The new and improved Microsoft Teams app is now generally available
If your company uses Microsoft Teams as its communication platform, then Teams is the cornerstone of everyday interactions, including calls, messages, calendars, and more. Microsoft developed a new and improved Teams app to optimize your workplace collaborations.
Microsoft first announced the new Teams app in March, which would be faster, boast an upgraded user interface, have AI enhancements, and be an overall upgrade from the Classic Teams.
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On Thursday, Microsoft announced that after months of waiting, the new Microsoft Teams app for Windows and Mac is generally available, moving out of public preview.
As originally promised, the new Teams takes up to 50% less memory usage and disk space by making Edge WebView2 the new app host. This makes the new Teams much faster than the previous version.
Mac users may experience a significant performance boost, with the ability to switch between chats more quickly and have a faster scrolling experience.
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The new Teams' user interface is simplified and personalizable for users to have more UI control and get more done in fewer clicks.
Other UI features include "mark all as read" in chats or channels, more efficient keyboard shortcut integration, support for color sensitivity, and light and dark themes that adjust to the mode on your operating system.
The new Teams also features a multi-tenant organizations (MTO) capability, which allows organizations that have multiple tenants (typically occurring after mergers and acquisitions) to have a more seamless experience when collaborating with coworkers in other MTO groups.
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The most exciting application of the new Teams is that it will serve as a foundation for AI experiences like Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant.
With Copilot in Teams, users will be able to get AI-generated summaries, action items, and decisions based on their Teams conversations, as well as get assistance in video calls by having Copilot summarize key discussion points.
Accessing the new Teams will be simple since Classic Teams users will automatically be upgraded to the new Teams in the coming months, according to Microsoft.