M365 Changelog: (Updated) A new experience to search within chat and channels

MC554158 – Updated January 5, 2024: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Microsoft is excited to introduce a new and improved experience to search within chats and channels.  

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 122550

When this will happen:

• Targeted release: Microsoft will begin rolling this out in mid-October 2023 and expects to complete rollout by late October 2023 (now completed)
• Standard release: Microsoft will begin rolling this out in mid-November 2023 and expects to complete rollout by late November 2023.
• GCC: Microsoft will begin rolling this out in mid- November 2023 and expects to complete rollout by late November 2023.
• GCC-H: Microsoft will begin rolling this out in early December 2023 and complete rollout by mid-March 2024 (previously mid-February).
• DoD: Microsoft will begin rolling this out in early December 2023 and complete rollout by mid-March 2024 (previously late mid-February).

How this will affect your organization:

A few key enhancements include:

1.  The new in-chat and in-channel Search experience will now be available in the right handrail, making it possible to see your chat/channel list and your new search results in one single view. The initiation can be done using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F(win) or Cmd +F (Mac):Chat:
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   Channel:Note: Search capability on the new Channels experience is currently available on the main view, and Microsoft will extend it to the conversation view very soon.
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2. In addition to the keyboard shortcut, a dedicated button ‘Find in Channel’, placed on the channel info pane can be used to initiate contextual search:
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   Note: Microsoft is working on bring the search entry point to the chat surface soon.     
3. Microsoft now has introduced enhanced captioning and keyword highlighting to aid the discernment of results in chat and channel:
   
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What you need to do to prepare:

No preparation needed. The new search experience is set up by default, but you may want to draw attention to these new capabilities in Teams.