Binge watch all the new SharePoint deeper dive demos in our Microsoft Mechanics video playlist
If you want to binge watch all of what's new and coming to SharePoint, check out the Microsoft Mechanics SharePoint Virtual Summit 2017 demo playlist. We feature the engineers behind the technology updates across Communication Sites, OneDrive, mobile, Team Sites and more. First up: Communication Sites, but the rest will roll in automatically
Hidden gems at Ignite: A conference guide from the SharePoint product team
Hi everyone! My name is Adam Harmetz and I run the Program Management team for SharePoint team sites, portals, biz apps & dev platform. I’m thrilled to be spending time with the community next week in Atlanta – the fantastic SP community is one of the main reasons I’m still working on SharePoint after joining the team 11 years ago. I sat in on over 17 hours of Ignite content reviews this past week – there is a fantastic amount of great content and the team is working overtime to get everything ready for the show. Of course, as you’d expect there are the various overview sessions (like Jeff Teper’s SharePoint keynote) and here’s a handy graphic Mark Kashman and I are using in our talk that highlights the major overview sessions in each aspect of the modern Intranet: What I wanted to share here was how you can get beyond the overview sessions and into some of the deep dives that often don’t get as much attention. We are doing some unique new types of talks this year and new types of speakers (designers, developers, security experts, accessibility drivers). If you are looking for the hidden gems or interesting spin on a topic, these suggestions might help: Behind the scenes: How we engineer SharePoint. Last time I was on a cruise ship, I paid extra to take the tour of the engine room and the bridge. I’m the type of person who loves to peak behind the curtains, and I know there are many of the same type of people coming to Ignite. We have two sessions for you here: BRK3246 Looking behind the scenes at how we're making SharePoint's front end/UX modern, responsive, and open looks at the client-side, SharePoint Framework-powered front end UX architecture (where the speakers are a design developer and a director of engineering!) and BRK3031 Peak Behind the Scenes of running and building SharePoint Online talks about deployment and back end tech from Zach who manages all our COGs and hardware purchasing. MVP + Product Team == Awesome. There are a ton of MVP talks and of course a lot of talks from the product team, but in a few cases, we decided to team up and join forces! Tejas and Eric are describing the latest How To guidance in branding with BRK3025 – Learn Best Practices for customizing and branding team sites. And I’m teaming up with Laura Roger to talk about the new experiences through the lens of customer adoption with BRK2041 – Get the most out of the new SharePoint. AMAs! I visited the Exchange conference (MEC) a few years ago and was impressed by some of the talks they did where the engineering team just took questions from the audience for the entire time. We figured we’d try it so on Thursday a bunch of us leaders across product, design, and development will answer whatever you ask with BRK2295 – Unplug with the experts on SharePoint and OneDrive. The MVP community is doing something similar with BRK225: Learn from MVPS: panel discussion on all things SharePoint. Build it live on stage! SharePoint has a long tradition of having a bit of fun with a session where we get multiple people up there building cool sites live on stage. It’s a great way to let the product itself do the talking. This time, Jeremy and Emma will be building a team site from the very first “create site” click. Check out BRK2247 – Watch us bring together the best features a team needs to get the most out of the modern SharePoint. Go WAY deep with the new SharePoint Framework. In BRK4015 – Build Client Side Webparts for Microsoft SharePoint, Chaks is going to go as detailed as you can go with SPFx (frankly, I didn’t even know there WAS such a thing as a 4000-level session code!). We did a similar talk at our internal TechReady conference in July and it was ranked the very top Office session of the entire conference. Meet the Security Experts. Five minutes – let alone 75 minutes – with Matt Swann will change your worldview about the cloud. Honestly, if you ever work with him, you’ll see he’s one of those people you’ll remember working with when you look back on your career. Hear from the guy in charge of SharePoint security directly in BRK3032 – Learn how SharePoint safeguards your data in the cloud Talk to coders! Our director of engineering and the development manager of a large chunk of our UX investments will be laying down the knowledge in BRK3026 - Learn how to build a fast, responsive portal in SharePoint Online. Part of coming to Ignite is hearing directly from those who write code – and together Russ and John have decades and decades of experience. Change Management: We’ve heard you! Many of you (including on this very forum), have given us feedback about what you expect from us as we roll out new UX. We added a session on it to both share our strategy and continue the conversation and feedback. If you have opinions on how we roll out new functionality, join Zohar at BRK2297: Learn how we move fast without breaking things by managing change in SharePoint Online SharePoint Dev’s Secret Weapon: PNP. Vesa was recently sharing with me the usage and community engagement stats from the SharePoint Patterns and Practices site and github – they floored me. It’s such a great virtuous cycle and we are starting to bring some of the scenarios from PNP directly into the product based upon our learnings. If you are a SharePoint dev, you must go to Vesa’s BRK2115 – Learn about PNP and the new SharePoint Framework. Geek out on very specific parts of the product. What would a SharePoint conference be without some sessions that dive incredibly deep into one aspect of the product? Three stand out to me here: an entire session just on doclibs with BRK2043 Review SharePoint Document Libraries: what’s new, what’s coming, and when to use what, a session just on the various ways you can create site templates with BRK3027 Learn best practices for creating and managing Site Templates, and a session on our new mobile apps with BRK2037 Explore what’s coming with the SharePoint apps Accessibility and Inclusive Design. At Microsoft, we take designing for all needs and abilities seriously as a core part of our processes. This year at Ignite, we are starting to open up and talk about that work a bit more and provide guidance for you. Melissa, who has been running our accessibility efforts in SharePoint for many years now, has some great guidance in BRK2214 Ensure your intranet sites are inclusive for people with disabilities. There are a lot more talks at the conference, of course (188 tagged with SharePoint) – including some great talks from the community. I didn’t include the community talks here because I didn’t help prep for those, but they are some of my favorite personally to attend myself. If you have any questions about how to maximize your time at the conference next week, feel free to leave us comments!Upcoming SharePoint mobile beta testing - winding down
