New Meeting and Calling Experience in Microsoft Teams!
Published Jul 22 2020 08:00 AM 2.1M Views
Microsoft

You may have seen the recent announcement of new meeting features in Teams in Reimagining virtual collaboration for the future of work and learning (if not, check it out!). Today, we’re pleased to share that we’re making several of these features available to most users of Teams over the next few days.


We’re gradually rolling the features out. Once you’ve got the build that has the new experience (Teams desktop app only), you’ll have the option to turn it on. Read on to learn how to turn it on, what comes with it, how to use it, and answers to some common questions. Let’s get right to it!


Turn on the new experience
You do this via a checkbox in Teams Settings. Here’s how:

  1. Select your profile pic at the top of the Teams app, then Settings > General. (General should be what’s showing when you open Settings, so you probably won’t have to select it.)
  2. Select Turn on new meeting experience.
  3. Restart Teams by doing the following:

a. Right-click or Cmd-click the Teams icon in the Windows task bar or Mac System Tray.
b. Select Quit.
c. Start Teams again like you normally would.


You might also see a notification that announces the new experience or reminds you to turn it on. Then it’s even easier—in that notification, choose Turn it on now if you’re ready at that point, or Maybe later if you’re in the middle of something.

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What happens after you’ve turned it on
After turning on the new experience and restarting Teams, the biggest thing you’ll probably notice is that any calls and meetings will pop out into their own window, separate from the main Teams window. Like this:

2.1.png

If you’re still seeing calls and meetings in the main Teams window after turning the setting on and restarting, go to your profile pic again and select Check for updates. Once that is done, do the same quit and restart procedure per above. That should do the trick.

 


But wait, there’s more
Here are the other new things you’ll see and can try out:

  • Meeting controls are moved to the top of the meeting screen. They’re docked there so you always have access to them (without jiggling your mouse) and they’re out of the way of the content and video that’s being shared.

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  • Large gallery view lets you see up to 49 video streams at once. This view is available when there are 10 or more attendees who are sharing video. To switch to large gallery, go to More options (…) in the meeting controls > Large gallery.

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Here’s what it looks like—pretty cool to see all those faces!

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  • Together mode lets you feel like you’re in the same shared space with everyone in the meeting. (It might be even more fun than Large gallery.) It’s in the same menu as Large gallery, just below it. Here’s Together mode:

6.1.png

Together mode is available when 5 or more participants are sharing video.


Both Large gallery and Together mode are being rolled out gradually over the next few weeks. If you don’t see them right away, check again later.

 

  • Meeting notes are now taken directly on the meeting’s Meeting notes tab in the main Teams window. (This is one of the benefits of having the meeting in a separate window.) To access or take notes from within the meeting window, select More options (…) > Show meeting notes and you’ll see the usual side pane come up. In the pane, there is a Take notes button that brings you to the Meeting notes tab.

7.png

 

  • Focus mode is available when content is being shared. If you’d like to pay close attention to content, without the distraction of seeing video feeds, Focus mode is for you. It’s available in the meeting controls under More options (…) > Focus mode. Give it a whirl!

 

Common questions

  • Has screen sharing changed? How do I share my screen?

No big changes here. In the meeting controls at the top, select Share screen. The screen choices you have will come up from the bottom of the meeting window just like they did before.

8.png

To stop sharing your screen, select Close screen share in the meeting controls. It’s the icon next to the Leave button.

 

  • Why are message extensions grayed out? I like to send polls in meeting chat.

We’re working on it! For now, if you want to send a poll or use other message extensions in the meeting chat, go back to the main Teams window, select the meeting chat (either via the Calendar or the list in Chat), and do it there.

 

  • What about InVision Freehand whiteboard?

Yup, we’re working on that, too.

 

  • Will live events also open in their own window?

No, not yet—that functionality is coming soon.

 

  • Focus mode is nice, but what about Full screen view?

We like Full screen view, too! (It’s available currently in meetings that happen in the main Teams window.) We’re working on bringing that to the new experience as well. When we do, you’ll have both Focus mode and Full screen view to choose from.

 

  • Is this available for any license type?

The new experience isn’t available for Teams for Government or Teams free just yet. But soon.

 

  • Which platforms?

The new meeting and calling experience is available for the Teams desktop client on both Windows and Mac. It’s not available for Teams on the web. (If you need to download the desktop client, go here.)

 

  • What if I don’t turn the new experience on?

We’d love for you to try it out. We’re making it available in this way partly because in the near future, we’ll turn the experience on by default. Eventually, the setting to turn it on and off will go away. At that time, the experience of meetings in separate windows, with the meeting controls at the top, will become the norm. So we want you to have ample time to get familiar with it.

 

  • What happens to the new meeting experience if I sign out of Teams or switch to a different Teams org?

If you sign out or switch to a different Teams org (also known as a "tenant"), you'll have to turn on the new meeting experience again. Follow the instructions for turning it on in Settings and restarting Teams.

 

That’s our overview and how-to for this new meeting and calling experience. We hope you’ll try it. Remember to check for updates and restart the Teams client after you turn it on. Enjoy! 

