Microsoft Teams Is about to Get Several Practical Upgrades

Microsoft Teams is about to get a lot smarter and less annoying. If you use Teams for work, you know it is a handy tool, but it still has a few quirks. Fortunately, Microsoft is rolling out a fresh batch of updates next month to smooth out the experience. The upcoming update will make your workday a little easier with refreshed Microsoft Teams.

Teams will soon get a Do Not Disturb setting built directly into Windows

One of the most requested changes is finally happening. Teams will soon actually pay attention to the Do Not Disturb setting built directly into Windows. Until now, you could set your computer to quiet mode, but Teams would sometimes still push notifications through. 

Starting in April, if your Windows machine is set to Do Not Disturb, Teams will automatically pause all your pings and pop-ups. Once you turn off the setting, your notifications will flow back in normally.

There’ll soon be smarter meetings and video summaries

Microsoft is also removing some of the busywork from your calls. You will no longer have to manually select the spoken language for live captions and transcripts. Instead, the software will automatically detect what language is being spoken and adjust on the fly. This makes using live captions and the built-in interpreter much easier.

Speaking of the interpreter, it will soon support your company’s custom dictionary and Traditional Chinese. This means the software will get much better at recognizing specific industry terms or the names of your coworkers.

If you hate reading through long meeting notes, you are in luck. The intelligent meeting recap feature is getting a major upgrade. Along with the standard text summaries, you will soon get video-based recaps that highlight the most important moments from your call.

Teams will offer more control for organizers and admins

Keeping meetings secure and managing teams will also get a lot simpler. Meeting organizers will soon have the ability to spot third-party bots before they join meetings, giving you a chance to keep unwanted AI note-takers out of sensitive discussions. At the same time, system administrators will be able to manage users, passwords, and security settings directly from the Teams interface rather than switching to a different admin portal.

All these changes are expected to launch next month, bringing some welcome quality of life improvements to everyone using the platform.