are made. This makes it incredibly easy to share thoughts, make decisions, collect data, and track progress together and in the flow of your work.
Loop component in Teams chat. Note that this experience will be updated to the Loop component icon in the upcoming weeks.
Loop components offer teams more flexibility in how they get work done – ensuring everyone always has access to the latest information. Whether it is contributing in real time or at a time that better fits your team’s schedule, Loop components enables you and your team to stay connected without worrying about working with stale information as components are always live and up to date.
Loop components in Teams chat gives you all the necessary tools needed to collaborate seamlessly and effectively inside the conversation. You can @mention people to get their attention, just like in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, and Loop will send a notification in Teams and an email to those you @mention. You can also easily see who wrote what when you click or tap any part of a component. And, if you need to see previous versions of the component, you can view the full Version History, which lets you easily recover content.
Pro tip: You can use “//[spacebar]” to leave a quick comment with your name.
Every Loop component in Teams is backed by a file in your OneDrive for Business, giving you the flexibility to continue your work no matter where you are. You can find your Loop components through Search, not only in Teams chat, but also from Office.com and the Office mobile app.
How do I start using Loop components?
Working with Loop components is as easy as sending a Teams chat message: just look underneath the “Type a new message” text box and select the Live (or Loop) components icon. A menu will appear showing you all the Loop components that you can use as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription (for commercial customers). You can easily create a table, task list, or paragraph for your team to work on within the chat.
Here are some ideas for how you might use Loop components in chat:
- Co-author: Working with your team to find the right words? No need to create a whole new document. Now, you can quickly iterate on, say, the teaser for an upcoming presentation by adding the Paragraph component and co-authoring from right within the chat thread.
- Status report: It can be a real challenge to keep track of work that's changing rapidly. Asking your team to switch (and learn!) one of the numerous project management solutions out there can risk slowing down a fast-moving project. Instead, try a Loop component with a collaborative table that tracks each deliverable in its own row. Everyone can follow along with easy-to-read columns for owner, status, and due date that are always up to date with the latest, no matter when stakeholders read the email or check in with their Teams chat.
- Topic gathering: There's nothing worse than spending your team's valuable time on the wrong topics. With Loop components, you can crowd-source and democratize gathering feedback, topics for an upcoming meeting, or ideas for a team event, all without needing to deal with an endless string of chat messages or emails.
- Mini breakout room: Have you ever seen a conversation fly off the rails when a few folks go off on a tangent? One of the most creative uses of Loop components we have seen is a sort of "mini breakout room," right within the same chat. The component offers a "safe space" to align or resolve differences of opinion where every member of the chat can still see and participate in the side discussion if they need to, but while also allowing the main chat thread to move on to other topics.
These are only a few examples of how we believe Loop components can transform how you create and collaborate with your team. We encourage you to add your favorite Loop component scenarios in the comments below so everyone can benefit from your experience!
We hope you’re excited to get started with Loop components in Teams chat, and we look forward to hearing your feedback to help us make this experience even better.
To learn more about Microsoft Loop components, check out these helpful resources:
- Using Loop components to think, plan, and create together - Microsoft Ignite On-Demand Session
- Manage Loop components in Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs
- Send a Loop component in Teams chat - Microsoft Support
Continue the conversation by joining us in the Microsoft 365 Tech Community! Whether you have product questions or just want to stay informed with the latest updates on new releases, tools, and blogs, Microsoft 365 Tech Community is your go-to resource to stay connected!
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