Microsoft is unlocking the "Full Potential" of Private Channels in Microsoft Teams: What You Need to Know

on
It has been a while since I posted something just about a Microsoft Teams update, as a lot have been Copilot in Teams to be honest. But here is a real Microsoft Teams update I think is worth knowing about, and it involves Security and Compliance as well. Microsoft is rolling out a "major" update to private channels in Teams, starting in late September 2025 and continuing through mid-December. This biggest change in this update is a shift in how private channel data is stored from individual user mailboxes to a dedicated channel mailbox. Not only will this simplifie compliance management, it will also and align private channels with shared channels, making governance and experience more consistent across Teams. This update promises to increase the support up to 1000 channels per team and 5000 members per channel, removing previous limitations. Teams will also allow meetings to be scheduled directly within private channels, enhancing collaboration.  For organizations using Micr...

New releases, and more from the world of Teams - October

on

Ignite
It's been almost a month since Microsoft Ignite, and although there were plenty of news regarding Teams, the Teams team have been working hard to bring us even more the past few weeks. Here is a recap of the last month.

First of all, if you haven't caught up with all the news from Ignite, take a look at this collection of breakout sessions: Unleash productivity with these Microsoft Teams breakout sessions at Microsoft Ignite
If you want to get the highlight of a few, but important sessions, take a look at what the Teams MVP's have been blogging about: Microsoft Teams Events Blog

Just after Ignite, Microsoft published the following "what's new in Teams": September 28

Administration and Training
Microsoft has been publishing a lot of training videos for admins and end-users. You can also sign up for instructor led courses right here: Instructor-led training for Microsoft Teams

If you are planning on an upgrade from Skype to Teams, here is a couple of videos to get you started:

For those who worry about rights required to manage teams within O365, here are some news on the new administrative roles: Use Microsoft Teams admin roles to manage Teams

Software updates
All desktop clients and the IOS mobile client have been updated, and the related information can be found on the following pages:

Skype for Business Room Systems

Skype for Business MSI Desktop Client October 2018 Update

Skype for Business for Mac

Teams for iOS

Important note on TLS
As announced earlier, the official support for older TLS versions ends on October 31st. TLS 1.0 and 1.1 won't be turned off, but may stop working as parts of the infrastructure gets updated. If you happen to use LPE (Lync phone edition) devices, there will be no support if problem arises. It's time to upgrade to newer models or just phase them out.

Take a look at the officially supported devices going forward: https://office.com/teamsdevices

Office server 2019 releases
Microsoft announced the release of the 2019 servers this week: