Microsoft Teams Release Notes

Introducing a low-latency attendee experience for premium Teams town hall

Previously in a town hall, attendees were typically 20-30 seconds behind the content being presented. With this new update for premium town halls, attendees can watch the town hall at a much lower latency than before.

Silent Test call

Silent Test provides an ability for IT admins to proactively run a synthetic simulation of a Teams call to the subnet to examine network readiness before any issues occur.

New VDI solution for Teams optimization in Amazon WorkSpaces

New VDI solution for Teams introduces a multimedia offloading and optimization solution for Microsoft Teams when running in Amazon WorkSpaces (Personal and Pools). Users of the WorkSpaces Client for Windows can enjoy a high-definition experience in virtual desktops, where audio or video or screensharing are offloaded to the user's device and processed by the SlimCore media engine. This entry applies to WorkSpaces only (AppStream is not supported).

Enhanced meeting protection: Prevent screen capture

To address the issue of unauthorized screen captures during meetings, this feature ensures that if a user attempts to take a screen capture, the meeting window will turn black, thereby protecting sensitive information. This feature will be available on Teams desktop applications (both Windows and Mac) and Teams mobile applications (both iOS and Android). Users joining from unsupported platforms will be placed in audio-only mode to maintain the integrity of the meeting's content.

Limit live captions scrollback (Compliance-safe mode)

Live Captions in Microsoft Teams allow you to follow conversations in real time, making meetings more accessible and inclusive. To improve privacy, captions will now only show recent dialogue (about 5 minutes) when transcription is off, instead of the full meeting history. This means captions are used just for real-time communication, not as a permanent record. If transcription is enabled, captions will display the entire meeting conversation, consistent with Live Transcript. We've also fixed an issue where caption data could be lost when changing the caption position or popping captions in and out. Now, these adjustments won't affect caption data, giving you a more reliable experience. These changes also apply to Real-time Text (RTT), ensuring a consistent and accessible captioning experience across formats.

View channel conversations as threads to easily reply to specific messages and keep related conversations grouped in one place. Follow threads to stay informed and view relevant updates in the Followed Threads view. To learn more, see Follow threads in Microsoft Teams.

Quickly catch up on posts and threaded channels with thread summaries by Copilot. Thread summaries include key takeaways and a list organized by topic for easy scanning. Available with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

Add Facilitator, a meeting AI agent, to your Teams meetings to keep them running smoothly and efficiently. Facilitator reminds participants about agenda items and time remaining, captures real-time notes, and much more. Available with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. To learn more, see Facilitator in Microsoft Teams meetings.

Keep information confidential in Teams meetings with Prevent Screen Capture. When Prevent Screen Capture is turned on, the meeting window will turn black if someone attempts to capture the screen. Available in meetings organized with a Teams Premium license.

Keep meetings on track with countdown timers. When someone starts a countdown timer, everyone will see in their meeting window and be able to start, stop, pause, or add more time.

Know your mic's audio levels with the real-time feedback indicator in Teams meetings. In your meeting controls, you’ll see the Mic icon fluctuate with your volume levels. You can also select Mic to see the feedback in more detail.

Stay in sync when you attend town halls with ultra-low latency, available in events organized with a Teams Premium license. With ultra-low latency, you’ll see organizers, presenters, and shared content in near real-time.

Select Controls in your meeting controls for quicker access to key organizer meeting options, like lobby settings, attendee mic and camera access, and more. Select View more options for a complete list of customizations.

When meeting transcription is turned off, live captions and RTT will now only show the past five minutes of dialogue instead of the full meeting to protect information. Also, a previous issue that caused data loss when changing caption position has been resolved.

Private chat between organizers, co-organizers, and presenters is now available before, during, and after webinars, giving time and privacy for coordinating and preparing for the event.

Slide control for presenters

There's no longer a need to say 'next slide'. Users can now share control of their presentation slides with their fellow presenters during meetings and events.

Threaded channels

Threading in channels provides an avenue for deeper and more collaborative conversations. It also allows you to start a side conversation within a channel and focus on specific topics while keeping the main conversation clutter-free. You can reply to specific messages and create a separate thread, helping to minimize distractions and foster better collaboration.

Express search intent better with rich query language

Users can now leverage query language when formulating search terms, to easily express their intent and scope search. Users can now use:

• "from:" to find content from a person,
• "with:" to find content around a person,
• "in:" to narrow down search results to a specific chat or channel, or
• "is:" to recall specific content type (message, file, groupchat, channel).

• Microsoft Teams: Apply partial settings for Android devices using configuration profiles in the Teams admin center: In the Teams admin center, admins can now modify, review, and apply configuration settings to Android devices without overriding other settings, ensuring only the desired changes are made.

• Preview changes before sending live in “Manage what attendees see”: An enhancement to the “Manage what attendees see” feature now allows organizers and presenters to preview changes on the screen before sending them live to attendees. This capability is only available for town hall.

