M365 Changelog: (Updated) Update Search Experience for Viva Connections

MC662248 – Updated November 30, 2023: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

Microsoft is making some changes to the search experience in Viva Connections app to make it easier to search in Viva Connections. 

When this will happen:

• Standard Release: Rollout will begin in early August and is expected to be complete by late September.
• GCC: Rollout will begin in late September and is expected to be complete by early October.
• GCC High: Rollout will begin in early October and is expected to be complete by mid-December 2023 (previously late November 2023).

How this will affect your organization:

With the changes, when you use Viva Connections and click into the search box in Teams, you will start to see the text change to “Search in Viva Connections” (or the name you chose for your Viva Connections app). You will continue to get the same suggestions as before with chats, people, etc. and clicking these will continue to take you to the corresponding Teams experience.

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As you type, you will notice that the search suggestions will show two new lines in the list that appears under the search box: first one (the default option) to search in Viva Connections, and the second one to search in the rest of Teams.

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If you select enter (or choose the first suggestion), you will be taken to a workplace search experience similar to the one you might already experience on your intranet corporate portal. If you’d rather go to the search results page of Teams, choose the second suggestion.

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What you need to do to prepare:

You may want to notify your users about this change in the search experience while in Viva Connections. 

Note: These changes are rolling out first to the current version of Teams and will be coming to the “New Microsoft Teams App” in the coming months.