Microsoft 365 Roadmap Weekly: Outlook will add local Office file sharing and more

It's time to take a new look at what has been added to the Microsoft 365 roadmap website in the past seven days. This time, there's been more to check out compared to the last couple of weeks, so let's get started.

The new version of Outlook for Windows will roll out a feature in August that will allow it to share local Office app files:

When users are in Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint apps, and they want to share a file that is saved locally in their device (not stored in a cloud location), the new Outlook for Windows will show up as a share target and they will be able to easily email the file.

The new Outlook for Windows app and the web version will also add some new search features soon:

Users will be able to scope their search suggestions down to specific entities such as Files, People, Mail etc in order to sort through their suggestions more easily. They will be able to navigate from the suggestion directly to the entity tab in their search results

That feature will be available in a preview version in July, with a full rollout in August. Finally, the roadmap has a listing for the new Outlook Windows app for a feature that won't be rolled out until (not a typo) March 2025. It will add support for opening .pst files in the app.

The initial version of PST support in new Outlook for Windows will enable users to open "*.pst" files (a.k.a. Outlook Data Files), read all e-mail messages within the "*.pst" file, and search e-mail messages within the ".pst" file. This initial support is limited to Mail items and is read-only. All Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks data saved in the "*.pst" files are still there, but they cannot be accessed in this initial version.

The Microsoft Teams app for PC and Mac will add an expanded gallery view in July:

When meeting window is minimized, participants can enlarge the small view of Teams meeting to a new bigger gallery view, making it easier to multitask on screen and stay aware of meeting events. Users can choose the size of the minimized gallery view window from the following options: one participant visible in the minimized window, 4 participants visible in the minimized window, fully minimized, or fully expanded.

Teams for PC, Mac, and the web will make it easier to find apps in August.

With enhanced app discovery users can easily discover and use apps they've previously used in group chats, channels, and meetings, allowing them to consent to use the app everywhere in Teams with one click.

Those same Teams platform will get some new chat features in July:

Chat users can have access to contextual information including members, pinned messages, shared files and links, and entry point to contextual search from this canvas.

The Excel app for PC, Mac and the Web will add a new data summary feature in July:

Add a single formula to summarize column data into one cell. Today, full column calculations produce a unique result in each row, but this new feature gives you the option to calculate all data in a column together to return one result. You can also create a row with formulas that apply for relevant columns; for example, an "add total sales row" will add a SUM formula underneath every column that has sales data.

Finally, the roadmap site says that the OneNote app for Mac will add support for the Copilot digital AI assistant sometime in December.

That's our latest look at the Microsoft 365 Roadmap site for the week. We will be back next Sunday to do this all over again.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years.

2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of May): Nearly 2,400 news posts