• Copilot support for 1:1 and group calls on Teams Phone devices: Enhance your calling experience with Copilot on Teams Phones devices by accessing intelligent insights during calls using suggested prompts.

• Line key configuration on Teams Phone devices from TAC: This feature allows admins to configure line keys for various scenarios on Teams Phone devices, including personal and common area phones (CAP). Scenarios supported include speed dial, shared line, collaborative call delegation, and call transfers.

• Saved messages view: Users will be able to save messages (posts, replies to posts, or chat message/bubbles) and find them later from the Chat app, as well as on separate Teams and Chat apps.

• Custom ringtone behavior and ringtones for assigned line keys: Personalize your Teams Phone experience by setting unique ringtones and choosing how each line key alerts you, such as ring only, ring with flash, or flash only. This feature is supported across touch, non-touch, and sidecar devices, giving you full control over how you stay notified.

• Support audit logs for Give and Take Control and Screenshare: IT administrators will now have the ability to access detailed logs for both the “Give and Take Control” and “Screenshare” features. These logs will provide comprehensive information, including the names and timestamps of the individuals involved in each action. Specifically, the logs will indicate who initiated or received control, as well as who started the screenshare session, along with the corresponding timestamps and names. This enhancement ensures greater transparency and accountability for all control and screenshare activities.

• Remote log collection in Teams admin center​: Teams administrators will now have the capability to remotely collect client diagnostics logs from users’ devices, thereby eliminating the need for any user action or workflow disruption. This advanced tool is designed to greatly assist IT administrators by automating the previously lengthy and manual process of diagnostic log collection for troubleshooting purposes.

Filter chat and channel search results

Easily find files in your chats and channels by adding a search filter. In a chat or channel, select Find in chat or Find in channel and select the Has attachment filter to only see results with attachments. To learn more, see Search for messages and more in Microsoft Teams.

Create your own keyboard shortcuts

Make keyboard shortcuts your own by customizing commands or choosing a preset layout. In Teams, select Settings and more > Keyboard shortcuts to pick a layout and make any changes. To learn more, see Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Teams.

View all your saved messages

Open Chat in Teams and select Saved under Quick views to see all your saved messages. Select one to open the conversation it was in and review or reply directly.

Express yourself with multiple emoji reactions

Can't choose which emoji to react with? Respond to messages and posts with more than one! Just hover over a message or post and select multiple emoji reactions that resonate with you. To learn more, see Like or react to messages in Microsoft Teams.

Personalize meeting templates

Simplify your scheduling experience in Teams Premium by pre-saving meeting options as templates you can use to quickly organize meetings. To learn more, see Personal meeting templates in Microsoft Teams.

Send messages to attendees in the lobby

Meeting organizers can send one-way messages to attendees waiting in the lobby via lobby chat. To learn more, see Using the lobby in Microsoft Teams meetings.

Customize the screen in town halls

Elevate presentations you organized with Teams Premium by customizing your screen with select layouts, backgrounds, and name tags using the Manage what attendees see meeting option. To learn more, see Control town hall production tools in Microsoft Teams.

Host 3D virtual events with immersive events

Transform online events into impactful 3D experiences with Teams immersive events. Create, customize, and host interactive events that captivate attendees, strengthen connections, and boost engagement.

• Schedule immersive events from your calendar in Teams.
• Customize environments with objects and media that add interest and help your immersive event flow.
• Host engaging experiences by interacting with attendees, visiting different event rooms, and presenting content.
• Join immersive events through your Teams and Outlook calendars.
• Design 3D spaces without needing coding or technical expertise. To learn more, see Get started with immersive events in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams: Compact notification size

• Users will now have the ability to change the size of Teams notifications. The compact size takes up less space on the user's screen and offers a clean, minimalist design.

Microsoft Teams: Custom dictionary

• Tenant administrators can now upload a custom dictionary through the Microsoft 365 admin portal's Copilot settings page to include tenant-specific terminologies. This enhancement improves entity recognition in Teams meeting transcripts, benefiting both Recap and Copilot's understanding of the content.

Report a message for external collaboration

• Teams users can now report security risks and concerns in external one-on-one, group, and meeting chats.

Microsoft Teams: Speaker attribution now "On" by default in BYOD rooms with enhanced admin controls

• New PowerShell setting (SpeakerAttributionBYOD in csTeamsAIPolicy), enabled by default, gives IT admins more control over speaker attribution in BYOD (bring your own device) meeting rooms. This enhances the experience for users by enabling clear speaker labels and richer in-meeting and post-meeting insights with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Users need to enroll profiles via Teams settings to be recognized.

Monitor DNS resolution failures and impact of proxy on Teams meetings with Best practice configurations dashboard in Teams admin center

• Teams administrators can use the Best practice configurations dashboard in Teams admin center for monitoring significant impact on meeting quality in their tenant due to DNS resolution failures or proxy (local or cloud). For more information, see Best practice dashboard.

Microsoft Teams: Compact notification size

• Users will now have the ability to change the size of Teams notifications. The compact size takes up less space on the user's screen and offers a clean, minimalist design.

