What’s New in Microsoft Teams | August 2025
Welcome to the August edition of What’s New in Microsoft Teams! As Teams continues to evolve, this month’s updates bring a fresh wave of innovation designed to help you work smarter, collaborate more effectively, and stay connected across your organization. Whether you’re catching up on conversations or preparing for your next big meeting, Teams is here to support your productivity with intelligent, user-friendly features. Among the standout releases this month is a feature that expands how you can express yourself, another feature that helps to streamline your workflow, and multiple enhancements to desk booking. First, “Multiple emoji reactions” lets you combine several emojis to share more complex reactions in a quick and concise way. Second, IT administrators can now upload custom dictionaries for Copilot in Teams, ensuring that meeting transcripts and Intelligent Recap reflect your organization’s unique terminology. Finally, your desk booking experience just got easier, with features that let you book a desk from a map and near a colleague. Together, these enhancements make Teams smarter and more personalized, helping you unlock deeper insights and collaborate with greater clarity than ever before. Take a look at the details of those features, and all the others we’re launching this month! New features released this month: Chat and collaboration Meetings, webinars, and town halls Teams Phone Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Fundamentals and Security Frontline Worker Solutions Certified for Teams Devices Chat and Collaboration Filter for messages with files in contextual search Finding shared content in Teams just got easier with the latest enhancements to the Find in Chat/Channel experience. Users can now quickly locate documents and media shared across conversations without scrolling through long threads. The updated experience enables filtering messages to show only those with attachments, and search results now include file chiclets—making it easy to identify messages containing files at a glance. These updates improve productivity and reduce friction when searching for shared content in conversations. Search with SQL-like commands When searching in Teams, you can now efficiently narrow down your search results by using SQL-like commands in the search bar. This allows you to quickly filter messages, files, or conversations with precise queries such as from:username or in:channel. This feature provides users with a familiar and structured method to find information swiftly and accurately. Keyboard Shortcuts Customize your keyboard shortcuts in Teams to work the way that’s most intuitive to you. Whether you want to set your own shortcuts based on your workflow preferences or you're used to shortcuts from other tools like Slack or Zoom, Teams lets you set up commands that match your habits, helping you work efficiently. Create your own custom commands or choose from preset layouts inspired by other apps. Just head to the top bar menu (•••), select Keyboard shortcuts, and use the dropdown to pick a layout or edit any shortcut to make it your own. Saved message view Quickly get back to important information without scrolling through long conversations. You can save messages in chats and channels and find them later in the saved messages view in your chat list. From the saved view, click on a saved message to open the full conversation in the right pane, where you can review or reply directly. Multiple Emoji Reactions You can react to messages and posts with multiple reactions per message, enhancing your ability to express a wide range of emotions effectively. Now you can respond to your manager’s leadership update with a "check” and “thank you” emoji, showing you understand the update and are thankful for their transparency. You can use combinations of emojis like those for a richer and more nuanced response, quickly conveying your feelings and thoughts, like agreement, urgency or sentiment, without extra replies—keeping discussions focused and efficient, while expressing yourself comprehensively. Meetings, Webinars, and Town halls Personal meeting templates [Premium] Efficient collaboration begins with a seamless meeting setup. With personal meeting templates, users can create and customize templates tailored to their frequent meeting types—such as one-on-one connections, client engagements, or support sessions. Simply select your template, and all the pre-saved options are automatically applied, allowing meetings to start promptly and with confidence. Personal meeting templates save users time and effort in resetting meeting settings and ensure consistency across your organization. This capability is available with a Teams Premium license. Custom dictionaries now available to Copilot in Teams IT administrators can now upload custom dictionaries for their tenant in English, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and Chinese (Simplified). This capability is accessible through the Copilot Settings page in the Microsoft 365 admin center. By integrating organization-specific terminology, custom dictionaries help the AI model produce more accurate and meaningful meeting transcripts. This enhancement benefits both Copilot and Intelligent Recap, ensuring your unique business language is recognized and reflected. Organizations can reduce misunderstandings and improve productivity by tailoring the AI to their needs. Take advantage of this new feature to unlock deeper insights from your meetings. Meeting organizers can send messages to attendees in the lobby with lobby chat Now meeting organizers can send one-way messages to attendees in the lobby via the lobby chat. The lobby chat is intended to optimize the lobby experience for all participants, ensuring that organizers are better equipped to run external meetings, have more control over meetings with external participants, and external attendees are well informed about the meeting upon meeting start. Edit your display name in Teams meetings Participants can now edit their display name during a Teams meeting — whether to reflect a preferred name, indicate a role (e.g., “Moderator” or “Interpreter”), or support inclusive self-representation. The change of display name is temporary and only visible during the meeting. The change is not permanent in any artifact like recording. Customize the screen in Teams Town halls through ‘Manage what attendees see’ [Premium] Organizers will be able to elevate their Teams Town hall presentations by customizing their screen with select layouts, backgrounds, and name tags using “Manage what attendees see” feature. This will result in a polished, high-quality, and engaging event experience. This feature is available with a Teams Premium License. Immersive events, experience customization tools and presenter tools [Premium] Microsoft Teams now supports immersive events, a new way to host large-scale, 3D virtual gatherings that hosts can schedule and attendees can join directly in Teams. Organizers with a Teams Premium license can design engaging spaces, customize event visuals, and host up to 300 attendees in a spatial audio environment that supports simultaneous conversations and cross-room interactions. This feature brings new and expanded immersive capabilities into the familiar Teams experience, making it easier to inspire ideas, foster inclusion, and build stronger connections. With the new Experience Customization Tools, event creators can personalize immersive spaces using intuitive design options, no coding required. Add logos, theme colors, images, and videos to a shared 3D canvas, resize and reposition objects, and save layouts as reusable templates for future events. In addition, improvements to Presenter tools make it simpler to host immersive, interactive 3D events with avatars in customizable 3D spaces. Improvements include: ‘Easy presentation start’, which consolidates required actions into a simple start flow Hosts can make sure attendees and speakers are in the right place by teleporting them to seating or presentation spaces in the 3D space Find-a-person gives the ability to search across rooms to find someone The simplified Control Panel provides a cleaner and simpler production experience with a pre-filtered content view Teams Phone Microsoft Shifts integration with Teams call queues Teams admins can leverage Teams scheduling groups created within the Shifts app in Teams to dynamically manage call routing to agents in call queues. Once scheduling groups and associated work shifts are established in the Shifts app, call queues can be configured to reference shift data. Call queues will then pull in the associated shift schedules, ensuring that calls to the queue are routed only to agents who are actively on shift. This integration enables: Streamlined workforce management by aligning call routing with shift schedules Greater flexibility in configuring call queues based on timing and team Learn more about Shifts in Teams, how to manage the Shifts app, and configuring a Shift for your call queue. Email notifications for phone number assignments Admins can send a Microsoft branded email notification to end-users with their newly assigned Teams Phone number while assigning/unassigning the number through Teams PowerShell cmdlet. This feature helps provide a welcoming onboarding experience for new Teams Phone users. User notifications include: The assigned or unassigned telephone number Activation timeline (up to 48 hours) Instructions for accessing the dial pad in Teams Links to learn more about Teams Phone capabilities Learn how to assign a phone number to a user through the Teams Admin Center. Device sign-in support for non-touch models Organizations now have increased sign-in flexibility for non-touch devices. Users are able to log in directly, without relying on device code flow (DCF) authentication. For example, a T9 keyboard can be used to enter credentials, providing an experience better tailored to the device. Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Book desks using maps [Premium] You can now book a desk using an interactive, map-based experience. The new maps-first interface shows office layouts and is responsive on mobile devices and smaller screens. Whether reserving an individual desk or a pooled desk, the experience is optimized within Outlook and Teams calendars and across the Places app. This feature is available with a Teams Premium license. Book desks near colleagues [Premium] You can now book a desk based on where your colleagues are working. When selecting a desk, you’ll be able to see who is occupying nearby desks or find where a specific colleague plans to sit on a given day, then book a desk close to them. You always retain control over whether to share your own desk location with others. This capability is available with a Teams Premium license. Book desks for partial days and multiple days [Premium] Desk reservations are now more flexible in duration: you can book a desk for a partial day (just a few hours) or for multiple days in one go, rather than requiring a separate full-day booking for each day. This change accommodates real in-office workflows – for example, if you only need a desk for a morning, or conversely want to keep the same desk all week, you can do so easily. This feature is available with a Teams Premium license. Book desks on behalf of others [Premium] Delegates can now book desks for their principals. If you manage another person’s schedule, you can reserve a workspace on their behalf through the familiar calendar delegation workflow. This desk booking process mirrors existing Outlook calendar management, so it fits seamlessly into delegates’ routines. This feature is available with a Teams Premium license. Configure auto-release for no-show desk reservations Admins can now set desks to auto-release after a specific time frame if a user does not check in for their reservation. This frees up space for others, and helps maximize workspace utilization by ensuring no-show reservations don’t keep a desk locked all day. Learn more here. Enhanced walk-up desk booking experience for users Teams walk-up desk booking now features enhanced interface updates, showing reservation confirmation or notifications if desks are booked. The improved experience guides users on reservations, calendar syncing, and management. Learn more here. Configure new desk modes: reservable, drop-in, assigned, unavailable Administrators can configure desks in multiple modes to support different booking policies. Each desk can now be set to one of several modes, and this setting can be changed at any time to adapt to organizational needs. The available desk modes include: Reservable desks are configured to be booked in advance or on-the-spot. Drop-in desks are available for on-the-spot use and cannot be reserved in advance. You can use the capability from Microsoft Teams to link the peripheral devices present on these desks to the individual desk object in the directory. Assigned desks are permanently linked to a specific user and cannot be booked by others. Every assigned desk must always have a designated user. Unavailable desks are not available for reservation due to maintenance or for any other reason. These modes give organizations flexibility in managing how each workspace is utilized – from hoteling desks that anyone can book, to dedicated desks, to informal touchdown spots. Learn more here. New Places built-in admin role support Places now supports built-in Microsoft 365 admin roles for delegation. IT admins can assign responsibility for Places management to other administrators using standard roles, allowing day-to-day management tasks to be handled without elevated permissions. In practice, this means administrators can delegate tasks (like updating office space details or approving changes) to team members with appropriate built-in roles, streamlining operations. Learn more here. New Places admin dashboard Administrators can now manage Places directory data through a dedicated, user-friendly dashboard that provides a central interface to easily view and edit workspace directory information (such as office locations, desks, and rooms) and set and manage booking policies. This simplifies day-to-day management of workplace data by putting all relevant controls in one place. Fundamentals and Security Microsoft Teams: Support Audit logs for Give and Take Control and Screen share IT administrators will now have the ability to access detailed logs for both the "Give and Take Control" and "Screenshare" features. These logs will provide comprehensive information, including the names and timestamps of the individuals involved in each action. Specifically, the logs will indicate who initiated or received control, as well as who started the screenshare session, along with the corresponding timestamps and names. This enhancement ensures greater transparency and accountability for all control and screenshare activities. Accessible in Teams Admin Center. Learn more here. Frontline Worker Solutions New SharePoint Agent Integration in Teams Chats and Channels Starting in August, SharePoint agents can now be added to Teams channels. SharePoint agents allow users to create agents grounded on SharePoint sites, files and folders. For example, you can create an agent that pulls from a SharePoint library with compliance information. Within a channel, users can then query against those documents. Additionally, users can now add multiple SharePoint agents to a single group chat – an upgrade from the previous limitation of one agent per chat. Each agent brings its own specialized knowledge, perfect for reviewing documents, planning content, or collaborating across specs. Adding an agent is easy: just copy the link from SharePoint – just like you would to share any other file – and drop it into a post or reply. Then, interact with them by @mentioning the agent by name. These agents enhance conversations by offering tailored insights and support right when it's needed. Deploy Frontline Teams in Teams Admin Center We’re excited to announce new enhancements in the Teams Admin Center that make it easier than ever to set up and deploy your frontline teams with flexible membership. With our updated setup wizard, you can now complete configuration and deployment in one seamless flow—no need to navigate across multiple wizards to complete setup and deploy your first frontline teams. Whether you're onboarding a single team or scaling across multiple locations, the streamlined experience helps you move faster and with greater confidence. We’ve also introduced incremental save, allowing you to pause setup at any point and return later without losing progress. Plus, you can now validate your location attributes directly within the wizard to ensure your deployment includes the expected number of locations before going live. These updates are designed to simplify frontline deployment and give IT admins more control and flexibility every step of the way. Learn more here. Certified for Teams Devices EPOS IMPACT 100 MS Stereo and Mono USB-C+A headsets The IMPACT 100 is an entry-level headset that delivers exceptional value for money. With smart features that enhance efficiency and an ultra-lightweight design, it is an ideal headset for talk-heavy professionals. The soft headband and leatherette earpads ensure all-day comfort, while the in-line controller allows for easy call control. The USB-C to USB-A adapter eliminates connectivity concerns and certifications with Microsoft Teams and UC platforms guarantees seamless calls in any office setup. Logitech Rally Board 65 + Tap for Teams Rooms on Android (wired) Simplify the way you meet and collaborate. Introducing Rally Board 65 + Tap — the ultimate all-in-one video conferencing solution designed for meeting rooms and open spaces. The expansive 65” touchscreen of Rally Board enables a seamless and intuitive collaboration experience in any environment. Join meetings with just one touch with Tap, a touch controller for Microsoft Teams Rooms. Enjoy quick and easy setup, flexible installation options to place the camera above or below the screen for natural eye contact, and innovative AI-driven features. Yealink MeetingBar A50 with Touch Panel CTP25 Yealink MeetingBar A50 is an all-in-one video collaboration bar for medium-to-large rooms. This product delivers cutting-edge audio and video communication capabilities, powered by advanced AI technology, ensuring crystal-clear sound and ultra-HD visuals. With intelligent full-duplex, IntelliFocus, and video fence, it redefines the video conferencing experience, bringing unparalleled clarity and efficiency to every meeting. A50 uses Qualcomm's latest generation chip QCM8550, supporting 48 Tops of industry-leading computing power. Also it uses simple plug-and-play with a CTP25 controller. The Yealink MeetingBar A50 with Touch Panel Logitech Entry Level MeetUp 2 for Teams Rooms on Windows Upgrade your small rooms and BYOD spaces into certified Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows. This solution is preconfigured for easy and affordable deployments and includes Logitech MeetUp 2 for powerful audio and video with next-gen features; Logitech Tap with USB Kit touch controller for easy, one-touch join meetings; and Lenovo mini PC to power operations. The Logitech Entry Level MeetUp 2 system with integrated camera/soundbar, controller and mini PCWhat's new in Microsoft Teams at Enterprise Connect 2025: Leading the Future of Collaboration
