A few weeks ago, Microsoft started rolling out the new Teams apps for both Windows and Mac. However, the company is still adding new features for both the new Teams app as well as the older "classic" versions. Today, it announced that a new Channels revamp is now generally available for both classic and new Teams apps.
In a blog post, Microsoft stated that its reason for refreshing the Channels experience on Teams was because it noticed "that many customers were not using channels to their full capacity." The new user interface is designed to help users find the information they need, while also keeping their focus on their main topics.
The blog post points out a number of the new Channels features, including a new conversation view. Microsoft states:
The new conversation view in channels allows team members to identify which channel topic to focus on, one conversation at a time. Users can quickly scan the conversation, easily come back at any time to find content, and reply directly to a thread synchronously, just like a chat. Popping out the post will allow you to keep an eye on the discussion while continuing to work on other topics. Pinning a post will flag its importance to the channel’s members and enable you to quickly come back to it for future reference.
The new Channels revamp will continue to place the most recent posts and the compose box at the bottom by default, but users can quickly switch those features to the top of Channels. The information pane for each channel has also received a new look to show off the channel's description, its members, and any pinned posts.
Microsoft is also testing a new search experience in Channels via a public preview:
Search within a specific channel and have the results displayed in the right pane of the screen. In a single view, you will be able to quickly glance at your search results as well as the channel interface, without leaving your flow of work. After selecting a search result, you are taken to that specific message in the channel post.
The compose box itself has been refreshed as well to give users ways to begin chats about specific topics, or to announce a new team milestone.
2 Comments - Add comment