Whenever new feature updates roll out, it’s like a little gift for your workflow, especially when it impacts Office 365, the gold standard in office productivity tools.

Even smaller updates can bring some big productivity improvements that make your life easier. Well get ready, because it turns out that Microsoft has a few more features planned for their Office suite in 2019 that should be rolling out shortly.

From more targeted communications in Microsoft Teams to improved security in Exchange, the December Office 365 updates touch on several different MS applications.

There are over 180 million people that use Office 365, and you can get a leg up on them, or at least on your co-workers, by knowing what features are coming out next.

Read on for several of the feature updates currently planned for release in December 2019.

New Office 365 Features Coming to a PC Near You Soon!

Neuron Computers is a Microsoft Silver Partner and we keep a watchful eye on what’s happening in the Microsoft universe. We recently checked out their Office 365 roadmap, and here’s what’s headed your way soon.

Targeted Role Communications in Microsoft Teams

If you need to send a message to everyone with a specific role in your organization, that’s going to become easier. For example, if you needed to send a message to all customer support staff, you will be able to use an @mention of the role, and anyone with that role will get the alert.

Welcome Wagon Notification

Another nice feature coming to Teams in December is a new notification that will let everyone know that a “colleague joined Teams” so you can connect to new team members right away.

Card View in SharePoint Lists

The prevalence of cloud-based project management tools using the Kanban method has made a card view of data more popular. It’s often an easier way to visualize information and attach more details.

With the new features rollout, SharePoint will allow you to configure dynamic card views of your documents and data.

Request a OneDrive File

Do you need a file from OneDrive but don’t have the proper permissions? You’ll be able to save time getting it by sending an upload-only link to colleagues to request files stored in OneDrive for Business.

Added Encryption for Exchange Online

A nice thing about using Microsoft Office products is that they have security built right in, so you have less to worry about when it comes to a data breach or file loss.

Office 365 has an added layer of encryption at the application level that has previously been included in SharePoint Businesses Online and OneDrive for Business. When the December feature is rolled out, it will also include Service Encryption for Exchange Online.

Faster File Syncing in OneDrive for Business

Synching large files can take time and bog down your network resources. With a new update, differential sync for all file types will be employed to help synchronize large files in OneDrive for Business significantly faster and reduce network utilization.

More Flexibility in Autoapply of Retention Labels

SharePoint files often have particular record management and retention labels that need to be applied to them based upon a variety of different factors. You’ll now have more flexibility with the ability to use content types, taxonomy or any document metadata column to apply these labels automatically.

Manually Apply Sensitivity Labeling in Word, PowerPoint & Excel

If you want to ensure a document that you’re working on receives the proper protections and is labeled accordingly, you’ll be able to do this manually when this feature rolls out in December.

It allows you to apply protection sensitivity labels from within Office 365 versions of the Office Online apps, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Keep Track of Important OneDrive Files

It can take up to 4.5 hours per week just to search for documents you need. This next feature for OneDrive for Business promises to be a real time-saver by allowing you to bookmark important and often used files and folders from OneDrive. You can then easily pull them up again in a “Saved for Later” list in seconds.

Upload Bigger Files in SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive

Some files are just larger than others, such as high-resolution videos and large image collections, and it can be a real pain when you’re trying to upload them only to hit the 15GB upload limit.

Microsoft is increasing this more than 6 times when this December 2019 feature rolls out. Instead of 15GB, the limit will be increased to 100GB per file upload in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.

Make the Most of Your Office 365 with Neuron Computers

We often find that companies have great tools, but they’re not fully utilized just because people aren’t aware of all their capabilities. Our Microsoft experts can help you optimize your Office 365 platform to better power your business.

Schedule a free consultation today by calling 1-833-4-NEURON or requesting a quote online.