Enterprise Connect 2025 (March 17-20, 2025), is the premier conference for enterprise communications and collaboration in North America, and we were excited to attend to highlight some of our newest Microsoft Teams innovations. Ilya Bukshteyn, CVP of Microsoft Teams Calling, Devices, and Premium Experiences, delivered a keynote address to introduce and demonstrate some of these advancements. The features he highlighted and others announced during the event represent different areas of Teams, including Places, chat and collaboration, meetings, events, Teams Phone, Teams Rooms, fundamentals, and security. All of these features are designed to highlight how Microsoft Teams is transforming the future of work. From seamless communication to advanced AI-driven features, these new capabilities can be instrumental in helping businesses thrive in a hybrid work environment. Let’s take a look at what we introduced. Chat and Collaboration Meetings, Webinars and Town halls Teams Phone Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Teams Devices Fundamentals and Security Frontline workers Chat and Collaboration The new chat and channels experience: Generally available in early 2025 (Q1) The new chat and channels experience is designed to help you collaborate more efficiently and effectively. It’s simple by default, enabling everyone to stay on top of what matters, and it’s powerful on demand, allowing you to organize information and communicate your way. Catch up on chat, channels and teams in one place, use filters to triage messages, create custom sections to organize conversations by topics, and more. Learn more here. We’re committed to making Teams more streamlined with enhancements like threaded conversations, coming to broad availability in mid-2025. Chat @nearby: Available in public preview in April You can now connect with colleagues who are physically nearby via Teams chat using @nearby. By showing which colleagues are nearby, this feature can help to spur impromptu in-person connections, such as scheduling a spontaneous lunch or meeting up for a quick chat. Resize Teams windows and panes: Available now in public preview Teams now offers more options to arrange your Teams app window across your screen real estate, allowing you to keep your communication in context, tailoring it to your needs. Learn more here. Resize Teams app: snap and resize the Teams app with Windows 11 Snap layouts to efficiently multitask by viewing multiple applications side by side. Enabling access to chat, channel, and meetings functions at smaller window sizes ensures that you can work across all aspects of Teams, alongside other apps. Resize Teams panes: adjust the size of your Teams panes to prioritize what is currently most important to you, and Teams' fluid experience will instantly adapt to fit the new layout. For instance, you can expand the meeting chat pane during a meeting. Simply hover over the edge of the chat, channels, meetings or activity panes, and drag the arrows to resize the panes Zoom levels: Teams now offers additional zoom levels to help you find the size that works best for you. Whether you're using a 6k display or have low vision and need larger text, icons, and controls, you can zoom in without sacrificing functionality or needing to scroll in two directions to read the text. Shared collaborative space in channels: Available in public preview in April A new collaborative space is now available directly from channels, enabling real-time collaboration, organization of key information, and streamlined communications. You will be able to add a Loop workspace tab to standard channels, allowing your team to brainstorm, co-create, collect, and organize content together in real-time. Everyone in the Team gets access to the Loop workspace, even as Team membership changes, and the workspace adheres to the governance, lifecycle, and compliance standards set by the Microsoft 365 Group backing the team. To get started, click the plus sign (+) at the top of the channel and select Loop from the app list. This will be generally available in April. Live chat: Generally available now in the US, rest of world by end of March Live chat in Microsoft Teams enables small businesses to provide quick and helpful customer service by allowing website visitors to chat directly with their team in Teams. This feature includes notifications for incoming chat requests, a dashboard for managing conversations, and the ability to view previous customer interactions. To use Live chat, companies are limited to a maximum of 25 users. This is generally available in the US now and will be available worldwide in March. Learn more about how to set up live chat. Share file (forward): Available in Public preview in March You will be able to directly share a file from chat or channel conversation to other chat or channels, making sharing easier with fewer clicks. To share a file, select the file’s ellipsis menu and choose ‘share’. You can add additional content to the message to provide context and clarity for the recipient. You can share in 1:1 chats, group chats or channels. Improvements to “Shared” tab in chat: Generally available now Filter files by keywords: locate previously shared files or links by entering keywords to the Shared tab’s search bar. Type name, file title, the person who shared it, or even the time when it was shared, and find the file you need. Go-to-chat: Select the go-to-chat icon to quickly navigate to the specific message in which the file or link was shared. Storylines integrated into Teams: Generally available in early 2025 (Q1) Employee communications are often scattered across multiple locations, leading to frustration, delays, and overload. Storyline in Teams empowers leaders to share updates and vision with all of employees and simplifies the ways that people share and connect. The storyline integration brings the same communication benefits from Viva Engage right into Teams, providing a new way for employees to stay on top of company initiatives, discover what leaders are talking about, and contribute ideas and perspectives. Meetings, Webinars and Town halls Intelligent meeting recap for Events [Premium]: Generally available now Intelligent recap is now available for town hall and webinar event instances, just like the intelligent recap experience you are used to in meetings. Event organizers, co-organizers, and presenters can now easily explore the meeting recording by speakers and topics, and access AI-generated meeting notes, AI-generated tasks, and name mentions. In addition to availability with a Teams Premium license, intelligent event recap features are available with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. End the Session for attendees and presenters return to green room: Generally available now Organizers and presenters can now end the session with this new "End Event" button for town halls, webinars, and structured meetings. After selecting this button, attendees will see a message on stage stating that the session has concluded, and presenters will return to the Green Room. Post and reply to questions as an organizer: Generally available in early 2025 (Q2) Town hall and webinar organizers now have the ability to post and reply to questions using the title “organizer” in the Q&A experience, instead of their individual names. This feature allows instance organizers to present a unified and official voice when responding to attendee questions. DVR Support for Town hall: Generally available in April Digital Video Recording (DVR) functionality in town halls now enables event attendees to interact with an instance of a live streaming town hall instance in the same way they would a recorded piece of content, when viewing via desktop or web. This makes it easier to digest the content being presented, giving viewers the ability to pause and move forward or back within a town hall, navigate to any previously-streamed timestamp, and interact in other ways that make viewing a town hall more convenient. This feature is available for all town halls regardless of license assigned to the organizers. Town hall concurrent attendee increase to 50K: Generally available in March Organizers of town hall instances can now reach wider audience in a single event with an expansion to a maximum of 50,000 simultaneous attendees. This increase serves as a significant jump from the previous attendee cap of 20,000 for organizers with a Teams Premium license. The quality and stability of town halls up to this new limit will remain constant, providing high-quality and reliable content to participants. For events with more than 20,000 concurrent attendees, some interactivity features are disabled for all attendees. Organizations can get support for audiences up to 50,000 concurrent attendees by reaching out to the Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program (LEAP) for assistance (Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program – Microsoft Adoption). ). Pop out meetings panels: Generally available in April When you are in meetings or calls, you can now pop out, drag, and resize your meeting panes from the meeting window. With this feature, you’ll be able to view multiple meeting features at the same time, so you don’t miss anything in the chat while monitoring meeting notes. The ability to pop out and move/resize is available for Chat, Copilot, and Notes side panes. Town hall Attendee/Presenter email dial in details: Generally available now With the release of this feature, the Townhall attendee and presenter invites will have dial in details available in the body of the email. This provides an additional level of convenience, giving attendees easy access to important event information. Separate policies to control transcription and recording for Town halls and Webinars: Generally available now Town halls and webinars now have separate policies from meetings to allow or disable transcription and recording in instances. Previously, the transcription and recording policies for town halls and webinars automatically inherited the transcription and recording policy set for meetings. Town hall and webinars can now also have distinct transcription and recording policies from each other. This option to implement different policies for town hall and webinars is available for users on all licenses. Ability to separate out the Townhall attendee invites: Generally available now Organizers can now maintain separate invites for Townhall attendees, distinct from the events crew. This feature helps manage large-scale events more efficiently by ensuring that only intended participants receive the necessary information Teams Phone Teams Phone extensibility for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center and certified ISVs solutions: Available in public preview in April We’re introducing Teams Phone extensibility for Dynamics 365 Contact Center and certified ISV solutions to help customers benefit from and extend their existing telephony investment with Teams Phone into the contact center. Beginning next month customers with Teams Phone and Dynamics 365 Contact Center will be able to leverage Teams Phone as a single, integrated solution to power calling across their unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and contact center as a service (CCaaS) solutions—streamlining the deployment, management, and billing of their telephony infrastructure. Teams Phone extensibility is also supported by ISV solutions that leverage Azure Communication Services (ACS) for this integration, offering customers a wide range of options to bring Teams Phone to their preferred contact center app of choice. Learn more. Copilot in Teams Phone: Use Copilot during Teams calls without turning on transcription or recording : Available now in public preview This new feature allows users to leverage Copilot's capabilities during live call sessions without retaining transcripts or an audio recording afterward. This ensures that users can benefit from Copilot during sensitive conversations where a persistent record is not desired. f Once the admin has enabled this option, users can initiate Copilot without transcription or recording simply through clicking the Copilot button in the header menu. Copilot in Teams Phone helps automate important administrative tasks of a call, such as capturing key points, task owners, and next steps, allowing users to stay focused on the content of the call. Copilot in Teams Phone: Copilot summary for transferred calls: Available in public preview in April Use AI to facilitate seamless call transfers. When a call is forwarded/transferred to another colleague, users can prompt Copilot to automatically create AI notes for the call as a briefing for the receiving colleague. This feature ensures that the recipient is well-informed about the previous conversations related to the transferred call, enhancing their understanding and preparedness. By providing this context, the Copilot summary helps streamline communication and reduce the need for repetitive explanations. Copilot summary for transferred calls will also be supported for certified Teams Phone certified devices. Queues app: barge/whisper/monitor/takeover: available in public preview in April The "Queues app: barge/whisper/monitor/takeover" feature in Teams Phone helps team leads and supervisors manage and train junior agents effectively. This feature allows supervisors to: Monitor: Listen to the conversations their agents are having with callers without being heard. Whisper: Provide assistance to agents during a call without the caller hearing. Barge: Join a call in progress to assist both the agent and the caller. Takeover: Remove an agent from a call and take over the conversation, if necessary. These capabilities are particularly useful for teams that have to manage a lot of inbound calls to serve internal or external customers - such as IT help desk center environments – and where supervisors need to provide oversight in helping agents follow the right procedures when handling customer calls. The feature is part of the Queues app, which is available with a Teams Premium license. SMS for Teams Calling Plans in US & CA: Generally available in US and Canada Teams Calling Plans customers in US & Canada can now send and receive SMS messages directly from the Teams app on desktop or mobile, making it easy to connect with individuals outside of their organizations who are not using Teams. Registration with The Campaign Registry (TCR), which Microsoft helps facilitate during the setup process, is required before Microsoft Teams Calling Plan numbers can be enabled for SMS in Teams Admin Center. Users can then simply open the Teams app, create a new chat, enter the phone number they want to send a message to, then type and send their message. The message will be sent from the user’s phone number, not a generic number. Learn more. Peripherals: Unified call control across multiple Bluetooth audio devices: Generally available now When multiple peripheral devices are connected to Teams, the device used to answer a call will temporarily become the primary device that synchronizes with Teams for button functions. Post-call, the original device selected in Teams Settings will resume its role. Initially, this feature was exclusive to USB devices; however, it now extends to native Bluetooth devices. Users can confidently operate multiple Bluetooth devices, ensuring correct call control functionality. This feature is currently available on Windows, with MacOS support anticipated in the future. Phone devices: Shared call history for call delegates: Generally available now Call delegates can now have access to the call history of the delegator's shared line. This feature allows delegates to view and manage calls made or received on behalf of the delegator, ensuring seamless communication and collaboration. Phone devices: Line keys on phone devices with touch screens: Generally available now Line keys allow you to set up custom contacts and speed dial on the line key buttons of your Teams-certified phone devices with touch screens. They enable one-touch dialing capabilities, making it easier to quickly access frequently dialed contacts and improve productivity. Phone devices: Line key support for shared line and call transfers: Available in public preview in April This feature will enable you to assign shared lines to a line key and view the boss and delegates of the line along with their presence on Teams Phone devices with touch screens. This feature allows delegates to pick up calls on behalf of the boss by pressing the line key and join active calls. Additionally, users will be able to assign the transfer action to the line key, enabling them to transfer active calls by simply pressing that line key. Teams Phone Mobile is now generally available with several new operators, including Bell Canada, Odido (Netherlands), Vodafone UK, and Vodafone Germany. Teams Phone Mobile enables end-users to make and receive calls using a single number across their mobile phone and all their Teams endpoints. This expanding set of mobile operators providing Teams Phone Mobile allows more and more customers, such as Maternal and Family Health Services, to enjoy seamless mobile and Teams integration with unified a calling experience for enhanced flexibility. This feature will be available with additional operators and markets in the future. PSTN call extensibility: Generally available now PSTN Call Extensibility in Microsoft Teams allows third-party application developers to extend the PSTN calling experience with contextual information. Third-party apps can open within the calling interface, allowing end-users to access customer contact information during calls, streamline workflows, and improve customer interaction. Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Room recommender: Generally available in April 2025 Room recommender makes it easy to collaborate in-person by suggesting suitable meeting rooms. If no room is booked for a meeting, this feature recommends rooms in the meeting chat an hour before the start time when two or more attendees are in the same building. It considers participants’ locations, room availability, and capacity to find the best meeting space. Users can reserve the suggested room with one click and update the meeting invite for everyone. Room recommender will be available on Teams mobile (iOS) to Teams Premium license holders. Ad-hoc individual desk booking: Generally available in April Instantly reserve a desk by plugging into a peripheral on a shared desk, enabling a more streamlined workplace experience for employees. IT admins also benefit from a streamlined backend experience, with automatic peripheral association based on desk booking data and access to desk utilization data in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. Auto-update workplace presence with Wi-Fi: Public preview in April A user's work location can automatically be updated to "office" when their device connects to the onsite corporate Wi-Fi. This feature helps colleagues easily see who is in the office, facilitating in-person connections and collaboration, and enables chat @nearby. Facilitator agent support in Teams Rooms: public preview available now The Facilitator agent support in Teams Rooms provides real-time AI-generated notes and action items during both scheduled hybrid and impromptu in-person meetings. The Facilitator agent appears in the notes panel for hybrid meetings and can be activated via a QR code for in-person meetings, enhancing collaboration and productivity for all. The feature is available to preview in Teams Rooms on Windows and coming to rooms with Android devices in April. Learn more. Occupancy status on Teams panels: Generally available early next quarter Teams panels can now smartly utilize signals from Teams Rooms devices (Windows or Android) or occupancy sensors paired with panels to indicate when a room is in use (e.g., LED glow), so you’re not surprised to find an available room is actually occupied. Learn more. Teams Rooms on Windows app release: Generally available early next quarter In addition to the presenter support in Teams Rooms on Windows for town halls and webinars recently rolled out (See the February WNIT blog), there are exciting features coming in the first 2025 app release for Teams Rooms on Windows. Updates include support for live transcription controls during a meeting from the console, additional language support, and real-time translation for captions, making meetings more inclusive and accessible for multilingual participants. And, with the updated gallery view which arranges participants in consistent tile sizes, prioritizes those with video, offers additional layout options, and optimizes for single and dual displays, users get a consistent meeting experience whether meeting from their desktop or in a room. Learn more. Teams Rooms on Android app release: Generally available early next quarter As in Teams Rooms on Windows, rooms with Android devices are able to identify speakers during live transcription, ensuring clear and precise voice capture for every participant. Cloud services bring intelligent speaker functionalities to existing