Microsoft announces three new features coming to Teams this month

Microsoft today announced three new features coming to Teams service this month. In large meetings, it can sometimes be difficult for participants to indicate when they have something to say. The new raise hand feature lets anyone in the meeting send a visual signal that they have something to say. Meeting organizers can also download participant report later this month. This will be helpful for teachers to know whether all their students joined the meeting or not. Find the list of new features below:

• To make video calls more inclusive, the raise hand feature is rolling out globally this month. It lets meeting participants indicate they have something to say during a meeting by clicking on a hand-raise icon in the meeting control bar.
• Today, Microsoft is releasing the ability for meeting organizers to end a meeting for all participants with the click of a button. Meeting organizers can now find an option to “end meeting” in the meeting control bar options.
• Meeting organizers, especially teachers, often need to know who joined their Teams meetings. This month, you will be able to download a participant report, found in the participant list, that includes join and leave times for participants.

Later this year, Microsoft will also bring the following features:

• Later this year, we will bring real-time noise suppression, which uses AI to reduce distracting background noise such as loud typing or a barking dog in Teams meetings.
• Custom backgrounds, which allow you to replace your background in Teams meetings with a fresh and bright home office, for example, is now generally available in Teams. This feature builds upon background blur, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to blur the environment behind you. In the future, Microsoft will also include the ability to upload your own custom images. You can learn how to set custom backgrounds in Teams here.

In addition to announcing these new features, Microsoft today shared some new usage numbers regarding Teams. Read about it here.

Source: Microsoft