What you need to know
- Microsoft announced several new features for Microsoft Teams at Build 2022.
- Developers will soon be able to enable in-app purchasing for Teams.
- Upcoming Live Share and Loop component features will make it easier to collaborate across Microsoft 365 in real-time.
- Microsoft announced many new ways to build and improve Teams apps.
At Build 2022, Microsoft announced a wide range of new features and capabilities for Windows 11, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft 365. Teams Live Share and Loop components were among the biggest announcements, but they certainly weren't the only options and features unveiled at the conference.
Live Share and Loop components
We covered both of these features in a separate post, but as a quick overview, Live Share lets people interact with content during a meeting. A demo from Microsoft showed meeting attendees working together on a 3-D model. The feature should make meetings more collaborative and interactive.
Loop components are elements that can sync across Microsoft 365. Imagine a table that can stay up to date across documents, presentations, and more. Soon, developers will be able to make Loop components from Adaptive Cards.
In-app purchasing and licensing
Starting today, Teams app developers can enable in-app purchasing. This lets applications shift from free to freemium, as explained by Microsoft. The new option can be implemented with a "few lines of code," which should allow for a simple transition for devs.
Microsoft is also making it simpler to manage and assign purchased licenses within Teams apps. In the past, developers had to build their own license management system. Starting this summer, devs will have the option to hand over license management to Microsoft.
Improving discoverability
A new central experience is rolling out within the Teams Store. This will help users identify which apps they're using across different teams and group chats. Microsoft is also improving how app discovery works within context. The company shared an example of composing a message and having a message extensions organized by tasks a person could take.
Microsoft is also adding the ability to add an app to Teams using a link or QR code, which should simplify the process of getting apps onto mobile devices.
Collaboration Controls
Microsoft announced Collaboration Controls in Power Apps that allow developers to drag and droop Microsoft 365 collaboration features into apps built with Power apps. These include features for Teams chats, meetings, files, and Tasks by Planner. The new options will be available in summer 2022. Microsoft has an on-demand session that goes into more detail on the topic.
Building new apps
Several of the new features on the way to Teams are for building new applications. Microsoft announced the Azure Communication Services sample app builder today, which lets developers build and deploy simple apps for virtual environments.
Improved Microsoft Graph APIs allow developers to embed Teams chats directly within applications. This smooths the end-user experience by reducing how many apps a customer has to use.
Microsoft also announced the availability to the Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code and Teams Toolkit for CLI, the first of which is a "one stop shop to start building collaborative apps with Teams," according to Microsoft.
Working together
Microsoft introduced Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD) APIs for Approvals within Teams. These new tools should make it easier to track changes. The new Approvals APIs will be available in preview later this summer.
SharePoint also gained a new capability for content collaboration. The SharePoint Framework can now be used to create parts and pages in SharePoint sites, Teams apps, and more.
New apps coming to Teams
In addition to the new features for the Teams platform that are on the way, Microsoft announced a collection of apps that are on the way to Teams:
- Bosch Cognitive Service Maintenance app
- Figma
- MURAL app
- Observable app
- SAP S/4HANA operational purchaser chatbot
- ServiceDesk Plus Cloud app from