speakers, offering intelligent meeting recaps and enhanced M365 Copilot value by attributing content and actions to individuals. Additionally, it provides AI-enhanced audio and video experiences in meetings. Additionally, users benefit from enhanced room availability information with real-time calendar updates. And with a first to Android feature, users can control the Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) of the active camera to keep the focus where they want it. Learn more. Teams Rooms Pro Management portal update: Generally available early next quarter Admins now have expanded device health signals with sign-on, Teams Rooms app heartbeat, and network status for Android devices, offering consistency across operating systems. You’ll also get poor call quality signals which help identity root causes and create tickets saving time and effort for IT. In April, GCC-H customers can take advantage of the Pro Management service with assurance that their high security and privacy needs are met. In response to customer demand for consolidation of admin portals, IT admins will have a unified device management experience, for all Teams Rooms on Windows, through the Pro Management portal. Access is being expanded to Basic and Standard licensed rooms, providing the same functionality found in Teams admin center for that license type. These devices will be in the Pro Management portal May 1st, and will no longer be available in Teams admin center (TAC) after June 1, 2025. First focusing on Windows, the unified experience will include Teams Rooms on Android in the future. And, lastly, IT admins can manage rooms more effectively with the AI assistant in the Pro Management portal. It’s designed to quickly provide product help and information specific to your device environment, it’s available for public preview in the coming weeks. You’ll want to be sure to explore this feature. Learn more. Teams Devices Logitech Zone Wireless 2 (Native Bluetooth certification ): Generally available now This dongle-free headset is the first headset with Native Bluetooth capability to earn Microsoft Teams certification. It brings a host of benefits, including the convenience of one less thing to carry (or lose!) as people switch work environments from home, in the office, or on the go, while also freeing up a USB port. Logitech's dongle-free headset features AI noise suppression, noise-canceling mics, hybrid ANC, and premium stereo sound. Advanced Call Clarity (enabled with Logi Tune) suppresses far-end ambient noise so employees can hear colleagues better. Four noise-canceling mics elevate the user’s voice above background conversations. Hybrid ANC makes it easy to concentrate in noisy environments. Personal EQ (enabled with Logi Tune) automatically adjusts to the wearer’s hearing range and the headset features interchangeable earpads and a replaceable battery for longevity. Yealink SkySound CM50 Dante Audio Kit: Generally available now Certified for Teams, the Yealink SkySound CM50 Dante Audio Kit is perfect for large rooms. It includes a CM50 Ceiling Mic, CS10-D Ceiling Speaker, and AP08 DSP. With 127 wide-range mics, advanced beamforming, customizable pickup zones, and AI-based sound optimization, it ensures premium audio coverage and an immersive sound experience, making it a comprehensive solution for Teams Rooms. Learn more. Logitech Rally Bar No-Radio: Generally available now Certified for Teams, the Rally Bar No-Radio transforms any mid-sized room into a Microsoft Teams Room. It features a motorized PTZ camera, room-filling speakers, and a sensitive microphone array for a premium user experience. With premium materials, thoughtful cable management, and a range of mounts, it ensures a professional appearance and outstanding coverage for various room shapes and layouts. Learn more. AudioCodes RXVCam50M Camera: Generally available now Certified for Teams, the AudioCodes RXVCam50M camera is ideal for medium meeting rooms and conference rooms. It delivers vivid image quality with HD 4K resolution for exceptional video conferencing. Smart zoom and face detection enable auto framing, adjusting the camera’s ePTZ to ensure every participant is clearly seen without user intervention. Easily configure settings via the AudioCodes RX-PAD or Teams client Settings menu. Learn more. AudioCodes RXVCam70 Dual-Lens PTZ Camera: Generally available now Certified for Teams, the RXVCam70 delivers an optimal audio and video meeting experience for all participants. It features a 12x optical zoom close-up lens, a 119º DFOV panoramic lens, and a built-in mic array. Advanced AI features, including auto-framing, speaker tracking, and smart gallery, ensure every moment is captured automatically. Included in AudioCodes solution bundles for medium-large Android and Windows Microsoft Teams Rooms, it creates an optimized environment for hybrid Teams meetings. Learn more. Fundamentals and Security Auto-upgrade meeting protection based on shared file: sensitivity label inheritance [Premium]: Generally available in April Now Microsoft Teams can automatically upgrade the sensitivity level of a meeting based on the sensitivity of files shared during the meeting. When an attendee shares a file with a higher sensitivity label, the meeting's protection settings are enhanced to match the file's sensitivity. This feature helps ensure that sensitive information is adequately protected throughout the meeting. It requires an Microsoft 365 E5 and Teams Premium license with Purview enabled. Message safety – URL and file protection: Generally available next quarter (Q2) This feature will enhance security for Teams messaging by blocking weaponizable file types and warning users of harmful URLs sent in Teams messages. The File and URL detection components are embedded in the Teams messaging layers providing comprehensive and robust protection across internal and external one-on-one chats, group chats, meeting chats and channels, to all Teams users. These protections will integrate with Microsoft Defender for Office to enable end-to-end security operations for Teams messaging. Active meeting protection: detect sensitive content while screensharing and notify [Premium]: Generally available next quarter (Q2) This new feature enhances security during meetings by using AI to automatically detect potentially sensitive information, such as social security numbers and credit card numbers, during screen sharing. When such content is detected, the feature alerts both the presenter and the meeting organizer to prevent unintentional sharing. This helps mitigate the risk of exposing sensitive information and ensures a more secure and private meeting experience. This feature is available to meeting organizers who have Teams Premium. All other participants in a meeting can benefit from this feature while in a meeting, however this feature is enabled when the meeting is scheduled by the meeting organizer. iPad split window: Generally available in next quarter (Q2) The iPad Split Window feature in Microsoft Teams supports multiple windows on iPad, allowing users to effortlessly switch between meetings and chats without losing context. Customize your split view for the perfect setup, enhancing multitasking and productivity. Frontline workers QR Code Authentication: Generally available in June 2025 Multiple frontline workers often share the same device across shifts throughout the day. Manual sign-in processes are time consuming and decrease productivity, especially on shared devices. This new, highly requested feature enables sign-in with the scan of a unique QR code and entry of a personal PIN number, significantly decreasing time to log in without affecting security. Shared Device Mode – iOS support for Jamf: Generally available Shared Device Mode now enables more efficient and secure device sharing for Frontline workers. Microsoft's Shared Device Mode (SDM) allows frontline workers, whose device may be shared among multiple users, to login once to access the device and every app on the device and sign out across apps so the device is ready for the next user. In addition, SDM enables conditional access policies to enable customized security policies. Jamf support for Shared Device Mode is now generally available. Customers with iOS Jamf-managed devices can now enable Shared Device Mode at scale with zero-touch provisioning and leverage device compliance conditional access. Open shifts across locations: Generally available The Open shifts across locations feature in Microsoft Teams allows frontline managers to offer open shifts across multiple locations, making it easier to balance workforce needs and fill last-minute gaps. This feature provides flexibility for frontline workers, enabling them to pick up shifts at different locations that suit their schedules. By optimizing staffing and improving customer satisfaction, this feature ensures that businesses are always fully staffed and ready to serveWhat’s New in Microsoft Teams | July 2025
Happy July, everyone! It’s hard to believe that we’re already in the second half of 2025. It was a busy first half for Teams, and there are no signs of slowing down. This month, I’m excited to share that engaging with Copilot is even easier. Copilot is now accessible right at the top of the Teams chat list, even without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Now in Teams, everyone can explore the possibilities of Copilot Chat. We’re also launching the amazing Interpreter. It can break down language barriers with real-time voice interpretation in nine different languages, and can even simulate the sound of your voice! That will certainly bring people closer together by making communication clearer and easier. That’s not all, there are a lot more incredible additions to Teams to check out this month, so read on! New features released this month: Platform Chat and Collaboration Meetings, Webinars, and Town halls Teams Phones Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Fundamentals and Security Frontline Worker Solutions Certified for Teams Devices Platform Search with apps and agents personalized suggestions The ability to search personalized suggestions in Teams has been enhanced to include apps and agents in addition to your teammates. When searching in Teams you will now also get apps and agent suggestions which dynamically update as you type. For example, if you are typing "Fac" in the Teams search bar, "Facilitator agent" will pop up in addition to other results that match the query. Share agents and apps from app bar via right click You can now share apps directly from the app icon. Simply select the “Share” option when hovering on the app or agent icon while you're in 1:1 chat mode with the app or agent. Additionally, after selecting the “+Apps” icon from the three-dot menu in the top right of any chat, you can right-click to share the app or agent. This update saves Teams users time from having to manually select an app in the app store and manually share the link with their teammates. Chat and Collaboration Microsoft 365 Copilot accessible from the Teams Chat list To help you easily engage with Microsoft 365 Copilot, we're making Copilot Chat with web grounding accessible directly from Teams Chat to users with or without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Copilot Chat will be pinned at the top of the Chat list, just above the “Discover” option. This update simplifies navigation and enhances discoverability, helping you explore Microsoft 365 Copilot in the context of everyday conversations. Whether you're a seasoned user or just getting started, Microsoft 365 Copilot is now just one click away. Trigger workflows using emoji reactions We are introducing the ability to trigger workflows using emoji reactions. In a busy workday, questions, tasks, and requests can easily be overlooked. By automating workflows with emoji reactions, you can streamline processes, eliminate mundane tasks, and speed up response times with automated actions. For example, you can use a template to have emoji reactions trigger forwarding a request. Automate workflows for instant DevOps actions, incident response, team collaboration and more from the Microsoft Teams Workflows app available in the app store. New Microsoft Teams Chat and channels experience in Education The new, streamlined chat and channels experience is now available for Education. The updated experience makes it easier to stay on top of what matters most and organize your digital workspace. Catch up on chat, channels and teams in one place, create custom sections to organize conversations by topics, use filters to triage messages and more. This is an optional opt-in experience. Emoji search Emojis help users express themselves, connect with colleagues, and strengthen team’s culture. Now, finding the right emoji at the right time has got easier. Type a keyword into the emoji search bar in the emoji menu to see related standard and custom emoji from the full collection. Customize notification size You can now change the size of your Teams notifications. In settings, select either the compact or comfy option to take up less space on your screen and suit your work preferences. Meetings, Webinars, and Town halls Interpreter now generally available Interpreter, a new way to make multilingual communication effortless, is now generally available. Interpreter makes it possible for everyone to speak and listen in their preferred language, thanks to advanced real-time speech-to-speech interpretation. Designed for more seamless collaboration across global teams, Interpreter eliminates language barriers in meetings. Whether you’re presenting in English while your colleagues listen in Japanese or collaborating in Spanish while responding in French, each participant can engage naturally in the language of their choice. Interpreter is available across desktop (Windows, Mac), web (Chrome, Safari, Edge), and mobile (iOS, Android). Interpreter currently supports nine languages including Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. Two hours of interpretation are included per user per month with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Usage exceeding two hours per user per month may incur additional charges. Usage limits and additional terms may apply. External Audio and Camera Device Selection on iPads Two powerful enhancements are now available in Microsoft Teams on iPad: muting external audio devices and external camera switching in pre-join or during the meeting. IPad users will have the ability to select and deselect audio sources and camera devices in Teams meetings[KP1] [RF2] . These updates give users more control over their meeting setup—whether they’re docked at a desk or on the go. Learn more: Introducing External Camera Support for iPads in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Community Hub Sign Language Mode We are introducing an updated experience for sign language users in Teams through a new feature called Sign Language Mode. Sign language mode uses a new, state-of-the-art sign language detection model to ensure that D/HH participants have the same presence as their hearing counterparts while they are signing. This update includes self-identification for Deaf and hard-of-hearing participants and their interpreters, enhanced video quality, improvements to Sign Language View, automatic elevation of signers to active speaker when signing is detected, and increased visibility of interpreters in the meeting roster and on screen. Intelligent meeting recap for unscheduled Town halls for Android devices Intelligent meeting recap enables unscheduled town hall participants using Android devices to browse meeting recordings by speaker name and topic title. Intelligent recap is an AI-powered feature from Microsoft Teams that will help users catch up on missed meetings or events with AI-generated notes, follow-up tasks, name mentions, topics, chapters, speaker identification, and more. Teams Premium users can find it on the new 'Recap' tab in the Teams calendar event detail and in the town hall chat. Introducing new IT administrator policies to control town hall event access A new policy setting,`TownhallEventAccessType’ gives tenant administrators the ability to control who can attend the town hall created by users from their organization. This setting allows admins to choose between “Everyone” and “Everyone in Organization including Guests”. Polls support in Teams Town hall [Premium] Boost engagement and gain valuable insights for future discussions by using polls in Teams Town halls. Organizers will be able to create and share multiple-choice questions, quizzes and interactive polls, gathering real-time feedback from participants. This feature is available for town hall organizers that have a Teams Premium license. Slide Control for Presenters Meeting or event presenters can now share control of slides with fellow presenters eliminating manual slide changes and maintaining a smooth flow during meetings or webinars. Teams Phone Use Copilot during Teams calls without turning on transcription or recording Now users can leverage Copilot's capabilities during Teams calls without retaining transcripts or an audio recording. Once an admin has enabled this option, users can initiate Copilot without transcription or recording by clicking the Copilot button in the header menu. Users can have Copilot handle important administrative tasks of a call, such as capturing key points, task owners, and next steps during sensitive conversations where a persistent record is not desired. Requires Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams Phone licenses. Suggested prompts for Copilot on Teams Phone devices Copilot is now supported on Teams Phone devices, bringing real-time intelligence to calls with just a tap. During active 1:1 and group calls, users can choose from suggested Copilot prompts to quickly generate meeting notes and summarize action items. For instance, while wrapping up a project call from a Teams Phone device, tap a suggested Copilot prompt to summarize key takeaways and next steps. Requires Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams Phone licenses. Suggested contacts for call transfers from Teams Phone devices Call transfers from Teams Phone devices are now smarter, faster, and more accurate. During active calls, users can choose from suggested call transfer contacts intelligently surfaced based on context, communication patterns, and placement in contact groups. This new capability reduces the number of steps needed to complete a call transfer. Requires users to be licensed for Teams Phone. Set custom ringtones for assigned line keys on Teams Phone devices Personalize your experience on Teams Phone devices by setting unique ringtones and choosing how each assigned line key alerts you: ring only, ring with flash, or flash only. This feature is supported across touch, non-touch, and sidecar devices, giving you full control over how you stay notified. Requires users to be licensed for Teams Phone. Configure line keys for Teams Phone devices from Teams admin center We previously released line keys to allow users to set up custom one-touch dialing, shared line, collaborative call delegation, and other capabilities on Teams Phone devices, making it easier to access frequently dialed contacts and improve productivity. Now, within the Teams admin center, admins can configure line keys for personal and common area phones. Requires users to be licensed for Teams Phone. Real-time text supported on Teams Phone devices Real-time text (RTT) messages can now be viewed on Teams Phone devices. If users wish to send RTT messages, they will need to join the meeting with their laptop/mobile as a companion device. Requires users to be licensed for Teams Phone. Remote contact management for common area phones Admins can now remotely manage frequently used contacts, which are then made available in the Company contacts group on Teams Phone devices set up as common area phones. Whether adding or removing contacts, the process is streamlined and intuitive, helping ensure that shared devices stay up to date with the right contact information. Requires a Teams Phone license. Set up call priorities for call queues Call priorities for call queues in Teams allow you to set the order in which calls are routed to agents within a call queue. This functionality is useful