Tag: Outlook

Outlook and Teams – New Meeting Response

Do you get invited to meetings which you can’t attend due to meeting clashes or a leave of absence, but where you want to know what happens and the decisions taken?

 

What is being introduced and When?

From late May 2024, Microsoft is introducing a new “Follow” response for meeting invitations.

Screenshot showing the "Follow" button as a valid response
Screenshot of the “Follow” button in a meeting invitation.

What happens?

Using the “Follow” button will let the meeting organiser know that you cannot attend the meeting but that you are interested in the details.

Screenshot showing Follow response in Organisers mailbox
Follow response returned to the meeting organiser

The organiser will be prompted about recording or transcribing the meeting. 

If this is done and the organiser has the Teams Premium license (Microsoft Teams Premium licenses – Office 365 News and Updates (imperial.ac.uk)) then a set of AI meeting notes will be delivered in the recap tab of the meeting making it easy for those who are following to catch up after the meeting happens.

FindTime is Dead. Long Live Scheduling Poll

What?

Microsoft are ending FindTime, the add-in for Outlook that allowed you to offer options for a meeting and have attendees vote for their preferred meeting option(s).

When?

With effect from 11 December 2023 you will no longer be able to create meeting polls using FindTime.

What do I do now?

Instead of FindTime you should use Scheduling Poll which is the new option for meeting polls.

Scheduling Poll is built into Outlook for the Web and Outlook for Mac. It is also available for Outlook for Windows, but may not immediately appear depending on the update channel to which you are subscribed. Monthly update channels will see Scheduling Poll with immediate effect. Semi-Annual Enterprise Update channel users may not see Scheduling Poll until after January 2024.

If you need to use Scheduling Poll but don’t see it in your Outlook for Windows then head to your Outlook on the web and create your scheduling poll there.

Note: The create of polls is deprecated in FindTime but the visibility of polls remains available at https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard

Additional Support

For more information and support articles on the change from FindTime to Scheduling Polls please visit Microsoft’s support pages at Scheduling Poll articles – Microsoft Support

Outlook for iOS (iPhone and iPad devices)

Apple will shortly release iOS 17. This is expected to happen by the end of September 2023.

At this point Microsoft will cease issuing updates for Outlook running on iOS 15 systems.  Outlook will continue to run on iOS 15 devices but will not receive any feature or security updates.

In order to remain secure and compliant, ICT recommends that you update your device to the newest available iOS release for your system.

If you continue to run iOS 15 on your device after the release of iOS 17, but then update your system to iOS 16 or 17, your version of Outlook will be updated to the latest release to include any new security or feature updates.  Once using iOS 16 or 17 your Outlook for iOS will continue to receive new feature and security updates.

Microsoft supports Outlook for iOS for the current and one previous major version of the operating system. In order to maintain security and feature availability in Outlook and other Microsoft apps for iOS you should keep your device up to date with iOS updates.

Work Hours and Location

Setting your Work Hours and Locations for “Hybrid Working”

Did you know that you can now set your work hours and location (Office vs Remote) in Outlook on the web?

This can be really helpful for your colleagues who when organising meetings will be able to see whether you are working remotely or in the office and plan accordingly.

 

To set your hours and location head to Outlook in a web browser (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge give the best experience). Once in Outlook on the web click on the cog wheel near your profile photo or initials and choose “View all Outlook Settings”.

 

In the resulting settings box choose Calendar and at the bottom of the Calendar options you will find Work Hours and Locations. Click on this and then you can set your work hours and locations. You can even set up “split days” with part remote and part office based locations.

 

Screenshot showing setting of work hours and locations in Outlook Web Access
How to set your work hours and locations



Once you have set your options and clicked Save, your location will appear beside your name in the Scheduling Assistant in Outlook on the Web. There are plans to roll this out to Outlook Desktop and Mobile clients in the future, but for now it just shows up in Outlook on the Web.

Screenshot showing what others see when using the scheduling assistant in Outlook Web Access and where a user has work location set
How work locations show up in the scheduling assistant in OWA

 

Updated Android version requirements

If you use an Android device to access Office 365 apps such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint then you need to ensure that you device is running at least v8.

 

This updated requirement will roll in starting on 23 May 2022.

 

All Microsoft apps are built to run on the current, plus two previous major releases of operating systems and this applies across Android, iOS, Mac OS and Windows.

 

Keeping your device operating system up to date will ensure continued usability and also ensure security and the availability of recent features.

 

Love your device – update it and keep it secure!

 

You can find the latest on all the requirements for devices and versions that are supported on Microsoft’s pages here.