Hi everyone… first, thanks so much for participating in the external beta! Your feedback has been great, and we really appreciate your insight and dedication to helping us make this a great update. With that, we will be starting to rollout the updated production version to the app stores this week. It will be a gradual rollout, so it won’t be available to everyone at once. We are anticipating the rollout to take a few weeks. In the meantime, you can continue using the beta versions, or you can get back on the production train. To get back to production… For iOS: Remove the TestFlight version and reinstall the version from the App Store. When the new update is available, you’ll get it as you have before through the App Store. For Android: You’ll need to exit the Alpha via the following link: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.microsoft.sharepoint. And then uninstall the Alpha version of the app. You can then go to the PlayStore to get the production version. Note that it may take a few hours to get you off of Alpha back to production. Again, in both cases above you may not see the updated version of the app in the stores for a bit, as the rollout continues. Thanks again for your help, and keep the feedback coming! We are always interested to hear what you think about the product and how we can make it better. Nate and the SharePoint mobile team >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi all… we are now ready for beta testing. iOS and Android are ready! You should be receiving an email from Apple/Testflight soon that will walk you through the steps for getting the iOS beta. For Android, if you installed the placeholder alpha build, you should get an update later today or tomorrow. If you haven’t installed it yet, you can get it from the instructions below. In both cases, it’s SharePoint online only for now. With that, welcome to the new Find tab and the updated SharePoint app look and feel. Both of these changes reflect our desire to make the app as effective and valuable to you as possible. This includes a few things. First, continuing to update the experiences you know and expect, per feedback. Second, ensuring that we are aligned in the key areas with the web as it continues to improve and innovate. Finally, looking at ways that we make the app great from a mobile scenario perspective. That is, what are the key improvements we can make that are unique to mobile and/or demonstrate the power of SharePoint, but from a mobile point of view. The changes you’ll see in the beta reflect all three of the above factors, but focus mainly on the third. What you can expect: A new layout that aligns to two key areas. First, getting to and finding the content that’s important to you. This is the Find tab. It brings all of the content you care about into one easily scrollable view. You’ll see… Improved search. Better results, better suggestions. Your sites, the people you work with, and your organization featured links Your recent files Popular queries in your organization Quick access. Initially, this section shows you the last three items (people, pages, news, lists, files) you’ve accessed in the app. And check out the menus for sites! You can quickly get to the site content you care about from the menu, saving you a few steps. The second area is your news. No major changes here, but you’ll see an improved layout. Your feedback is very appreciated, so definitely play around with the app and let us know what you think! And this is just the continuation of our journey. There is so much more to come beyond this release! Thanks Nate and the SharePoint mobile team >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi all… I’m Nate Clinton, and I’m a program manager on the SharePoint mobile engineering team. As you may have seen at the recent SharePoint conference, big things are happening in the mobile space! We are updating the user interface to better reflect our core “user jobs”: 1) Finding content and getting answers, 2) being the place to get notified about what’s important in your SharePoint world, and 3) being the place to consume your news content. This is a journey, but we are nearing a point at which we’ll be ready to release the first update. To ensure we deliver the right experience for you all, we’d love to get your feedback on the beta version. We are targeting late June to start the beta program. If you are interested in being an early previewer of the updated SharePoint mobile app, check out the steps below. A few logistical notes: The beta is primarily for SharePoint Online users at this time. Some of these features may be coming to on-premises, but that timeline is still tbd. When the first beta build is ready, you’ll be notified through the below described platform mechanisms. We’ll use this community to post updates, progress reports, etc. So be sure to check back! We are still building features and fixing issues. So things may be a bit rocky here and there 😊 Android beta testing Go to the following URL from your phone to opt-in to the SharePoint mobile for Android Alpha program: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.microsoft.sharepoint You’ll be presented with instructions welcoming you to the program You are all set! You can also join our beta community by going to the following URL and clicking Accept. We’ll monitor that community (along with this one) for feedback. https://plus.google.com/communities/117774018198464711938?sqinv=TFRMU1ZfOG51dWxXT1lkUEk2SzhNZlBGTmtpSm1R Note that, until we release the beta build, you’ll continue to get the current production build via the alpha program. We’ll let you know when the first beta build is ready! iOS beta testing To test on iOS, you’ll need to use the TestFlight app. To get started, send your email address to natec@microsoft.com. This email address will be used by Apple to send you the invite. From there, you can install the TestFlight app, and then our app. The TestFlight app will let you know when there are updates. If you are already a beta tester (from previous iOS testing), you should be good to go! Thanks for your help with this! We are very excited about the changes, and we’re eager to hear your feedback. The SharePoint mobile teamNew web parts for your modern communications in SharePoint Online
