Reinventing SharePoint business process at Microsoft Ignite 2018
Published Sep 24 2018 01:07 PM 29.4K Views
Microsoft

It’s a very busy week at Microsoft Ignite 2018.  We’ve been working on all the enhancements we previewed at SharePoint Conference in May 2018, and we hope you’ve been able to enjoy the featured role for SharePoint, PowerApps and Flow in some of our keynote demos this morning, and available for replay on our site. 

Here are our highlight announcements for business apps in Office 365.

  • Easy list creation – Build new SharePoint lists from the structure of existing lists or Excel tables [Coming Q4 2018]
  • Predictive indexing – Add indexes to lists and libraries of any size, up to 30 million items [Coming Q4 2018]
  • Location column – Add a new column type to any list or library to search and tag data with map coordinates, name, mailing address and more. [Coming Q4 2018]
  • Conditional formatting – Add conditional color coding to SharePoint columns without using scripting [Coming Q4 2018]
  • View formatting – Cut and paste scripts to create conditional formatting and immersive experiences for any list or library [Rolling out now]
  • SharePoint pages and lists in Microsoft Teams – Simply browse and add any SharePoint lists or library as a tab to any channel in Microsoft Teams [Rolling Out to Targeted Release]
  • Flow for document management – Use Microsoft Flow to move and copy files in Office 365, and generate shareable links [Coming Q4 2018]
  • Flow for site management – Use Microsoft Flow to build approval processes to join a SharePoint site to a hub site [October 2018]
  • Flow for reminders -- Use Microsoft Flow to schedule date based reminder emails for and custom date field [October 2018]
  • PowerApps support for rich text fields – Use PowerApps to view and update rich text stored in SharePoint formatted text columns [October 2018]
  • PowerApps forms in SharePoint Mobile -- Link directly to list and library PowerApps-based forms while browsing lists and libraries in the SharePoint mobile application [Coming Q4 2018]
  • US GCC Cloud Support for PowerApps and Flow - Run PowerApps and Flow solutions in tenants on the U.S. GCC sovereign cloud [October 2018]
  • Forms file upload for groups – Allow authenticated users of Microsoft Forms connected to a group to upload file attachments to OneDrive and SharePoint [Coming 2019]
  • PowerApps Auditing – Track PowerApps administrative actions inside the Office 365 audit center [Q4 2018]

Let’s look at some of these in more detail.

List Creation

We’re making easier than ever to reuse existing data as a template for new lists.  You can build new lists directly from the structure of existing lists or from Excel tables.  Copying list structures also brings over custom views and formats.  [Coming Q4 2018]

Creating lists from other listsCreating lists from other lists

Location Columns

Locations can greatly enrich any business data – but coordinating multiple fields for coordinates, address, and location names can be hard.  Our new location column allows you to browse Bing-based mapping data to tag items and documents with location data.  You can even filter and sort on any aspect of the location, like city or state.  And you can also include locations in your organization directory, such as meeting rooms.  [Coming Q4 2018]

Working with location columnsWorking with location columns

 

Conditional Formatting

Last year we introduced column formatting, which lets you use cut-and-paste JSON scripts to bring visualization, formatting and interactivity to SharePoint columns.  Coming soon, you’ll also be able to conditional formatting without using any JSON scripts.  [Coming Q4 2018]Conditional formatting for datesConditional formatting for dates

Business Apps Partner Program Charter Members

We’re not done here at Ignite 2018.  Watch for the announcement of our initial charter members of the SharePoint Business Apps Partner Program and customer case studies. [updated 27 Sept 2018].

16 Comments
Brass Contributor

I really like the Location column and the new formatting options. I assume this would go for row formatting also?

Microsoft

I love it when we beat a milestone release - what an effort to get PA and Flow into our GCC customers' hands early (Xmas in October! :) ).

 

I don't suppose we're apt to see Forms as a stocking stuffer are we?

Copper Contributor

I was waiting for conditional formatting functionality for quite a time. It's a great feature and is very beneficial for analysis and quick actions.

 

Great work team!!

Brass Contributor

I love the new features and enhancements! But why there is no word on Document Sets? I think it is about time we hear something from the engineering team on what will happen to Document Sets.

