What’s New in Microsoft Teams – February 2022
Microsoft has detailed new features and capabilities that arrived in its Teams collaboration platform in February. This month, the biggest improvements include a new mute notifications feature for meetings, a Compact mode for chats, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support for mobile, and more.
1. Mute meeting notifications
First up, Microsoft is now rolling out the ability to mute notifications during Teams calls and meetings. The feature has been available in public preview since January, and it should help meeting participants to avoid unwanted distractions. However, it’s up to the users to mute notifications for a specific meeting or all meetings.
How to mute notifications during Microsoft Teams meetings
- To mute notifications during a meeting, navigate to the top of the meeting window and click More actions (. . .), and then select the Mute notifications button.
- Alternatively, Microsoft Teams users can also choose to disable notifications for all meetings. Head to Settings and more (. . .) >> Settings >> Notifications. Click the Edit button available under the Meetings and Calls section and turn on the Mute notifications during meetings and calls toggle button.
2. Pin or hide your own video
Microsoft is making it possible for attendees to hide their video feed in a Teams meeting. The new functionality should help to reduce meeting fatigue and stay focused during presentations. Microsoft Teams has also added the ability for users to pin their own video on the meeting stage.
How to Pin or hide your own video in Microsoft Teams meetings
Microsoft Teams desktop users can pin or hide their video by following these steps:
- Navigate to the video feed and click on the ellipsis menu (…).
- Now, select the Pin for me or Hide for me option as shown below.
3. Pin chat messages
Moving on to chat and collaboration features, Microsoft added a new feature that allows users to pin chat messages in Teams. This new capability should make it easier for chat members to find important messages, announcements, or content. To pin a message, hover over the specific message, click the ellipsis menu (…) and click the Pin option. Once done, any chat participant will be able to click on the pinned message to go to the original message within the chat thread.
4. Compact mode for chats
Microsoft also added the ability for users to customize the number of chat messages to suit their specific needs. With the new Compact mode, Microsoft Teams desktop users can now see 50 percent more messages on the screen. This Compact mode feature is currently supported in the Teams chats, and it’s available for Channel messages.
5. E2EE support for one-to-one Teams calls on mobile and more
Additionally, the Teams calling experience is getting some improvements on mobile. The Microsoft Teams desktop app received end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support for one-to-one Teams calls back in December last year. The company has announced that this capability is now generally available for iOS and Android users.
Finally, Microsoft has finally rolled out HDMI ingest and sharing capabilities for Teams Rooms devices on Android. With this release, meeting attendees can now share content in a meeting by plugging in an external device via HDMI. With PTZ Camera Controls, it is now possible for remote participants to control the zoom and orientation of a camera in Teams Rooms on Windows. Microsoft says that IT Admins will be able to track all the Teams Rooms devices that are configured to use the far-end camera control capability.