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Microsoft Teams welcomes a range of new features, starting with support for 7x7 grid view in video calls, allowing users to see up to 49 participants at once. This month, Microsoft also officially introduces custom backgrounds for all Teams users, enabling you to hide what's behind you with any background of your choice. Another feature for Teams is regular surveys for employees, so companies can regularly check on employee health statuses and conduct other scheduled surveys. These surveys can be conducted from the Forms tab by selecting the 'Create a workflow' option and then choosing 'Scenarios'.
Microsoft 365's June update focuses on introducing new features for Teams.
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Most recently, Microsoft has finally started allowing certain mobile users to add personal accounts to Teams. The consumer version of Teams was announced in March, alongside the rebranding of Office 365 to Microsoft 365. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that the feature is now in public preview for select users.
When it comes to other parts of Microsoft 365, the company is also aiding users in finding what they're looking for more easily. Microsoft Graph is now available to users in the Targeted Release channel, allowing them to add data sources to support Microsoft Search results within their organization. In some applications like Word, Excel, and SharePoint, Microsoft has also integrated natural language queries, enabling users to search for specific features using more natural language rather than app-specific jargon. This feature actually arrived in Excel in April. Excel has received a few other features this month, including new Forms functionality and Money templates in Excel.
With a focus on content creation and sharing, Microsoft recently introduced the Presenter Coach feature for PowerPoint on Android devices. It assists users in eliminating bad habits such as overusing filler words and speaking too quickly during presentations.
Additionally, there's a fresh Yammer experience on the web, currently available in public preview and akin to the new Yammer app rolled out for mobile platforms in March. It comes with a lengthy list of changes, including the ability to add cover photos for communities, integration with Outlook, Teams, and SharePoints.
Outlook users now have the ability to respond to surveys directly from within an email without needing to install extensions or access external websites. This feature will be available on Outlook for web and macOS this month, with Outlook for Windows coming next month.
Regarding Excel, the Visio Data Visualizer add-in has also seen improvements, starting with templates categorized for flowcharts. It also receives single sign-on support, so you don't need to sign in to the add-in if you're already signed in to Excel. Lastly, with localization support, diagrams can be created in any language supported by Visio. Speaking of Visio, the web version of the service can now create database diagrams, and these diagrams can be downloaded and saved as image files.
In addition to rolling out new features are security enhancements, including the new Safe Documents feature, tasked with checking documents for threats before opening them. This feature is now available in the Microsoft 365 E5 and E5 Security packages. Moreover, Microsoft Graph data has new privacy controls, and Microsoft has made it easier for users to manage Microsoft 365 Groups in the admin center. Finally, on Edge, IT admins can now specify which browsing data types can sync with their accounts.
If you're using Duo and Meet apps, the information about Google adding group video calling to Duo and Meet on smart screens will provide you with a new and relevant choice.
