October brought a lot of treats (and some tricks) to Microsoft 365 across SharePoint and related tech. MWAH HA HA HA HAAAAAA, velcome to z Roadmap Pitstop: October 2019 edition. It’s Halloween here in the United States, and we’ve an extra spooky post of vonderful innovations that rolled out this month. Consider this the all-inclusive recap plus the embedded Intrazone Roadmap Pitstop: October 2019 podcast episode – the bonus monthly audible companion to help answer, "What's rolling out now for SharePoint and related technologies into Microsoft 365?"
To answer that question, listen and scroll below (info, links and screenshots galore) to stay informed on what features and updates arrived this past month - plus a few teasers of what's to come. Be warned, you may encounter Count Markula in the recording… and he vishes to offer you a SharePint of blood ??:
In this podcast episode, I interview Adriana Wood [GitHub profile], senior program manager focusing on solutions to help complex organizations take full advantage of OneDrive and SharePoint in Microsoft 365. And most recently she focuses on the new site URL rename feature. We dig into the design of the feature, early feedback during preview and the value of intranet flexibility customers see as they begin to use it in production.
All the features listed below began rolling out to Targeted Release customers in Office 365 as of October 2019 (possibly early November 2019).
Inform and engage with dynamic employee experiences
Build your modern intranet on SharePoint in Office 365 and get the benefits of investing in business outcomes – reducing IT and development costs, increasing business speed and agility, and up-leveling the dynamic and welcoming nature of your intranet.
SharePoint Site URL rename
We’re making it possible for SharePoint administrators to change site URLs. As a global or SharePoint admin, you will be able to change the URL for the following types of SharePoint sites: classic team sites, communication sites, and both modern team sites that are Office 365 group-connected and ones that don't belong to an Office 365 group.
So, for example, if you have a site named: https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Develpment, you can rename the site to correct the incorrect spelling of "development" via the SharePoint admin center. And best of all, the service automatically-generates redirects to ensure that old links do not break.
- Hear and see it demo’ed for the first time by Navjot Virk at SharePoint Conference 2019.
- Learn more. Roadmap ID: 56205.
SharePoint start page
What was the SharePoint home page is now SharePoint start page. It has been redesigned with a new layout and some new capabilities; this also helps get it ready for the coming SharePoint home sites – this will be the My SharePoint portion of home sites. The new free-flowing design helps you stay focused on your work, rather than looking for frequently used files and sites. Your new start page is ready for you set up right away--no setup needed.
Summary of what’s new for the SharePoint start page:
- Browse news and sites seamlessly without leaving the start page
- Arrange sites based on content that's relevant to your work
- Navigate to important tools and featured links right from the start page
- Access recently used documents quickly and securely
Go to Office.com, select SharePoint tile and experience it today.
- Learn more. Roadmap ID: 54821.
Microsoft acquires Mover [10/21/19]
Microsoft has acquired Mover, a leading provider of cloud file migration, including admin-led and self-service offerings – to migrate files to Microsoft 365. The Mover team also brings deep expertise and migration technology, which advances Microsoft’s commitment to providing organizations of all sizes with the right tools, people and partners to successfully migrate to the Microsoft Cloud.
Microsoft offers several options to support cloud file migrations, including FastTrack and offerings from trusted Microsoft partners, as well as the SharePoint Migration Tool for migrating content from on-premises SharePoint sites and file shares to Microsoft 365. Mover will enhance these offerings with proven tools, plus more self-service options over time.
Today, Mover supports migration from over a dozen cloud service providers – including Box, Dropbox, Egnyte, and Google Drive – into OneDrive and SharePoint, enabling seamless file collaboration across Microsoft 365 apps and services, including the Office apps and Microsoft Teams.
- Learn more, and visit https://mover.io
SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) now supports SharePoint Sserver 2010 + ability to target folder associated with in Microsoft Teams channels.
start migrating your content from SharePoint Server 2010 to Office 365. You, too, can now select a sub-folder destination or create a sub-folder directly in the tool, allowing you to migrate your content directly into your preferred Microsoft Teams channel(s).
The SharePoint Migration Tool is a simple and fast solution to help you migrate content from on-premises SharePoint Server sites and file shares to SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams in Office 365. It is designed to help you bring your information to the cloud and take advantage of the latest collaboration, intelligence, and security solutions within Office 365.
- Learn more. Roadmap ID: 54344.
Stream: video editing and file replacement
You can now Trim the beginning and end of your videos. The new trim feature makes it easy to remove unwanted footage at the beginning or end of a video – including live events and Teams meeting recordings.
New in Stream, too, is the ability to change your video file, keep the same link. This new feature enables video owners and Stream admins to upload a new version of a video, without changing the video link, details or permissions.
- Learn more. Roadmap IDs: 53211 & 49534.
Teamwork updates across SharePoint team sites, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams
Microsoft 365 is designed to be a universal toolkit for teamwork – to give you the right tools for the right task, along with common services to help you seamlessly work across applications. SharePoint is the intelligent content service that powers teamwork – to better collaborate on proposals, projects, and campaigns throughout your organization – and is integrated with Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Yammer, Stream, Planner and much more.
Differential sync for all file types
This means you sync only the parts of large files that have changed, not the entire file. This makes the file synchronization process faster for these files. It also reduces the time taken to upload and download a file as well as consumed bandwidth. This month we are rolling out the ability to leverage differential sync to all file types - JPEG, PDF,MOV,MP4 etc., stored in OneDrive and SharePoint.
- To learn more and see the demonstration of this functionality, you can access the recording of our recent webinar “Syncing up with OneDrive.”
- Roadmap ID: 33412
Custom list view formatting
Enable your makers to add “Tile views” to lists via JSON.
To do this, you build a JSON object that describes the elements that are displayed when a row is loaded in a list view and any styles to be applied to those elements. View formatting does not change the data in list items; it only changes how they're displayed to users who browse the list.
Anyone who can create and manage views in a list can use view formatting to configure how views are displayed.
- Learn more.
- Review examples: Inventory example: here, Promotions example: here.
Form configuration in SharePoint lists and libraries
We are making it easier to customize the visibility and ordering of fields in SharePoint list and library forms. Users can click on an item and click Edit Form > Show/hide columns in the details pane to choose what to display on the default form. It's very easy to do in the new UI to change and update how a form looks and what data it presents.
To change the ordering, use drag-and-drop or the "up" and “down" buttons next to each column. Required columns cannot be hidden.
- Roadmap ID: 56425.
Related technology
Microsoft 365 Learning Paths on Microsoft Learn
Up your game with a learning path tailored to today's Microsoft 365 masterminds and designed to prepare you for industry-recognized Microsoft certifications. This is a new approach to learning by offering 22 learning paths on-demand -- dynamic and interactive experiences to help you achieve your technical and professional goals faster. Through self-guided learning paths, you can take charge of your own learning and choose the expertise level you’d like to achieve.
For example, the Collaborate with SharePoint in Microsoft 365 learning path includes planning for SharePoint in Microsoft 365, understanding site options, using files and folders and methods to best manage sites.
Bill Gates' documentary on @NetFlix (@BillGates; @gatesfoundation)
After watching it, I simply wanted to recommended viewing: "Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates."
Throughout, I found it interesting that Bill is constantly taking walks (and in the documentary, you’ll see it with great cinematography as he and the director chat’stroll through the outdoors). I love the image of Bill eating dry Tang out of his palm in the wee hours in the early days, and one great telling personal item: his book tote bag – refilled with new books each week. A quick breakdown of each of the three parts (~ 50 minutes each):
- Pt.1 | sanitation - innovating toilets and water treatment plants
- Pt.2 | eradicating polio
- Pt.3 | reducing greenhouse gases with new energy resources, plus more about Bill + Melinda’s relationship.
A final thought on how good SharePoint and OneDrive will look on all the newly announced devices…
There is a lot of device choice out there, and no matter which you choose, know that you’ll have a great intranet and file browse and access experience. SharePoint and OneDrive engineers, alongside dedicated designers, spend a lot of time and planning to ensure that you have the best experience and access when using one of our apps on your device of choice. And they work closely with device manufacturers to ensure a best experience possible as new devices and OSes release. The Microsoft apps are highly rated, useful tools in your pocket.
I can’t wait to see how you share and work together across people, sites, news, files and lists while on the go across these devices (and more):
- Samsung event [Aug. 7th] "Galaxy Unpacked 2019" (Galaxy Note10 | Note10+); watch Shilpa Ranganathan, Microsoft CVP Mobile and Cross Device Experiences, demo OneDrive on the Samsung Note10 during the event (video link jumps right to it).
- Apple event [Sept. 24th] "New version of the most popular iPad starts shipping" (7th-gen iPad & new iPadOS + Apple Pencil) + macOS "Catalina" [Oct. 7th]
- Surface event [Oct. 2nd] "Surface reveals new holiday 2019/2020 lineup” --introduces a new category of dual-screen devices built for mobile productivity" (Pro 7 & X + slim pen, Laptop 3, Neo, Duo, earbuds)
- #MadeByGoogle / Pixel event [Oct. 15th] Made by Google '19 & https://store.google.com/ (Pixel 4, Chromebook, Pixel Watch, Pixel Buds and more).
November 2019 teasers
Psst, still here? Still scrolling the page looking for the rolled out goodness? If so, here’s a few teasers of what’s to come to production next month…
- Thing 1 – new files experience in Microsoft Teams. [roadmap ID: 30548 & 51234]
- Thing 2 – new sharing experience in Microsoft Teams. [roadmap ID: 51541]
… shhh, tell everyone. And if you made it this far, we may have already shared a little about the two above teasers; timing is everything 😉; will share more in depth within next month’s roadmap pitstop.
Helpful, ongoing change management resources
- "Stay on top of Office 365 changes"
- "Message center in Office 365"
- Install the Office 365 admin app; view Message Center posts and stay current with push notifications.
- Microsoft 365 public roadmap + pre-filtered URL for SharePoint, OneDrive, Yammer and Stream roadmap items.
- SharePoint Facebook | Twitter | SharePoint Community Blog | UserVoice
- OneDrive Facebook | Twitter | OneDrive Community Blog | UserVoice
- Follow me to catch news and interesting SharePoint things: @mkashman; pre-warning of occasional bad puns, too.
Thanks for tuning in and/or reading this episode/blog of the Intrazone Roadmap Pitstop – September 2019 (blog/podcast). We’re open to your feedback in comments below to hear how both the Roadmap Pitstop podcast episodes and blogs can be improved over time.
Engage with us. Ask questions. Push us where you want and need to get the best information and insights. We're here to put both our and your best change management foot forward.
Stay safe out there on the (end of the) road’map – MWAH HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA -- and thanks for listening and reading.
Velcome to z end October 2019 (and this blog),
?? Mark Kashman – senior product manager (SharePoint/OneDrive | Microsoft)
Welcome to the SharePoint Blog! Learn best practices, news, and trends directly from the SharePoint team.