Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Everything new in Microsoft Teams announced at Build 2021

By

Microsoft Teams is usually a big highlight at Microsoft’s Build developer conference, and that was the case again this year. There were several key updates announced for Teams that should be rolling out through the rest of 2021, mainly for developers.

Following the launch of Teams apps for meetings last year, Microsoft is following up to give developers more opportunities in this area. Developers are now able to build apps for the main stage in the meeting.

Recommended Videos

For you, this means more in-meeting experiences such as whiteboard apps and project board apps. Developers can also use new meeting event APIs in Teams to automate meeting-related workflows.

Other changes include the ability for developers to create new Together mode scenes. There’s also the ability for developers to have real-time access to video streams for transcription, translation, note-taking, insight gathering, and more.

Microsoft

As for the actual app-building process, Microsoft is now rolling out a dedicated app-management console (now known as the Developer portal for Microsoft Teams) that’s available via the web or within Teams. This is for developers to register and configure apps within a single, central location.

Other developer-related changes rolling out to Teams include new support for Message extensions in Outlook on the Web. This makes it easier for developers to code one extension that works across and pulls info from Outlook. Then, there’s the Adaptive Cad support in Teams and Outlook, which allows developers to easily share user interface data across both Microsoft services.

Microsoft

Finally, there are Fluid components in Microsoft Teams chat. With this developer feature, users can send a message with a table, action items, or a list that can be co-authored and edited by everyone in line, minimizing the need for long chat threads and meetings.

Some other changes rolling out include the ability to purchase third-party app license subscriptions directly from the Microsoft Teams app store and Teams admincenter. Microsoft even updated the Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code in preview, so less code is needed to build Teams apps.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
The most common Microsoft Teams problems and how to fix them
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Microsoft Teams was introduced in 2017 as a unified communication and collaboration platform aimed at helping businesses and organizations get things done. Microsoft leveraged the company's existing Office software experience and created a unified experience between Teams, Office 365, and Skype for Business. However, as with all software, things don't always go according to plan. Sometimes you can run into Teams problems.

We're big Teams users here at Digital Trends -- it's our go-to communication and meeting tool -- and we've come across a few issues ourselves over the years. In the event you're having Microsoft Teams issues, here's how to fix some of the most common problems.

Read more
Microsoft announces a new threat to push people to Windows 11
Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating system logos are displayed on laptop screens.

Microsoft is sharing more details of its plans to transition customers still using Windows 10 from a free offering to a paid structure if they wish to continue receiving security updates.

The company is phasing out the legacy operating system, which will reach its end-of-life support on October 14, 2025. After this, Microsoft will begin charging enterprise users a monthly fee for Extended Security Updates (ESU). Businesses must purchase an ESU license for all Windows 10 devices in order to maintain security support beyond the cutoff date.

Read more
How Intel and Microsoft are teaming up to take on Apple
An Intel Meteor Lake system-on-a-chip.

It seems like Apple might need to watch out, because Intel and Microsoft are coming for it after the latter two companies reportedly forged a close partnership during the development of Intel Lunar Lake chips. Lunar Lake refers to Intel's upcoming generation of mobile processors that are aimed specifically at the thin and light segment. While the specs are said to be fairly modest, some signs hint that Lunar Lake may have enough of an advantage to pose a threat to some of the best processors.

Today's round of Intel Lunar Lake leaks comes from Igor's Lab. The system-on-a-chip (SoC), pictured above, is Intel's low-power solution made for thin laptops that's said to be coming out later this year. Curiously, the chips weren't manufactured on Intel's own process, but on TSMC's N3B node. This is an interesting development because Intel typically sticks to its own fabs, and it even plans to sell its manufacturing services to rivals like AMD. This time, however, Intel opted for the N3B node for its compute tile.

Read more