Full guest access is finally starting to roll out to Microsoft Teams. The feature has long been in the works, and previously, after being delayed in June, was at least partially rolled out in September for those with Azure Active Directory accounts. With its latest expansion, which will start rolling out next week, Microsoft says anyone with a business or consumer email account, including Outlook and Gmail accounts, can be allowed to access Teams as a guest.
Guest access can come in handy when an organization needs to allow someone from outside the team, such as a freelancer or contractor, to access chats or participate in meetings. Guests can be invited to a team by selecting the "Add Members" option in the menu next to your team name. From there, you enter the guest's email address and they will receive a welcome email with information about the team. According to Microsoft, if the guest doesn't yet have a Microsoft Account associated with their email address, they'll be directed to create one.
Once a guest accepts the invitation, they can then participate in chats, meetings, and collaborate on documents. Guests will be identified on a team with text and icons throughout Teams, so members can easily identify them.
Alongside revealing Teams guest access, Microsoft also provided a quick recap of everything new in Office 365 this month. Most of what's new, including Word's Resume Assistant and changes to Windows and Office servicing were already covered earlier in February. However, Microsoft also revealed a few other, smaller tidbits added this month.
In Word, users will now be able to add some finishing touches to their documents with a new Editor overview pane. "While you're editing a document, Editor overview shows a summary of opportunities for enhancement with corrections, refinements, and stylistic suggestions that take into account the context of the overall document, allowing you to make changes linearly or by category," Microsoft says. Additionally, StaffHub users will now be able to quickly access the service from the Office 365 App Launcher. A new "StaffHub Now" tab also serves up a preview of your workday with notes, activities, and breaks at a glance.