The SharePoint team is excited to announce we're adding three new web parts to the toolbox when creating team news articles and modern pages: Image gallery Bing maps Quick charts These new web parts are rolling out to First Release customers now… Note: only tenants that have First Release (FR) set to on for the entire tenant will see these features. Per user first release flighting is not applicable when creating new content that could be seen/viewed by non FR enabled users. What are modern pages you ask? “Modern team site pages are fast, easy to author and support rich multimedia content. And pages look great on any device, in a browser or from within the SharePoint app. Using pages is a great way to communicate and share your ideas—such as status and trip reports, how-to write-ups, know-before-you-go guides and frequently asked questions.” - from our blog post last year. Image gallery The Image gallery web part lets you share collections of pictures on a page. Simply select your images with the file picker, or drag them on to the web part. Once you’ve built your collection, you can reorder them with drag and drop as well. We support two beautiful layouts today: Tiles layout Mobile Larger screens Carousel layout Mobile Larger screens You can also add additional information about each image such as: Image title Image description Alternative text Looking forward, we will be listening to customer feedback and adding more layouts and features that highlight your images beautifully on pages. Bing maps This web part makes it easy to add a map to your page. Simply enter an address or a well-known location name, and your map dynamically appears. If you want to pick a different map type, you can of course do that... as well as change the zoom level, label your map pin with a friendly name, etc. Mobile Larger screens Depending upon your location, Bing maps may not support some map styles (e.g. Streetside view isn't available everywhere). Quick charts The Quick chart web part allows you to easily visualize simple data on your page. Enter your data points with labels, pick your chart type, and publish. We support two chart types today: Column Mobile Larger screens Pie Mobile Larger screens We have a lot more web parts in the works, some of which you can see highlighted in this session “Discover the new SharePoint content publishing experiences” (link jumps right to web part section); from #MSIgnite. As always, let us know what you think, and where we should invest more time. Thanks, The SharePoint TeamNEW "People Experiences" throughout Office 365
UPDATE: you can now view the on-demand video recording of the "Discover what's new and what's coming for Office Delve" day 1 breakout session from #MSIgnite 2016. Microsoft today is introducing new “people experiences” throughout Office 365. “People experiences” in Office 365 help employees stay in the know – by finding content through people they work with; find and share expertise; and connect with each other in one click – all within context, and within the apps and experiences they already use today. The announcements cover three main offerings: • NEW Delve Windows 10 app for desktop and mobile • Intelligent people cards throughout Office 365 • Updates to Office 365 profile pages Please review the new blog post on blogs.office.com to learn more, “Connect to expertise and content with new people experiences throughout Office 365" and install Delve app for Windows 10 now! :robothappy: Customers are faced with information and document overload. And often the real trick is not what you know, but who you know. And then stretch that a tad more to say it’s really what “they know” that promotes a gain in productivity. “People Experiences” help our customers tap into the power and value of other people – each other – promoting intuitive, proactive knowledge sharing. It helps businesses build a more open, informed and proactive network – one that improves who knows who, and who benefits from what others know. We look forward to hearing what you think, Mark Full URL for the new blog if you need to copy/paste: https://blogs.office.com/2016/09/26/connect-to-expertise-and-content-with-new-people-experiences-throughout-office-365/Shipped to First Release: Discovering the SharePoint mobile apps
Today, we shipped the first of many features to help people get even more out of SharePoint by finding and downloading the SharePoint mobile apps! Your SharePoint Home experience will now feature a “Get the mobile app” button at the bottom of the page. Selecting the button will open a new tab with information about the apps across iOS, Android, and the Windows 10 platforms. Coming soon, users will also be able to email or use sms to send themselves an app invite. The SharePoint mobile apps work with SharePoint Online in Office 365, SharePoint Server (2013 and 2016) on-premises and your hybrid environment. This feature is currently shipped to First Release and will be expanded to the rest of Production in the next few weeks. We’re eager to hear your feedback and use it to continuously provide the best SharePoint Home experience. Send us inputs via comments in this thread, posts and votes to SharePoint UserVoice, or through the feedback option on SharePoint Home itself.Modern Publishing Sites
Hello, Are there any news regarding the Modern Publishing Sites that should complement the Modern Team Sites? We're really waiting for those to be released in order to kick-off our new intranet project. To avoid any misunderstanding I'm talking about this kind of publishing experience: Thank you in advance, BenWhat's new in the mobile & intelligent intranet: VIDEO
Want to know what's new in SharePoint, and what the mobile & intelligent intranet featuring productive & dynamic team sites can do for you and your team? My Tech Summit presentation is now available on YouTube. Share away! PLEASE feel free to put the YouTube embed code in your blogs, company newsletters, etc.
