SharePoint Roundup November 2019.

Build your modern intranet on SharePoint in Office 365 and get the benefits of investing in business outcomes – reducing IT and development costs, increasing business speed and agility, and up-leveling the dynamic and welcoming nature of your intranet.

SharePoint home sites

SharePoint: Home sites

A Home site is the top of your intranet – the landing page that reflects your branding and brings your organization together with rich experiences. Microsoft is helping you build and launch a successful home site, built on the familiar communication sites platform, with great looking and highly functional out-of-box experiences. This SharePoint home sites feature lets you designate a communication site as the “home site” for your intranet. This site will then be more discoverable from the SharePoint start page and the SharePoint mobile app. It will also automatically be set up for organization-wide search and as a source of authoritative news.

Roadmap ID: 26842

A home site is the top landing page for your organization’s intranet. It brings together news, events, embedded video and conversations, and other resources to deliver an engaging experience that reflects your organization’s voice, priorities, and brand.

You can designate any communication site to be the home site with a simple PowerShell cmdlet. By making a communication site the home site, it will be more discoverable from both the SharePoint start page and the SharePoint mobile app. In addition, it will serve as a source of authoritative news for your organization and be automatically be set up for organization-wide search.

Note: A link within home site navigation (which is editable; default reads “My SharePoint”) points to the new SharePoint start page that we mentioned in last month’s roadmap pitstop. This allows users to easily navigate between the organization-wide content on the home site and their personalized content on the start page.

Home site capabilities

When you set a site as your home site:

• It’s integrated with the new SharePoint start page. All users that have access to the home site will also see the branding, theming, header, navigation, and footer elements from the home site on their start page. This makes the home site content elements more discoverable, and is a great way to add some custom experiences to the default SharePoint start page. A link (which is editable) that points to the new SharePoint start page is added to the home site navigation. This allows users to easily navigate between the organization-wide content on the home site and their personalized content on the start page.
• The home site is easily accessible from the SharePoint mobile app for Android and iOS. All users that have access to the home site will see a home button on the Find tab of the mobile app. Being communication sites, home sites are designed to be mobile friendly from the start.
• Search for the site is scoped to all sites within the organization. Having a great search experience is critical for the success of the home site.
• The site is automatically set up as an organization news site. (Although you can have only one home site, you can have multiple organization news sites.)

Plan and create your home site

To set a site as your organization’s home site, you first need to create and customize the site you want to use.

1. When you design your organization’s top landing page, consider the goals from the perspective of your IT department, your organization’s communications team, and end users of the experience.
2. Create a communication site to use for the home site, and customize it using built-in features as much as possible:
   • Use the megamenu style for navigation and add a site footer.
   • Try out various page layouts, including the vertical section.
   • Use audience targeting with SharePoint news and navigation links to tailor the experience for your audiences.
   • Use personalized web parts, preferably in a unique visual location like the vertical section with background color, which allows users to quickly consume organization content and get back to their work.
   • Extend the site as needed by using the SharePoint Framework (SPFx).
   • Make sure the site is set up for regular content updates. Turn on content approval to ensure high-quality content.
   • Consider making the site a hub site. Your home site can be registered as a hub site, but can’t be associated with another hub.
3. Create a launch plan for redirecting from your current solution to the new home site and notifying users of the change.
4. Important: Make sure the site adheres to the guidelines for healthy portals.
5. Optional (recommended): When you’re ready to launch, replace your root site with the new site.
6. Make the site a home site by following the steps in the next section.
7. Make sure to customize the Office 365 theme for your organization, adding your logo and linking it to the home site.

Set a site as your home site

After you create and customize the communication site that you want to use as your home site, you need to run a PowerShell cmdlet to set it as your home site. To run this cmdlet, you must be a site admin of the site.