385 Comments
Iron Contributor

@MattFlo44S if you go into Settings -> Date & time then toggle "Set time zone automatically" as well as "Adjust for daylight savings time automatically", then toggle both back on, quit & restart Teams, that should be fixed (we experienced the same issues).

Copper Contributor

We are too convinced this is being enabled on a per user basis in a random manner... two of our users, same build, same Office release cadence setting (as far as I can see) but only one has these new options and the other hasn't and we can't see a separate cadence setting for Teams other than the standard Office 365 one (unless anyone can point us to it)

Bronze Contributor

@Claudio Stallone, yes, I did end up finding that direct download link later. But let's pretend we don't happen to know the build #, which is going to be the case much of the time. Then what? In two weeks, which build is going to be current? It's anybody's guess, unless there's a place to find it, which I don't know that there is.

Copper Contributor

Is there a way to have it not be in a new window and have the meeting be in the normal teams window like how is it was previously

Iron Contributor

@Sumifairy - yep, for now you can disable the new meeting experience.  

Iron Contributor

@MattFlo44S Every Team SharePoint starts with US timezone and regional settings irrespective of tenant or creator settings, so there are a lot of gotchas. Private channels add the extra gotcha of doubly ignoring those settings AND the existing Team setting.

Steel Contributor

@Brian . 
Yes that is unfortunately so. Microsoft must ensure that the latest version is always downloaded during the official download. Respectively, when looking for an update in Microsoft Teams, the latest version should be downloaded and installed.

 

@Mansoor Malik 

Could you say something about it?

Copper Contributor

Backgrounds effects are not available on MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012).

They were, in the non-enhanced version.

Copper Contributor

:smile:

Copper Contributor

I appreciate this is more Windowsy, but I kinda liked the context of the meetings versus the rest of the Teams functionality being close to each other.

 

The mini window of the meeting being available in the Teams and Chat views was invaluable when switching between multiple simultaneous bits of information, while if you switch to the Teams main window now, you don't have any sight of the meeting you're already in, and can't see any of your conversations/tabs in other sections.

Copper Contributor

I am unable to view more than 1 screen ie 4 video users. We are 10 of us in a team but for some reason I am unable to see the other 8. Some settings or is it because it's a free version ?

Copper Contributor

bharatrajgarg@gmail.com

Copper Contributor

Pls help

Copper Contributor

Nice new features but we need a better update experience. In large organization, expectations are getting hard to manage as people are asking how to get the new version...

Microsoft

@agfnov is this still happening for you? Have you refreshed your client? If so and the issue is persisting please let me know and I will reach out to learn more and help

Copper Contributor

Es una de las opciones mas esperadas para la parte educativa, esperamos sigan mejorando las características.

 

Saludos,

Microsoft

Thanks everyone for the patience! Pop out (multi-window) option has been rolled out for all commercial and edu tenants. Please check for updates, enable new meeting experiences from settings and restart Teams client as above. 

settings.png

 

 We'll continue to roll out large gallery and together mode to more users next week. Have a wonderful weekend! 

Copper Contributor

Hi everyone. Teams would be the best tool for teachers if they allow us to block students from unmute themselves. This is a big issue for us. That's why Zoom is winning over Teams on this matter. Are you going to add that feature soon? @Mansoor Malik

Copper Contributor

For the macOS desktop client, it won't update past 18164. It says a new version is available and to refresh to update and restart but it won't do it. The main desktop client UI vanishes but it doesn't restart the app and clicking on the teams icon just brings the client back into view. Tried with 3 different Mac desktops, one brand new and wiped clean. Same result. No such issues with the windows version which updated to the new one no issues with the same EDU license.

Copper Contributor

Fantastic updates.

Thank you so much from an early elementary teacher. Excited about the options to decrease fatigue. <3

Iron Contributor

Dear @Mansoor Malik ,

 

I haven't yet received the new meeting feature. Is this something which has to be enabled in the tenant settings or should it be a globally enabled feature:

image.png

I have installed the latest version - auto update doesn't find anything new:

image.png

 

Thank you for your answer. 


Kind regards,

Matthias

Copper Contributor

What about the only most important feature for teams, NDI? everything is 'coming soon' for you guys.... you announced NDI in march and still no news at all..... the zoom developers works faster than you 

Copper Contributor

Great - turned on "New Experience" but still cannot see "Gallery View" or "Together Mode" in the "More Options".  What is the latest update that allows these new features to run?

Thanks

Copper Contributor

We would like to create a brand corporate background for Teams, is it allowed to do so?

Brass Contributor

Is there a way to turn this on by default for all our users while in this phase of rollout?

Copper Contributor

We're in dire need of some meeting features ZOOM provides already:

  • speaker mode: pin one screen as the only screen the participants see (while that person is speaking), letting an "organiser" decide which screen to pin and when to switch screens etc.
  • force mute/unmute as "organiser" of a meeting without people being able to unmute themselves

Any chance these features will be implemented within a reasonable timeframe?

We'd love these features for our regular meetings and not just for Live Events (which are rather unpractical to use on a daily basis)

Thank you for your reply, Susanna

Copper Contributor

@emmaryan hey, mine version in the latest one, and the background effects are turned off once I switch on the enhanced meetings.

