What you need to know
- Microsoft announced that its Loop app is now in private preview at Ignite 2022.
- The Loop app allows users to collaborate on projects through workspaces, pages, and components that sync across Microsoft 365.
- Microsoft also announced several new options for Loop components, including inserting polls into Word for the web documents and copying a Loop component to Whiteboard in Teams.
Microsoft Loop components allow people to work together across Microsoft 365. They consist of pieces of content that sync across apps, emails, and chats. Microsoft has been working on Loop since last year and announced several new features for it at Ignite 2022.
The Microsoft Loop app is now in private preview. In it, people can use workspaces, pages, and components to collaborate. Any changes made to these elements will sync throughout Microsoft 365. The company plans to get feedback from private preview users to shape the future of the app.
Microsoft is also expanding Loop components to be usable in more ways within the Microsoft 365 suite. It will soon be possible to insert polls, checklists, or task list components within Word for the web documents. Summoning content involves typing the @ sign and selecting suggested items.
Copying an existing Loop component to Whiteboard in Teams will be possible as well. Users will be able to do so on either the web or desktop.
By the end of 2022, poll components powered by Microsoft Forms will sync across Outlook on the web and Word for the web. This should help users keep track of survey responses, quiz answers, and word clouds as they're updated by people.
Microsoft will also introduce a Q&A Loop component type that will let people collect answers in real-time. That feature will roll out in November 2022.
In addition to gaining new capabilities, Loop components will have new security options. Users will be able to encrypt components by marking them as confidential, restricting access, or highlighting the fact that sensitive data is being shown. They'll also have Data Loss Prevention similar to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
