Tag: MacOS

General M365 Updates

A number of updates have been advised by Microsoft and are either available immediately or are coming soon!

 

Microsoft Teams: Pop out Chat, Copilot, and Notes panes in meetings

 

Users will see a pop-out icon at the top of their Notes, Chat, and Copilot side panes in Teams meetings.

When users select the icon, the pane will pop out into a separate window that the user can resize and drag to their desired position, based on their screen setup and their productivity goals for the meeting.

Users can view multiple meeting features at the same time, so they don’t miss the chat while they are monitoring meeting notes.

 

Availability: Now

 

 

Microsoft Teams: Countdown timer for Teams Meetings

 

Keep meetings efficient and on schedule with the new countdown timer in Microsoft Teams. This feature allows any meeting participant to add a visual timer (up to 100 minutes) directly within the meeting window, helping teams manage time effectively without external tools.

 

The new timer will be available by default and accessible from the More menu in the meeting controls. The timer is visible to all participants once started.

 

Key capabilities include:

      • Set timers up to 100 minutes.
      • Start, pause, stop, reset, or cancel the timer.
      • Visual and audio alerts when the timer ends.
      • Colour changes as time runs out to help speakers stay on track.
      • Option to hide the timer from personal view without affecting others.
      • The timer continues counting negatively after reaching zero, encouraging timely wrap-up of discussions.

 

A meeting participant can open the timer by navigating to the More (three-dot) menu at the top of the screen, can set the timer duration up to 100 minutes, and start the timer:

Limitations:

Available only in scheduled meetings.
Not supported in instant meetings, Teams calls, webinars, town halls, or structured meetings with defined roles.

 

Availability: End of October 2025

 

 

Microsoft Teams: New file attachment feature in external 1:1 and group chats

 

Microsoft are introducing a new capability in Microsoft Teams that allows users to attach files when chatting with external users in 1:1 and group chats. This enhancement improves collaboration by enabling seamless file sharing across organizational boundaries.  This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, and Teams for the web.

 

Before this rollout, users had no option to attach file to compose box in chats with external users.

 

Availability: Now

 

 

Remove toggle for Calendar in Teams

 

Microsoft are introducing the new Microsoft Teams calendar experience, designed to unify and enhance productivity across Microsoft 365. This calendar integrates familiar features with innovations like Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Places, enabling seamless collaboration from anywhere. It works consistently across Teams, the new Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web, and Places. As part of this update, the legacy calendar experience will be deprecated, and the toggle to switch between old and new calendars will be removed.

 

Availability: End of September 2025

 

 

Microsoft Teams: Dedicated download option for tracking all registrations in Webinar

 

Microsoft are introducing a dedicated download option to help organizations track all registrants of attendees. This enhancement supports better visibility and reporting for events and webinars.

 

Availability:  Now

 

 

Microsoft Teams: Private channels increased limits

 

In response to customer feedback, Microsoft are introducing enhanced flexibility, greater scalability, and streamlined compliance management for private channels in Microsoft Teams.

 

Private channels will no longer be limited to 30 per team. Instead, private channels can be added up to the limit of 1000 total channels per team.
Private channels can have up to 5000 members, instead of 250.
Meetings can be scheduled in private channels.

 

Availability:  January 2026

 

 

Microsoft Teams: New organizer controls for in-meeting management

 

Microsoft Teams is introducing Organizer Controls in the meeting toolbar to streamline access to key meeting management features. These controls consolidate existing capabilities into a single fly-out menu, improving usability and security for meeting organizers and co-organizers. For Teams Premium users, the Prevent Copy of Chat option will also be accessible under Advanced Protection.

 

Meeting organizers and co-organizers will see a new Organizer Controls icon in the meeting toolbar. This update does not introduce new features but changes how existing ones are accessed.

 

To access meeting options, click on View more options in the Organizer controls flyout

Key benefits include:

      • Immediate Threat Mitigation
      • Access Control and Permissions: Lock Meeting, lobby bypass
      • Participant Moderation: Mute/unmute, screen sharing restrictions

 

Availability: October 2025

 

 

New file protection in Teams chat and channels blocks unsafe content

 

Microsoft Teams is introducing a new protection feature that blocks messages containing weaponizable file types—such as executables—in chats and channels. This helps reduce the risk of malware and file-based attacks by preventing unsafe content from being shared. This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, Teams for the web, and Teams for iOS/Android.

 

Once enabled, Teams will automatically block messages that include weaponizable file types. This applies to both internal and external conversations.