1. Download the latest SharePoint Online Management Shell. If you installed a previous version of the SharePoint Online Management Shell, go to Add or remove programs and uninstall “SharePoint Online Management Shell.”
   On the Download Center page, select your language and then click the Download button. You’ll be asked to choose between downloading a x64 and x86 .msi file. Download the x64 file if you’re running the 64-bit version of Windows or the x86 file if you’re running the 32-bit version. After the file downloads, run it and follow the steps in the Setup Wizard.
2. Connect to SharePoint Online as a global admin or SharePoint admin in Office 365.
3. Run Set-SPOHomeSite -HomeSiteUrl . (Where siteUrl is the site you want to use)

Save for later

OneDrive for Business: Save for later

Save for Later will allow you to bookmark files and folders from your OneDrive, files shared to you and those in Shared Libraries to a “Saved for Later” list that you’ll be able to easily access

Roadmap ID: 49095

This allows users to keep documents that interest them in an easily accessible list across Office 365. Clicking the bookmark “Save for later” icon makes it easy to get back to a document, no matter if it’s in your OneDrive or in a shared library.

Documents saved for later are accessible from the Saved tab in OneDrive on the Web and show up on the SharePoint start page in the Saved for later column under the news and sites sections.

SharePoint and OneDrive support sensitivity labels (in preview)

Support for Sensitivity Labels with protection in SharePoint and OneDrive (public preview)

SharePoint and OneDrive now support sensitivity labels with protection i.e. Microsoft Information Protection-based encryption setting can be associated with a sensitivity label. The encrypted files are treated much like regular files and users can open and edit them in Office on the Web and get modern productivity experiences like co-authoring. You can govern these encrypted files with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies and eDiscovery too.

Roadmap ID: 57311

This uses Microsoft Information Protection-based encryption associated with a sensitivity label. The encrypted files are treated much like regular files and users can open and edit them in Office on the Web and get modern experiences like co-authoring.

SharePoint recognizes sensitivity labels applied to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in SharePoint and OneDrive and enforces the settings that correspond with each label. When you download a file from SharePoint or OneDrive, the sensitivity label travels with the file and the settings remain enforced.

From an IT perspective, you govern these encrypted files with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies and eDiscovery – all the enforcement you would expect are available per your governance plan and design along with greater productivity flexibility for people who continue to work with the sensitive files.

Teamwork updates across SharePoint team sites, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams

Microsoft 365 is designed to be a universal toolkit for teamwork – to give you the right tools for the right task, along with common services to help you seamlessly work across applications. SharePoint is the intelligent content service that powers teamwork – to better collaborate on proposals, projects, and campaigns throughout your organization – and is integrated with Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Yammer, Stream, Planner and much more.

Previously, when you applied sensitivity labels that included encryption to Office files stored in SharePoint and OneDrive, the service couldn’t process the content of these files. Coauthoring, eDiscovery, Data Loss Prevention, search, Delve, and other collaborative features didn’t work under these circumstances.

This preview enables these features:

• SharePoint recognizes sensitivity labels applied to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in SharePoint and OneDrive. SharePoint also enforces the settings that correspond with each label.
• When you download a file from SharePoint or OneDrive, the sensitivity label travels with the file and the settings remain enforced.
• Apply sensitivity labels to Office files, and open and edit files that have sensitivity labels applied (if the label’s permissions allow it) by using the web versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. With Word on the web, you can also use Auto labeling when you edit documents.
• Office 365 eDiscovery supports full-text search in files that have sensitivity labels applied. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies cover content in these files.
• Three new audit events are available for monitoring sensitivity labels:
  • FileSensitivityApplied
  • FileSensitivityLabelChanged
  • FileSensitivityLabelRemoved

You can also now apply sensitivity labels to Microsoft Teams, Office 365 groups, and SharePoint sites.

If necessary, you can opt out of the preview at any time.

Requirements

These features work only with sensitivity labels. If you used Azure Information Protection labels, you can convert them to sensitivity labels to enable these features for new files that you upload. Learn how

For this preview, use the OneDrive sync app version 19.002.0121.0008 or later on Windows and version 19.002.0107.0008 or later on Mac. Both of these versions were released on January 28, 2019, and are currently released to all rings. See the OneDrive release notes. After you enable this preview, users who run an older version of the sync app will be prompted to update it.

Limitations

• When you enable this preview, users who apply a label to a file by using the Office desktop or mobile apps might be unable to save other changes they make to the file. Instead, the app prompts users to Save As or Discard local changes. To avoid losing work, do one of these actions:
  • To apply labels, use the web versions of the Office apps.
  • Close a file after you apply a label and then reopen the file to make other changes.