for ensuring that high-priority calls are answered first, while lower-priority calls are held in a queue until an agent becomes available. Auto attendant and call queue capabilities require a Teams Phone license. Telephone number tags available via PowerShell Teams admins can now assign custom tags to telephone numbers using new PowerShell cmdlets. These tags make it easier to filter, automate, and manage large sets of numbers; especially useful for organizations with complex telephony needs. Admins can create up to 1,000 tags per tenant, and each phone number can hold up to 50 tags. Use the following cmdlets to manage telephone number tags: Set-CsPhoneNumberTag Update-CsPhoneNumberTag Remove-CsPhoneNumberTag Get-CsPhoneNumberTag Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Face recognition for Teams Rooms via Cloud IntelliFrame If your organization has enabled facial recognition in policies and you've enrolled your profile via Teams Settings, Teams Rooms using Cloud IntelliFrame will automatically recognize you, list you in the meeting roster, and optimize camera views for participants making hybrid meetings feel like you are all in the room together. This feature of Teams Rooms Pro can make existing cameras in the room more intelligent. Learn more here. Shared spaces insights in the Pro Management portal The new shared spaces insights page in the Pro Management portal provides IT admins with customized utilization insights, including time-series data visualizations, for shared spaces beginning with Teams Rooms. The feature uses calendar data and occupancy signals from Teams Rooms to track usage with filters for location, business hours, days of the week, and date ranges making it easy to see how spaces are being used. Available with a Teams Rooms Pro license. Learn more here. Fundamentals and Security Rules-Based Enablement of M365 Third-Party Apps in Teams Admin Center This feature enables M365 administrators to establish specific criteria for permitting third-party SaaS applications within their tenant. Administrators can choose from a list of predefined criteria deemed safe, ensuring that only trusted and compliant applications are auto-allowed under this rule. Monitor DNS resolution failures and impact of proxy on Teams meetings with Best practice configurations dashboard in Teams admin center Teams administrators can use the best practice configuration dashboard in Teams admin center to monitor DNS and proxy issues that can cause call drops, login failures, or poor real-time media quality. Default enable transcription policy for new tenants The default policy for Transcription has been updated from “off” to “on” for any new tenant. This change doesn’t mean that every meeting will automatically have transcription enabled, but it will allow users to turn on transcription if needed. This adjustment aligns the default Transcription policy with that of Recording, supporting broader adoption of Transcription and all AI features. Support Audit logs for Give and Take Control and Screen share IT administrators can now access detailed logs for both the "Give and Take Control" and "Screenshare" features. These logs will provide comprehensive information, including the names and timestamps of the individuals involved in each action. Specifically, the logs will indicate who initiated or received control, as well as who started the screenshare session, along with the corresponding timestamps and names. This enhancement ensures greater transparency and accountability for all control and screenshare activities. Accessible in Teams Admin Center. Remote log collection in Teams admin center Teams Administrators now have the capability to remotely collect client diagnostics logs from users' devices, thereby eliminating the need for any user action or workflow disruption. This advanced tool is designed to greatly assist IT administrators by automating the previously lengthy and manual process of diagnostic log collection for troubleshooting purposes. Frontline Worker Solutions Enterprise News Reader The new SharePoint News experience recommends content from sites users follow and frequently visit. Permission-filtered news appears with organization announcements prioritized at the top. Frontline workers can like and save items to share interests and revisit important news when convenient. Learn more in the Enterprise News Reader Announcement Blog. Viva Engage Moderation Agent: Theme Moderation in Viva Engage Theme Moderation in Viva Engage will help network admins and corporate communicators moderate conversations at scale. Theme monitoring utilizes AI to process the data in threads across your network and builds on recently announced advanced moderation capabilities, including enhancements to keyword monitoring. With this new tool, admins can simply add new themes to moderate and will deploy moderation across all new activities or conversations mentioning that theme. Learn more: AI Summarization in Viva Engage | Microsoft Learn Engage Communication Dashboard Corporate communicators now have a powerful new command center in Viva Engage. With the redesigned Communications Dashboard, they can seamlessly manage campaigns, analyze performance, oversee leaders and audiences, and access delegate and community tools—all from one intuitive hub. This update also introduces a unified view of all featured conversations, complete with dates, making it easier to track engagement across initiatives. Additionally, advanced moderation just got smarter. Theme moderation in Viva Engage leverages AI to proactively manage sensitive content with precision. From streamlined delegate visibility to robust analytics, this rollout equips communicators with everything they need to stay on top of engagement and ensure discussions are productive and professional. Certified for Teams Devices Biamp Ceiling Mic & 4K Camera System for Medium and Large Teams Rooms Experience flawless communication in every Teams meeting. This all-inclusive bundle for large spaces includes everything you need — powerful, configurable audio with optional one-touch setup, stunning 4K video, the latest in MTR compute and control, and all cabling included. Learn more. Biamp All-in-One Video Bar Parlé VBC 2500a Teams Rooms System The Parlé™ VBC 2500a Video Conferencing Bar combines renowned Biamp Audio Intelligence with advanced 4K Video Intelligence to deliver exceptional Microsoft Teams experiences in small to medium-sized meeting rooms. Paired with the Biamp UCC + Controller, its modular design offers flexible mounting options — on the wall or a credenza — with minimal cabling to keep your space clean and professional. It also features Biamp Launch™, an automated tuning system that adapts audio performance to each unique conferencing environment. Learn more. Biamp Audio Conference Bar and 4K Camera Teams Rooms System The Parlé™ABC 2500a conferencing bar combines renowned Biamp Audio Intelligence with Vidi 280 ePTZ Compact Camera to deliver exceptional Microsoft teams room experiences in small to medium sized meeting rooms. Paired with Lenovo, The ThinkSmart Core Gen 2 + IP Controller Kit completes this premium solution with Intel® Core™ Ultra processing power driving AI-enhanced productivity features. Its modular design with minimal cabling keeps your space clean and professional. Also featuring Biamp Launch™, an automated tuning system that optimizes the audio to each unique conferencing space. Learn more. Biamp Table Mic & 4K Camera System for Medium Teams Rooms Experience flawless communication in every Teams meeting. Everything needed to equip a medium sized room — powerful, configurable audio with optional one-touch setup, stunning 4K video, the latest in MTR compute and control, and all cabling included. Learn more. Yealink BH70 Dual and BH70 Mono Teams USB-A Enhance production efficiency with the Yealink BH70 Bluetooth wireless headset. The versatile Yealink BH70 is suitable for various scenarios, including office, home, or on-the-go use, effectively meeting all your needs. Equipped with Yealink's advanced 2nd generation microphone noise cancellation technology, three AI-powered microphones intelligently and efficiently reduce background noise to ensure a seamless call experience. Designed ergonomically based on extensive user studies, the BH70 provides exceptional comfort for extended wear throughout the day. With impeccable stereo playback sound quality, you can always indulge in an unparalleled audio experience. Boasting a long-lasting battery life and effortless usability, the BH70 serves as your best communication and collaboration companion. Learn more. Yealink SmartVision 40S The Yealink SmartVision 40 is an ultra-high-definition, all-in-one intelligent conference system tailored for small to medium meeting rooms, leveraging advanced AI algorithms to enhance meeting efficiency. Equipped with AI features such as face detection, sound source positioning, and voice tracking, SmartVision 40 tracks participants’ movements to keep the speaker in focus, providing stable, high-quality images. Beyond basic Auto Framing and Speaker Tracking, the Multi-stream IntelliFrame feature uses Multi-Stream output to detect and frame speakers, displaying them on-screen, which enables remote participants to see each speaker’s expressions and gestures for an interactive experience. Learn more. AudioCodes C436HD Native Microsoft Teams Common Area IP Phone with Integrated Sidecar The AudioCodes C436HD IP phone is a Microsoft Teams-native entry level/common area phone designed to support the next generation of enterprise collaboration technologies. It is an excellent choice for users in shared spaces or retail environments looking for reliable, user-friendly solutions. Equipped with a 4.3” color LCD screen, an integrated sidecar and a dedicated Teams button, the C436HD supports Microsoft Teams out-of-the-box to deliver feature-rich unified communications with crystal clear audio quality. Learn more.What’s New in Microsoft Teams | June 2025
Hi everyone, and welcome to the June edition of What’s new in Teams. You might have noticed a different name and picture under the title. I’m Kerry Perez Heffernan, a Director in the Teams team. Pete Daderko, who you know as the previous author of this blog, asked me to take over the honor of sharing the monthly updates with you all. I’m excited to get started! As we approach the end of the first half of 2025, we have a great opportunity to look both back at what we’ve accomplished and ahead to what we’re working toward. Our focus with Teams has been to continue making it more secure, simpler to use, and smarter. We’ve made lots of progress towards these goals with the addition of new Copilot capabilities, and the introduction of AI Agents and assistants that make AI a core part of Teams. And there’s a lot more to come! This month, one of the features that I’m most excited to share with you is “AI assistant in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal.” It enables admins of Teams Rooms Pro rooms to save time by asking the AI assistant “how-to” questions related to Teams meeting spaces and management solutions and get data and insights about their rooms. Read on for all the powerful solutions becoming available this month! New features released this month: Chat and Collaboration Meetings, webinars, and townhalls Teams Phone Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Fundamentals and Security Frontline Worker Solutions Certified for Teams devices Chat and Collaboration Enhanced spell check with multi-language support Enhanced spell check will help ensure that your messages are clear and professional. When you type your message in the Teams compose box, any issues found will be marked. You can then choose to correct them from options suggested in a dropdown menu, ignore them, or add them to the dictionary. You can add up to three languages to your language list, enabling spellchecking in each of the languages. New Microsoft Teams Chat and channels experience in GCC The new chat and channels experience is now available for GCC users. The new experience is designed to help you collaborate more efficiently and effectively. It’s simple by default, enabling everyone to stay on top of what matters, and it’s powerful on demand, allowing you to organize information and communicate your way. Catch up on chat, channels and teams in one place, use filters to triage messages, create custom sections to organize conversations by topics, and more. Learn more here. Meetings, Webinars, and Town halls Meeting notes powered by Loop now available for Microsoft 365 GCC High and DoD Teams Notes and Loop components are now available in Microsoft 365 GCC High and DoD environments, enabling real-time collaboration in chats and meetings. Loop components allow users to co-author tables, action items, and lists directly in chats, while Collaborative Notes let meeting attendees co-create and collaborate on their meeting agendas, notes, and action items. As Loop components, these features stay up-to-date across all shared locations, and assigned tasks automatically sync with Microsoft To Do and Planner for seamless task management. CVI capabilities for non-Teams users to join Teams Town hall Presenters can now use their own (non-Teams Rooms) video conferencing devices (VTC) to effortlessly join and present in a Teams Town hall. Organizers will see the Cloud Video Interoperability (CVI) join codes integrated in the Town hall share event dialog, which can be shared with presenters. Using these join codes, the trusted CVI device will join as an attendee and then will be promoted to a presenter. Presenters on trusted CVI devices can interact with others in the green room before the event starts, ensuring a smooth and inclusive experience. This capability is coming soon to webinar. Learn more. Specify who can manage the screen A new option in Teams Town hall lets organizers designate who can manage the screen shown to attendees during the event. Similar to Teams Live Events, selected individuals will be able to start the event, manage what attendees see, and end the event, helping to ensure a more cohesive event experience. The different options that can be selected are “Organizer, co-organizers, and presenters”, “Organizer and co-organizer only” and “Specific people”. This feature is for town hall only. Coming soon for Teams Rooms on Windows. Users can join Teams Town hall and Webinar using PSTN codes Organizers, presenters, and attendees can now join town halls and webinars seamlessly using a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) code provided in the invite. Once connected, they will automatically be directed to either the green room or the live session, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience. Teams Town hall dial in-details in shared event dialog Organizers and presenters can join a town hall using dial-in details, including the meeting ID and passcode, provided via the town hall share event dialog for organizers. They can connect via traditional phone lines (PSTN) or Microsoft Teams Rooms, ensuring participation even without internet or computer access. Once connected, presenters initially join as an attendee and then are promoted to presenter status, allowing them to access either the green room or the live session. Add a presenter from the participant roster in a Teams Town hall or Webinar Organizers can quickly add a presenter by calling them directly from the participant roster. Once the user accepts the call, they instantly join as a presenter, automatically joining the green room (if enabled) and the organizer and presenter private group chat. With the presenter designation, they will be able to share content, control the presentation, or interact with other meeting participants. Teams Town hall usage reports in the Teams admin center (TAC) Analyzing and understanding your event's performance to make informed decisions for future improvements is now possible with town hall usage reports in the Teams Admin Center (TAC). Organizers will gain valuable insights into attendee engagement, participation metrics, and overall event effectiveness. By leveraging these reports, organizers can identify areas for enhancement, helping to ensure that each subsequent event is even more impactful and engaging. Teams Town hall organizers and presenters can join as attendees Organizers, co-organizers, and presenters are now able to experience the event from the perspective of an attendee, helping them spot issues, make real-time adjustments, and improve the overall experience on the spot. In this view, certain town hall features, such as Q&A, will be disabled just for that organizer while the broader attendee experience will remain unaffected. This capability will lead to more polished, engaging, and memorable events that truly resonate with participants. Notification management for Teams Town hall and Webinar Organizers and co-organizers can control when to send notifications to presenters and attendees, reducing email clutter by minimizing unnecessary notifications. Once the event is published, any changes to the title, date and time, description, or attendee list will automatically trigger notifications, but only for the people affected. All current email notifications will remain unchanged for co-organizers, presenters, and attendees. Teams Phone Copilot summary for transferred calls Copilot intelligence is now integrated into call flows. This feature will automatically generate a summary of a call, allow for edits, then enable users to send a call summary to a transfer target before transferring the call. That means smoother handoffs, no lost context and no need for a pre-transfer consult. Phone Devices: Copilot summary for transferred calls Copilot is making call transfers more seamless on Teams Phone devices with support for AI-generated summary notes. On a Teams Phone device, simply select the option to generate call transfer notes before completing the transfer to ensure the recipient is well-informed. This speeds up call transfers across a wider variety of workplace environments. Teams button support on multiple connected peripheral devices You can now use the Teams button across peripheral devices without having to manually select a specific device in the Teams devices settings. This ensures a more seamless experience navigating across multiple certified for Microsoft Teams personal peripheral USB devices (with a wire or a dongle) connected to the same host device (such as your laptop). For example, you can use the Teams button on headset A to bring up the meeting pre-join screen, then use the Teams button on headset B to join the meeting, and then use the Teams button on your connected speakerphone to raise hand in the meeting, etc. Ability to Set New Ringtones in Teams Mobile Teams now supports multiple ringtones on mobile. Choose from a selection of tones – no longer limited to the default - allowing for a more personalized call experience and easier differentiation between call types. For example, factory workers in a loud production environment can apply a louder ringtone. Or, information workers can set a distinct ringtone for when colleagues forward calls, to more easily recognize potential customer escalations. Opening Calls in a small window in Teams For a less disruptive experience, Teams Phone lets users answer and open calls in a compact, resizable call monitor instead of the full call stage. It’s perfect for multitasking and keeping the conversation visible while freeing up screen space to stay productive. Call waiting beep Call waiting beep provides a subtle, non-intrusive notification when users receive another call while already on a call. This feature is available on both desktop and mobile. Real-Time Text (RTT) for more inclusive calling Real-Time Text enables text to be transmitted instantly as it is typed during a live call or meeting. This contrasts with the standard approach of having to wait for the full message to be typed in and sent before being able to view it. This improves accessibility for users with hearing and speech impairments and is supported in both Teams calls and meetings. Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Teams Town hall screen management privileges in Teams Rooms on Windows When the Teams Room on Windows is a co-organizer or a presenter in a town hall, privileges can be granted to start or end the event, manage what attendees see, and promote attendees as presenters, ensuring a smoother and more organized event experience. This feature is available with Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. AI assistant in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal IT admins can save time and effort and get data and insights specific to inventory using this AI-powered assistant. The assistant can provide answers to 'how to' product questions related to Teams meeting spaces and management solutions, and give detailed information about the organization’s environment. Available in Teams Rooms Pro. The assistant is distinct from Copilot or an agent, therefore no additional Copilot license is required. Learn more. Call quality reports for BYOD rooms in the Pro Management portal As with Microsoft Teams Rooms, admins can now access detailed call quality reports for BYOD rooms with associated peripherals in the Pro Management portal. These reports include call history and session details that help diagnose network, audio, and video issues. To access reports in the Pro Management portal requires a Teams Shared Devices license for the room. Learn more, Expanded and enhanced peripheral support for BYOD spaces With room and desk peripheral support expanded to include docking stations and webcams, Teams users can seamlessly connect and utilize audio and video peripherals for enhanced experiences in bring your own device (BYOD) spaces. IT admins can benefit from automatic association of devices to a space, device inventory, and detailed reports for peripherals in the Pro Management portal. A Teams shared device license may be required for reports on a particular space. Learn more. Android device health signals in the Pro Management portal Admins now get Android device health signals such as meeting app responsiveness, Bluetooth enablement, console pairing with front of room devices, and secondary display health in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. These new signals help admins manage devices proactively and facilitate ticket creation. More signals will regularly roll out. Available with Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Fundamentals and Security Meeting inherits label from shared files - GCC [Premium] Now available for GCC users, Microsoft 365 E5 and Teams Premium customers can now leverage sensitivity labels from Microsoft Purview Information Protection to help set the right data protection settings in meetings. Admins can choose either an automatic label inheritance policy for meetings, or a label recommendation notification. When an attendee shares a file in meeting chat or via Live share that has a higher sensitivity than the meeting: If the admin has enabled the automatic label option, the meeting's sensitivity will be updated automatically to match the sensitivity of the shared file. If the admin has enabled label recommendation, the organizer will receive a notification that recommends the organizer upgrade the meeting’s sensitivity to match the shared file. Both options help to keep a meeting’s sensitivity level aligned with the content shared. Frontline Worker Solutions Publish from Viva Amplify to Engage Share important news with frontline teams more easily. Campaign members can publish directly from Viva Amplify to Engage Storyline and Communities. Preview and tailor content for each channel using Engage Article editing capabilities. Choose senders, post for others, select destinations, send announcements, and tag relevant people. Once posted, track the engagement with campaign reporting within the Amplify reporting dashboard. Learn more . Certified for Teams devices Yealink MeetingBoard Pro MTRA Series-65, 75, and 86 inch The MeetingBoard Pro combines video conferencing, display, and smart whiteboard into a sleek, all-in-one solution with plug-and-play convenience and a clutter-free design. Delivering Pro View, Pro Sound, Pro Interact and powered by Pro Core, it features a triple 50MP camera system with advanced AI for precise tracking and a 16 MEMS mic array with AI-enhanced audio for crystal-clear conversations up to 12m. Built on Android 13 with MDEP security, ensuring a secure meeting experience. Logitech 4K Pro Webcam (for consumer) Brio is a premium 4K webcam with HDR and Windows Hello support that streamlines crystal-clear video with superb resolution. This ultimate webcam for business is packed with innovative technologies and raises the bar for collaboration excellence. Logitech Brio Ultra HD Pro Business Webcam (for business) Upgrade video meetings to first class with Brio 4k Webcam. Ultra 4K HD captures every detail as RightLight 3 and High Dynamic Range (HDR) technologies auto-adjust to help you look your best in any lighting environment. Yealink RoomPanel E2 (8-inch) and E2 Plus (10 inch) A compact touch screen ideal for mounting outside of meeting spaces, the Yealink RoomPanel E2 displays meeting details and enables on-the-spot reservations via Teams or Microsoft 365 calendaring applications. Logitech Rally Board 65 + Tap IP for Teams Rooms on Android (wireless) Simplify the way you meet and collaborate. Introducing Rally Board 65 + Tap IP — the ultimate all-in-one video conferencing solution designed for meeting rooms and open spaces. The expansive 65” touchscreen of Rally Board enables a seamless and intuitive collaboration experience in any environment. Join meetings with just one touch with Tap IP, a touch controller for Microsoft Teams Rooms. Enjoy quick and easy setup, flexible installation options to place the camera above or below the screen for natural eye contact, and innovative AI-driven features. Crestron Videobar 70 Crestron Videobar 70 is a powerful all-in-one video bar with 10" touch screen that's quick to deploy with plug-and-play simplicity and easy to manage. Four precision cameras work in perfect harmony to capture dynamic split-screen views of the most recent talkers in the room and keep everyone perfectly framed. 24 beamforming microphones capture voices clearly for remote participants and powerful built-in speakers fill the room with sound. EPOS ADAPT 660 USB-C Designed for the modern hybrid worker, the ADAPT 660 USB-C ensures you can concentrate and collaborate no matter where your work takes you. Built on EPOS BrainAdapt™ technology, it minimizes listening effort in noisy environments, allowing you to focus and communicate with ease. The adaptive hybrid ANC monitors your surroundings, adjusting the ANC accordingly for optimal concentration. Featuring a sleek design, soft, over-ear leatherette earpads, UC certifications, and multi-point connectivity, it allows you to move effortlessly throughout your day. When you’re not on calls, enjoy high-quality stereo sound with custom sound profiles tailored to your preferences. Whether you are in the office or on-the-go, the ADAPT 660 USB-C empowers professionals to excel in the hybrid workplace. PolyStudio V12 The Poly Studio V12 USB video bar has you covered for successful conferencing in any small room. Enhance your Microsoft Teams Rooms with superior AI driven AV capabilities, simple deployment and centralized management. Logitech Zone 305 (with native Bluetooth) Zone 305 is a wireless headset certified for Microsoft Teams. It’s available with or without a USB receiver. The version without receiver connects via native Bluetooth, freeing up one valuable USB-C port. It’s ideal for mass deployment to everyone who needs great audio and a reliable connection for calls or video meetings. With 20 hours of battery life and 30-meter wireless range, Zone 305 offers the freedom to move around throughout the day. The lightweight design provides long-lasting comfort. You’ll love that its plastic parts are made with 55% PCR plastic and FSC™-certified packaging.What’s New in Microsoft Teams | May 2025 - Build Edition
If you’ve never participated in Microsoft Build (and even if you have), now is a great time to check it out! Digital access is free, and there are lots of different ways to make the most of it. You can immerse yourself in interactive coding labs and demos, learn from senior Microsoft leaders and industry experts, build skills, connect with colleagues, and stay up to date with all of the new and upcoming innovations Microsoft has to offer. And if you’re reading this after it’s all over, don’t worry, you can visit the archives to view selected sessions from this year and past years as well. Speaking of “new and upcoming innovations”, the Teams team is excited to be highlighting some impressive and useful features at Build. We’re launching new ways to discover and add agents in Teams on mobile devices, updating the Teams AI Library to enable developers to build more powerful collaborative agents for Teams, and introducing Agent2Agent Protocol (A2A), that enables developers to build agents for Teams that can exchange messages, data, and credentials without relying upon centralized intermediaries. So, read on to see what’s coming! New features released in May*: Platform Chat and collaboration Meetings, webinars, and town halls Teams Phone Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Certified for Teams Devices Fundamentals and Security Frontline Worker Solutions *All features are generally available unless otherwise noted. Platform Microsoft 365 Copilot interaction export APIs The new Interaction Export APIs enable customers and ISVs to export Copilot interaction data for processing in their security and compliance (S+C) applications. These new APIs capture the user prompts and Copilot responses in the Copilot private interactions and provide insights into the resources Copilot has accessed to generate the response. These new APIs will be available in Public Cloud for General Availability. Updated Teams AI library: Available in public preview The updated Teams AI Library enables developers to build more powerful collaborative agents for Teams. With the enhanced version in preview for JavaScript and C#, the library simplifies the creation of custom agents and provides access to the latest capabilities including Agent-to-Agent collaboration (A2A), Model Context Protocol (MCP), agentic memory, and more. Learn more about the updated Teams AI Library here. Model Context Protocol (MCP): Available in public preview The Teams AI Library now supports Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP can drastically enhance the abilities of the agents you build, enabling agents to leverage external AI services and vastly expand their skill/action set. This vendor-neutral protocol lets AI agents share memory and tools over a common interface, enabling complex multi-agent workflows. You can now create an agent that uses MCP servers. Connect your agent with our MCP server guide. Agent2Agent Protocol (A2A): Available in public preview Developers can build agents for Teams using the A2A protocol that enables secure, peer-to-peer communication between agents. These agents can exchange messages, data, and credentials without relying upon centralized intermediaries, so they can tackle complex enterprise tasks more effectively and efficiently. For example, planning a multi-city business trip might involve one AI agent handling flights, another handling hotels, and another checking your calendar – A2A lets them coordinate that plan together seamlessly. Using advanced agent orchestration capabilities, like A2A, only takes one line of code—drastically reducing the time it takes to create advanced agents. Agentic memory on Teams: Available in public preview Agentic memory allows AI agents in Teams to remember past user interactions, enabling more personalized and context-aware experiences. Instead of treating each interaction as isolated, agents can recall previous conversations, preferences, or user roles to tailor responses accordingly. This memory helps: Maintain conversation state across sessions Reduce repetitive prompts Improve decision-making accuracy Build user trust through familiarity and continuity It’s especially useful in long-running or multi-turn interactions, where agents need to retain context over time. Learn more here. Automated agent validation: Available in public preview This feature enables developers to run automated compliance checks on their agents directly within the Teams Developer Portal. It ensures that agents meet Microsoft Store policies, are optimized for high performance and align with responsible AI practices. This streamlines the publishing process and reduces the risk of agents being rejected or underperforming once deployed. Adoption & engagement insights: Available in public preview The Developer Portal provides analytics to help developers track adoption and engagement with real-time insights, providing key metrics to refine and optimize agent performance. Developers can track adoption rates, user engagement patterns, and key performance metrics. These insights help teams refine their agents, prioritize improvements, and demonstrate ROI. It’s particularly valuable for product marketing and engineering teams looking to optimize agent performance and user satisfaction. Interactive Agents for Teams Meetings and Calls: Available in public preview Now you can seamlessly invite AI-powered agents—like those built in Copilot Studio or available from the Teams Store—into your Teams meetings and calls. These agents can: Join group or private conversations during meetings. Interactions with agents in Teams are private by default. When used privately, agents don’t appear in the meeting roster and therefore, your conversations with the agents are truly private. Offer real-time assistance without needing a prompt (zero-state prompts) Suggest helpful prompts to guide your interactions Support a wide range of tasks, from answering questions to tracking action items Whether you're collaborating with your team or presenting to stakeholders, these agents act like virtual teammates—ready to help, whenever you need them. Enhanced GitHub app for Teams We enhanced GitHub app for Teams. The app is now faster, more intuitive, and includes new features. Enjoy improved notification cards, streamlined actions with slash commands, and organized PR conversations. GitHub app enhancements are now generally available. Seamless Agent experiences on Teams mobile (iOS & Android) We have streamlined the agent acquisition and interaction flow on Teams mobile, so users who spend their day away from a laptop can still get AI assistance exactly when and where they need it. From any chat, channel, meeting, or personal app tray, users can find and install agents from their in-context store or via @mentions in the compose box--so they can engage with an agent without leaving their workflow. Agents on mobile bring zero-prompt entry, contextual suggestions, real-time streaming replies, AI-generated labels, inline citations, sensitivity labels, and a feedback loop—everything tuned for fast, compliant, on-the-go reads. Built on the Teams extensibility framework, they require no extra dev work and unlock hallway, site-visit, and commute-time usage moments that drive higher engagement. Meeting AI Insights API: Available in Public Preview This API empowers developers to deliver intelligent meeting experiences—such as surfacing key takeaways or generating follow-ups—without the need to build or maintain their own AI infrastructure. Insights are generated after the meeting concludes and are accessible via Microsoft Graph API endpoints. This API is part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot API, and the results can only be retrieved on behalf of Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users. Chat and Collaboration New chat and channels experience The new chat and channels experience is designed to help you collaborate more efficiently and effectively. It’s simple by default, enabling everyone to stay on top of what matters, and it’s powerful on demand, allowing you to organize information and communicate your way. Catch up on chat, channels and teams in one place, use filters to triage messages, create custom sections to organize conversations by topics, and more. Learn more here. Customize your keyboard to match shortcuts from other apps: Available in public preview now, Generally available by end of May Keyboard shortcuts help you work efficiently without lifting your hands from the keyboard. Now you can apply the same shortcuts you are accustomed to from other chat and meeting applications to Teams. To do this, access the keyboard shortcuts dialog from the ellipsis in Teams top bar-> Keyboard shortcuts. Then, at the top right you can select keyboard shortcut from other apps from the drop down menu. Improvements in code block sharing Over the past year, code blocks sharing has been enhanced. When you type or paste code, it defaults to your last-used language, allows quick creation with shortcuts or slash commands, and support seamless copy-paste. Improved readability with fixed sizing, scrolling, and word wrap ensures a better viewing experience, along with expanded support for more programming languages. Name pronunciation You can now record and share the correct pronunciation of your name, fostering inclusivity and ensuring colleagues pronounce names accurately. Simply open your profile card to make a recording. This recording will be accessible on your profile card to individuals at your workplace or school using Microsoft 365. With a single click, you can listen to your colleagues' name pronunciations. Resize Teams windows and panes Teams now offers more options to arrange your Teams app window across your screen real estate, allowing you to keep your communication in context, tailoring it to your needs. Learn more here. Resize Teams app: snap and resize the Teams app with Windows 11 Snap layouts to efficiently multitask by viewing multiple applications side by side. You can snap Teams app to one of the different layout, keeping it visible alongside other apps. Resize Teams panes: adjust the size of your Teams panes to prioritize what is currently most important to you, and Teams' fluid experience will instantly adapt to fit the new layout. For instance, you can expand the meeting chat pane during a meeting. Simply hover over the edge of the chat, channels, meetings or activity panes, and drag the arrows to resize the panes Zoom levels: Teams now offers additional zoom levels to help you find the size that works best for you. Whether you're using a 6k display or have low vision and need larger text, icons, and controls, you can zoom in without sacrificing functionality or needing to scroll in two directions to read the text. Share a file (forward) in chat You can now directly share a file from chat or channel conversations to other chats or channels, making sharing easier with fewer clicks. To share a file, select the file’s ‘share’ icon. You can add additional content to the message to provide context and clarity for the recipient. You can share in 1:1 chats, group chats, or channels. Search keywords for standard emojis Emoji and reaction search is now more intuitive than ever! Users can search any terms related to the emoji they're looking for to find related results across thousands of standard emoji. Meetings, Webinars, and Town halls Real-time text available in Teams meetings and calls Real-time text (RTT) is an accessibility feature in Microsoft Teams that allows text to be transmitted instantly, character by character, as it’s typed, without needing to press "send." This enables more immediate and natural conversation, particularly benefiting users who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech or cognitive disabilities. In 1:1 calls and meetings, RTT appears in the same pane as Live Captions, creating a unified communication stream where spoken and typed input coexist. This integration reduces the need to switch between interfaces and supports mixed-modality conversations, such as when one participant speaks and the other uses RTT to respond. By preserving conversational flow and reducing cognitive load, RTT helps ensure more accessible, inclusive, and equitable communication for all participants. This is available for Teams on desktop, web, and mobile (iOS and Android). Teams Webinar in DoD Teams Webinars are now available for the Department of Defense (DoD) cloud. Schedule webinar instances with internal audiences for up to 1,000 attendees and leverage capabilities such as creation of event pages, manage attendee registrations, incorporate co-organizers, enable breakout rooms, and access attendee reporting. Control shared content in ‘Manage what attendees see’ before sending it live The "Manage what attendees see" feature in meetings, town halls and webinars helps organizers deliver polished events more easily by simplifying the attendee view and keeping the focus on participants who have been brought on screen. An enhancement to the 'Manage what attendees see' feature allows organizers, co-organizers, and presenters to control when shared content is made visible to attendees. This ensures smooth transitions and prevents unintended screen sharing. Learn more. Teams Phone Delayed simultaneous ring for GCC-High and DoD Clouds For teams with shared call responsibilities, delayed simultaneous ring will ensure calls configure the intended recipient first, instead of notifying everyone the moment a call comes in. This helps reduce noise and minimizes distractions —especially for roles like delegates and customer service teams. Peripherals: Teams button support across multiple connected peripheral devices: Available in public preview You can now use the Teams button across peripheral devices without having to manually select a specific device in the Teams devices settings. This ensures a more seamless experience navigating across multiple certified for Microsoft Teams personal peripheral USB devices (with a wire or a dongle) connected to the same host device (such as your laptop). For example, you can use the Teams button on headset A to bring up the meeting pre-join screen, then use the Teams button on headset B to join the meeting, and then use the Teams button on your connected speakerphone to raise hand in the meeting, etc. Phone devices: Line key support for shared line and call transfers This feature will enable you to assign shared lines to a line key and view the boss and delegates of the line along with their presence on Teams Phone devices with touch screens. This feature allows delegates to pick up calls on behalf of the boss by pressing the line key and join active calls. Additionally, users will be able to assign the transfer action to the line key, enabling them to transfer active calls by simply pressing that line key. Phone devices: Add or edit external contacts Teams Phone certified devices now support the ability to add and edit external contacts directly on the device. Previously, users had to switch to the Teams desktop app to manage external contacts—now, you can stay in the flow of work without leaving the phone device. With just a few taps in the People app, you can enter contact details, assign them to an existing group, or create a new one—all from the convenience of your Teams Phone device. You can now also assign external contacts to line keys so that contact names are displayed instead of numbers. Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Auto detection of room audio in BYOD rooms expanded to audio devices with video The room audio auto-detect and pre-select feature for BYOD rooms in the Teams desktop app, released in October 2024, now also activates the video component of composite audio-video peripherals (e.g. video bars) and automatically uses that camera in Teams. This ensures that Teams users in BYOD spaces, after plugging into an audio-video peripheral, can automatically default to both the audio and now video feeds of that device to easily enable high-quality meeting experiences. Learn more. Streamlined, unified role-based access controls (RBAC) for Teams device management IT admins now benefit from unified role-based access controls across both the Teams admin center and Teams Rooms Pro Management portals. This simplifies device management and ensures seamless support for users transitioning between the platforms or managing both environments. Learn more. GCC-H support in Teams Rooms Pro Management GCC-H customer tenants now have access to the Teams Rooms Pro Management service and portal, enabling them to use the device lifecycle management features of the solution while meeting high security and privacy standards. Learn more. Join town halls and webinars as an attendee from Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows You can now join town halls, webinars, and structured meetings in Teams as an attendee from Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows. Now, both attendee and presenter roles are supported for these large-scale events in a Teams Room on Windows. This feature is available in Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Local Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera controls for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android If the camera is not currently auto-framing the room, in-room users can control the Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) of the active camera from the in-room console to ensure a more inclusive environment for all participants. Learn more. Speaker recognition and attribution in Teams Rooms on Android Already available in Teams Rooms on Windows, now Teams Rooms on Android can identify who is speaking during live transcription, ensuring clear and precise voice capture for every participant who has enrolled their voice profile. Intelligent speaker functionalities are brought to existing speakers via the cloud. This feature enables intelligent meeting recaps, enhances the value of M365 Copilot and agents by attributing content and actions to individual speakers, and enables AI-enhanced audio and video experiences for meeting participants. Note: for voices to be identified, participants will need to set up a voice profile. It’s easy and secure to enroll your voice in Teams settings. Learn how to Set up your digital voice profile. Available in Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Certified for Teams Devices Logitech H570e (Teams version) Stereo, USB-C Headset Enjoy clear audio on Teams calls with Logitech H570e, certified for Microsoft Teams. This entry-level headset delivers better sound with easy controls for enhanced communication and productivity. It features enterprise-quality audio with dual noise-canceling mics and a 30 mm driver. Convenient inline controls and a dedicated Teams button make it easy to manage calls, adjust volume, and mute or unmute. Designed for sustainability and comfort, H570e offers a lightweight design with a minimum of 45% post-consumer recycled plastic(1) in the plastic parts, padded headband, and replaceable earpads. It’s perfect for long online calls and meetings. Learn more. Poly Voyager Legend 50 UC Legendary audio. Legendary design. The Poly Voyager Legend 50 UC takes the iconic Bluetooth® headset to the next level with NoiseBlockAI - to deliver a consistent call experience anywhere, no matter the conditions. Learn more. EPOS ADAPT E1 True Wireless Earbuds - Scandinavian Black Whether you are joining a Teams meeting, taking a call, or enjoying music, the ADAPT E1 delivers an exceptional experience wherever you are. With Microsoft Teams and Made for iPhone certifications, multi-point connectivity and an impressive 50-hour battery life you will experience seamless calls and communication throughout your day. Leveraging AI and a database of over half a million ear scans, EPOS IntelligentFit™ guarantees unmatched comfort and acoustic performance without the feeling of blocked ears. Experience exceptional sound that makes your music come alive and hybrid active noise cancellation that makes concentration effortless. Whether you need to navigate a busy day of calls or want to immerse yourself in music with rich sound, the ADAPT E1 is your new go-to earbud. Learn more. Fundamentals and Security Detect sensitive content while screen sharing [Premium] When enabled by meeting organizers, Teams will proactively analyze onscreen content and alert meeting organizers, co-organizers, and presenters if the presenter shares sensitive information such as bank information, credit card numbers, etc., on the screen. This helps to limit the exposure of the presenting organization and adds a layer of security to meetings and events. Frontline Worker Solutions Simplified UI for frontline Frontline Workers now enjoy a simpler default experience with more intuitive app names for better organizational connection. The Connections app becomes 'Home' with a new icon in the Tailored Frontline App, creating a clearer mobile experience. Find the Engage app pre-pinned to the navigation bar for fast access to Communities. Flexible membership extends to existing teams Save time with flexible membership for existing frontline teams. Link teams to the workforce management tool on the Manage frontline teams page to sync membership automatically with Microsoft Entra attributes. Frontline managers can then easily add or remove members. Learn more here.What’s New in Microsoft Teams | April 2025
Welcome to the April edition of “What’s new in Teams.” Last month, we shared a TON of news about the Teams features leading the future of collaboration that were announced at Enterprise Connect. Some that we highlighted in March weren’t generally available yet, but are now, so we’re sharing them again here. Like the valuable Teams Phone feature “Queues app: barge/whisper/monitor/takeover”, which helps team leads and supervisors manage and coach agents effectively, and “DVR support for town halls” that enables event attendees to pause, rewind, or fast-forward a live streaming town hall just like a recorded piece of content. There are some brand new features to check out as well, like enhanced OneDrive navigation, and the ability edit your display name in meetings. Take a look at the full list below. And don’t miss our post next month, where we’ll announce a ton of new features in our Microsoft Build focused edition! Chat and Collaboration Meetings, Webinars, Town Halls, and Immersive Teams Phone Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Fundamentals and Security Frontline Worker Solutions Chat and Collaboration Enhanced OneDrive navigation in Teams Users can now seamlessly return to the exact spot they left off within the OneDrive application when navigating across Teams. This feature enhances user experience by saving the last location for easy retrieval of content, ensuring continuity and reducing the time spent searching for files or information. By automatically displaying the last known state upon return, OneDrive provides more efficient navigation and access to content within the Teams desktop client, significantly improving productivity and collaboration. Custom file download location for Mac Mac users now have more control over their file management process and can customize the file download location when saving files shared in a Teams chat or channel. Personalize your file download process, reducing the need to move files post-download. To get started, navigate to Settings and select Files. From there you can choose a default file location for your downloads, and toggle on/off the option to always ask where to save downloaded file. Improved Microsoft Lists links in Teams messages Links to Lists, list items, and Lists forms in Teams will automatically unfurl for greater visibility, making it simpler to locate and access these links within both Teams messages and the 'Shared' tab of chats. Additionally, the links include details like title and path, helping users identify specific List link types and find pertinent information with ease. Forward messages with app cards You can now forward messages containing app cards in chats and channels. Previously, forwarding app cards was restricted, but now you can simply navigate to the “more actions menu of any message containing an app card, and select "Forward". Tag Mentions filter in Activity To view all your tag mentions, select the tag mentions filter in your activity feed. The ‘@Mentions’ filter allows you to catch up quickly on personal mentions, while the ‘Tag mentions’ filter helps you catch up on the Tag mentions you are part of. Increased drop zone for chats when uploading files The drop zone in chat is now larger, making it easier to share local files easily. This update will soon be added to channels as well. Meetings, Webinars, and Town Halls IT administrators can upload multiple themes for branded meetings [Premium] Visual branding is essential for creating a memorable experience. Whether it’s a professional client meeting, an internal meeting, or a festive seasonal event, the right theme sets the tone and strengthens your brand’s presence. Now, IT administrators can create and upload up to five brand themes to a customization policy in Teams admin center. Meeting organizers who have the policy assigned to them will be able to choose from different brand theme options when scheduling their meetings, offering flexibility to customize their brand theme for every occasion. This capability is available with a Teams Premium license. Admins can disable ability to send messages in meeting chat before and after the meeting We are expanding the existing ‘Meeting chat’ control in Teams admin center so admins can control who can send messages during and after meetings. Admins can select the “In-meeting only” value to disable participants’ ability to send messages in the meeting chat before or after the meeting, for meetings organized by specific users in their tenant. Learn more: Manage chat in Teams meetings - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn Information barriers moderated meetings With this feature, organizations with information barrier policies are now able to hold meetings with participants who have conflicting policies, in the presence of an approved moderator. Meeting attendees will remain in the lobby until the moderator joins, unless the moderator has specified the ability to bypass the lobby. This feature is ideal for regulated industries, ensuring compliance while facilitating necessary communication. Edit display name in meetings Teams meeting participants will be able to edit their display name, enabling more flexibility in their meeting presence, regardless of their tenant set display name. Users can make this change during the meeting and it will persist only throughout the duration of the meeting. Notification that intelligent recap is ready for calls from chat and ‘Meet now’ meetings Notifications for Intelligent recap for calls from chat and ‘Meet now’ meetings are now available. You will receive a notification in your Teams Activity feed and on the banner when an intelligent meeting recap is ready. Clicking on the notification in Activity feed will take you right to the recap. You can configure the notification settings to control where the notification is surfaced, as well as which meetings have notifications enabled. Set chat notification preference via meeting RSVP Teams now helps you manage your notifications more effectively by integrating chat notifications with meeting RSVP status. If you decline a meeting, you won't receive notifications or see the chat in your list, while accepting a meeting ensures you receive all relevant notifications. Bi-directional calendar syncing between Google Workspace and Teams Businesses using Google Workspace for email and calendaring can now enable bi-directional synchronization with Teams through the Teams Admin app. This update ensures that events created in either platform are seamlessly reflected in both improving scheduling efficiency and minimizing the risk of missed meetings. With this update, all calendar events - incoming, outgoing, existing, and new - are fully synchronized. This feature is currently available for Teams Essentials customers. It will be available to all Teams customers soon. Learn more here. DVR support in Town hall Digital Video Recording (DVR) functionality in town halls now enables event attendees to interact with an instance of a live streaming town hall instance in the same way they would a recorded piece of content, when viewing via desktop or web. This makes it easier to digest the content being presented, giving viewers the ability to pause and move forward or back within a town hall, navigate to any previously-streamed timestamp, and interact in other ways that make viewing a town hall more convenient. This feature is available for all town halls regardless of license assigned to the organizers. Post and reply to questions as an organizer Town hall and webinar organizers now have the ability to post and reply to questions using the title “organizer” in the Q&A experience, instead of their individual names. This feature allows instance organizers to present a unified and official voice when responding to attendee questions. Teams Phone Teams Phone extensibility for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center We introduced at Enterprise Connect Teams Phone extensibility for Dynamics 365 Contact Center and certified ISV solutions to help customers benefit from and extend their existing telephony investment with Teams Phone into the contact center. Beginning this month in public preview, customers with Teams Phone and Dynamics 365 Contact Center will be able to leverage Teams Phone as a single, integrated solution to power calling across their unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and contact center as a service (CCaaS) solutions—streamlining the deployment, management, and billing of their telephony infrastructure. Teams Phone extensibility will also be supported by ISV solutions in the future that leverage Azure Communication Services (ACS) for this integration, offering customers a wide range of options to bring Teams Phone to their preferred contact center app of choice. Learn more. Queues app: barge/whisper/monitor/takeover The "Queues app: barge/whisper/monitor/takeover" feature in Teams Phone helps team leads and supervisors manage and coach agents effectively. This feature allows supervisors to: Monitor: Listen to the conversations agents are having with callers without being heard Whisper: Provide assistance to agents during a call without the caller hearing Barge: Join a call in-progress to assist both the agent and the caller Takeover: Remove an agent from a call and take over the conversation, if necessary These capabilities are particularly useful for teams that have to manage a lot of inbound calls to serve internal or external customers - such as IT help desk center environments – and where supervisors need to provide oversight in helping agents follow the right procedures when handling customer calls. The feature is part of the Queues app, which is available with a Teams Premium license. More seamless migration from on-premises Direct Routing phone numbers to online phone numbers Teams now supports more seamless migration of on-premises synced Direct Routing (DR) phone numbers to online options - including Direct Routing, Operator Connect, and Teams Calling Plans - without the need to unassign numbers from users or resource accounts. This enhancement enables administrators to make changes to on-premises DR numbers directly via Teams admin center or PowerShell, ensuring all assignment data remains intact. Operator Connect partners leveraging the Transfer API can streamline migrations while preserving user assignments. Direct Routing Call Troubleshooting via SIP Ladder We are launching the SIP Ladder diagram tool in Teams admin center to enable admins to troubleshoot their Direct Routing calls in a self-serve way. This feature will be available via the Usage reports page under Teams admin center. It will also enable admins to view the SIP requests, responses and associated SDP data between Microsoft teams proxy and the SBC through which the call was routed. This data will be available for all calls made more than 30 minutes and less than 30 days ago. Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Book an individual desk by plugging into a peripheral Instantly reserve a desk and automatically update your workplace presence just by plugging into a peripheral on a shared desk, enabling a more streamlined workplace experience for employees. IT admins also benefit from access to desk utilization data in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. Learn more. Live transcription and controls on Teams Rooms on Windows You can control live transcription (start, stop, show) during a meeting from a Teams Rooms on Windows device. The real-time transcript includes each speaker's name, including those in a room that have enrolled their voice profile in Teams, and timestamp. You can also change settings including the spoken language, the translated language, and whether the original and translated transcript would show side by side. This feature is available in Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Live captions translation in Teams Rooms on Windows While live captions display in the spoken language by default, on a Teams Rooms on Windows device, meeting participants around the world can choose their preferred translation language for real-time translation without affecting what other meeting participants see, ensuring a more inclusive experience for everyone. Admins have controls for system default captions enablement and profanity filtering in captions and transcripts with settings from Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. This feature is available in Teams Rooms Pro. Learn more. Updates to gallery view in Teams Rooms on Windows You can experience a consistent meeting experience across the Teams desktop and Teams Rooms with the updated gallery view in Teams Rooms on Windows. The gallery view will automatically arrange all participants in consistent tile sizes, prioritize video on the meeting stage, offer additional layout options, and increase the number of participants shown on single and dual displays. Admins have controls to set default views, and in-room users can adjust views during the meeting. Learn more. Occupancy status on Teams panels Teams panels can now utilize signals from Teams Rooms devices or occupancy sensors that have been paired with the panels to indicate when a room is in use (e.g. LED glow). These signals mean you’re no longer surprised to find an available room is actually occupied. Requires a Teams Rooms Pro or Shared Devices license for the room. Learn more. Fundamentals and Security Admins can choose automatic or manual adjustment of meeting sensitivity based on the sensitivity level of shared files in Teams meetings [Premium] Microsoft 365 E5 and Teams Premium customers can now leverage sensitivity labels from Microsoft Purview Information Protection to help set the right data protection settings in meetings. Admins can choose either an automatic label inheritance policy for meetings, or a label recommendation notification. When an attendee shares a file in meeting chat or via Live share that has a higher sensitivity than the meeting: If the admin has enabled the automatic label option, the meeting's sensitivity will be updated automatically to match the sensitivity of the shared file. If the admin has enabled label recommendation, the organizer will receive a notification that recommends the organizer upgrade the meeting’s sensitivity to match the shared file. Both options help to keep a meeting’s sensitivity level aligned with the content shared. Brand impersonation phishing protection for GCC, GCC-H and DoD This feature first launched for commercial users in January, and now is available for the GCC, GCC-H, and DoD audiences. If an initial contact in a chat message with an external user is identified as potential spam or a phishing attempt, the user targeted will be notified. IT admins will also be notified that an external user is targeting their enterprise using brand-impersonation-based phishing attacks. Background blur, virtual and user uploaded backgrounds the new VDI solution With this new feature, users on the new VDI solution for Teams can blur their background, choose a Teams virtual background, or replace their background entirely with any image they want by uploading it through the "Video effects and Settings" option. AVD Screen Capture Protection and Microsoft Teams compatibility Users who have Screen Capture Protection (SCP) enabled to block screen capture on the remote desktop client (Block screen capture on client) can still share their screen and apps while using the new SlimCore-based optimization for Microsoft Teams. Cross cloud support for the new optimizations for VDI Users on the new optimizations for VDI can now access and interact with resources across different cloud environments. This includes enabling features like Cross Cloud Authentication, Management, and Guest Access, along with various improvements in user experience and functionality. VDI users can join optimized meetings with people in other Microsoft 365 cloud environments (e.g., a user in GCC-H joining a meeting in commercial, GCC, or DOD) through three options: authenticated access via cross-cloud meeting connection, authenticated access using a guest account, or anonymous access. These scenarios require Slimcore-based optimization. Manage location sharing in Teams Microsoft is updating its policies regarding the sharing of user location data to enhance privacy, improve data security, and ensure compliance with evolving regulatory standards. To enhance transparency and user control, Teams is introducing a new app location consent experience that gives users the choice of when and how Teams can use their location data (specifically SSID & BSSID). All new and existing Teams users on Windows, Mac, and Mobile will be prompted to specify if they want to keep location detection on for emergency calls only, or if they consent to allow location access used for IT Admin Insights or troubleshooting. Learn more here. Monitor Teams client updates in Teams admin center IT Administrators can now monitor Teams client version update adoption and access detailed adoption information. This feature enables administrators to proactively understand version adoption, assess version health, and access granular details about devices and users who are on the latest client versions. Additionally, it provides visibility on recency of client versions. Administrators can now proactively view insights and address issues preventing users from automatically updating to the latest and most secure version of the Teams client. Teams client health dashboards in Teams admin center IT Administrators can view and monitor the health of Teams desktop clients on both Windows and Mac platforms. This feature offers comprehensive admin-actionable insights into client health metrics, including client crashes and launch failures. With these dashboards, administrators are equipped with detailed information on issues, insights, and mitigation tools to promptly and effectively address any potential client health problems. Remote contact management for Teams Phone devices in Teams admin center IT admins can now remotely manage contacts to ensure crucial contacts are available for users on their Teams Phone devices. Admins can push a set of contacts from the Teams Admin Center (TAC) to Teams Android-based devices as speed dial contacts. Frontline Worker Solutions Wired headset support to Walkie Talkie on iOS Wired headsets are now supported in the Walkie Talkie app for iOS, providing greater flexibility and convenience for frontline workers. Users can connect generic wired headsets with a play/pause button to enable toggle-to-talk mode, allowing hands-free operation with a single tap. Specialized push-to-talk (PTT) headsets are also supported, enabling traditional push-to-talk functionality. This feature ensures workers can stay connected without needing to pull out their devices. Storyline in Teams Storyline provides a centralized place for corporate communications to foster better communication and alignment across the organization. It enables leaders to connect directly with their workforce through targeted posts, like sharing policy changes or celebrating company milestones. Learn more about Storyline capabilities. Engage in Teams mobile The Engage app is now available on the Teams mobile app, delivering a full communities experience directly into Teams. This feature empowers organizations to drive news delivery, strengthen leadership connections, foster relationships, all from a single platform. Learn more. Flexible membership for deploying Teams at scale This new feature empowers IT admins to create location-based teams quickly while giving frontline managers the ability to make manual adjustments, like adding or removing an employee, as needed. This additional capability provides greater control for frontline workforce management and is now generally available.What’s New in Microsoft Teams | February 2025
Hi everyone, and happy February. This may be the shortest month, but there’s no shortage of new updates for Teams! This month, we’ve got some really intelligent and time-saving features to talk about. Right at the top of the list is the ability to add agents or bots to a chat that everyone in the chat can use and interact with. There’s also the newly added functionality that allows you to schedule messages in channels to send at a specific day/time, just like you already can in chats. Another feature that both Teams Webinar and Town Hall users, as well as Teams Rooms users will find useful is the ability for a Teams Room to join an event as a presenter, allowing you to manage an event from the console of a live meeting room just like you can from your computer. Stay warm and scroll through all of the new features we’ve released! Chat and Collaboration Meetings, Webinars, Town Halls, and Immersive Teams Phone Teams Rooms and Devices Frontline Worker Solutions Chat and Collaboration Add agents or bots in Teams chat Whether answering questions or taking care of mundane tasks, agents and bots in Teams save you and others time so you can focus on what's most important. You can now add an agent or bot in your 1:1 or group chat and access it directly from that chat. To add, click on ‘Add people, agents and bots’ -> ‘Add agents and bots’ and search for the agent or bot you want to add. Once added, everyone in the chat can interact with the agent. Users can '@mention' the agent along with a relevant prompt, and everyone in the chat will see the agent’s response. This update is available for Teams on Windows desktop, Mac desktop, and the web. Learn more here. Scheduled message delivery in channels Similar to delaying the delivery of chat messages in Teams and emails in Outlook, you can now manually select the future date and time for a channel message to be published. To schedule a channel post or a message reply, click on the plus icon and select schedule message from the menu. This will open the date picker, where you can choose the desired publishing time. This feature allows you to send channel messages confidently, knowing they will be delivered at the right time. Whether you're coordinating with team members across different time zones or scheduling a message to be sent after a meeting, scheduling channel messages provides flexibility and control over your messages. Customize notification location on screen Enhance your focus and productivity by customizing the location of notifications. Previously, Teams notifications would appear in bottom right corner of the screen, but now you can set them to appear in the most convenient and least intrusive location for you: the bottom right, top right, bottom left, or top left. To change the location of the notifications, open your settings > Notifications and activity > Display and select the location that suits your needs and preferences best. Users can easily discover apps previously used Easily find apps you've used in group chats, channels, meetings, and other Teams areas. This enhancement streamlines the app installation process by prominently displaying apps you've previously installed in group chats, meetings, or channels when searching for an app. This app list is unique to each user, based on the apps they have used and installed. Meetings, Webinars, Town Halls, and Immersive Intelligent Meeting Recap for events (Premium) Intelligent recap is now available for town hall and webinar event instances, just like the intelligent recap experience you are used to in meetings. Event organizer, co-organizers, and presenters can now easily explore the meeting recording by speakers and topics, and access AI-generated meeting notes, AI-generated tasks, and name mentions. In addition to availability with a Teams Premium license, intelligent event recap features are available with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Meeting recap can be shared via link Meeting participants can now share a link to the meeting recap from the meeting thumbnail in chat and the recap tab, making it easier to reference and share the meeting recap insights with others. Meeting participants can share the meeting recap link with anyone in their organization. Users who don't have access to the recording or transcript, can request recording and transcript access. New admin policy to enable Copilot for multi-tenant organizations This new admin policy in Teams admin center allows admins to enable or disable access to Copilot in meetings between Business-to-Business members in Multi-Tenant Organization set ups. Teams admins can toggle the ‘Allow Copilot for B2B members’ setting in the Teams admin center or with PowerShell. This setting is turned on by default, allowing B2B members within the multi-tenant organization who have Copilot licenses to use Copilot when they join meetings hosted by their organization. For more details visit Manage Copilot access for B2B members within multitenant organizations (MTO) in Teams. Meeting organizers, co-organizers, and transcript initiator can change spoken language setting The default permissions for who can set the spoken language for a meeting have been updated. Now, when transcription is enabled (whether by itself or when recording or Copilot are enabled) only the meeting organizer, co-organizer, and person who initiated the transcript can change the spoken language for the meeting. This is to ensure accurate transcription of everyone’s speech during the meeting since the spoken language setting and the spoken language used during discussion must match for transcript accuracy. If transcription is not enabled, all meeting participants will be able to change the meeting spoken language. Copilot in Teams meetings now available for GCC Copilot helps you run more effective meetings, get up to speed on the conversation, organize key discussion points, and summarize key actions so it’s clear what you need to do next. Users can type any question or use predetermined prompts during or after the meeting, and their interactions with Copilot are only visible to them. This feature is already available in worldwide multitenant and is now available for customers in GCC. Default policy for transcription updated to “on” The default policy for transcription has been updated from “off” to “on” for any new tenant, aligning the default transcription policy with that of recording. For tenants that never set their global policies, their transcription policy will be changed to “on” from the previous default setting “off.” This change doesn’t mean that every meeting will automatically have transcription enabled, it means that transcription is available, and users will have the ability to turn it on if needed. Teams meeting Notes now available in Microsoft Teams for Education Teams meeting Notes, powered by Loop, is now available in Microsoft Teams for Education. Notes are Loop components in Teams meetings and chats that allow end users to co-create and collaborate on their meeting agenda, notes, and action items that can be co-authored and edited by everyone. Since Notes are Loop components, they stay in sync across all the places they have been shared. Assigned tasks automatically sync with ToDo and Planner. Enhancements to Apple CarPlay for iOS devices The Teams view in Apple CarPlay has been updated with improved visuals to provide a clearer view of your mute/unmute state, and the option to raise your hand has been added. These updates to CarPlay expand your ability to navigate meetings and messages hands-free, safely participate in meetings, catch up on conversations, and initiate urgent communications while on the go, without the need to divert your attention from driving. For more details please visit Place Microsoft Teams calls with Apple CarPlay. Enhancements to iPad Teams calendar We’ve updated the iPad Teams calendar to leverage the iPad’s form factor and make the scheduling process more seamless for iPad users. Users will now enjoy a default 5-day work week view, with options to switch to agenda, day, and 7-day week views. Enhanced features include a join button for easy access to upcoming meetings, synced category colors from the desktop, and the ability to reschedule events by simply dragging and dropping. Join and present events from Teams Rooms on Windows Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows devices can now join events in Teams (webinars and town halls) as presenters. See full description in the Teams Rooms and devices section. Allow presenters to moderate Q&A in Town hall and Webinars Organizers of town halls and webinars can now select and assign presenters to also be Q&A moderators, allowing them to manage and publish questions asked during the event. This feature lets organizers make changes to the group of moderators at any time, before or during the event, and it is available to all users organizing a town hall or webinar, regardless of license. Automatic installation and update of the Network Device Interface (NDI) in Teams (Windows Only) This update now enables users to install and update the Network Device Interface (NDI) automatically in Teams without any manual process. This allows organizations to broadcast audio and video streams from Teams instances to a user's local network. It is currently available exclusively on Windows devices. End the Session for attendees and presenters return to green room Organizers and presenters can now end the session with this new "End Event" button for town halls, webinars, and structured meetings. After selecting this button, attendees will see a message on stage stating that the session has concluded, and presenters will return to the Green Room. Teams Phone Extensibility for PSTN calls Third-party application developers can now extend the PSTN calling experience in Teams with contextual information, making it possible for Teams users to access relevant data without leaving the call experience. This brings additional context and workflow integration into calling experiences and makes customer-facing professionals more efficient by having data from line of business applications readily available. This functionality is available for developers to integrate their applications and add new functionality to calls. Learn more through related developer documentation and admin documentation. Delayed simultaneous ring For teams with shared call responsibilities, delayed simultaneous ring will ensure calls configure the intended recipient first, instead of notifying everyone the moment a call comes in. This helps reduce noise and minimizes distractions —especially for roles like delegates and customer service teams. Direct Routing phone number management Tenant administrators can now more easily manage Direct Routing (DR) phone numbers. The new capabilities can replace manual management of DR phone numbers in Excel or with third-party tools through the ability to upload unused or unassigned DR phone numbers to the Teams Phone Number Management system and manage these numbers within Teams admin center (TAC) or via Teams PowerShell cmdlets. Admins can also leverage TAC or Teams PowerShell cmdlets to manage existing assigned on-premises DR phone numbers, making it easier to convert any on-premises sourced DR phone numbers to online sourced DR phone numbers. Teams Rooms and Devices Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Join and present events from Teams Rooms on Windows Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows devices can now join events in Teams (webinars and town halls) as presenters. You can present directly from the Teams Room, with features like green room access and stage control for presenters, supported on both single and dual screens. This feature requires a Teams Rooms Pro licensed room. Learn more. The Owl Bar Newly certified for Teams, the Owl Bar is a 4K front-of-room camera, microphone, and speaker device with a 30MP lens, four omnidirectional microphones, and an integrated speaker. It can work alone or pair with the Meeting Owl to focus on speakers and switch cameras for remote participants. The Owl Intelligence System™ uses visual and audio cues to capture the best view of in-room speakers, ensuring effective hybrid discussions. Ideal for huddle and small meeting rooms, the Owl Bar can also pair wirelessly with a Meeting Owl for larger spaces. Yealink MCore-OPS-T The Yealink MCore-OPS-T is a modular computing solution specially designed meeting board for Windows systems. With its powerful processor, it delivers enhanced computing performance and efficient graphics processing, allowing you to run multiple applications simultaneously without any lag. The sophisticated structural design eliminates the need for external equipment, greatly simplifying installation and deployment. Rally Board 65 for Teams Rooms on Android The Rally Board 65 for Teams Rooms on Android is the ultimate all-in-one video conferencing solution for meeting rooms and open spaces. The expansive 65” touchscreen enables seamless and intuitive collaboration in any environment. Enjoy quick setup, flexible installation options for natural eye contact, and innovative AI-driven features. Simplify the way you meet and collaborate. Frontline Worker Solutions QR Code Authentication Multiple frontline workers often share the same device across shifts throughout the day. Manual sign-in processes are time consuming and decrease productivity, especially on shared devices. Beginning this month in Public Preview, Microsoft will be launching a new, simple authentication option – QR code. This new, highly requested feature enables sign-in with the scan of a unique QR code and entry of a personal PIN number, significantly decreasing time to log in without affecting security. Learn more about QR code authentication and how to enable it. Shared Device Mode – iOS support for Jamf Shared Device Mode now enables more efficient and secure device sharing for Frontline workers. Microsoft's Shared Device Mode (SDM) allows frontline workers, whose device may be shared among multiple users, to login once to access the device and every app on the device and sign out across apps so the device is ready for the next user. In addition, SDM enables conditional access policies to enable customized security policies. This month, we’re excited to announce that Jamf support for Shared Device Mode is now generally available. Customers with iOS Jamf-managed devices can now enable Shared Device Mode at scale with zero-touch provisioning and leverage device compliance conditional access. To learn more about supporting Shared Device Mode and about managing shared frontline devices, click here.What’s New in Microsoft Teams | January 2025