Recipients will see a notification that a message was blocked but cannot access the content.

Senders will receive a notification and can edit and resend the message without the unsafe file.

 

Availability: December 2025

 

 

Microsoft Teams: Select camera and audio devices in pre-join and during meetings on iPad

 

To improve meeting flexibility and user experience, Microsoft Teams now allows users on iPad to select external audio and video devices directly from the pre-join screen and during meetings. This enhancement supports users who rely on external peripherals for improved meeting quality and simplifies device switching without needing to access native iPad settings.

 

Availability:  Now

 

 

OneDrive for Mac OS – Big Changes Happening NOW – February 2022

What is happening and why?

 

Apple is changing the technology that they use within their operating systems and as such Microsoft, along with all other cloud storage providers have to update their sync clients.

This means that the OneDrive sync client is going to change for Apple users, and has already started to for some.

For a while it means that there will be multiple versions in use depending on the version of the Apple OS that you are using.

ICT encourages you to update to the latest ICT supported version for your hardware at your earliest convenience to ensure that your system remains up to date with security and functionality patches and fixes.

The main change that you will see comes to the feature known as “files on demand”.

This is NOT a new feature, but the implementation and use is changing.

 

Who is affected?

 

Initially the changes apply to those with macOS 12 (Monterey).  If you use macOS 11 (Big Sur) or earlier then this doesn’t affect you.

 

The current version of Monterey (v12.2) is the last that will support the old technology.  The new Files on Demand feature is available for all versions of Monterey from 12.1 upwards.

 

What happens?

 

When you update your macOS to v12.2 or 12.3 your OneDrive sync client will also be updated automatically.

 

You will no longer be able to choose whether to turn on Files on Demand – it is mandated and will be on from the point of upgrade.  There is NO option to turn off Files on Demand.

 

How does Files on Demand work?

 

Instead of downloading the whole content of your OneDrive onto the local hard drive, or having to choose which folders and files you sync locally, the client creates what are called Symlinks.  Essentially these are like bookmarks or empty entries for the files and folders.

 

When you browse your local version of OneDrive the files and folders appear to reside ont he local disk, but in fact they are just pointers to the cloud stored versions.

 

When you open a file the OneDrive sync client kicks in and in the background it downloads a local copy.  Then it looks for changes to the file and sycns those changes as they happen.

 

This optimises disk space and is very useful for those with smaller storage devices – Solid State Drives (SSDs) are typically 1/4 of the size of traditional spinning disks but are used widely because they are much faster and provide much better performance and long term stability.

 

In Finder you will have the option to select a file or folder and then “Always Keep on this Device” or “Free up Space”.

 

  • If you choose to “Always Keep on this Device” then a copy will be stored locally and synced between the cloud storage space and your local drive.

 

  • If you have a local copy but need to free up space then choose the “Free up Space” option to return a file or folder to just being stored on the cloud and release back the local storage on the machine that you are using.

Screenshot of new OneDrive syunc client and notification of changes

 

What to do next?

 

If you are thinking about upgrading your Mac then use the following as a set of sensible precautions.

  • Update to macOS v12.3 at some idle or downtime. Don’t do it in the middle of an important job, just in case there’s a problem.
  • Update with a stable Internet connection.
  • Ideally do the macOS update at the end of the day and leave your Mac on overnight to give OneDrive a chance to update all the files and settings.
  • Backup before switching. Happily there’s already one or two backups in place.
    • OneDrive saves all deleted and changed files for 30 days.
    • Apple TimeMachine, if enabled, also has a copy of current and past files.
    • If you wanted to be very sure, make a separate copy of all your files, especially those in OneDrive storage.

 

Conclusion

 

Before you go complaining about Microsoft, this change is being forced on Microsoft and other cloud storage providers by Apple.

If you want more details then Microsoft have written a blog post about this and include answers to many questions.  I’m not going to duplicate what they have done elsewhere!

Word – Track Changes

Have you ever shared a Word document and wondered which elements people are changing or adding?

 

When you share a document via your One Drive for Business or SharePoint you enable people to work on the original document without having to co-ordinate multiple edits at a later date (no more copying and pasting), but how do you know what has changed?

 

You may have come across track changes in the full version of Word – it has been available for a very long time, but it’s also come to Mac OS versions of Word and most recently to the Web and iOS versions of Word.

 

This means you can now see all those edits (and who made each one) and choose which ones to accept and which to reject.

 

There’s more information on Track Changes in Word within this Microsoft Support Page – just pick the right version of Word to see how to use Track Changes within that version.