Microsoft Teams: Custom dictionary

• Tenant administrators can now upload a custom dictionary through the Microsoft 365 admin portal's Copilot settings page to include tenant-specific terminologies. This enhancement improves entity recognition in Teams meeting transcripts, benefiting both Recap and Copilot's understanding of the content.

Report a message for external collaboration.

• Teams users can now report security risks and concerns in external one-on-one, group, and meeting chats.

Microsoft Teams: Speaker attribution now "On" by default in BYOD rooms with enhanced admin controls

• New PowerShell setting (SpeakerAttributionBYOD in csTeamsAIPolicy), enabled by default, gives IT admins more control over speaker attribution in BYOD (bring your own device) meeting rooms. This enhances the experience for users by enabling clear speaker labels and richer in-meeting and post-meeting insights with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Users need to enroll profiles via Teams settings to be recognized.

Monitor DNS resolution failures and impact of proxy on Teams meetings with Best practice configurations dashboard in Teams admin center

• Teams administrators can use the Best practice configurations dashboard in Teams admin center for monitoring significant impact on meeting quality in their tenant due to DNS resolution failures or proxy (local or cloud). For more information, see Best practice dashboard.

• Introducing new IT administrator policies to control town hall event access: Previously, Teams admins couldn't manage who attended town halls created within their organization. With this new policy, tenant administrators can control who can attend town halls created by members in their organization.

• New calendar in Teams: This feature is designed to be familiar and reliable, as it’s one unified calendar that works across new Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web, Microsoft Places, and now Microsoft Teams.

• Microsoft Teams: Teams town hall screen management privileges in Teams Rooms on Windows: When the Teams Room on Windows is a coorganizer or a presenter in a town hall, privileges can be granted to start or end the event, manage what attendees see, and promote attendees as presenters, ensuring a smoother and more organized event experience. This feature is available with Teams Rooms Pro.

• Town hall concurrent attendees increase to 100,000: Organizers of town hall instances can now reach wider audience in a single event with an expansion to a maximum of 100,000 simultaneous attendees. This increase serves as a significant jump from the previous attendee cap of 50,000 for organizers with a Teams Premium license. The quality and stability of town halls up to this new limit will remain constant, providing high-quality and reliable content to participants. For events with more than 20,000 concurrent attendees, some interactivity features are disabled for all attendees. Organizations can get support for audiences up to 100,000 concurrent attendees by selecting the Max Capacity limit to be as high as desired up to 100,000. Reaching out to the Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program (LEAP) for assistance is recommended for every event. This feature is available for town hall organizers with an active Teams Premium license.

• Setup experience in Teams meeting add-in: The Teams meeting add-in feature for Outlook on Windows allows users to view and configure suggested Teams meeting capabilities within the scheduling form.

• Allow recording and transcription by default in Teams calling global policy: We’re updating the default global calling policy to allow recording and transcription by default for new tenants. Previously, these settings were turned off in the host global policy. With this update, recording and transcription will be enabled by default in the global calling policy for new tenants and existing tenants who haven't modified the host global policy. This change won't impact existing custom policies or modified global policies. After this rollout, recording and transcription services will be more accessible to users, allowing them to turn on and use recording and transcription as needed during Teams calls. Neither recording nor transcription will be automatically enabled. This update is designed to broaden access to AI-powered features like Calls Recap and Calling Copilot, enhancing the overall calling experience. It also brings calling policy defaults in line with Teams meetings policies, where recording and transcription are already enabled by default.

One flow to attach them all: Simplifying content attach on Teams mobile:

• This new content picker feature enables users to attach any type of content, whether files or media, from the paperclip icon in the compose overflow menu. This new unified attach flow makes it easy and intuitive to attach content from any source location.

Microsoft Teams: AI assistant for admins in the Pro Management portal:

• IT admins can optimize their time and resources by utilizing this AI assistant. It offers comprehensive answers to questions about Teams meeting spaces and management solutions, and delivers data and insights specific to inventory in the organization’s environment. This feature is available with Teams Rooms Pro license and doesn't require a Copilot license.

Microsoft Teams: Detect sensitive content that's being shared in meetings:

• When sensitive content is detected during a meeting, all shared screen content during a meeting is protected by alerting the presenter and meeting organizers when potentially sensitive content appears.

Teams town hall organizer/co-organizer/presenter join as attendee:

• Organizers, coorganizers, and presenters will soon be able to join a Teams town hall as an attendee during their event to monitor the experience for those viewing the event. This feature will be available across desktop, web, and mobile.

Microsoft Teams: Expanded and enhanced peripheral support for BYOD spaces:

• With room and desk peripheral support expanded to include docking stations and webcams, Teams users can seamlessly connect and utilize audio and video peripherals for enhanced experiences in bring your own device (BYOD) spaces. IT admins can benefit from automatic association of devices to a space, device inventory, and detailed reports for peripherals in the Pro Management portal. Reports in the Pro Management portal require a Teams Shared Devices license for the room, and reports for desks are available in public preview.