Office 365 Weekly Digest | Week of July 24 - 30, 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.

 

Updated Feature: Site Contents modern UI change

Posted: July 26, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | We’re updating the Site Contents feature. This change is effective in all SharePoint Online tenants as of July 25, 2016. Previously, the only way to view the Site Contents page was using the new, modern UI. We have received feedback from some customers that they'd like the classic UI back. Now, Site Contents can use either the classic UI or the modern UI. This is controlled using the same switch in the tenant admin portal for controlling the experience for lists and libraries. If this setting is "New experience (auto detect)" then Site Contents will load using the modern UI, unless there are customizations present that are not supported in the modern UI. If this setting is "Classic experience" then Site Contents will load using the classic UI. Additional information is available at https://support.office.com/article/Switch-the-default-for-document-libraries-from-new-or-classic-66dac24b-4177-4775-bf50-3d267318caa9.

 

Updated Feature: SharePoint modern experiences and Publishing sites

Posted: July 27, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Plan for Change | Action: Awareness | We’re updating the way SharePoint sites with the publishing feature enabled interact with the modern document library and site contents experiences. You’ll begin seeing this change starting August 1, 2016. SharePoint sites with the publishing feature enabled currently load the classic UI for all document libraries and the Site Contents page in that site, except for document libraries that have explicitly enabled the modern experience in library advanced settings. We are changing it so that sites with the Publishing feature enabled will load the modern UI for site contents and documents libraries, unless an administrator has opted out of the modern experience. If you want certain sites with Publishing enabled to continue to use the classic experience, you can configure them to do so. For information on how to do this, please visit https://support.office.com/article/Switch-the-default-for-document-libraries-from-new-or-classic-66dac24b-4177-4775-bf50-3d267318caa9.

 

Updated Feature: Open with Explorer in Modern UX for OneDrive for Business

Posted: July 27, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | We’re updating Open With Explorer. We'll be gradually rolling this out in late July, and the roll out will be completed by the end of August. Open with Explorer is the entry point end-users used to access their OneDrive for Business folder using Windows Explorer. This feature only worked in Classic UX, which is not the default, nor the best OneDrive for Business experience for users. We have updated the feature to be accessible through the Modern UX (via the View Changer button). The feature works the same way it does in SharePoint DocLibs, where OneDrive for Business launches a new tab which loads in the Classic view, and launches Windows Explorer. The feature is highly dependent on tenant deployment (SSO, cookie defaults, etc.), and only works with IE11 on Windows machines. We recommend users to take advantage of the OneDrive for Business Sync Client, Web page and Universal App on Windows 10, and Mobile apps to access their content in OneDrive for Business. Open with Explorer is not a recommended option except power users with specific workflows that rely on Windows Explorer. Inform your IT staff and helpdesk of this change. Update your user training, if you feel this change is important to you. Learn more at https://support.office.com/article/Ways-to-work-with-site-library-files-in-File-Explorer-751148de-f579-42f9-bc8c-fcd80ccf0f53.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS Azure Active Directory Webinars for August

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: Preparing for Azure AD, Azure AD Multi-Factor Authentication, Self-Service Password Management and more . 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!

 

Take your teamwork to the next level with Office 365 and Windows 10

When: Wednesday, August 3, 2016 @ 12:00pm – 1:30pm PT | Test drive Office 365 and Windows 10 from the comfort of your own office. An online immersion session is not your typical online event. These 90-minute interactive sessions start with an online roundtable discussing your business challenges and then launch into a live environment in the cloud. A skilled facilitator guides you through simulated business scenarios that are customized to your interests. We will send you a link to connect your own device to a remote desktop loaded with our latest and greatest technology, so you can experience first-hand how Microsoft tools can solve your biggest challenges in a collaborative, fun environment. Please note: Each session is only open to 20 participants. Reserve your seat now and learn how you can be more productive anywhere, anytime with Office 365.

 

Modern Workplace: From Demo to Action - Tips from everyday users

When: Tuesday, August 9, 2016 @ 8:00am PT | Finding the right tools to improve productivity and communication in your company can be a challenge – but what about implementation?  In this episode, we share the best user tips from season two of Modern Workplace and demonstrate how innovations in Office 365 and Office 2016 are helping organizations stay secure, communicate more effectively, and get things done. Our featured guests are technology leaders with extensive experience in helping customers maximize the powerful tools provided by Microsoft.

