Office 365 Weekly Digest | Week of June 5 - 11, 2016

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Note: The information below may not be posted to your Office 365 tenant as not all notifications apply to all tenants.

 

New Feature: Microsoft Planner

Posted: June 6, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Microsoft Planner is built on Office 365 Groups and brings together teams, tasks, documents, and conversations for better planning and collaboration. Starting today, we will begin turning Microsoft Planner on by default for you and your users. This process may take several weeks to complete. Planner is a new app in Office 365, and will appear in the app launcher and Office 365 home page. There is nothing you need to do to prepare for this change. Log in and get yourself familiar with Planner. Learn more at What is Office 365 Planner Preview and also review the "Microsoft Planner ready for showtime” post linked in the "Blog Roundup" section below.

 

Updated Feature: Monthly feature updates for Office 2016 for Office 365

Posted: June 7, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | The latest feature updates for Office 2016 for Office 365 are now available. This month’s update includes new feature updates, as well as other security and bug fixes. If you have users configured for Current Channel release updates, you may want to get up to speed on the new features this month. Other than that, you do not need to do anything to prepare for this change. Additional information is available at https://technet.microsoft.com/office/mt465751.

 

Updates to SharePoint Document Library Experiences

Posted: June 7, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Plan for Change | Action: Awareness | We’re making some changes to Document Libraries in SharePoint. Modern libraries offer many UI enhancements, such as thumbnails; uploading and links; inline creation of custom view and columns; and pinning. We’ve replaced the Ribbon with a clean, responsive command bar. Finally, modern libraries are becoming the new experience for files saved in Office 365 groups. We’re going to be updating aspects of the document library experience on June 7, 2016, for First Release users, and in worldwide production later in June. The modern document library will be the default experience for all document libraries except as noted below. Some library customizations are not yet supported in the modern experience, and if we detect such a customization we will automatically redirect users to the classic experience. Second, libraries will have a new header control at the top of the page. For libraries in team sites, this header includes global navigation links. For libraries in Office 365 Groups, the new control no longer includes links to the group’s conversation, calendar and member management. Instead, the new control will have a single link to the group’s conversation, from which users can navigate to calendar and member management. The new experience will be on by default for all users starting June 21, 2016. Tenant administrators and site owners have the ability to change that default on a tenant-wide or per-library basis, in advance of the rollout, starting June 7, 2016. For more details, please see the "Modern Document Libraries in SharePoint" post linked in the "Blog Roundup" section below.

 

Skype Meeting Broadcast Availability

Posted: June 7, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Skype Meeting Broadcast is a feature of Skype for Business Online that enables you to schedule, produce, and broadcast meetings or events to large online audiences up to 10,000 attendees. Over the next few weeks, Skype Meeting Broadcast will be available to Government Community Cloud tenants like yours. Although Skype Meeting Broadcast doesn't require a complicated network set up, there are some steps that are required for Skype for Business Online and also when you are using Skype for Business Online and Skype for Business Server 2015 in a hybrid deployment. Please see https://support.office.com/article/Set-up-Skype-Meeting-Broadcast-dfa736b9-4920-4f48-b8c0-b5487ec6086f for additional information.

 

Feature Update: Microsoft Forms Preview now available in the app launcher

Posted: June 7, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | The Microsoft Forms Preview for Office 365 Education allows students and teachers to quickly create quizzes, surveys, questionnaires and more. Forms will begin showing up for users in the app launcher, starting today. We’re making it easier for users to access Forms. Office 365 Education users can create quizzes, surveys, questionnaires, registrations and more. Forms authors can invite others to complete forms via a link and Forms are embeddable in Sway and 3rd party portals. Authors can view results in real-time via built-in analytics and data can be easily exported to Excel for additional analysis. Teachers can author quizzes that let students know when they’ve answered a question correctly and provides guidance for those answered incorrectly (e.g. This material is covered in chapter 3). Administrators can turn off Forms by visiting the User Management tab in your school’s Office 365 Admin Center and unchecking “Microsoft Forms for different SKU” under licenses for the user(s). Get yourself familiar with Microsoft Forms by logging in at https://forms.office.com/. Learn more at https://support.office.com/article/What-is-Microsoft-Forms-Preview-6b391205-523c-45d2-b53a-fc10b22017c8.

