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What’s new for SharePoint – May 2024
May was packed with updates for SharePoint, making it a month you shouldn’t miss. With two major Microsoft Conferences, there were plenty of new features announced for everyone using SharePoint, whether you’re an end user, an admin, or a developer.
Viva Connections also got some attention with fresh updates to the Dashboard and the launch of its web version. It’s clear that SharePoint is growing and improving.
But remember, as SharePoint gets better, some older features are being phased out. Keep an eye on these changes to make sure your users aren’t caught off guard.
MAY
1
New Section Level Content Align on SharePoint Pages
Microsoft SharePoint is introducing a new feature that allows authors to align content across columns at the top, center, or bottom of a section. This option is available for 2-column and 3-column sections and will be rolled out worldwide from mid to late May 2024. No action is needed to prepare for this update.
SharePoint document libraries: Improved Version history controls | Preview opt-in
Microsoft SharePoint is introducing improved version history controls to enhance data protection and storage management. Admins can set intelligent version deleting options and default organization limits. The Public Preview begins in May 2024, with General Availability starting in August 2024. New capabilities include automatic and manual version limits, consistent default settings, and detailed version storage reporting. Users can view and adjust file version expirations. Admins should review updated documentation to prepare for these changes.
Microsoft 365: Archive feature for inactive sites on SharePoint
Microsoft 365 is introducing an archive feature for SharePoint to archive inactive sites, which will help save on storage costs. This feature will be available worldwide from late April to mid-May 2024. SharePoint and Global admins can manage this through the SharePoint admin center or PowerShell. Preparation involves identifying inactive sites suitable for archiving. More information is available on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap and Microsoft Learn.
MAY
2
Microsoft Graph API for SharePoint pages is now generally available
The Microsoft Graph API for SharePoint pages is now generally available, providing developers with tools to interact with SharePoint Pages and News posts. This includes capabilities like creating, editing, and deleting pages. It is available in all cloud instances and is part of Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 101166.
SharePoint Advanced Tenant Rename feature
The message details the availability of the Advanced Tenant Rename feature in SharePoint Advanced Management, allowing organizations to change their SharePoint domain name. It is applicable for organizations with up to 100,000 sites and offers prioritization for 4,000 sites. The rollout begins late April 2024, with completion by early May 2024. Organizations must review documentation and use SharePoint PowerShell to execute the rename.
⚠️ Stream Mobile App Retirement
The Stream mobile apps will retire on July 1, 2024. Users should switch to the OneDrive and Microsoft 365 mobile apps. Videos with block download policy can only be played online after this date. For preparation and alternatives, visit the provided link. Email for user statistics.
MAY
3
Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Data Lifecycle Management – Enable deletion of non-empty folders in SharePoint for Microsoft 365 and OneDrive for Business when under a retention policy
With this feature, end users can delete non-empty document library folders containing many files on a site managed by a retention policy. Additionally, this feature ensures that folders covered under a Retention policy and that have been deleted don’t reappear for users who sync a document library offline using OneDrive for Business.
Regional announcements for frontline workers in Viva Connections
Microsoft Viva introduces regional announcements for frontline workers, allowing managers to send targeted messages based on location, job code, and department. Rollout begins early May 2024 and ends early June 2024. Organizations should set up Hierarchy and DTAS on Teams and enable Regional filtering in Viva Connections.
MAY
6
SharePoint: Sensitive information processing model
SharePoint Premium users will now have the capability to apply a prebuilt sensitive information processing model to SharePoint libraries. This model is designed to detect and possibly extract sensitive information from documents upon their library.
Microsoft Teams: Attach files from SharePoint Sites in the mobile app
Users will be able to browse, multiselect and attach files from SharePoint Sites to a chat or channel conversation in the mobile app.
MAY
8
Microsoft Purview | Data Loss Prevention: Decoupling policy tips and email notifications for SharePoint and OneDrive
Microsoft Purview | Data Loss Prevention will soon allow separate configuration of policy tips and user email notifications for SharePoint and OneDrive, aligning with Microsoft Exchange behavior. Admins can enable either or both features, or neither. Rollout begins mid-May 2024 for Public Preview and mid-June 2024 for General Availability. Configuration can be done via PowerShell or DLP settings post-rollout.