 

Is going to be modernized or will it be left forever in classic? Is Microsoft targeting Document Sets to be deprecated? It is quite hard now to advice customers on what to do about Document Sets when migrating to SharePoint Online, I've seen customers dropping them and using the awful folders instead.

Microsoft

@Alex Gonsales  Thanks!  We announced modern document sets in our content services annoucements and our keystone session, coming before end of 2018...

Brass Contributor

@Chris McNulty Thank you for the summary! I would like it if I can use the screenshots for my webinar...

 

FYI : You have a copy and paste mistake for the link in Conditional Formatting ;) 

Brass Contributor

@Chris McNulty Thank you so much for the good news! It made not only my day, it made my entire month! :D

 

Would you mind sharing a link to the announcement or to the key note session (if public)?

 

Thank you very much for the feedback, it will help me a lot from now on making decisions to support my customers on this path!

Iron Contributor

Thanks for list creation from existing lists, will this also be available for document libraries?

I read this:

 

Flow for site management – Use Microsoft Flow to build approval processes to join a SharePoint site to a hub site [October 2018,

will it also be possible to create a hub site from the new admin center?

Copper Contributor
Conditional Formatting without scripts will be very useful to the teams I've been training. It will also lessen their reliance on my availability to build them.
Copper Contributor

These are all really exciting additions and the maps look even better than they ever have before within SharePoint. However they don't mention if the location column here is anything like the existing geolocation column in SharePoint which needs a Bing Maps API key which potentially incurs licensing cost. Although the Bing Map web part allows you to put in a dress and doesn't charge you an API key and the modern events page allows you to search addresses and display maps without an API key if you want the geolocation field to work currently in a flatless you you must have an API key. this means that you have a hundred and twenty five thousand calls to Bing for the calendar year otherwise you have to pay on a per transaction basis. Microsoft can you clarify whether this new functionality is going to be included for free within office365 or will we need an API key and be subject to the transaction quotas on this page?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/maps/licensing/options

 

You can also read more about the API here as well.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff859477.aspx

Brass Contributor

There is a new feature: Create a reminder in SharePoint online mentioned in the Message Center. When you click on more information from the message center you are taken to this blog which doesn't mention the feature at all. Roadmap ID: 34267. Am I missing something or is there another link for more information on that feature?

Copper Contributor

Hello Berney,

 

I asked this question and the response was they do not have that information at this time..............................................

 

Have been asked by several users for this exact reminder. Would be nice to know more especially as it is already rolling out, according to the message center that is. 

Copper Contributor

Flow for reminders -- Use Microsoft Flow to schedule date based reminder emails for and custom date field [October 2018]

 

Any idea where I would find this type of FLOW or if it's available yet?

Microsoft

Reminders are rolling out now - we have demos live on the Resource Center already: https://resources.techcommunity.microsoft.com/case-studies/?_sft_theme=transform-business-process 

Brass Contributor

Another Message Center update around SP Reminders but nothing specific around it on this page (that is linked from the Message Center). The announcement doesn't have any mention of Flow and the link to the roadmap is for "Flow for SharePoint Reminders." Is that what this is for? The resource center @Chris McNulty posted back in November... Well, I guess I need to click into a bunch of case studies to find it? Here's the Message Center announcement that appears to be missing any specific information:

Update: Create a Reminder in SharePoint Online
MC172505
Stay Informed
Published On : 24 January 2019
In October of 2018 in MC150716, we communicated a new feature coming to SharePoint Online: Create a Reminder. This message is intended to notify you of a revision of the feature rollout timeline.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 34267.

How does this affect me?

After this change takes place for your organization, if you have a custom date column in a list or library, you can now create an email reminder a number of days in advance of the date column selection.
This feature has been released to Targeted Release organizations.

We’ll begin rolling this feature out towards the end of January 2019, and we anticipate rollout completion by mid-February 2019.

This SharePoint Online feature update is not available for GCC organizations.
Iron Contributor

We are in Q4 of 2019 and I am just now seeing the "create a list from an existing list" option. I am not sure when that showed up in my tenant, but I saw it for the first time today. I do not see, however, the "from excel" option. Is that still going to be rolled out? I remember being excited when I saw this article over a year ago, but I am wondering why the rollout has taken so long (and why it still does not appear to be complete). Can you provide an update on this and new ETA for GA? Thanks so much, @Chris McNulty !

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‎Oct 10 2018 12:00 PM
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