Microsoft Teams gains new features each month, often by the dozen. It can be a bit difficult to keep track of what has shipped and what's on the way to Teams across various platforms.
Microsoft publishes regular posts outlining new features and we often highlight our favorites, but it's still easy to miss a new option or design improvement.
Rather than look back at what has already shipped, I'm going to look forward to my three favorite Microsoft Teams features that are set to ship over the coming months.
All three of these features appear on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, so release dates are subject to change. But if all goes to plan, they should ship in June or July.
First up is the ability to share a file in a chat with an external user. This feature is expected in July 2025 and should make it much easier to share documents and other content with people outside of your organization. The expanded capability will mean you can share files with external users in group chats or one-to-one chats.
Sharing files outside of an organization is often limited due to security requirements, but there are times you need to send a document to an external user. The new option in Teams should reduce the friction in that process currently.
Second is a feature also covered by our friends at TechRadar: support for configurable keyboard shortcuts. This feature should arrive very soon, potentially within the week. It will make it possible to set a keyboard shortcut to a specific action by clicking on the ellipsis menu within Teams and selecting "Keyboard shortcuts" from the menu.
I'm all for customization, whether that be picking emojis, design elements, or actions. Who doesn't love memorizing a new keyboard shortcut to get work done quicker?
Lastly, Teams will soon provide a better experience for sign language users. The app will soon clearly identify interpreters throughout a meeting. Teams will also detect people who use sign language and elevate them to active speaker status.
Several of my friends use sign language, including multiple that have worked as interpreters. Video calls and meetings present unique challenges for communication, and the new features for Teams should make communication within the app more inclusive. The new features related to sign language are expected to ship in July.