Happy new year, and welcome to 2025! I hope your year is off to an excellent start, and that you have lots of exciting things on the horizon. I know that this year will be a big one for Teams - it’s only January, and we’re already releasing a host of useful features that can save you time and help you communicate efficiently and effectively. For example, the ability to forward messages between channels helps you share important information with colleagues more easily (“Forward channel messages” in Chat and Collaboration), and giving meeting attendees the freedom to move between breakout rooms (“Meeting participants can move between breakout rooms” in Meetings, Webinars and Town Halls) can simplify event management and participation. Those are just two of the many features that we’re releasing to kick off 2025, so read on to see what else is new in these categories: Chat and Collaboration Meetings, Webinars, and Town Halls Workplace-Places and Rooms Teams Phone Teams Devices Teams Fundamentals Frontline Worker Solutions Chat and Collaboration Quick hyperlink insertion Seamlessly integrated hyperlinks enhance message readability and accessibility, ensuring that links are naturally woven into the text. This new feature streamlines the process of adding links, making it faster and more efficient. To use this capability, copy the link you want to insert, type your message in the compose box, highlight the text you want to hyperlink, and paste. Your hyperlink is now ready. Forwarding Loop components You can now forward chat messages containing Loop components, allowing for seamless sharing and real-time collaboration across different chats and channels. To forward a message with a Loop component, navigate to it, click on the ellipsis (three dots), and select ‘Forward’ from the menu. When the Loop components are shared, their permissions are maintained, ensuring that recipients have the appropriate access rights. This feature is available on desktop and mobile. Forward channel messages You can now forward messages between channels, allowing you to share important information with relevant team members with fewer clicks. To forward a channel message post, channel post reply, or chat message to another channel, 1:1 or group chat, select the message’s ellipsis menu and choose Forward. You can also add additional context to the message and @mention recipients for greater clarity and alignment. Meetings, Webinars, Town Halls, and Immersive Meeting participants can move between breakout rooms Now, meeting organizers can make the list of breakout rooms visible to all meeting participants and allow them to choose which room to join. Enabling this setting in breakout rooms allows participants to move freely from one room to another, simplifying breakout room coordination for meeting organizers and participants. New calendar experience in Microsoft Teams: Generally available now The calendar in Teams has been redesigned for reliability and familiarity—you can now enjoy the same calendar experience across Teams and Outlook, with integration of both Copilot and Places to help infuse intelligence into your time management. Copilot capabilities like draft an agenda and managed booking, and Places capabilities like recommended in-office days, Places finder, and Places card are all available in the new Teams calendar experience. In addition to Copilot and Places features, the new Teams calendar brings new capabilities to Teams like calendar sharing, month view, multi-day view, print support, filtering, support for multiple time zones, and more. You’ll find the ‘New calendar’ toggle at the top right of the calendar app in Teams. It only takes one click to upgrade to the new Teams calendar, and you can easily pick up and resume exactly where you left off in classic Teams calendar. For more details visit Microsoft Support page. Meeting organizers can turn off copying or forwarding of live captions, transcript, and recap for meetings We are expanding the existing ‘Turn off copying or forwarding of meeting chat’ control for meeting organizers to include live captions, transcription, and meeting recap. With this change, meeting organizers with Teams Premium licenses will see a control called ‘Turn off copying and forwarding of meeting chat, live captions, and transcript’ in the meeting options. When this control is enabled, meeting participants won’t be able to copy the meeting chat, live captions, live transcript, or any insights generated from intelligent meeting recap. Microsoft Purview support for town halls Microsoft Purview now supports eDiscovery for town halls in Teams, ensuring compliance by preserving and managing event data effectively. Effective data management helps in organizing and categorizing data, making it easier to search and retrieve specific information. This reduces the risk of data loss and ensures that sensitive information is protected and handled according to compliance standards. Audio support for screen sharing in Mesh events (Premium) Audio support for screen sharing has now been added in Microsoft Mesh. Presenters will now be able to choose whether they'd like to include system audio when starting a screen share in a Mesh event. This feature is available for presenters in Mesh with a Teams Premium license. Workplace: Places and Teams Rooms Workplace check-in with workplace presence Workplace presence facilitates in-person connections by allowing you to check in on the Places app and let colleagues know you’re in the office, confirm work plans, receive check-in reminders, and view which of your colleagues are nearby and who has planned to come in. Workplace presence at building level upon peripheral connection With work location in Teams now including buildings, make your presence known, coordinate with others, and take advantage of AI-assisted booking in the future. Once enabled and opted-in, your workplace presence can auto-update to a specific building when you connect to a peripheral at a bookable desk or BYOD room. Speaker recognition and attribution in BYOD rooms with Teams Premium or Copilot You can now take advantage of speaker recognition and transcript attribution, unleashing new AI capabilities in any meeting space, whether or not it has a Teams Rooms system deployed. This feature identifies and attributes people in live transcripts, utilizing a unique voice profile for each participant enabling intelligent recaps and maximum value from Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams meetings. Users can easily and securely enroll voices via Teams Settings. This feature requires a Teams Premium or Copilot license for the user hosting the meeting. Learn more. Auto-association of BYOD room devices in the Pro Management portal Manually associating peripherals to rooms may feel like an endless task if your organization has several bring your own device (BYOD) rooms. IT admins can streamline the process and get enhanced inventory visibility with this feature which utilizes meeting room invite data to intelligently associate peripherals to these spaces. Once associated, users can more easily connect and utilize shared peripherals in rooms. Learn more. Start or stop recording on Teams Rooms on Windows In Teams Rooms on Windows, you can now start or stop recording without needing to join on your companion device. The start/stop recording button is available on the console or touch boards through the More menu. This feature requires a Teams Rooms Pro license. Multiple camera view for Teams Rooms on Windows When attending remotely, you now have enhanced viewing options during meetings in a Teams Room on Windows which now supports displaying up to four single-stream cameras. With multiple camera views, you can follow all the action in the room and manually switch between different views as desired. This feature requires a Teams Rooms Pro license. Learn more. Custom name for Teams panels Admins can now use the Pro Management portal to assign custom names to licensed panels. This name will then display on the panel's home screen, replacing the global address book name shown in Outlook or Teams. This feature requires a Teams Rooms Pro or Teams Shared Devices license. Learn more. Usage reports for bookable desks in the Pro Management portal Where your people choose to work is crucial information for workspace planning and management. Get more insight into workspace usage when you can see which desk pools are used, and when. Usage, occupancy, and other key data points attributed to desk pools are visible in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. Learn more. Teams Phone Queues app available on Teams phone devices The Queues app experience for agents is now available on Teams phone devices. This experience will help agents manage customer interactions directly from their phone device. Agents will be able to opt in or opt out of queues and access call history, which includes details like customer names, phone numbers, call times, and actions taken during the call. This ensures agents have all the information they need at their fingertips, making it easier to provide personalized and effective customer service. Teams Calling Plan enablement wizard in the Microsoft 365 admin center Unlock a faster way to manage Teams Calling Plans with the new Calling Plan enablement wizard in the Microsoft 365 admin center. This tool streamlines the process of enabling Teams Calling Plan seats with phone numbers, saving valuable setup time. Admins will automatically see this enhanced experience once Teams Calling Plan licenses are assigned to the tenant. The wizard provides an intuitive, step-by-step guide to set up emergency addresses, acquire phone numbers, and assign them to users—all in one smooth workflow. Ready to simplify your Teams Calling Plan setup? Collaborative call delegation on Teams phone devices Teams phone device users can now share access to their phone line with a specific group of users, without a structured delegation system. This enables group members to receive, and initiate calls on behalf of others, enabling a simple and collaborative communication experience. Teams Devices Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Owl Labs Owl Bar The newly certified for Teams Owl Bar is an intelligent 4K front-of-room camera, microphone, and speaker device. It features a 30MP camera lens, four omnidirectional microphones, and an integrated speaker. The Owl Bar can work alone or pair with the Meeting Owl to focus on the speaker and switch cameras, ensuring remote participants always have the best view. Owl Labs’ Owl Intelligence System™ captures the best view of in-room speakers, making hybrid discussions effective and productive. Ideal for huddle and small meeting rooms. Learn more AudioCodes C430HD Native Microsoft Teams Common Area IP Phone The AudioCodes Microsoft Teams-native C430HD IP phone is an entry level/common area phone specially designed to deliver low-cost yet feature-rich unified communications in any shared space or phone booth. Equipped with a 4.3” color LCD screen, the C430HD supports Microsoft Teams out-of-the-box for quick installation and streamlined provisioning. Learn more Fundamentals Block malicious users from your organization With this feature in Teams, you can prevent users in your organization from collaborating with specific people outside the organization. Admins can now set up a list of users that are blocked from collaborating with their organization. If a user is added to the block list, people in your organization will not be able to have 1:1 and group chats with these users. If chats already exist before a user is added to the block list, the blocked user will be removed from the chat. Brand impersonation phishing protection This feature helps IT admins identify if an external user is targeting their enterprise users by impersonating a brand commonly targeted by phishing attacks. It monitors initial contacts in chat with individual users, and notifies the user that the message may be spam or a phishing attempt. Frontline Worker Solutions App-Powered Tasks App-powered tasks, currently in public preview, offers your organization more control over what users see when they open their tasks within Teams. Instead of showing only the standard set of task fields, users now have an experience tailored to the task at hand. When the user selects an app-powered task, the destination app will open directly to that specific task information. This allows employees to view all tasks in one place, even when tasks are stored across multiple third-party systems, and offers task-specific guidance on completion from right within Teams. For more information, please read our public preview announcement or learn how to manage app-powered tasks.What’s New in Microsoft Teams | December 2024
The end of the calendar year is almost here, and Microsoft Ignite is now in the rear-view mirror. By the way, WOW, was it an exciting one! If you missed our last blog that listed everything for Teams that we announced at Ignite, here it is! There’s been a lot of buzz around features like the recently released “workplace presence”, that helps you connect with colleagues when you’re in the office. Although we announced so many powerful new features last month, there are still a few more coming! This will be a short blog, but we still have some updates that can make Teams an even more integral part of your workday. Read on for all the details, and I hope you have an excellent end to 2024! Meetings Take control during screensharing on web client This update enables meeting participants using the Teams web app to use the "take control" function to request control while another person is screen-sharing. Webinars and Town Halls Download Transcription and view RTMP-In 708 captions for Town hall and webinar Event organizers can now download transcripts for their town hall or webinar instances. This update also adds support for displaying RTMP-In 708 captions in transcription. RTMP-In 708 captions are a closed captioning standard that provides enhanced captioning capabilities, including improved compatibility with modern digital video formats Teams Rooms and Devices Whiteboard enhancements on Teams Rooms on Android You can use the whiteboard in a meeting, or when you’re collaborating offline with colleagues. When using the whiteboard outside of meetings, your content is retained even when a meeting begins. The whiteboard's contents are preserved and shared with remote participants instantly. You can also use the ‘Follow me’ function to guide participants as you navigate, and collaborative cursors let you see everyone working in real-time. Find certified for Teams devices for all types of spaces and uses at aka.ms/teamsdevices. Cisco Room Navigator The Cisco Room Navigator for panels is designed to be easy to deploy, scalable, and user-friendly in a modern workplace. It displays room availability, integrates with calendars, and allows for instant bookings. Featuring a 360° multicolor LED and a durable touch screen, it works seamlessly with the Microsoft Teams Panel app or other reservation systems. Learn more Yealink Room Panel E2 The Yealink Room Panel E2 is a compact touch screen designed for mounting outside meeting spaces. It displays meeting details and allows for on-the-spot reservations via Teams or Microsoft 365 calendar applications. With features like an RGB LED light bar, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ambient light and human presence sensors, as well as enhanced microphones and speakers, it meets the needs of modern workspaces. Learn more Maxhub XCore Kit Pro MAXHUB XCore Kit Pro is a Microsoft Teams Rooms conferencing solution intended for medium to large meeting rooms. It includes an 11.6-inch touch-screen control panel and a mini-PC with a 12th gen Intel Core i5 processor running Microsoft Teams Rooms. It supports 4K wired content sharing and dual-screen display capabilities, providing a comprehensive conferencing experience. Learn more Poly Studio X72 + TC10 The Poly Studio X72 all-in-one video bar is designed to optimize hybrid meetings, no matter the room size. With AI-enhanced video and audio technology, it offers the scalability and flexibility needed to join various cloud video calls effortlessly. The Poly TC10's 10-inch high-resolution touch display provides clear and accessible control options, making it easy to start and manage video calls. Learn more Poly Studio X72 Experience seamless hybrid meetings with the Poly Studio X72 video bar. Featuring advanced AI-enhanced video and audio technology, this versatile device ensures crystal-clear communication and effortless connectivity to virtually any cloud video call. Discover the scalability and flexibility that make the Poly Studio X72 the perfect addition to your meeting room setup. Learn more Poly Studio G62 The Poly Studio G62 conferencing system features easy setup, seamless integration, and customization options. It includes powerful collaboration tools, advanced audiovisual options, and a flexible setup. This system allows you to tailor large conference rooms to your specific needs. By connecting Poly peripherals and controllers, the Poly Studio G62 video conferencing system offers a modular solution designed for streamlined versatility. Learn more Poly Studio V72 The Poly Studio V72 Bar is designed to offer reliable, high-quality audiovisuals for your meeting room. Customize your PC-based or BYOD conference room setup effortlessly with this adaptable USB video bar. Integrate Poly peripherals with the Poly Studio V72 bar for consistent audiovisual performance that enhances your meetings. Learn more
