M365 Changelog: (Updated) Microsoft Teams – Enhancements to Search Experience on Teams App Store

MC546446 – Updated May 2, 2023: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Microsoft is improving the search experience on the Teams App Store, designed to enhance app discoverability by extending search capabilities to include short and long descriptions, category names, and support for minor typing errors.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 122521

When this will happen:

Rollout is expected to begin in early June (previously early May) and is expected to be complete by late July (previously late June).

How this will affect your organization:

This new feature significantly improves the search functionality within the Teams App Store, providing users with a more accurate and comprehensive search experience. Previously, the search only parsed the app name, publisher name, and keywords mentioned in the app manifest. The updated search now also includes short and long descriptions, as well as category names, allowing users to find relevant apps more effectively.

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Additionally, the search results are ordered to match the closest relevance to the user’s query, ensuring that the most suitable apps are displayed prominently. The enhanced search capability also accounts for minor typing errors, providing users with accurate results even when small mistakes are made during the search process.

What you need to do to prepare:

Microsoft committed to minimizing the workload for IT admins and ensuring smooth integration with existing Microsoft Teams deployments. Therefore, the enhanced search experience will automatically be enabled for all tenants upon release, and no additional action is required from IT admins to make this feature available to their users.