M365 Roundup, May 2022: Bookings With Me Comes to Outlook

May 2022 is a scheduling month: Outlook picks up a personal booking page, meeting RSVPs learn the difference between in-person and virtual, and Teams keeps polishing calling and chat. The one licensing item, an upgrade path from Defender for Business standalone to Business Premium, is small but useful for partners moving SMBs up the stack. Here is everything relevant to MSPs from Microsoft's May announcements.

Exchange and Outlook: scheduling gets personal#

Bookings with me brings a personal scheduling page to Outlook (new feature)#

Bookings with me is designed to cut the back-and-forth of finding a meeting time while you keep control of your calendar. You create custom event types to share with others, and they pick a 1:1 slot that matches your availability and preferences. When someone books through your personal page, you both receive an email confirmation, and attendees can update or cancel scheduled meetings directly from your Bookings with me page.

The distinction from the existing product matters: Microsoft Bookings is built for group and team scheduling, while Bookings with me belongs to a single mailbox owner and runs only on that person's preferences and availability. It rolls out as a preview first, with a separate communication coming at general availability.

All users on the following subscriptions get Bookings with me by default:

• Office 365: A3, A5, E1, E3, E5, F1, F3
• Microsoft 365: A3, A5, E1, E3, E5, F1, F3, Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium

Rollout: mid-June 2022 (previously early June), completing late June.

Quarantine notifications can finally carry your branding (new feature)#

Admins can customize both the sender address and the subject line of quarantine notifications. For MSPs fielding "is this email real?" tickets every time a quarantine digest lands, a recognizable sender goes a long way.

Rollout: late July 2022, expected complete by early August.

RSVP grows up: Yes, Yes in-person, Yes virtually (new feature)#

Once deployed, accepting a meeting offers three options: Yes, Yes in-person, and Yes virtually. Everyone else on the invite can see each person's response, which makes hybrid meeting logistics visible before the meeting starts.

Rollout: mid-June 2022 (previously early June), completing late June.

Teams: four quality-of-life updates#

Suggested Replies arrive on desktop, default on (new feature)#

Suggested Replies present users with three response options for selected messages, now available in Teams Desktop. The feature ships enabled by default. To disable it tenant-wide, turn off the Suggested Replies setting under Messaging Policies in the Teams Admin Center; users also have an in-app setting to switch it off themselves.

Rollout: GA for Commercial and GCC around June 2022.

Exchange contacts appear in calling pickers (new feature)#

For customers with PSTN enabled, Exchange contacts with associated phone numbers show up in the dropdown of all calling people pickers, including the Dialer and call transfer.

Rollout: early May 2022, complete by mid-June.

Install a Teams app once, use it everywhere (new feature)#

Today, a user who adds an app in one chat has to repeat the installation when they try to use it in another chat. With this change, one install is enough: the app becomes usable anywhere in Teams without going through the install process again.

Rollout: mid-June 2022, expected complete by late June.

Audio Conferencing custom policies and multiple dial-in numbers (new feature)#

Two related improvements for organizations using Audio Conferencing. First, custom Audio Conferencing policies let you define the settings of multiple users with a single, centrally updated policy. Second, meeting invites can now include multiple toll and toll-free dial-in numbers drawn from your conferencing bridge, including numbers from different geographies, which helps users who regularly meet across regions.

Rollout: generally available.

Licensing: a path from Defender for Business standalone to Business Premium#

Partners helping customers move up from Defender for Business standalone to Microsoft 365 Business Premium now have two options: upgrade at renewal, or perform a mid-term upgrade.

Full details are in the Partner Center announcement: May 2022 announcements (opens in new tab).