MC516349 – Updated April 11, 2023: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.
The latest version of Teams Rooms on Windows, 4.16, includes several new and improved features, such as:
- A revitalized Teams Rooms User interface
- Enhanced Layout Switcher
- Teams Premium support, including Watermark, End-to-end Encryption for meetings, and Sensitivity labels
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 98422
When this will happen:
- Standard release has completed.
- GCC and GCC-High: rollout will begin mid-April and complete by late April.
How this affects your organization:
- A revitalized Teams Rooms User interface
- Teams Rooms on Windows is introducing an updated home screen experience for its console and front-of-room displays. Learn more You will have access to five new themes, including a new default theme called “Vivid Flag.” If your organization already has a custom theme in place, this update will not override it and will maintain your current theme.
- Note: your theme may need to be adjusted due to the new calendar element on the room display.
- The new calendar on Home screen is now using Exchange REST APIs instead of Exchange Web Services (EWS) as previously used. Please ensure your Exchange Calendar works with Microsoft Teams. Learn more
- If you need to use EWS, the calendar will lack functionality like joining a meeting and Direct Guest Join. However, you can choose to roll back to the legacy Home screen experience using XML. Learn more
- Enhanced Layout switcher
- The view switcher menu has an updated interface, offering end users more control over the front-of-room displays during meetings. This allows users to personalize the front-of-room view, including the visibility of the meeting chat and the components displayed on the left and right panels. IT administrators can also configure the default number of panels and the default component on each panel using XML.
- Teams Premium support, including Watermark, End-to-end Encryption for meetings, and Sensitivity labels
- Please note that the features need to be activated through the Meeting options in Teams Calendar or Outlook on desktop or mobile devices. To enable the features a Teams premium license may be required.
- When Teams Rooms on Windows device joins a Teams meeting that has watermark enabled for the content and/or participant videos, the front-of-room display will display the email address for the room on the content and/or participant videos.
- If End-to-end Encryption is enabled, the Teams Rooms on Windows console will display a shield with a lock icon. This icon includes a 20-digit group key that can be verified with other meeting participants. Note that Together mode and Large Gallery are not available during End-to-end Encrypted Meetings, but meeting chat is permitted. If a Teams meeting is set with a Confidential Sensitivity Label, room users will be informed that the label has been applied when clicking the shield with a lock icon on the console.
Please refer to the details about the Teams Premium features.
What you can do to prepare:
You might want to notify your users about this updated experience and update your training and documentation as appropriate.