 

Updated Feature: What’s new in Office 365 admin center

Posted: June 8, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | In May, we continued our work to improve the new Office 365 admin center to make it faster, easier and more efficient for you to manage the service. The latest updates include custom tiles, the ability to manage email apps, and support for mail-enabled security groups. Log into the new admin center and try the new functionality. Provide feedback using the feedback button in the admin center. For more information, please see the "What's new in Office 365 Administration May Roundup" post linked in the "Blog Roundup" section below.

 

Updated Feature: Alert mails for OneDrive for Business and SharePoint

Posted: June 9, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | The format of alert mails sent from SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business have been updated to present information in a clearer way and to better display content on phones. We originally communicated that we started rolling this out in February, but the rollout took longer than expected. This feature is now completely rolled out and existing alerts are now using the new format. There is nothing you need to do to prepare for this change. For information on how to set up alerts, please visit https://support.office.com/article/Change-the-settings-for-your-alerts-49629CFE-88D0-4DFB-8766-B89861D12731.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS Azure Active Directory Webinars for June

Are you looking to deploy Azure Active Directory quickly and easily? We are offering free webinar briefings on key Azure Active Directory deployment topics! Sessions include: Pre-requisites, SSPR, MFA, SaaS Application Integration and Reporting. Each 1-hour briefing is designed to support IT Pros in quickly rolling out Azure Active Directory features to their organization. All webinars are free of cost and will be followed by Q&A with our Engineering Team. Capacity is limited. Sign up for one or all of the sessions today!

 

YamJam: Security and Compliance

When: June 14, 2016 @ 9:00am PT | We are happy to announce a Security and Compliance YamJam. Please join us for a live hour of Q&A and the opportunity to voice your feedback. We hope to see you there!

 

Modern Workplace: Game Changers - Making extraordinary happen

When: June 14, 2016 @ 8:00am PT | Sometimes the most revolutionary innovation isn’t inventing a new product, it’s finding a new application or market for the product you already make. Many organizations are utilizing ordinary technology to do extraordinary things. Join us June 14, 2016 at 8 a.m. PDT / 3 p.m. GMT for the next episode of Modern Workplace, “Game Changers: Making extraordinary happen,” and see how the nonprofit sector leverages existing technologies to innovate rapidly and save lives. Learn how you can identify ways to repurpose existing technologies to advance your business.

 

FastTrack Webinars: Learn how to do more, together

The best productivity experience? It’s already in your Office.  Ask questions, learn shortcuts and find out how Office 365 can make you and your team more productive. Each webinar is a live, instructor-led session offered at multiple dates and times. Facilitated discussion follows each session, with opportunities to ask questions and discuss specific scenarios to you. Direct registration links for each webinar are provided below.

 

BLOG ROUNDUP Microsoft Planner ready for showtime

Today marks the general availability of Microsoft Planner. Over the next several weeks, Planner will roll out to all eligible Office 365 customers worldwide. This includes Office 365 Enterprise E1–E5, Business Essentials, Premium and Education subscription plans. All users with eligible subscription plans will automatically see the Planner tile appear in the Office 365 app launcher when it is available for them to use. No specific action by Office 365 admins is needed. The addition of Planner to the Office 365 lineup introduces a new and improved way for businesses, schools and organizations to structure teamwork easily and get more done. With Planner, teams can create new plans; organize, assign and collaborate on tasks; set due dates; update statuses and share files, while visual dashboards and email notifications keep everyone informed on progress. | Additional Resource: Microsoft Planner – a few common support answers

 

Modern document libraries in SharePoint

Last month, we unveiled our broad vision for the Future of SharePoint, and today we’re delighted to announce the that modern document libraries are now rolling out to all Office 365 commercial customers worldwide. You can learn more about how to use modern libraries in this article, “What is a document library?”  Helping people share files and collaborate on content has always been central to our mission. That’s why we’re creating a better experience for document libraries that’s faster, more intuitive and responsive.

