August Update for Webex Teams

Wait until you see the new Webex Teams design! There are lots of exciting new features to look forward to this month…

Say goodbye to typos! (Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android)

Edit Message is here! Is everyone as excited as I am? At last, no more copying, deleting and pasting every time we make a mistake! Now, when we see an embarrassing typo in that message we sent, we can edit it with just one click. This will be very helpful for those awkward situations where you accidently send a message with incorrect information, or before it’s fully typed. It takes the stress off hitting send, right?

Buttons and Cards (Windows and Mac)

Bots and integrations are great! They save us time, effort, and sometimes even provide us with a little bit of entertainment. However, for the less technical among us, it can be hard to figure out how to productively communicate with a bot, let alone build one for yourself. Well, that’s all about to get a lot more straightforward!

Buttons and Cards provide an easier way to interact with bots and integrations. The ‘Cards’ will appear as forms sent by bots in a space. They can include buttons, drop-down menus, radio buttons, text fields… the list goes on! The forms will also look sleek with rich text formatting, columns and even images.

What can beat a nice User Interface with a simple point and click process? Even I can manage that.

Developers can update current bots or build new ones leveraging this feature. A great example of where this is going to be helpful is with the Jira bot. You will be able to quickly create or update tickets right from Webex Teams. For more information, take a look here: https://developer-portal-intb.ciscospark.com/blog/new-buttons-cards-webex-teams

App Alignment – Check out the new Webex Teams design! (Windows & Mac)

As you may have already heard, we are aligning our design across the Cisco Collaboration App portfolio to deliver a unified, consistent experience for our users. This is to ensure that they have a familiar calling, messaging and meeting experience, regardless of which app or device they happen to be using. This update includes several visual enhancements to the look and feel of Webex Teams:

• The Home icon (where your spaces are) is now going to be a Chat bubble. This aligns Teams with Jabber’s iconography.
• Your avatar (profile photo) and the menu that comes with it, are moving to the first column. This means you will be able to get to your profile, status, or settings no matter where you are in the app.
• The ‘Light Mode’ theme is changing a little too. The first column is going to be permanently dark and the second column where your spaces are listed is changing to a slightly different shade of grey.
• This update brings you quicker access to calling and screensharing. By pulling these activities out of the space activity menu, users are just one click away from starting a call or screen share. You’ll see these options now in the header of a space next to the menu button.
• Speaking of the menu button, the icon for this (occasionally known as the ‘waffle’ button) has been updated to align with Jabber’s three dot ellipsis.

For more information on the visual updates coming to Webex Teams this month, check out this blog: https://blog.webex.com/team-collaboration/webex-teams-design-update/

Bring your Brand to your Users

The visual updates don’t stop there! This August, we are providing the ability for our users (well, our user administrators!) to co-brand their Webex Teams application with their very own color and logo. Admins will be able to apply their chosen logo and color to the first column – on the left side of the app –where their avatar will now be. The company logo will appear just above the avatar for all corporate users. This allows companies to ensure that both their brand and their corporate identity can be reflected in the application experience they provide to their users.

Find out how to co-brand your app here: https://help.webex.com/en-us/np8ictm/Add-Your-Company-Branding-to-Webex-Teams

Use Virtual Stickies on your Digital Whiteboards! (Windows and Mac)

Since the discovery of technology, pieces of stickie paper coming in all different shapes, sizes and colors were at the heart of all software development. These became commonly known as ‘stickie notes’ or simply ‘stickies’. Stickies are great for brainstorming ideas, creating Kanban boards, or just keeping track of things you need to get done. Now, you can create and add virtual stickies to our digital whiteboards! Choose the color, the text, and the position of the stickie on your board. Combined with infinite whiteboard, the possibilities for stickies are endless! It’s time to get creative.

Seamlessly Forward Messages from Space to Space

I don’t know about you, but I tend to lose count of how many times a day I copy or screenshot a message from one space, search for another space to send it to, paste it, and type some context before finallyhitting send. At last, the answer is here!

This new feature will allow users to forward messages seamlessly from one space to another. ‘Forward Message’ will appear as an additional option on all messages along with ‘Edit Message’. Forwarding a message carries the text across to the selected space where it will be staged identically to a quote. Here, users can add context quickly and easily. For this phase of forward, only the message text will be carried over. This means that content itself will not be automatically forwarded, but you can still attach files or images while in the staging area.

As well as being able to forward to an existing space, users will have the option to create a new space to forward the message into. For those 1:1 conversations that end up needing additional peoples’ involvement, this is a fast way to get them into the discussion while simultaneously including some context.

Calling Enhancements in Webex Teams – Unified CM (Windows and Mac)

As we continue to enhance the calling experience in Webex Teams, we have added lots of exciting new features. As long as your account is set up for Unified CM, your admin can decide to add these features.

• Conference calls—when you’re on a call with someone else, you might want to add other people into the call to start a conference call right away. You can add up to 8 other people into your conference calls started like this.
• Call forwarding—if you need to take your work calls from another number, you can set up call forwarding right from Webex Teams. Just enter the call forwarding number, and your calls all ring at that number.
• Single number reach—you can turn single number reach on right from the app rather than going to the Self Care Portal. With this turned on, you can get calls even if you’re away from your desk. If you need to update the phone numbers, you’ll still need to use the Self Care Portal.
• Secure calls—you can make secure and encrypted calls if your account is set up to do so.

You’ll also be able to merge, conference, and transfer calls when you’ve chosen your desk phone from Webex Teams.

Getting around your threads just got a lot easier…

You can now access your threads (a thread that started from a message you sent, or a thread which you replied to) under the space activity menu (now a three-dot ellipsis button). This way, you can stay on top of the threads you are involved in easier, as well as find them in a space faster. Clicking on an option in this ‘My Threads’ view brings you right to that thread’s position in the message area of the space.

Support for Cisco Headsets (Windows and Mac)

You can now use your Cisco Headset 500 Series with Webex Teams to join your meetings and handle your calls. Plus, you can mute and unmute yourself directly from the headset in meetings and calls, as well as put yourself on hold if you’re on a call.

Further Enhancements to Contact Cards

You might remember we recently added more information to your user contact cards. The goal of this was to quickly provide people with valuable information about their colleagues. This month, as well as enhancing the visual elements of peoples’ cards, we have enabled the user email address to be a ‘Mail To’ link. Clicking this will launch a new email in the user’s default email client. For those users with phone numbers appearing in their contact cards, their number will now be a click-to-call point for their peers.

Suppress Screensaver when Sharing (Windows and Mac)

Now, if you’re sharing your screen while on a call or in a meeting, you don’t need to worry about your screensaver activating and interrupting your share. The share will persist for as long as you’re connected.

See all of the Webex Teams Releases here