Small business owners running Microsoft Teams on Web are getting a bunch of interesting new features. In a new blog post, Microsoft has highlighted a quartet of new features coming to the web version of its Teams workplace communication/collaboration service.
While these features are targeting small businesses, they can theoretically be used by any user of Microsoft Teams on Web.
First up is the introduction of background effects coming to Teams on Web. This is a good example at a small business feature that any user will find useful. Essentially, it brings custom backgrounds to the web version of Teams for the first time:
“Custom backgrounds are now available to web users. You can blur your background or select from Microsoft-provided backgrounds during your video meeting or call, making your meetings more fun and personal. Note that blurring or replacing your background may not prevent sensitive information from being visible to other people in the meeting.”
Another useful feature is CART captioning, allowing users to view captions from CART (real-time captioning) services directly within Teams. This means users no longer need to open another window for captioning:
“You can now view captions coming from a CART provider (real-time captioning) within the Microsoft Teams meeting window instead of a secondary window. Follow along with what is being said without having to choose between the captions and the presentation. Meeting organizers and participants can enable CART captions from their meeting options.”
More Features
Sticking with captioning, Microsoft Teams on Web now supports live captions in all available languages. This expansion brings live captioning to 27 new languages:
“Live captions with speaker attribution allows you to see who is speaking along with what's being said, making meetings more inclusive and easier to follow along. We have expanded to 27 new spoken languages, including German, Portuguese (Brazil), Japanese, and Hindi, to name a few. This provides flexibility and additional clarity for your participants to engage in meetings.”
Similarly, Microsoft is introducing live transcripts to all currently supported languages on Teams Meetings on Web. Users can now track conversations and read them later from a video meeting or audio.
“This promotes inclusivity for participants who have hearing disabilities or different levels of language proficiency. Attendees who joined late, or missed the meeting, can easily catch up by reading what was discussed from the transcript. We have also expanded to 27 new spoken languages, including German, Portuguese (Brazil), Japanese, and Hindi. Tenant admins have to turn on the Allow transcription policy to enable this feature.”
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