Stay in the loop: December 2020 roadmap updates

Stay informed quickly and easily with this monthly post bringing together the 318 features planned for release in December, the 59 features added in November as well as the ones that caught my attention!

Stay in the loop: December 2020 roadmap updates

Each month there are tons of features added and planned for release and it is hard to keep track of features even with the new Microsoft 365 roadmap website, RSS feed and downloadable spreadsheet.

This one-stop-shop monthly article makes sense of the clutter and is divided into 3 sections:

Do not forget that the most accurate and updated information regarding the upcoming features are found at the Microsoft Roadmap web site.

I hope this will help you easily discover what is coming and maybe help us manage employee and client expectations.

Do you like the picture?
This one was taken during my trip to Cusco / Peru.

5 features that caught my attention

Here some of the feature planned for release this month that caught my attention.

Microsoft Search: Personal query history

We spend so much time each day trying to find content in all those locations. We often redo our search multiple times a week, and some of us are using old school bookmarks to quickly land on the search result page. We already know that Microsoft Search, when well configured, will save a lot of time for your users and now there is no need to bookmark or memorize your frequent queries! As you type the search box, it will give you a recent search you did and more. Then, from the My Account settings, users will be able to delete search history and download it for future reference. Roadmap ID: 68782

Credit to Microsoft
Credit to Microsoft

Microsoft Lists: rules - built on SharePoint

First, if you have not tried Microsoft List so far, have a look here! We will soon be able to build rules on our list using a simplified user interface. For now, we rely on Power Automate when automation is needed but let be fair; it’s now that simple for ordinary users. For example, the new simplified user interface will allow the user to quickly send an email based on events and conditions, such as when a new item is created or changed from A to B. We don’t have that much detail, for now, so stay tuned! Roadmap ID: 64163

Credit to Microsoft

Microsoft Teams: Create a task from a message in the Desktop Client

Have you ever received a message from your teammate asking you to get some job done, and now you need to keep track of this? Many of us already implement message extension flow to meet this need of task creation, but soon this will be available by default to everyone in Teams. Yes! Transform any message in chat or channel conversation info personal or planner tasks! Roadmap ID: 68696

Credit to Microsoft
Credit to Microsoft
Credit to Microsoft
Credit to Microsoft

Microsoft 365 Groups ownership governance experience

Many companies implement M365 services, such as teams without or with minimal governance plan. Unfortunately, this could result in unexpected /unwanted experiences. For example, an excellent practice will have at least two owners for each of your Teams, but this was not easy for an admin to find those. Soon Microsoft will let your admin easily filter team who have no owner and take action. Quickly set a new owner or send an email to existing members to ask who should own that group. Have a look at this Microsoft video. Roadmap ID: 67160

Credit to Microsoft
Credit to Microsoft
Credit to Microsoft

MIP: Sensitivity labels extend to assets in Azure

Sensitive information resides in Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive and in business applications built using different Azure services. Minimize your compliance risk by classifying and get an insight about sensitive information in your Azure assets such as, but not limited to, Azure Blob Storage, Azure Data Lake and Azure Cosmos DB. With this new integration between the MIP sensitivity label and Azure Purview, you’ll be able to apply the sensitivity label on files and columns. Roadmap ID: 68889

Credit to Microsoft
Credit to Microsoft

318 features planned for release this December 2020

Here a list of what’s Microsoft has planned for release this month. Remember that “Planned for release” does not mean you will get the update this month but instead that Microsoft planned to start rolling out and it takes weeks and months prior it gets globally available.

To keep this simple this include all Products, Release Phase, Platform and Cloud Instance. The text has been cut in order to fit on 1 line, then if you are curious about it, click on it to go directly to the roadmap.

59 features added to the roadmap in November 2020

Here a list of what’s Microsoft has been added to the roadmap in the past month.

To keep this simple this include all Products, Release Phase, Platform and Cloud Instance. The text has been cut in order to fit on 1 line, then if you are curious about it, click on it to go directly to the roadmap.