Brass Contributor

Seems faster

Steel Contributor

@Mansoor Malik We are seeing a regression in the legacy 9-window experience where non-video participants are no longer moved to the stage, and instead occupy boxes in the display.  This is problematic as the previous behavior allowed us to circumvent the lack of Speaker View layout mode by only having the relevant people with video going.  

Can anyone else confirm this experience change?  The New Meeting experience behaves as before - non-video participants go to the stage.


Disappointing to see this step back for our users.

Copper Contributor

@alinefxgk

 

Do you give it a few minutes? as when it says restart to refresh app and the client shuts its self as it silently uses installer to install the update package not the best way of doing things in my personal opinion 

Copper Contributor

How can we get this feature? I have some users who see and it some who don't. I am currently running Teams Version 1.3.00.19565 and do not see the option but have users on older versions who do.

Iron Contributor

My entire team has this option to enable except for me. Everybody is on version 19173.... no dice for me... I am alone. :)

Copper Contributor

Love the new experience.  Thank you

Copper Contributor

My team got the option but I haven't. Can someone explain the logic of how this feature getting rolled out? I am running 19173

 

Edit:

@Mansoor MalikAre you sure this features has been enabled for all commercial organizations employees? If yes then it seems a bug that few users are not getting it till now.

@Mansoor Malik You mention the rollout to commercial and edu tenants is 100% complete but others in this thread aren't seeing it.  I can confirm that in an EDU tenant I also do not see the new meeting experience option, even after manually installing the latest version.

Edit: Literally 2 minutes after posting this, I checked for updates again and the option appeared.

Copper Contributor

Screen Share is still laid out wrong. When you have multiple monitors it stacks the  Screen Share vertically, most people have their screen horizontal, so Screen #2 is off the bottom of the screen.

 

Zoom has it right that you see all of your screens on the top row, then Apps below.

 

Copper Contributor

Thank you for introducing this enhancement, it is very much needed! Is there any documentation on what registry value can be modified to silently enable | configure this in mass automated scale? HLKM or HKCU key to edit, create would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

Steel Contributor

Any date on the Team meeting limit being increased to 1000?  Mentioned in this article - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/07/08/reimagining-virtual-collaboration-futu...  We really are looking forward to larger interactive corporate meeting experiences. Live events is limiting with single video feed. 

Copper Contributor

Can this feature be activated at the Admin / Tenant level or is it up to each user to enable the features. 

Copper Contributor

When can we expect this for the Linux client? Still waiting for custom backgrounds on Linux, though.

Copper Contributor

Hello community.  We're loving the new Together mode.  More immediately we're loving the new location of the call control bar!  We have users who have been updated to 1.3.00.19173, but still don't have a checkbox to enable the new meeting experience.  Any feedback on how to force it?

Copper Contributor

We would also like the ability to enable this new meeting experience setting on a mass scale. We have over 15,000 staff and students who need to see more than 9 participants at one time before school begins in a couple weeks. Having to teach everyone to click this setting including kindergarten students would be very challenging. Please let us know how we can accommodate this need as soon as possible. Thank you!  

Copper Contributor

Is there a way to enable this new functionality for all users by default now?

Copper Contributor

Will all these features be available in the Linux client? :lol:

Copper Contributor

The features look great, and we are starting to see people get the update.  I really wish there was a reliable way to opt in and reliably get the new version.  It's frustrating, because I'm the head of IT and can't get it (I've tried uninstalling, checking repeatedly for updates, etc.), my support manager can't get it, and our company's primary Teams administrator can't get it.  We should all be able to opt in early or at least be able to reliably check for the update and get it.  Please consider a way to allow people to opt in early.

Iron Contributor

@infotechie - are you and the others added to the Targeted Release membership or is the organization as a whole set to be in Targeted Release?  That was the only way for us to get it, and thought that was the case for any tenant at this point.   However, nearly a week after users were added to that in our org, probably 10% or more still don’t see the new feature to enable.  

Copper Contributor

@Patrick DrewsRelease preference doesn't appear to matter in our environment. I am in the targeted release group and still do not get the option but almost everyone else in our org does.

Iron Contributor

Same for us. Several of my team (along with me) are in the targeted release and several are not.  I thought I was the only 1 in my group of 11, but another coworker is also missing it, so maybe it really is just a timing thing.  But man.. I really wants it..   Together mode showed up today for everybody as well... 

Copper Contributor

I think Microsoft need to streamline roll out strategy for Teams. My team is facing challenge in explaining that who all in our organization got this feature and who are still missing [I am one of them who are missing]. My Team is also not able to explain by when remaining users will get this features enabled. I would suggest that any feature released should be enabled for whole tenant so that IT teams don't waste time in explaining users why they have not received this feature yet and by when they can expect it.

Bronze Contributor

Thank you @Mansoor Malik to share all of this, but is it by purposes done that this configuration is cleared when you do "sign-out" on Teams? By doing quit this is not behaves the same.

 

Version: 1.3.00.19173

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‎Jan 26 2021 11:52 AM
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