Microsoft expands Teams and Outlook with practical new tools

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Key findings

  • Microsoft Teams is improving security, roster grouping, and guests for Mesh events next month.
  • Improved search suggestions and PowerPoint Live support are coming to Teams in November.
  • This month, Outlook will be able to add drag-and-drop event creation and information about working hours and locations.



With the start of a new month and week, Microsoft announced new features for Teams, Excel, and Copilot and updated the roadmap page with a variety of changes rolling out in the coming months.

However, unlike Microsoft's monthly feature roundup, it's not easy to keep track of what changes are being added to the roadmap page each week. But we're back at it, researching and informing our readers about what new Microsoft 365 features the company is working on and how they might impact your productivity.


2 Microsoft Teams: Better security and privacy, guest access for mesh events and more


Export of voice and facial biometrics

Microsoft is working on a new feature that will allow Teams users to export their voice and facial biometric data to ensure security and protect user privacy (Feature ID: 413709). The company hasn't shared enough details about where the export control option will be available in the app, but has confirmed that the functionality will be limited to Mac and PC users at launch, which is set to arrive next month.

Grouping the participant list

Another notable change coming to Teams next month is grouping of participant lists in Teams Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) meeting rooms (Feature ID: 413711). This will group all participants who are joining from their devices and are in the same physical room into a special section called “in the room.” Even though everyone in the same room will be grouped into one section, Teams will still be able to identify each individual and offer intelligent meeting features.


Attend Mesh events as a guest

Microsoft has been promising a number of new features for Mesh events in Teams over the past few weeks, and last week it added another to its roadmap: guest access for events in the Mesh app (Feature ID: 413713). When it's available in October, meeting organizers will be able to invite guest users outside their organization to Mesh events. However, guests will need to sign in to the Mesh app to get access to the same features as internal users.

Search query suggestions

Microsoft is also rolling out improved people search next month. It's designed to help you complete your search faster by giving you suggestions as you start typing a person's name (Feature ID: 413112). The recommendations are based on the people who are most relevant to you. For example, you might see Teams suggest people you frequently interact with or have recently collaborated with.


Support for PowerPoint Live within Cloud Video Interop

Starting in November of this year, Microsoft will allow CVI partners to “display still images when presenting PowerPoint Live content in Teams meetings” (Feature ID: 413712). Even though they appear as videos, the presentation will not contain animations or embedded videos. This will be available for Teams web, Mac, and desktop clients at launch.

1 Microsoft Outlook: New ways to create events and more

Pinning an email in the new Outlook

Photo credit: Microsoft

Create Outlook events by dragging emails to the calendar

Microsoft is making it easier for users to create events in the Outlook calendar simply by dragging and dropping. By the end of this month, the new Outlook will support a new drag-and-drop feature that will allow users to drag emails to the calendar icon to create events (Feature ID: 413716). Instead of manually copying and pasting information, all you have to do is drag the email you want to turn into an event and the new Outlook will take care of the rest.


New location for working hours and location

The My Day panel in the new Outlook and its web client is a handy tool that lets you view your daily schedule, tasks, and agenda. In addition to these details, your working hours and location information are also displayed (Feature ID: 412618). In addition, you can also update this information in the My Day panel. This will be available by the end of this month.

Release schedules are subject to change

Microsoft doesn't mention it on its roadmap website, but release timelines aren't set in stone. That simply means Microsoft could quietly move some of the above features if necessary. However, it's almost certain that Microsoft will update its roadmap website again this week with announcements of new features, and we'll be back with another weekly roadmap recap.

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