SharePoint Roadmap Pitstop: March 2021

by | Mar 31, 2021 | Technology | 0 comments

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

March was a month that brought more Viva goodness, refined SharePoint and Lists experiences, and a few gems for your content migrations. Blink and it’s April, but first, let’s review March.


 


March 2021 brought some great new offerings: Microsoft Viva Connections, SharePoint app bar, Focus mode for SharePoint pages and news, images in SharePoint Events web part, SharePoint page analytics, Integrate menu for Microsoft Lists, Graph-based people picker for Person columns, Box migration into Microsoft 365, guest access in Yammer, and more. Details and screenshots below, including our audible, “groundhog, shadow-casted” companion: The Intrazone Roadmap Pitstop: March 2021 podcast episode – all to help answer, “What’s rolling out now for SharePoint and related technologies into Microsoft 365?”


 



 


In the podcast episode, I chat with Melissa Torres (LinkedIn | Twitter), principal program manager at Microsoft focused on all things SharePoint hub sites and intelligent intranet. This month we chat with Melissa beyond hubs about the new SharePoint app bar, what it is and its new role in Microsoft Viva Connections.


 


Melissa Torres, principal program manager at Microsoft [Intrazone guest], with little Mark Kashman [co-host] in the bottom right corner during our interview over Teams.Melissa Torres, principal program manager at Microsoft [Intrazone guest], with little Mark Kashman [co-host] in the bottom right corner during our interview over Teams.


All features listed below began rolling out to Targeted Release customers in Microsoft 365 as of March 2021 (possibly early April 2021).


 


Inform and engage with dynamic employee experiences


Build your intelligent intranet on SharePoint in Microsoft 365 and get the benefits of investing in business outcomes – reducing IT and development costs, increasing business speed and agility, and up-leveling the dynamic, personalized, and welcoming nature of your intranet.


 


Microsoft Viva Connections for Microsoft Teams (desktop and web)


This enables people to discover and search intranet content, sites, and news from across the organization right in Microsoft Teams (both desktop and web). Viva Connections for Teams, formerly known as the Home site app, brings communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights together into a new, integrated experience.


 


 


For Viva Connections deployment, we recommend you configure a SharePoint home site with global navigation in the SharePoint app bar (we’ll talk about that item next). To do this, you can grab the PowerShell script from the Microsoft download center.



 


SharePoint app bar that features global navigation


Your SharePoint modern communication and team sites will soon feature the SharePoint app bar which provides quick access to customizable global navigation as well as other intranet resources – all accessible for users wherever they might be in SharePoint.


 


The SharePoint app bar gives you access to global site navigation, your sites, your new and your files – from wherever you are in SharePoint.The SharePoint app bar gives you access to global site navigation, your sites, your new and your files – from wherever you are in SharePoint.



 


Focus mode for modern SharePoint pages


We’re excited to share this one. It enables SharePoint page authors and viewers to focus on a greater amount of page content by hiding the site header, site navigation, and global navigation bar with one click. Another click brings back all when you ready to un-focus and move on.


 


Make all your cares, and navigation elements, disappear with Focus mode, on the left. And on the right when you click out of Focus mode.Make all your cares, and navigation elements, disappear with Focus mode, on the left. And on the right when you click out of Focus mode.



 


SharePoint Events web part will display event images


SharePoint page authors who use the Events web part can enable an image to show per event. The image is derived from the image used in the title area of the Event page.


 


If you have images in the header of your event, they will now come thru into the Events web part.If you have images in the header of your event, they will now come thru into the Events web part.


Note: Existing Event web parts will not be updated. However, new web parts added to pages and news will default to show images.



 


SharePoint Page Analytics updates


It’s always important to know more about your readers – to refine how and what you post in the future. We’re introducing analytics for SharePoint pages and news articles. You’ll be able to see the number of viewers, in addition to seeing information about how users interact with your page or news.


 


See the number of viewers and how users interact with your SharePoint pages or news.See the number of viewers and how users interact with your SharePoint pages or news.


In all, page analytics provide insights on:



  • Page viewers

  • Page views

  • And the average time spent per user


 



 


Teamwork updates across SharePoint team sites, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams


Microsoft 365 is designed to be a universal toolkit for teamwork – to give you the right tools for the right task, along with common services to help you seamlessly work across applications. SharePoint is the intelligent content service that powers teamwork – to better collaborate on proposals, projects, and campaigns throughout your organization – with integration across Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Yammer, Stream, Planner and much more.


 


Microsoft Lists | New Integrate drop-down menu


As part of updating the command bar at the top of Microsoft Lists, we are introducing a new top-level menu item labeled Integrate. This is the home for features that help extend list experiences. The existing command buttons for Power Apps and Power Automate will move into this new top-level drop-down menu.


 


The new Integrate drop-down menu provides unified access to Power Platform app integrations for Power Apps and Power Automate, and soon Power BI.The new Integrate drop-down menu provides unified access to Power Platform app integrations for Power Apps and Power Automate, and soon Power BI.


Once the new experience is available, the Power Apps menu option will disappear. People will need to navigate to the Integrate menu option to access both Power Apps and Power Automate, and coming in the future, the newly announced Power BI integration (Microsoft Lists: Visualize with Power BI) ID: 72175.



