Below are all of the relevant MSP related Microsoft announcements from August
Microsoft Teams
1. Microsoft Teams Meeting Auto-Transcription
How this will affect your organization
When the meeting organizer sets the Record automatically meeting option to On for a meeting, Transcription will now also be turned on with Recording when the meeting begins, if Transcription is allowed by admins.
When will this happen:
Late August and expect rollout to be completed by mid-September.
2. Get Adobe PDF experience in Microsoft Teams
How this will affect your organization
Now you can set Adobe Acrobat as the default app to view and edit PDF files in the Microsoft Teams. Once done, all PDF files from the chat, channel, and files app will open directly in the Acrobat app within Teams. Your end-users don’t need an Adobe Acrobat subscription or an Adobe ID to view, search, comment and annotate PDF files. However, to Create, Organize, Combine, or Export a PDF, the tenant users will need an Adobe Acrobat subscription.
Admins can set the Acrobat app as the default PDF viewer in Teams by following the below 2 steps.
- Setup the Acrobat app to work in the tenant:
- Log in to Teams admin center.
- In the left panel, go to Teams app > Manage apps.
- Search for the Acrobat app, then click the app to go to the app details page.
- All apps are by default allowed; hence, no action is needed. If a preexisting admin setting, an app permission policy, or an org-wide app setting has blocked the app, make sure the app is allowed.
- On the Permissions tab, select Review permission requested by the app, then click Accept to grant consent. To know more about app consent, click here.
- Make the Acrobat app available on users’ Teams client
- Log in to Teams admin center.
- In the left panel, go to Teams app > Setup policies.
- Select Global (Org-wide default) and then select Edit.
- Under Installed apps, select Add apps.
- Search for Acrobat app, add it, and save the policy.
- If you want to selectively allow the Adobe Acrobat app for a few specific individuals or for a group, you can assign a custom app permission policy.
When will this happen:
Available Now in Public Preview. Early September 2022 for GA
3. Enable Q&A in Teams Meetings via Meeting Options
How this will affect your organization
Meeting Organizers and Co-organizers can enable Q&A in their meetings through Meeting Options. They can toggle “Enable Q&A” to yes to enable structured conversations in their meeting. When Q&A is enabled, meeting attendees can join their Teams meeting, click the Q&A icon, and ask questions and engage in the discussion.
When will this happen:
mid-July and expect to complete rollout by late July.
4. Custom Download Location for Files in Teams
How this will affect your organization
Currently all file downloads from Microsoft Teams go to the Downloads folder. We are releasing a new feature that enables users to be able to choose their preferred download location for downloading files from Teams or specify a download location for each download.
To enable this feature, there is a new setting introduced under Files settings, which allows users to change the default download location to their preferred download location.
Additionally, there is a toggle, which if enabled, will prompt the user to select the location for each download.
When will this happen:
Early September and expect rollout to be completed by late October.
5. Leave a Meeting From All of Your Devices
How this will affect your organization
When a Teams user attempts to leave a meeting or call from multiple personal devices, there have been challenges to fully disconnect from the meeting or call on all devices. With this new feature, there will now be an option displayed to multi-device users in a call that will prompt the user to leave the meeting or call from all devices when selected.
When will this happen:
Early August and is expected to be completed by early September.
6. Deploying Teams at Scale
How this will affect your organization
We’re building a solution to enable admins to deploy and manage teams at scale.
Here’s an overview of the capabilities available today for creating and managing large numbers of teams at a time and what we’re planning for the near future.
- Create up to 500 teams using pre-built templates or your own custom templates via Teams PowerShell cmdlet.
- Add up to 25 users to teams as owners or members.
- Manage teams at scale by adding or removing users from existing teams.
- Stay notified through email, including completion, status, and errors (if any). You can choose to notify up to five people about the status of each batch of teams you deploy. Team owners and members are automatically notified when they’re added to a team.
Additional Info: Deploy teams at scale for frontline workers in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft 365 for frontline workers | Microsoft Docs
When will this happen:
Preview in late August and expect to complete by mid-September.
Microsoft Viva
1. Quiet Time Settings in Viva, Teams, and Outlook
How this will affect your organization
To help create better boundaries and protect personal time, Viva Insights will offer the ability to configure quiet time to silence notifications from Outlook and Teams mobile applications, outside of working hours. Users will receive personalized insights through the Viva Insights app in Teams and will be able to set quiet time directly from Teams mobile and Outlook mobile applications.
When this will happen:
Late September and is expected to be completed by late October.
Microsoft Admin
1. GDAP Timeline Updates
How this will affect your organization
- Tool to create GDAP relationship with Azure Active Directory (AD) roles in bulk
- Will be available until October 31, 2022
- GDAP bulk migration tool – Partner Center | Microsoft Docs
- Microsoft will stop creating DAPs when a new customer or reseller relationship is created
- September 30, 2022
- You might have to change up your customer onboarding workflow here if part of your steps is creating DAP relationships
- Microsoft will transition active DAP connections to least privileged GDAP roles starting October 31st, 2022
Partner Center Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/announcements/2022-august#4
2. Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro
How this will affect your organization
On September 1, 2022, Microsoft will start offering Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro, replacing the previous Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard and Premium offers.
Key Details:
- The price will be $40/USD/Month
- There will be two offerings, Pro and Basic
- Basic is free with the purchase of a Microsoft Teams Device (and geared towards SMB)
- This license is only available via direct as part of the hardware setup flow and isn’t part of our Volume Licensing programs or sold through the CSP channel
- Currently Licensing on Standard Premium can exist until next anniversary date
The main concern here is if you are getting Standard licensing through CSP today. Currently, it’s priced at $15/USD/Month and does not have any margin associated with it as a reseller. My only concern is how you obtain the free Basic licensing if you already have a Microsoft Device vs purchasing one net new and getting the licensing through hardware setup. Hopefully that will not cause too much friction.
See the full details in the Partner Center accountment: August 2022 announcements – Partner Center | Microsoft Docs
When will this happen:
September 1, 2022