Microsoft has recently introduced new improvements to Office 365, by adding brand new SharePoint and Excel capabilities via the latest Office 365 update.
The technology giant recently shared interesting updates about SharePoint online – the new Yammer Web Part has now reached the “general available” stage and is ready for production use. Customers are now allowed to add conversations on Yammer into a SharePoint news site or page, where the feed will be displayed in three different configurations. However, there is a current limitation that only allows users to use group feeds for Yammer Web Part. Images associated with Yammer groups also cannot be displayed for the time being.
Moreover, Office 365 users will be able to enjoy other new tools arriving at the preview stage. This includes SharePoint Hub Sites, which acts as a portal for combining the Team Sites and Communication Sites on SharePoint.
Furthermore, the technology giant is also planning on releasing previews for improved features of the new SharePoint Admin Centre. Based on an announcement by SharePoint’s senior product marketing manager, Bill Baer, these previews will soon be made available to “targeted release” Office 365 subscribers.
As part of the new features, the “Site Management” blade of the Admin Centre is given a new button for the task of exporting data into the comma-separated value (CSV) format. This allows users to better visualise data via products such as Microsoft Power BI and Excel. From within the Admin Centre, IT experts will also have access to the function of saving custom views to be shared among all SharePoint administrators.
Baer also added that another preview – one for site-level sharing management capabilities within the SharePoint Admin Center – will be added. This function will firstly be made available for standalone sites, with a possible extension of this functionality to group-connected sites further down the track. Lastly, an improved searching and email-reading experience can also be expected in upcoming SharePoint Admin Center previews.
In terms of improvements within Microsoft Excel, Microsoft has been working on incorporating AI into Excel for enhancing data sources in a spreadsheet. Users will be able to enjoy “cloud-connected data types” which are built directly into Excel. This feature taps into the technology of Microsoft Knowledge Graph, a tool applied in Microsoft’s Bing search experience.
The latest cloud-connected date types that have been rolled out in Excel are the Stocks and Geometry date types. The perks of incorporating artificial intelligence into Excel spreadsheet functions are becoming increasingly apparent to end users. Excel is now able to automatically recognise date types, such as recognising the word “France” as a Geography date type. This allows users to change a plain text entry into a data source.
At WM Reply, we firmly believe that the continuing development of both Yammer and Excel can be a real asset to businesses. If you’re looking to introduce Yammer, Excel or both to your operations, we can offer professional advice on how to get the most out of them, so call us today.