 


Improved Person columns in Microsoft Lists


This is a great one to see the tangible benefits from Microsoft Graph. We are improving the behavior of Person columns in lists by making the suggestions that appear when you type more relevant. When you type in the people picker, the autofill suggestions come from Microsoft Graph. This makes the people picking experience more personalized based on who you work with most often.


 


The new people picking experience in Microsoft Lists is now based on Microsoft Graph making is more relevant to who you work with most often.The new people picking experience in Microsoft Lists is now based on Microsoft Graph making is more relevant to who you work with most often.



 


Migrate content from Box to Microsoft 365


This new feature gives SharePoint and Microsoft 365 admins streamlined support to migrate content from Box into Microsoft 365; that’s Box files and folders as well as conversion of Box notes into Word documents – to where you choose as destination into OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams.


 


Start your Box content migration into Microsoft 365 directly from within the SharePoint admin center Migration Manager console.Start your Box content migration into Microsoft 365 directly from within the SharePoint admin center Migration Manager console.


When you connect to a Box enterprise account, the service discovers users and their files. The service will automatically map to an individual’s OneDrive accounts, and you can manually map to a specific OneDrive user account, or route to SharePoint sites or a Teams channel for content meant to be in shared spaces.


 


We also want to highlight two related migration webinars from Microsoft:



Migrate your data into Microsoft 365 - two upcoming webinars.Migrate your data into Microsoft 365 – two upcoming webinars.



 


FIXED | Rename a channel in a Teams team and gets updated properly in the corresponding SharePoint folder


Note: if a folder is being synced via OneDrive sync, the new channel/folder name will not yet update through to the synced desktop folder with OneDrive shared folders. It is known and being addressed.


Related technology


Guest Access in Yammer is now Generally Available


We know organizations need to engage with vendors, partners, customers, consultants, and other stakeholders while adhering to privacy and security policies that keep your business running smoothly. This new feature is powered by Azure B2B – which enables you to share your company’s applications and services with guest users from any other organization, while maintaining control over your corporate data.


 


Yammer support for guests is now at general availability.Yammer support for guests is now at general availability.


So, invite with confidence. And note, Yammer communities with external members are denoted by a globe icon.



 


Microsoft 365 PnP Hub in Tech Community


This has some amazing resources, guest blogging opportunities, and community engagement. This is for more than  MVPs – it’s a great place for new/aspiring community members. The initiative is being driven by community members Luise Freese, Vesa Juvonen, and Waldek Mastykarz. There’s a lot of great content already – and maybe yours soon – if you have something to share and are looking for a blog vehicle to get the word out to the community.


 


Sample content published within the new Microsoft 365 PnP forum space in the Microsoft Tech Community.Sample content published within the new Microsoft 365 PnP forum space in the Microsoft Tech Community.



 


Retiring Delve mobile apps for iOS and Android


We will fully retire Delve mobile apps for iOS and Android on June 1, 2021. Going forward, we recommend using Outlook Mobile instead. With Outlook. you’ll find profile information and relevant files on individual’s profile cards, and recommended documents appear in Outlook’s Search tab.


 


Two key dates to know about the Delve mobile apps retirement milestones:



  • On and after March 1st, 2021 – we’ll remove the ability to install Delve mobile apps from App Store and Google Play

  • And then on June 1st, 2021 – existing Delve mobile installations will stop getting insights on June 1, 2021.


 


EVENT RECAP | SharePoint’s 20th birthday party


Last Saturday, March 27, 2021 marked SharePoint’s 20th birthday. What a great day, and a collective wild ride over the last two decades. What started on-premises, moved to the cloud, and exists as a core platform and service to so many apps and services… now lives on in infamy with loads of stories, videos, timelines, and more – loads of new assets: a retrospective blog, a new “SharePoint: 20 years young” episode of The Intrazone and more, lots more. The history of SharePoint, the technology it spawned, the industry it helped shape, and the collective community – the best community in tech.


 


The history of SharePoint viewed via Visio timeline, from 1998 - 2021.The history of SharePoint viewed via Visio timeline, from 1998 – 2021.


Read, see, and hear more – SharePoint: 20 years young.


 


April 2021 teasers


Psst, still here? Still scrolling the page looking for more roadmap goodness? If so, here is a few teasers of what’s to come to production next month…



  • Teaser #1: Immersive reader for SharePoint pages and news [Roadmap ID: 70737] 

  • Teaser #2: Microsoft Lists: Visualize data with Power BI [Roadmap ID: 72175]


… shhh, tell everyone.


 


Helpful, ongoing change management resources





  • Follow me to catch news and interesting SharePoint things: @mkashman; warning, occasional bad puns may fly in a tweet or two here and there, plus my new blog on Substack: The Kashbox.


Thanks for tuning in and/or reading this episode/blog of the Intrazone Roadmap Pitstop – March 2021 (blog/podcast). We are open to your feedback in comments below to hear how both the Roadmap Pitstop podcast episodes and blogs can be improved over time.


Engage with us. Ask those questions that haunt you. Push us where you want and need to get the best information and insights. We are here to put both our and your best change management foot forward.


 


Stay safe out there on the road’map, and thanks for listening and reading.


 


Thanks for your time,


Mark Kashman – senior product manager (SharePoint/Lists) | Microsoft)


 


The Intrazone Roadmap Pitstop – March 2021 graphic showing some of the highlighted release features.The Intrazone Roadmap Pitstop – March 2021 graphic showing some of the highlighted release features.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.

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