M365 Roundup, June 2021: Teams Calls Get End-to-End Encryption

June 2021's standout is a security feature Teams skeptics said was years away: end-to-end encryption for 1:1 calls, with IT holding the keys to who gets it. The rest of the month splits between meeting quality-of-life (auto-recording, transcript search, chat bubbles) and two Exchange items with real admin homework, including an opt-out deadline of July 30, 2021. Everything relevant to MSPs from June, grouped by product.

Teams: encryption, recordings, and meeting controls#

End-to-end encryption for 1:1 calls (security update)#

End-to-end encryption means information is encrypted at its origin and decrypted at its destination, with no ability for intermediate nodes to decrypt. Teams will support an E2EE option for ad hoc 1:1 Teams VoIP calls, and IT keeps full control of who can use it.

For admins: a new policy adds a parameter to enable E2EE for 1:1 calls. The default value is OFF, so there is no impact until enabled, and it can be scoped to a set of users or the entire tenant.

For end users: if allowed by the admin, an E2EE option appears in settings, also OFF until the user switches it on. E2EE calls support only basic calling features, audio, video, screen share, chat. Advanced features like call escalation, transfer, record, and merge are not available.

To prepare:

• The first release supports basic calling only; advanced features like escalation, transfer, recording, and captions will not work on E2EE calls, and users see the limitations when they opt in.
• E2EE works only when both caller and receiver have it enabled.
• Desktop and mobile clients only.

Rollout: early July 2021, completing mid-July.

Meetings that record themselves (new feature)#

Meetings can start recording automatically when set to auto-record in meeting options, a fix for everyone who forgets the record button on a crucial call. Rolling out on desktop, mobile, and web.

Organizers check Record automatically on the Meeting Options page, for a single occurrence or a series. Recording starts when the first participant joins. The file saves to the initiator's OneDrive for privately scheduled meetings, to SharePoint for channel meetings, or to Stream for customers still on that platform. The initiator and organizer both get owner rights on the recording.

To prepare: no additional policy setup for tenant admins. The option appears when the organizer has AllowCloudRecording enabled.

Rollout: late June 2021, completing mid-July.

Search recordings by what was said (new feature)#

Previously, Teams meeting recordings were searchable only by meeting title. Microsoft Search will now find recordings based on the transcript, what was actually said, as well. Only meeting attendees have permission to see these recordings in search results and play them back.

Rollout: mid-July 2021 (previously mid-June), completing late July (previously late June).

Teams attendance report (new feature)#

Meeting organizers will be able to view the attendance report without downloading it, including joined registration and attendance data. The feature rolls out default OFF; admins enable the attendance dashboard by turning on the AllowEngagementReport policy:

Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -AllowEngagementReport Enabled

Rollout: early June 2021, completing by the end of August.

Chat bubbles (new feature)#

Meeting chat is where people participate without jumping in verbally, but tracking video, presentations, and chat simultaneously is hard. Chat bubbles surface chat messages on the main meeting screen.

Rollout: mid-July 2021, completing late July.

New Breakout Rooms assignment window (new feature)#

Organizers configuring Breakout Rooms on a Teams desktop client get a new modal window for participant assignment, with the ability to assign participants while rooms are closed and reassign them while rooms are open.

Rollout: mid-July 2021, completing late July.

Share device audio on iOS and Android (new feature)#

Meeting participants can hear device audio while a presenter shares audio-enabled content (videos, music, apps with audio) from mobile. An include-device-audio option appears next to the existing Share Screen option. Available only on iPhone and iPad running iOS 13 or later, and phones and tablets running Android 10 or later.

Rollout: late June 2021.

Edit SharePoint pages without leaving Teams (new feature)#

Users can edit modern SharePoint pages and news posts inside the Teams experience: pin a page or news post to a channel and make edits without switching apps.

Rollout: early June 2021, completing mid-June.

Exchange: a banner with a deadline, and a one-click phishing control#

Outlook extension for Edge recommendation (impacts end users)#

Some Windows 10 users on Outlook on the web or Outlook for Windows will see a clickable recommendation to visit the Outlook browser extension page in Edge. The notification displays in any Windows browser (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer) and in Outlook for Windows.

• Clicking the recommendation opens the Microsoft Outlook extension page in the Edge extension store.
• It shows as a dismissible header banner, at most three times per user in each app.
• Future promotions could appear in other locations.

What the banners look like in Outlook on the web and Outlook for Windows:

The extension itself is a mini Outlook on the web, showing email, calendar, contacts, and tasks as a one-click flyout from the Edge browser header:

Rollout: early May 2021, completing by early June.

To prepare: organizations that do not want users seeing the recommendation must opt out by July 30, 2021 by configuring the "Recommend the Microsoft Outlook Extension" policy in the Office Cloud Policy Service (OCPS). Instructions for creating an OCPS policy configuration are here (opens in new tab).

First contact safety tip joins Anti-Phishing policy (new feature)#

The first contact safety tip warns users about a suspicious email that could be a business email compromise attempt. The capability has existed since September 2020, configured through an Exchange transport rule (ETR), also called a mail flow rule.

The June change makes life easier for security admins and SecOps teams: opt in from the Anti-Phishing policy section with a single click instead of the multiple steps an ETR requires. If you already run an ETR for this, you can keep it and do nothing.

Rollout: late June 2021, completing by late August 2021.

SharePoint: users take control of notification email#

Email notification settings (new feature)#

Today users automatically receive email when someone likes or comments on a page or news post they created, when they are @mentioned in a comment or reply, when someone replies to one of their comments, plus weekly digests of news they might have missed. The new settings let users choose to receive none, some, or all of these notifications.

Rollout: early July 2021, completing late July.