The new Microsoft Teams client for Windows gets key features ahead of wider roll out

Microsoft has been testing a new Microsoft Teams client with major performance improvements since early this year. The first public preview build lacked many key features, which deterred many enterprise users from trying it out. However, Microsoft has been gradually adding the features available in the existing Teams client to the new one. The new Teams client now supports most of the essential features, but some are still missing. These include advanced calling features, support for personal accounts, and Avatars. You can find the full list of missing features below.

Features missing in the new Microsoft Teams:

• Mac, VDI, and web platforms
• Special clouds (GCC, GCC-High, DoD)
• Advanced calling features, such as delegation
• Advanced meeting features, such as hard mute all participants and advanced PowerPoint Live features (e.g., standout mode and advanced presenter layouts)
• Personal accounts
• People app, which allows users to seamlessly manage their contacts in Teams
• Avatars

Features already available in the new Microsoft Teams:

• Activity feed
• Chat
• Calls, including regular call, Teams-to-Teams calls, reverse number lookup, call queues, and speed dial
• Personal call settings, including calling forwarding and routing, custom ringtones, voicemail, manage delegates, emergency calling, call group
• Meetings, including meeting start notification, custom backgrounds, some PowerPoint Live features (e.g., share slides), breakout rooms, and 7×7 video
• Teams and channels, including creation, channel announcements, cross posting, the new channels experience, and teams templates
• Support for multiple work accounts and tenants
• Downloading, uploading, and viewing files, as well as the Files tab in chats and channels
• Apps, including the Files app and other 1st party apps, such as Virtual Appointments, Approvals, and Tasks, and Microsoft 365 apps, such as Microsoft Viva, as well as 3rd party apps and Line of Business (LOB) apps
• Search in chats and channels
• Live captions and transcription

For enterprise users, the new Microsoft Teams client will become default client based on the below schedule: