The Teams 2.0 client is finally here.

Microsoft’s other marquee product this autumn, its AI-powered tool Copilot, recently entered general availability and might be the more glamorous cousin of the pair, given its extensive and innovative ways of boosting performance and productivity. However, beneath the hood, Teams 2.0 could potentially be more impactful for some users in their everyday workflows.

What is Teams 2.0? How does it distinguish itself from its predecessor in features and accessibility? Is it definitely available for you specifically, and if so, how do you download or install it?

UC Today answers all those questions below.

Teams 2.0 In a Snapshot

Teams 2.0 is a new and updated app for Microsoft Teams.

It is currently only available for Windows and Mac. Teams 2.0 (what Microsoft confusingly named Teams 2.1 internally) was initially launched in public preview in March, and it raised eyebrows for being up to twice as fast as the original client but with 50 percent less memory usage than its forebear.

“Our goal was to reimagine Teams from the ground up to deliver a faster, simpler, smarter, and more flexible app to help you stay productive and collaborate more effectively,” wrote Anupam Pattnaik, Product Lead at Microsoft Teams, in a blog accompanying the news of Teams 2.0’s availability. “We have made notable progress since the launch of new Teams in public preview.”

That “notable progress” included full feature parity for almost all capabilities, including call queues, PSTN calling, and contextual search in chats and channels. Teams 2.0’s general availability also introduces new features and enhancements, such as smooth cross-tenant communication and collaboration across multiple tenants and accounts.

Pattnaik added:

We have focused on providing high-quality performance and enhancing the basics in areas such as reliability, security, and IT management to make sure that new Teams meets the evolving requirements of your organization.”

New Teams features and enhancements will also be exclusively available to Teams 2.0.

The New, Updated (and Removed) Features in Detail

By being built on the React framework and using Edge WebView2 as the app’s host on Windows, Teams 2.0’s most critical feature is its usability. The new Teams client is roughly twice as fast when loading the app, joining meetings, and switching chats and channels. It consumes up to 50 percent less memory and disk space than the classic Teams app.

Teams for Mac has also experienced a performance improvement. At the same time, there are additional security enhancements, including improved app security via a containerised app model, streamlined app updates via Microsoft AutoUpdate, and web security improvements such as Content Security Policy and Trusted Types.

“With new Teams, we also provide a faster app that has been optimised for more efficient use of system resources in your VDI environment,” Pattnaik wrote. “We have observed improvements in latency for key scenarios such as app launch, switch chat, and join meetings when testing the public preview build that is rolling out this month compared with classic Teams.”

Teams 2.0 has also introduced a more streamlined user interface with myriad personalisation options. Teams 2.0 automatically select light or dark mode and switches based on a user’s system settings so Teams blends better into their workspace. It has more significant support for users with colour sensitivity, using Windows 11 contrast themes so users can select a colour palette that works best for their needs. There are also greater accessibility options for users who use keyboard shortcuts or screen readers.

Users can monitor messages and notification activity, with features like “Mark all as read” in activity now available. Upcoming Teams 2.0 features include “Mark all as read” in chats or channels.

Another significant new feature is Teams 2.0’s new multi-tenant organisations (MTO) capability, which intends to help organisations that oversee multiple tenants through mergers and acquisitions or in catering to international subsidiaries and test environments. This allows seamless collaboration with colleagues in an MTO group and an easier experience in accessing resources in other group tenants. It delivers a full-fidelity meeting experience while removing silos.

New Teams’ features, such as multi-tenant and multi-account (MTMA), empower users to collaborate more dynamically across organisations, stay signed into multiple accounts simultaneously, and receive real-time notifications no matter which one is currently in use. The new cross-cloud authenticated meeting capability allows users to join a meeting hosted in any Microsoft cloud, including commercial or government cloud, without having to sign out of their account in their home tenant.

New Teams users will notice several features or toggles that have been changed or removed. The activity tab in Teams chat, the ability to save messages and files in Teams, and the functionality of signing out on the taskbar are among those that have been removed.

Users will no longer receive purple “toast” notifications but Windows native notifications consistent across Microsoft’s apps instead.

Other changes include “Settings” being accessed via the “More” options in the title bar, and instead of the ability to add a Wiki to a channel tab, users select “Notes” instead. Users who want to add a document library app to a channel use Sharepoint instead. Likewise, users who want to add third-party cloud storage apps or storage do so directly from the Teams App Store.

Copilot’s Teams 2.0 Integration

Teams 2.0’s arrival coincides timely with Windows Copilot and the imminent release of the enterprise-targeting 365 Copilot.

“Copilot in Teams works alongside you to help you stay on top of your tasks by enabling you to get up to speed on conversations, run more effective meetings, and bring everything together in one place,” Pattnaik said.

Copilot in Teams chat summarises the key points, action items, and decisions for users without them having to read through lengthy threads. Copilot in Teams meetings can summarise discussion points, such as which participant said what and where people agreed or disagreed, and suggest action items. This is accessible during a meeting in real time.

Microsoft Graph allows Copilot to identify, extract and utilise data across business chats, documents, presentations, emails, calendar invites, notes, and contacts. It brings all that information to the user’s Teams app, significantly speeding up search productivity.

How To Download Teams 2.0 and its Availability Roadmap

Classic Teams users on Windows and Mac will be automatically upgraded to Teams 2.0 in the coming months but can transition to the new client in a simple process.

Users must load their current Teams app before clicking the toggle in the top left corner of their app window titled “Try the new Teams”. Then click “Get it now” from the popup dialogue, and Teams will reboot in its 2.0 client.

Microsoft’s availability roadmap involves Teams 2.0 for Windows and Mac being in the Public Preview and Targeted Release Channel for October 2023. Its availability is listed for the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) in November 2023 and the Monthly Enterprise Channel in December 2023.

Its availability is scheduled for the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel, Semi-annual Extended, LTSC, and remaining channels next January. Government Cloud (GCC, GCC High) Preview and Government Cloud (DoD) Preview are both earmarked for March 2024 availability.



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