After a long hiatus, Microsoft finally released Windows 11 Insider builds last week to introduce new features like the ability to remap the Copilot button and more. In addition, the software giant also updated its roadmap website with several new features for Microsoft 365 users.
Although Microsoft updates its roadmap page every week without much fanfare, we work hard to track every major change that makes it to the roadmap site. We're back at it again, updating our readers on every notable Microsoft 365 feature that was added to the roadmap page last week.
3 Microsoft Teams: New calendar, custom panel names, and more
Disable copying or forwarding of meeting chat
Microsoft announces new features for Teams almost every week. Last week, the company announced several upcoming changes to Teams that will roll out over the next few months. One of the most important features coming to Teams is the ability to disable copying or forwarding of live captions, transcripts and meeting summaries, or insights from smart meeting summaries (Feature ID: 416072). However, when the update becomes available in November this year, it will be exclusive to Teams Premium users.
New calendar experience
In addition to the ability to disable copying or forwarding of meeting details, Microsoft has also made other big changes, such as the new New Calendar switch planned for Teams users in November (Feature ID: 415415).
The new calendar in Teams works with the new Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web, and Microsoft Places. Starting in November, it will also be available to Teams users with the New Calendar switch enabled. You'll find the switch in the top right of the Calendar app in Teams.
Custom name for team panels
Another notable change to Teams is the ability to assign a custom name to licensed panels for Teams Rooms Pro or Teams Shared Device (Feature ID: 417153). As described by Microsoft on the roadmap site, the name you assign will be displayed on the panel's home screen. This will roll out in December. In the same month, Microsoft will also introduce the ability to download transcripts from Town Hall or Webinar instances, as well as support for displaying RTMP-In 708 captions in transcriptions (Feature ID: 417156).
Archive questions in Teams Q&A
The start of a new year is just around the corner, and Microsoft has some major updates in the pipeline for Teams users, including the ability for users to upvote questions and moderators to archive “outdated or irrelevant” questions in Teams Q&A (Feature ID: 415413). This feature will be available for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android users in January next year.
2 Microsoft Outlook: New sorting feature for macOS, Copilots priority and more
Photo credit: Microsoft
This week's Microsoft Roadmap Weekly has something for Outlook users too. If you're on a Mac, starting in November you'll be able to sort messages in Outlook by category (Feature ID: 416092). Managers and delegates using the new Outlook for Windows will be able to see users who have responded to meeting invitations in shared calendars (Feature ID: 417064). This will be available in October. Another key feature of the new Outlook for Windows is Copilot's email prioritization. As described in Feature ID: 411302, it “marks high-priority mail in the Inbox and provides a brief summary of the mail's importance in the message list and reading pane.”
1 Microsoft OneNote: Copilot Chat
Source: mockup.photos
Microsoft doesn't announce new features for OneNote as often as it does for Teams, but last week it added one to the roadmap page. According to Feature ID: 417005, Copilot Chat will be available in web-based OneNote starting in January next year.
Upcoming Microsoft 365 features may not be available in time
All of the Microsoft 365 features that the company announced last week should be available by the end of January if we stick to the release schedules mentioned on the roadmap page. That should happen, but in reality, we often see Microsoft delaying these features, so if you don't see any of the above changes in the months indicated, there's a chance that Microsoft has pushed them to a later date.