 

FastTrack Webinars: Learn how to do more, together

When: Multiple sessions starting July 12th and ending August 31st | 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 New to Office 365 in July—new intelligent services Researcher and Editor in Word, Outlook Focused Inbox for desktop and Zoom in PowerPoint

This month, we are releasing a new set of cloud-powered intelligent services in Office apps designed to save you time and produce better results. These features help you improve your writing in Word, deliver dynamic presentations in PowerPoint and prioritize the emails that matter most to you in Outlook.  Videos: What’s new in Office 365 for Windows: July 2016  |  Zoom for PowerPoint  |  Researcher and Editor for Word

 

Modern SharePoint lists are here—including integration with Microsoft Flow and PowerApps

Earlier this year, we unveiled a new cloud-first, mobile-first vision and roadmap for SharePoint, which included innovations that empower people, teams and organizations to intelligently discover, share and collaborate on content from anywhere and on any device. Today, we’re pleased to announce the rollout of modern SharePoint lists to SharePoint Online, along with one-click integration of PowerApps and Microsoft Flow. These enhancements will begin rolling out to Office 365 First Release customers the first week in August 2016.  | Video: SharePoint sites and PowerApps

 

Outlook helps you focus on what matters to you

We are being inundated with more information, more communication and more email vying for our attention. It is more critical than ever to have tools that help us cut through the noise and focus on what matters most. Today, Outlook is expanding the availability of two new experiences to do just that—Focused Inbox and @mentions. These new experiences add to several recently released features, all aimed at helping you take control of your mailbox. In December, Outlook began automatically adding events from your email to your calendar. And last month we added simplified summary cards in your inbox and calendar for travel reservations and package deliveries. Combined, these features help deliver on Outlook’s core mission: Keeping you connected, focused and on top of what matters.  |  Video: Outlook’s Focused Inbox

 

Enhancing information rights management in Word, Excel and PowerPoint mobile apps

Finding the balance between protection and productivity is critical to any organization. With the increased distribution of data, organizations need sensitive data to be born protected. This is why we invest in Azure Rights Management to help you protect information in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world. Information rights management (IRM) is now supported everywhere in Office Mobile as we are pleased to announce that we are extending Azure Rights Management to the Word, Excel and PowerPoint mobile apps for Android. You are now able to open, read and review rights-protected emails and Office documents on any device—whether it runs Windows, Mac, iOS or Android.

 

Take a systematic approach to security and information protection with Office 365

Microsoft provides the most comprehensive set of identity and information protection capabilities for customers. However, the breadth of capabilities can be daunting. We get a lot of requests for help determining which features to implement and where to start—especially with Office 365. We’re pleased to share two new resources designed to help you take a systematic approach to security and information protection. These were developed in partnership with our cybersecurity consulting team. I’ve learned a great deal by working with this team to create content to support our customers in adopting Microsoft cloud services, including Office 365. But you don’t have to hire this team to take advantage of their experience working one-on-one with customers across many industries. The basic concepts that drive an Office 365 security engagement are published in two visual resources – Cloud security for enterprise architects and Information Protection for Office 365.

 

NOTEWORTHY 7 simple calendar tricks that will level-up your team’s productivity

What’s the secret to maximizing productivity and efficiency? There’s no single silver bullet, but one sure-fire way to make gains is with calendar tricks that will keep you organized and focused. From scheduling “no meeting” time blocks to integrating mobile so you never miss a meeting—the art of calendar optimization is crucial. This post provides seven simple calendar tricks you can use to bring your productivity to the next level.

 

Is your company's data secure?

Infographic | Published: July 28, 2016 | Keeping data secure is pivotal to the success of all organizations. Office 365 Enterprise E5 Plan is Microsoft’s most secure productivity solution ever—offering industry-leading security and compliance features. Microsoft’s cybersecurity intelligence and machine learning capabilities help protect against unknown malware and detect anomalies quickly to allow a rapid response. In addition, Office 365 meets many industry and regulatory requirements and helps organizations respond to legal issues with machine learning that quickly identifies relevant content for eDiscovery. Organizations improve visibility and control with Office 365. Administrators can set control policies, discover “shadow” IT, control data access and gain critical insights into threats. This infographic shows how Office 365 helps organizations stay ahead of the threats of tomorrow.