 

What's New: May 2016

This month brought a new OneDrive app for Windows 10 on your PC, a new editor for Outlook 2016 for Mac, updates to Outlook and accessibility enhancements. For business, there’s a new tool for helping resolve Office 365 issues, the GigJam Invitation Preview and the integration of PowerApps and SharePoint, plus updates to Skype for Business, Office 365 administration and SharePoint. Security and compliance improvements include a new Office 365 datacenter region in Canada, enhancements to eDiscovery and new features and accreditations. Teachers can now use ClassPolicy to help manage the OneNote Class Notebook Collaboration Space. And for developers, there are new updates and scenarios for the Class Notebook APIs, the Skype for Business App SDK Preview is available and the SharePoint Framework is advancing toward First Release this summer. See what else is new and what’s on the way.

 

What's new in Office 365 administration - May roundup

The new Office 365 admin center is nearly complete. This month, we added full support for mail-enabled security groups, the ability to create custom tiles and custom help desk information and email apps management. If you notice a feature that is still missing, please let us know using the feedback link at the bottom-right of the new admin center. Over the last few weeks, we had the opportunity to demo the new admin center and the usage reporting dashboard at Cloud Roadshow events in Sydney, Seoul, The Hague and Milan. We love attending events like the Cloud Roadshow because they allow us to meet many of you in person and put faces to the names we know from the Office 365 Yammer Network or email conversations based on your admin center feedback. They also allow us to meet new customers, have in-depth conversations about business management requirements and receive even more feedback. But don’t get us wrong. Of course, we love positive feedback like this one, but we also value every piece of critical feedback we receive. Office 365 will continue to evolve as a service and, as a result, so will our management tools—ensuring we meet the changing needs of our customers. It’s your feedback that helps guide us to improve the Office 365 admin center.

 

GigJam Preview is now available for everyone

We’re pleased to announce that the GigJam Preview is now available to everyone on Windows, Mac, iPhone and iPad. Start using GigJam today—you no longer need an invitation. GigJam is a product coming to Office 365 later this year for people with a co-working mindset. It empowers you to spontaneously and ephemerally involve others in your work. Need to discuss a draft contract with a customer? Just send over the right paragraphs to their phone, no need to send the entire file. Need a vendor’s help to fill in order details? Pull up the Salesforce order and related emails, hide the price and beam over the information to their phone to edit. In a huddle? Show a draft brochure to your designer, but only the text to your copywriter. Even bring a photographer into the session to pool photo options onto your designer’s phone so that they can choose the best fit for the brochure. GigJam breaks down artificial barriers between devices, apps and people. In this new world, work becomes communal, with each person free to summon, divvy up and share just what they want, for only as long as they need, using any device.

 

NOTEWORTHY Office will be big at Microsoft Ignite - see the full session catalog now!

The Microsoft Ignite session catalog is now live - with more than 440 sessions to choose from, including 120+ sessions on Office topics. Whether you want in-depth strategy, hands-on labs, overviews, deep dives, expert Q&As or a mix of everything, you’ll find it all there. Explore the full session catalog to decided which ones you will attend so you can get the most out of your time in Atlanta. September 26–30 is approaching fast, so if you haven’t yet registered, don’t delay. We’re excited to see everyone soon! Register for Microsoft Ignite.

 

MTC Mid-Day Cafe: All you need to know about the new Office 365 Admin Center

Recently, Microsoft started to roll out a new Admin Center for Office 365 – making it faster, easier and more efficient for you to manage the service. Over the last few years, Office 365 has been evolving at a rapid pace, making more features and functionality available to users and admins on an almost daily basis. We all love more features and functionality but the amount of growth and new services in Office 365 resulted in the admin center becoming more complex and difficult to navigate. The new admin center will make it easier for you to find common tasks and scenarios and provide a variety of new functionality as well. In this June 6th episode of MTC Mid-Day Café, learn about the enhancements of the new admin center such as a completely new UI, improved discoverability and search functionality, customization and a new reporting portal.