Microsoft Teams Video Call with Share screen button highlighted in red and share content dropdown menu
By | Published On: 14 October 2021 |

We’ve had to quickly adapt to a new world and adopt new ways of working as hybrid working has become the norm. And, as usual, Microsoft has been working at breakneck speed to add even more new features and innovation to the Microsoft Teams meetings, chat, and collaboration functionalities in order to keep your team connected, engaged, and informed.

Following on from our ‘what’s new in Teams Chat” article, we wanted to tell you about the exciting new features for Microsoft Teams 2021

Here’s what to expect:

  • Present from PowerPoint directly to Teams
  • New assignment experience in a separate window for Breakout Rooms
  • Restarting Live Events
  • Pin a messages
  • Replying to a specific messages
  • Improved experience for sharing content in meetings

Present from PowerPoint directly to Teams

Microsoft Teams Features Present from PowerPoint

It used to be that giving a presentation in a meeting was as simple as selecting Slide Show from your PowerPoint deck. Even though you may not be in the same room, building or even country as your audience, we believe it should be as simple and intuitive as possible to present to your people – all you have to do now is click the Present in Teams button in PowerPoint to present the deck in your Teams meeting!

New assignment experience in a separate window for Breakout Rooms

Microsoft Teams Features Breakout Rooms

The enhanced participant assignment interface allows you to sort by participants or rooms. Using the checkboxes next to the participants’ names, you can also select multiple participants and assign them to rooms. This expedites the assignment process by allowing you to quickly locate your participant or room.

Restart Live Event

If you’ve ever used Live Events in teams for webinars, seminars or large meetings, you will know it doesn’t leave any margin for error. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come close to accidently deleting or leaving a live event which would cancel the whole thing entirely! Especially If you have several hundred people in the session, the pressure is always on. Now, there’s a way to start fresh if you accidentally end your event or run into an error. The new ‘restart live event’ feature now allows you to restart your live event after you have ended it, saving you a lot of stress in the process.

Pin a messages

How many times have you come across important messages within chat, but end up losing it amidst the endless conversations or even forgetting to action it entirely? Now you can now easily pin chat messages to drive awareness and provide quick access to important content for your chat members. Pinning will help your team stay on top of what’s important in real time.

Reply to a specific message

Now this feature has been on the mobile version of Teams for quite some time, so it’s exciting seeing it come to the desktop version. Simply put, you will be able to reply to a specific message while chatting in Teams. In the reply text box, the original message will be quoted, making it easier for everyone in the chat to understand the message’s context. In 1:1, Group, and Meeting chats, quoted responses will be available. 

Improved experience for sharing content in meetings

The new share content experience makes it easier for presenters to find the content they want. To provide a concise view, all windows are consolidated into a single bucket, and all PowerPoints are automatically organised to present with PowerPoint Live. Instead of rummaging through the correct content to share in your meeting, you can now focus on the content of what you’re sharing.

Get in touch

If you want more details on Microsoft’s recent announcements or how we could help you and your organisation get the best from Microsoft Teams, please get in touch via the form below or email us at [email protected].

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