New accessibility feature in Teams

This year is already bringing updates and new Teams features our way. One of our favourite updates over the past few months has been the introduction of the accessibility feature, Sign Language View. Anyone who wants to use this feature can turn on the ‘Sign Language’ option in the ‘Accessibility’ menu, which can be found under the three dots in the top menu bar. This Microsoft article includes a short video with more information about Sign Language View.  

Recordings reminders

Did you know that if you set your Teams meetings to auto record, the meeting recordings are automatically saved in the OneDrive of the first person to join a meeting? There are ways you can manage this automatic feature, so we’ve updated our Teams recordings guidance on the IT Help website. 

This is also a good time to remind you that Stream (Classic) will close permanently for use in February 2024 – if you still use Stream (Classic) you should prepare to move your content out of there before the shut-off date of 15 February 2024. We’ll share more information about this during the summer, but in the meantime, if you want to download your videos and save them in a safe location, you can do this any time. Microsoft recently published an update about this closure. 

Features now available

Lots of new features are already available for you to use, and many more are coming soon. We’ve set out some which we hope you’ll find interesting. 

• Video clips are a new way of working and connecting with co-workers using short video in Teams. Users can capture, send, and play video messages up to one minute in length in Teams Chats.  
• An improved search function means you can now view full chat conversation threads and see previous comments. 
• Teams meeting toolbar improvements –are already making it easier to locate what you need to find during meetings. 

• You can use Quick Access to easily see and edit documents in Teams, SharePoint Online and OneDrive when using up-to-date Windows and Mac app versions of Office products – find out more about Quick Access.

• Even more reactions are now available to add more fun to your day along with new video filters. 
• Get personalised insights and suggestions through the Effective meetings feature in the Viva Insights app.  

Coming soon

• Popouts are coming to apps, calendar scheduling and in-meeting presenter modes, allowing you to arrange these features on your screen to your own preference. 
• Improvements will make it easier to share from Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. 
• You'll be able to @mention a person or @mention a team to add them to chats. 
• You’ll also be able to disable chat access for anonymous or unauthenticated users.  
• Co organisers will to be able to manage breakout rooms.  
• An expanded view of Teams profile cards will give you more information about your contacts at a glance. 
• 'Class' and 'Lecture' meeting templates will soon be available. 
• The iOS14 Teams Mobile client (for Mac users) is being retired in March 2023 

Remember to check the Teams roadmap if you want to find out more about what’s coming next.  

Teams training, help and advice

Lots of information about how to get Teams help, advice and training is available on the IT Help website, IT Learning Centre and the Centre for Teaching and Learning websites. 

Don’t forget, any member of Oxford University can join the Nexus365 User Group (NUG) to stay up to date with Teams news, tips, tricks, quick-start guides and more - the joining code is LNJVOFR.  

Top tip

Did you know you can test your audio setup before joining a meeting?

There are other handy settings you can adjust as well.