• SharePoint doesn’t automatically apply the new labels to existing files that you’ve already encrypted using Azure Information Protection labels. Instead, to get the features to work after you enable this preview, complete these tasks:
  • Convert the Azure Information Protection labels to sensitivity labels.
  • Download the files and upload them to SharePoint.

• SharePoint can’t process labels with custom permissions and labels with expiration dates.
• When users have edit permissions, the web versions of the Office apps allow copying regardless of the copy policy setting in the label.
• RMS revocation, tracking, and reporting are unsupported.
• Office desktop apps and mobile apps don’t support coauthoring. Instead, these apps continue to open files in exclusive editing mode.
• If a label includes encryption, Microsoft Cloud App Security isn’t able to read the label information for the files in SharePoint.

New Teams files experience

Microsoft Teams – Improved Channel File Tab Experience

We continue to bring the power of SharePoint into Teams. The new experience in the file tab of a channel includes the ability to sync files to your computer, more view options, and lifecycle signals. Additionally, you can pin and check out files.

Roadmap ID: 51234

SharePoint and Microsoft Teams: new Files experience

Manage files in Microsoft Teams with the full power of SharePoint. With the new Files experience, you will be able to add and manage custom columns, sort and filter files with custom views, trigger workflows, and sync files to your PC or Mac. Available this summer.

Roadmap ID: 30548

We continue to bring the power of SharePoint into Teams – news, pages, lists – and now, a new files experience in the Files tab for Teams channels. This includes the ability to sync files to your computer (PC or Mac), see rich previews across 320+ file types, create views and work with metadata, see document life-cycle signals, review on-hover file cards, pin files to the top, take actions like check in and check out, and much more.

The rich, new files experience now appears within Teams when working within the Files tab of a channel.

Power Apps for SharePoint libraries

SharePoint – PowerApps integration with SharePoint libraries

Now, citizen developers configure and customize default document library forms with built-in PowerApps. You’ll be able to use PowerApps to build custom forms for document libraries, extending metadata-enriched experiences throughout SharePoint and Microsoft Teams.

Roadmap ID: 57303

Power Apps is already integrated into SharePoint lists, which provides the ability to create an app for a list directly from the SharePoint list experience. We are now enabling this same sort of capability in SharePoint libraries.

And as you start to work with lists and libraries outside of OneDrive and SharePoint, the Power Apps value continues. So, when you’re working with files and lists as tabs in Microsoft Teams, the Power Apps customization you build shines through, too.

File card – conversations

File hover card – conversations

This new file hover card feature, alongside file details and actions like ‘Inside Look’ and ‘Activity,’ will show relevant emails, meetings and Teams conversations to the individual reviewing the file hover card information. So, when someone sends an email, a Teams message, or a meeting invitation that references a file from SharePoint or OneDrive, that conversation is displayed in the file hover card with a link to the conversation(s).

Roadmap ID: 56183

Visibility of all file activities is key, and we are continuously working to make it as seamless as possible. Whenever you hover over a file in OneDrive and SharePoint you will be able to see a wealth of information about your files at a glance.

We are continuing to improve visibility of file activities. When you view the on-hover card for files, a new pivot on conversations appears showing relevant emails, meetings, and Teams conversations. When someone sends an email, a Teams message, or a meeting invitation that references a file from SharePoint or OneDrive, that conversation will be displayed in the file card with a link to the conversation(s). 

The conversations displayed on the file card will only be visible to those users who took part in them. This means that you won’t see another person’s conversations that are not related to the file in question, and they won’t see yours.

Expand/Collapse button in lists

SharePoint lists – Expanded view

It’s subtle and powerful, a feature that gives you more visual space to see and dig into data. We’re introducing the ability to expand lists to fill the screen – to allow you to focus on what you’re doing and see more rows and columns at once. Click the expand button and see more, do more. One click clears the chrome of left-hand navigation and site header.

Roadmap ID: 57302

This is my favorite feature this month – and the smallest of the bunch. Similar to the expand buttons in Teams and OneNote – It’s time to click out the clutter and focus.

