3 recommended updates: Search improvements in OneDrive for Business

Version 20.09.03

Microsoft MVP Jasper Oosterveld on the Microsoft Teams meeting pre-join experience, search improvements in OneDrive for Business, and the integration of Microsoft Forms into the Office mobile app.

ShareGate’s easy-to-use SaaS tools enable organizations to achieve more than ever with Microsoft cloud technologies. In our ongoing series, Jasper Oosterveld brings you up to speed on the latest and greatest from the world of Microsoft 365.

Here you’ll find my take on the pre-join experience for Microsoft Teams meetings, search improvements in OneDrive for Business, and the integration of Microsoft Forms into the Office mobile app.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these updates.

New Microsoft Teams meeting pre-join experience

Another entry to this series and yet another awesome Microsoft Teams update! Teams cannot be stopped and keeps moving forward with amazing updates and new features.

We are improving upon the pre-join meeting experience for Teams meetings. The new pre-join screen includes easier discovery for audio, video, and device selection configurations before joining a Teams meeting.

Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Featured ID: 67089

The new pre-join experience allows you to configure your video and audio settings before you jump into a call:

I applaud this new feature because these days, I find myself switching between audio devices and background effects for each meeting: I usually use the Logitech Brio 4k webcam for video and audio, but sometimes I need to use a headset instead.

The current experience is frustrating because I have to browse to my settings (hidden away in the Teams application) and apply the changes before I can join a call—losing valuable time and frustrating my overall Microsoft Teams experience. This update will make my life, and many others, much easier.

Good to know:

• Start updating your user training and documentation, and prepare your employees by sending out a news post announcing this update and its benefits.

Search improvements in OneDrive for Business

I’m a huge fan of OneDrive for Business. What’s not to love? 1TB storage, access to my personal files anywhere and anytime, easy to share my files with colleagues or guests, real-time collaboration, and integration with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.

Now, Microsoft is releasing a new feature to improve searching for your files. Using a drop-down in the search box in OneDrive for Business, you’ll be able to choose where you want to search—your own files in OneDrive for Business, or any shared files that you have access to across the tenant, including shared libraries.

You can see an example of searching in my files:

And here, you can see an example of searching in shared libraries:

A nice update, although I don’t know many people who currently work within OneDrive on the web, most work with the Windows File Explorer or the Microsoft Teams application. This is a good update for people who prefer to work within OneDrive on the web.

Good to know:

• Start updating your user training and documentation, and prepare your employees by sending out a news post announcing this update and its benefits.

Microsoft Forms in the Office mobile app

Microsoft Forms is an easy-to-use service that creates simple forms. I frequently use Forms during online Teams governance workshops to ask for feedback—especially since there aren’t any in-person workshops these days. I gather valuable input using Microsoft Forms to determine a governance strategy for Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft is integrating Forms into the Office mobile app so that users can open recent forms and create new ones straight from the Office mobile app—an interesting update for fans of the Office mobile app and Microsoft Forms.

Microsoft Forms is a web app which can be accessed from browser on desktop or mobile devices. Office mobile app is a single mobile app (iOS / Android) combines Word, PowerPoint and Excel with exclusive features. We are now integrating Forms into Office Mobile app so that users will be able to open recent forms and create new forms from the Office mobile app.

Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Featured ID: 66631

Good to know:

• Start updating your user training and documentation, and prepare your employees by sending out a news post announcing this update and its benefits.

Microsoft is rolling out this update for Android users who are part of the Office Insider Program in September 2020 and expects the rollout to be completed for all customers in October 2020. The update for iOS is set to roll out one month after the Android rollout.

Tip: Track your message center tasks in Planner

In this edition, I’m concluding with a useful tip! Are you looking for a structured way to process Microsoft 365 updates? You can sync your messages from the Microsoft 365 admin center to Microsoft Planner! Here’s how:

Start by clicking on the Planner syncing button:

Next up: Select an existing plan bucket, or create a new bucket:

Then, select the type of updates, message categories, and products and services you want to sync:

Finally: Decide if you want to import old messages:

That’s it! You now have a plan with Microsoft 365 updates that you can assign to your colleagues. I suggest integrating this into your Microsoft 365 governance and adoption strategy. Check out the official Microsoft documentation to learn more about tracking message center tasks in Planner.