The latest Microsoft Teams updates: February 2022

This changes to Teams chat display where you can change the way you view messages depending on your preference, and Teams meetings where there’s a bigger focus on using meetings more efficiently to make use of the time you have with your team.

Pin or hide your own videos in meetings

You can now pin your own video on the meeting stage, so you can see your own video in a larger format. Alternatively, you can hide your video so that you have less distractions on your screen while still having your video appear on others’ screen. To pin or hide your video, click the ellipsis (…) in the corner of your video and select ‘Pin for me’ or ‘Hide for me’.

Open-text question polls for meetings

Microsoft polls have now become more interactive with Word Cloud Poll. This new feature aggregates and displays participants’ open-ended responses as a word cloud and this can be done before, during, or after a meeting.

Check in and room release in Teams panels

To ensure meeting spaces are used efficiently, IT admins now have the ability to release rooms that have been booked but are not in use. In order to claim their reserved meeting room, attendees have to tap the “Check in” button on the panel, otherwise the room will be let go, allowing for others to use it.

Far end camera control

Remote meeting attendees can now control the zoom and orientation of a camera in Teams Rooms. Using the PTZ Camera Controls in Windows, participants can control pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras and zoom in up to 2.5X.

Meetings mute notifications

To help users focus during meeting, you can now mute notifications during Teams meetings. This update means you no longer have to disable all notifications on Teams and even gives you the option to mute notifications for specific meetings. To do this, go to Settings > Notifications > meetings and calls and toggle the Mute Notifications during meeting button. For specific meetings, click the ellipsis and choose Mute/Allow notifications.

Local time in people’s profile

With remote and hybrid working becoming the norm, Microsoft have added time zones to users’ profiles. You can access this information in their contact card, allowing you to receive responses from your colleagues when you need them whilst still being considerate of their schedule.

Changing chat density

A new option to how the Teams chat window is displayed is chat density. Depending on your monitor size and viewing preference, you may want to adjust the spacing between chat messages to view more or less text at once. To customise the chat density, click Settings > General > then choose which spacing suits you best.

Pin chat messages

If there’s an important message you want chat members to have quick access to, you can pin the message to the top of the chat. This will help you draw focus to important content and help others keep up to date with what’s relevant at the time. To do this, click the ellipsis (…) and then select Pin.

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