A new “Expand” button will appear in the toolbar inside lists and libraries. Users can click this button to make the contents of the list or library take up more of the screen by hiding the site’s navigation. To make the site’s navigation re-appear, users can click the corresponding “Collapse” button.

The new Microsoft Project rolls out to customers worldwide

Introducing the reimagined Microsoft Project!

We are pleased to announce the rollout of the new Project to our existing Project Online Professional and Project Online Premium customers. Designed to be visual, easy to use, and collaborative, you can manage your work flexibly – from ad hoc projects to complex initiatives.

Roadmap ID: 54641

Project offers a redesigned user experience that is simple and intuitive. Teams can quickly add new members and set up tasks, and then easily switch between grids, boards, or timeline (Gantt) charts to track progress. And because Project is part of the Microsoft 365 family, project teams can save time and do more with built-in connections to familiar apps like Microsoft Teams and Office.

We are pleased to announce the roll out of the new Project to our existing Project Online Professional and Project Online Premium customers. Designed to be visual, easy to use, and collaborative, you can manage your work flexibly – from ad hoc projects to complex initiatives. Started quickly, take control.

Fluid Framework public preview and private developer preview

Public Preview of Fluid Framework for Office 365 customers

We announced Fluid Framework, a new technology and set of experiences that will make collaboration seamless by breaking down the barriers between apps. Over time, we expect these capabilities to light up in experiences across Microsoft 365, including within chat in Teams, mail in Outlook, portals in SharePoint, notes in OneNote, and documents in Office. In the coming weeks, check out the public preview of the Fluid Framework’s end user experience rolling out in your commercial tenant. To access simply login with your org-ID. Available in English (US) in worldwide environments only.

Roadmap ID: 56781

We are now introducing a public preview for end-users and a Private preview for developers.

In the public preview, users will be able to use the preview experience to crowd-source meeting agendas, take notes, or simply keep track of your thoughts. Over time, Fluid Framework will work with chat in Teams, mail in Outlook, portals in SharePoint, notes in OneNote, and Office documents.

In the private developer preview, developers can begin leveraging the rich component model flexibility to adapt and extend these scenarios in their organizations.

Request Files – OneDrive

OneDrive for Business: File Requests

OneDrive users can request files from others by sending an upload-only link.

Roadmap ID: 27020

We realized that there was a strong need for people to collect files from others, often from collaborators outside of their organization, without letting them have the visibility to the content of the folder.

This feature allows a requester to ask a recipient to place files into a specific folder that they manage. The folder must be in the requester’s OneDrive in Microsoft 365. To request files, select the folder you want the recipient to use and click Request Files. Add a description of the files you’re requesting, click Next. Type the email of the person from whom you are requesting files or copy the link.

Request files from peers within and outside the organization.

There are multiple use cases where this feature can be extremely valuable – consider “Request for Proposal” (RFP) scenario where you need to collect bids from others, or a marketing professional accumulating quotes from various vendors for a campaign, a teacher collecting assignments , a manager reaching out for feedback from his team members or a financial rep or recruiter gathering documents from their clients- just to name a few.

Microsoft Teams – Private Channels have their own SharePoint site collection document library

Microsoft Teams -Private channels

Limit which team members can see the conversation and content within a particular channel. You can right-size channel participation and exposure without having to create discrete teams to limit visibility.

Roadmap ID: 50588

Each private channel has its own SharePoint site collection optimized for file sharing and fast provisioning. The separate site collection is to ensure access to private channel files is restricted to only members of the private channel compared to the team site where team owners have access to all the assets within the site collection.

A private channel site collection syncs data classification and inherits guest access permissions from the site collection of the parent team. Membership to the site collection owner and member groups are kept in sync with the membership of the private channel within Teams. Any changes to the membership of Owner or Member groups in SharePoint Online will be reverted to private channel membership within four hours automatically.

What you need to know about private channels

Currently, private channels support connectors and tabs (except Stream, Planner, and Forms). We’re working on full apps support for private channels, including messaging extensions and bots.

Each team can have a maximum of 30 private channels and each private channel can have a maximum of 250 members. The 30 private channel limit is in addition to the 200 standard channel limit per team.

When to create a private channel

To determine whether a private channel is appropriate, consider the following questions about who needs to work together and what the collaboration is about.

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