Microsoft Teams update roundup: The best new features in March and April

Microsoft Teams continues to receive monthly updates bringing more functionality and collaboration features to the already robust communication application. With all the updates, it can be hard to keep up or notice changes as they are applied to the app. We’re here to break down the most notable updates coming to Microsoft Teams like approval request processes, live transcriptions in meetings, a new meeting recap feature, and increased integration with Outlook.

Approvals in Microsoft Teams

Many organizations have essential workflows that rely on getting an approval from key stakeholders. With a new update coming in April, organizations will be able to use 3rd party applications like Adobe Sign and DocuSign within the native approval app in Microsoft Teams. Approvers will be able to sign off on documents without leaving Microsoft Teams hopefully speeding up the entire process. Once the approval process is complete, all related information is stored in Microsoft Teams where it can be easily accessed and reviewed.

Live transcription with speaker attribution in meetings and webinars

Live transcription of audible conversations in both meetings and webinars promote inclusivity for participants with hearing disabilities. The new speaker attribution feature will show what attendee was speaking and what they said. If an attendee missed the meeting, they can review the entire transcript of the call broken down by individual speaker for additional context.

Meeting recaps

The new meeting recap window provides meeting attendees with all information from the meeting and everything they need to take the next step. The meeting recap window includes meeting recordings, transcripts, notes from the call, associated presentations, and more. Keeping all of this information in one place will help team members if they need to return to any of the meeting content in the future.

Meet now calendar links

To speed up the process of creating an impromptu meeting, Teams users can now create and instantly start a Teams meeting directly from the calendar window in Outlook. The Meet now Outlook creates a meeting invite and opens the meeting right away for the creator. Teams users can also copy a meeting link from the calendar view in Teams and share it with others without starting the meeting. It’s then easy to copy and paste this meeting link into a chat window or email to get started.

New file sharing experience

Teams is making it easier to share files with other users within the Teams interface. Users can now create shareable links for files and apply permissions to the document right from Teams. These link settings include the ability to limit who can view the document (people in your organization, specific people, anyone with the link, etc.) and limit their editing ability. These sharing capabilities can be accessed from anywhere the file is viewable in Teams. SharePoint and OneDrive file permissions can also be set directly from a private chat or channel conversation.

File size update

Files stored in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive can now be up to 250 GB. This is an increase from 100 GB in the past. This update will make it possible to store files like 8K videos and large datasets in Microsoft Teams.