Change to shared folder experience in OneDrive
We’re making a change to the shared folder experience in OneDrive. Currently, when a user opens a shared folder in OneDrive, they are taken to a view of that folder within the sharers OneDrive. In the new experience, opening a shared folder will take the user to the shared folder within the People view of their own OneDrive. This view, organized by people, shows and allows access to all the files and folders that have been shared with the user.
Microsoft Syntex: Sensitive information processing model
Microsoft Syntex is introducing a new prebuilt model for identifying and optionally extracting sensitive information from SharePoint document libraries, with a rollout beginning in late May 2024 and completing by late June 2024. Users should be informed about this update.
MAY
10
New Banner web part (updated title area) in Pages and News
Microsoft SharePoint Online is introducing a new Banner web part for Pages and News, allowing users to remove or add multiple banners to a page. Targeted Release begins late May 2024, with General Availability starting mid-June 2024. The update includes new Banner layouts and affects page templates and title synchronization. No admin action is required before the rollout.
Enhanced capabilities for spotlight in Viva Connections
Viva Connections is enhancing spotlight capabilities, providing more control over content display with 11 slots. Pinned items will be shown first, followed by dynamic SharePoint news. The desktop experience will blend prioritized content with news updates. Rollouts begin mid-May 2024, with new customization settings introduced. Preparation involves generating news and selecting content sources for spotlight.
MAY
13
Data Lifecycle Management | Enable deletion of non-empty folders under Retention policy in SharePoint and OneDrive
The new feature allows users to delete non-empty folders under a Retention policy in SharePoint and OneDrive, ensuring they remain deleted after syncing with OneDrive for Business. It will roll out in early May 2024 and is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 394689. Preparation involves getting started with Data Lifecycle Management in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
Viva Connections now available on the web
Viva Connections is now available on the web with the same functionalities as in Teams. It will start rolling out mid-May 2024 for Targeted Release and will be generally available by mid-June 2024. No action is needed to use it on the web.
MAY
14
⚠️ SharePoint Framework domain isolated web parts retirement
Microsoft is retiring SharePoint Framework domain isolated web parts. Starting April 2, 2025, new tenants won’t have this feature, and it will be removed for existing tenants on April 2, 2026. Organizations should update and redeploy affected web parts as regular web parts.
MAY
15
The removal of Screenshot saving to OneDrive, in favor of Known Folder Move
OneDrive Sync on macOS will discontinue the ‘Save screenshots to OneDrive’ feature in favor of Known Folder Move (KFM), which backs up the Desktop folder including screenshots. This rollout starts mid-June 2024 and ends late July 2024. Organizations should enable KFM to prevent service disruption.
MAY
17
⚠️ Retirement of Office 365 connectors from SharePoint Online Webparts
Office 365 connectors will be retired from SharePoint Online Webparts due to limited use. New connections cannot be created after June 15, 2024, and existing connections cannot be updated or managed after August 1, 2024. Organizations should update training and documentation accordingly.
Onedrive Files Card on Viva Connections dashboard
The new Microsoft Viva feature allows organizations to add a OneDrive Files Card to the Viva Connections dashboard, showing recently accessed, shared, or favorite files. It will roll out in May 2024 and requires no action for setup.
Viva Pulse card to Viva Connections dashboard
Licensed Microsoft Viva Pulse users will soon be able to access Viva Pulse directly from the Viva Connections dashboard. Admins need to add a Viva Pulse card to the dashboard. Rollout starts early June 2024, with full availability by late June 2024. No admin action required before rollout.
MAY
20
Disabling IDCRL library based authentication for SharePoint Designer Online
The message informs that the IDCRL authentication for SharePoint Designer will be retired on June 15, 2024. Users must follow steps in a Microsoft Community Support Article to enable modern authentication for continued use of SharePoint Designer.
Microsoft Teams: Attach files from Microsoft SharePoint sites in the mobile app
The Teams mobile app will soon allow users to browse, select, and attach files from SharePoint Sites to chats or channel conversations. This feature is part of Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 395375 and will roll out in early to late June 2024 without requiring admin configuration.
MAY
21
Microsoft Stream: Interactivity analytics
This feature gives audience engagement metrics on interactive Stream videos. Users with edit access to a Stream video that contains links, polls, or callouts will be able to see the number of unique viewers and the percentage of those who viewed or clicked on interactive elements in the video, as well as average number of interactions and average attention time. These metrics help video owners understand which content is most engaging.
Microsoft Stream: Suggested M365 content in Callouts
This feature is an improvement on the Interactivity feature in Microsoft Stream, where users with edit access can add document and other links to Callouts at specific times in a video. The goal of the improvement is to make creating and editing of interactive videos easier and quicker for editors by suggesting resources to link based on their M365 user activity. If there are no relevant suggestions, this allows them to search for resources to make their videos interactive from within Microsoft Stream.
MAY
23
Updates to opening non-Office files in Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint
The enhanced file viewer for Microsoft 365 now supports over 300 file types, with a new design, toolbar, panes, and collaboration features. It is already rolling out with general availability expected by late May 2024. No admin action is required before the rollout.
Microsoft Outlook: Link permissions for OneDrive for Business in Outlook for iOS
Outlook for iOS will notify users if email recipients lack access to OneDrive for Business file links and allow permission updates. This feature, already on Android, will roll out globally from late June to late July 2024. Users should be informed to prepare for this update.
MAY
24
Import navigational links from SharePoint into Resources in Viva Connections
On the desktop experience for Viva Connections, operators will be able to effortlessly import SharePoint links from their home site navigation and global navigation directly into the Resources section.
Microsoft Stream: New suggestions for including your Microsoft 365 content in Callouts
Microsoft Stream will soon enhance the ‘Interactivity’ feature, allowing editors to easily add document links to Callouts in videos. Suggestions will be based on Microsoft 365 activity, with an option to search for additional resources within Stream. Rollout starts mid-May 2024, completing by mid-July 2024. No admin action is required.
MAY
27
Microsoft Stream: Interactivity analytics
A new feature in Microsoft Stream will provide engagement metrics for interactive videos, showing unique viewer counts, interaction percentages, and average attention time. Rollout begins mid-May 2024 for Targeted Release and mid-June 2024 for General Availability, with no admin action required.
MAY
29
OneDrive for Business: Shortened URLs in OneDrive web
OneDrive for Business is simplifying web URLs for easier navigation, rolling out mid-June to mid-July 2024. The new format will be “tenant-my.sharepoint.com” with no impact on existing scenarios. Redirects from old URLs will function, and no preparation is needed from users, though user training may be updated. Automation and scripts remain unaffected. Future improvements are planned without a specified timeline.
Changes to version history for Stream videos
Stream (on SharePoint) video files tend to be large and consume considerable space against your OneDrive and SharePoint storage quotas. Currently, when you make changes to video metadata, such as adjustments to the video title, description, transcript, chapters, interactivity, thumbnails, or media settings, those changes trigger a new version (that includes both the video and metadata) to be created and stored in the version history for that file. Each of these versions consumes storage that counts towards your storage quota. To reduce the storage footprint driven by small changes, we are adjusting how Stream (on SharePoint) handles versions.
MAY
31
SharePoint Online: A new Start experience
A new SharePoint Start experience is coming to SharePoint Online, simplifying site and page creation. It includes a hub for managing drafts, reviewing past work, and tracking engagement. Rollout begins early June 2024, completing by the end of June, and requires no admin action.
Viva Connections news notifications on desktop and web
Microsoft Viva Connections news notifications will be available on Teams desktop and web, mirroring the functionality on Teams mobile. Users can adjust notification settings at the app and individual levels. The rollout begins early June 2024, with no admin action required. For more information, users can visit the Viva Connections mobile News notifications page.
Less storage space consumed for Stream videos in Microsoft 365 Suite
Microsoft Stream is updating to reduce storage space usage by not creating new versions for metadata changes to video and audio files. This change, associated with Roadmap ID 395380, will be implemented worldwide from mid-July to late August 2024. Admins don’t need to take action, but should inform users and update documentation. For more details, visit the provided Microsoft Support link.
Viva Amplify: New Microsoft Copilot Deployment Kit
The message details the inclusion of a new Microsoft Copilot Deployment Kit in Microsoft Viva Amplify, designed to aid in change management and promote AI and Copilot usage. It will be available to licensed Viva Suite and C&C customers, with a rollout starting late May 2024. Users with access to Viva Amplify can utilize the pre-built campaign, and no admin action is required before the rollout. Organizations are advised to inform relevant teams and update documentation.
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