June-July developments
June introduced some interesting features with developments in Microsoft Teams. One of the key enhancements is the improved option for meeting organisers to control access to the meeting recording, transcript, and AI-generated insights like Copilot queries and intelligent meeting recaps derived from the transcript. Organisers can now select from three access levels: Everyone, Organizers and Co-organizers, or Specific People. By default, the access setting is ‘Everyone,’, but organisers can modify this before the meeting commences.
This new meeting feature is being rolled out to Copilot users with Microsoft 365 licenses and will be available to Teams Premium users in the upcoming quarter. This update offers organisers more flexibility and control over who can access post-meeting content.
Microsoft Teams has officially introduced meeting notes supported by Loop for channel meetings, showcasing them as an essential feature. Participants can collaborate on the agenda, take notes, and track follow-up tasks in one place. Since meeting notes are Loop components, they stay synchronised across all instances where they are shared. The usual bottleneck created by a single note-taker is eliminated by using meeting notes, ensuring the agenda and notes are visible to everyone.
The latest update in Microsoft Teams allows presenters to adjust the location of the presenter toolbar and enhance video quality during screen sharing. Presenters can now freely move the Presenter toolbar to any desired location on the screen, ensuring the visibility of crucial information while delivering presentations. A new feature has been introduced to the Presenter toolbar that enables manual optimisation of video playback when screen sharing.
The admin policy on who can download meeting minutes has been extended. The existing admin policy restricting access to download meeting recordings will be extended to include all tenants’ permission to download meeting transcripts (stored in OneDrive for Business). This policy applies to new meeting recordings across the organisation. Administrators can exclude members of certain security groups from this policy. This allows administrators to specify which governance or compliance specialists should have download access to meeting minutes.
In Teams meetings, participants must now consent before any transcription can occur. An alert will appear when recording or transcription is initiated, requesting consent from all participants for both recording and transcription. Until consent is given, participants cannot unmute, turn on cameras, or share content during the meeting.
In the new Teams experience on Windows, users can now easily see their microphone status and mute/unmute directly from the Windows taskbar. This feature allows seamless control over microphone settings while multitasking in Teams meetings.
Google Meet introduces improvements to the call experience by implementing the Material 3 design system. The first update focuses on redesigning the bottom bar of the in-call controls in Meet. This includes updated colours and dynamic shapes indicating whether you are on mute or the controls are active. Participants may notice these updates when using Google Meet online, in picture-in-picture mode, or integrated with other applications such as Docs or Slides.
Recorded meetings in Google Meet now offer full HD video content. The maximum resolution for the speaker’s video feed has been increased from 720p to 1080p, enhancing the quality of viewing. Additionally, 1080p video resolution is now available on all computers equipped with a 1080p capable camera. It is important to note that users must opt in through the settings menu to enable this feature. 1080p video is only sent when recording is activated or when a user has been pinned by one or more participants on a screen large enough to display the 1080p feed.
Zoom has unveiled a fresh look for its desktop application, complete with new colour themes and redesigned icons. Users can now choose from vibrant colour palettes like Bloom (blue), Agave (green), and Rose (red) when using the app in light mode. These themes, selectable through the app settings, update the appearance of the global navigation bar and the in-meeting window, offering a more personalised and visually appealing experience.
New features in Zoom include multi-speaker video layouts that enhance the meeting experience by highlighting the current speakers and dynamically adjusting the video tiles. This feature is also available when viewing shared content in side-by-side mode. Hosts can customise background images for meetings by selecting from preset images and adjusting the overlay of participant videos with the background image. Admins can control this feature and upload their images. The multi-sharing feature directs participants to the latest sharing tab for easier tracking. Personalised Voice Noise Cancellation is a new audio settings option in the Zoom desktop app to suppress background noise during meetings. Finally, an option has been added for administrators to disable and hide the auto-accept remote control feature.
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