M365 Changelog: Temporary Whiteboard collaboration for external and shared device accounts

MC337624 – Updated May 05, 2022: There’s a configuration issue with the instructions previously sent for this feature. The external and shared device accounts will work on ODB storage if you have external sharing allowed for SharePoint sites, but if you do not, then these accounts will not work. Microsoft is working on a resolution and expect it to be available at the end of May and be fully deployed by mid-June.

Microsoft Whiteboard on OneDrive for Business (ODB) is leveraging a new capability that allows temporary collaboration during a Teams meeting. This applies to device accounts from Surface Hub and Teams Meeting Room devices, as well as any users who are not in your tenant.

Note: This capability does not enable file-level sharing and does not grant access to the file. It provides temporary access only for the duration of the Teams meeting (similar to PowerPoint Live sharing during a meeting).

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 66759

When this will happen:

After Whiteboard’s move to ODB storage (starting in mid-March and completing in mid-April), this capability will be utilized by Whiteboard.

How this will affect your organization:

This capability is enabled by default. If you choose to disable it, users will have the following experience:

• External users in your organization will continue to see a message in Teams meetings that they cannot see the whiteboard.
• Users in a Teams meeting on a Surface Hub or Teams Meeting Room will not be able to join an ODB-based whiteboard shared during a meeting. These users should join the meeting from another device to view and collaborate on the whiteboard.

Note: OneDriveLoopSharingCapability and CoreLoopSharingCapability are currently only used by Whiteboard on ODB, but in future, other Fluid-based content such as Loops in Teams chat will be covered by these settings.

What you need to do to prepare:

If you have the external sharing for ODB allowed, no further action is required. If you have external sharing disabled, you can leave it disabled but you must enable this new setting.

1. Connect to SharePoint Online PowerShell and enable this using the Set-SPOTenant cmdlet.
2. Set-SPOTenant -OneDriveLoopSharingCapability ExternalUserAndGuestSharing

These changes should take approximately 60 minutes to apply across your tenancy. If you do not see these options, please update the PowerShell module.

Additional information