O365 and SharePoint Updates | November 2017

Well – this year has flown by, just one more update away before 2018!

This month was another amazing one. We were able to spend time with the best of the best, in Sydney, at the Australian ‘Microsoft Summit’.
Given it was such a great event, we’ll focus on that in a separate post. For now, let’s talk about all of the incredible implementation that has occurred post-ignite conference.

Editing SharePoint Custom List Entries

New SharePoint Custom list features are here!

We will now be able to simply see ALL properties in the details pane and won’t be taken to a new page

New SharePoint Modern Page Webparts

There have been many great updates (and there will continue to be be). Here are a few of them:

1. Large page and news authoring toolbox with search and categories

Now we just need a Planner webpart!

We have always been a fan of planner and have known it would only be a matter of time before it’s full potential will be reached…..well, we’re close, so close!

The (our) most awaited on feature – being able to copy a task – has finally become available

Microsoft have also improved the ability to notify people of assigned tasks and to ensure they’re reminded of approaching due dates.

“Planner will send individual email notifications directly to the assignee(s) of a task.  If a task has a due date, Planner will also send due date reminders starting a week before a task is due. Users will be able to select their notification preferences in Planner settings to make sure that they’re only receiving notifications that they want to receive.”

There was a lot of discussion at Ignite around a ‘schedule view’ and it is on its way:

“The new schedule view – will enable users to both drag and drop tasks on a calendar to create start and due dates, as well as view all plan tasks on a calendar to have a visual cue of how much work is being done in the plan at a given time.”

Like with Teams, people have been – inviting users outside of the Office 365 tenant to join the plan – and it’s something that they’re going to be delivering soon!

Yammer has introduced the ability to see the team activity within the application.

“Providing engagement metrics right within Yammer so that community managers and members can get a better understanding of their groups’ engagement and activity. This, in turn, will help better inform efforts to improve, grow or execute campaigns in groups.”

OTHER ITEMS TO NOTE

Microsoft is retiring “Office Mix”

“We are bringing the best of the Office Mix add in directly into PowerPoint for Office 365 subscribers on Windows PC. Going forward, the new recording tab in PowerPoint will allow you to create a presentation that includes recorded slides, screen recordings, narrations, audio, ink, and videos. In the coming months, we’ll be connecting Forms for interactive quizzes and Stream to the recording tab to become the new publishing experience. In the meantime, you can manually export and upload these videos to Stream or another hosting site of your choice.
Thank you for using Office Mix and being on the journey with us. If you’re unsure of what steps to take before Office Mix is retired, or you are encountering any issues during your content migration, please visit our help article.”

What is it?

“Microsoft 365 Business brings together features from across Microsoft’s offerings in a solution designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It’s powered by Office 365 and Windows 10, with device management and security features to help ensure your company’s data is protected.”

For a full list of what is included and the pricing, read here.