Surface Hub 2S 85″ – Collaboration at a Massive Scale

by Scott Muniz | Sep 22, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

I am excited to echo the announcement from Robin Seiler’s Surface Blog, that starting today in the US, and more markets to follow, the Surface Hub 2S 85” is available for pre-sales reservations.  We also shared that the device will be available to commercial customers starting in January 2021*.

I’m personally thrilled to see the public announcement of the Surface Hub 2S 85because it has shared space with me since word of COVID-19 struck the USA.  I talked the Surface Engineering team into letting me borrow a device so I could attempt some demos in my satellite office location. 

What impresses me most about the Surface Hub 2S 85” is the craftsmanship and attention to detail through-out the device.  The form, fit, and finish of the materials, even on the early prototype I’ve been using, is built with fine precision.  This is a product that will truly become the cornerstone to any collaborative environment.   

Since those early days in March, I’ve been sharing remote presentations, a few times a week, to customers under NDA, explaining the capabilities and technical details inside the largest Surface device we’ve ever made.  The device is a true joy to use.  It starts with the ability to clearly see co-workers and customers in Microsoft Teams Gallery View where the 85” capitalizes on its size to show people simply in a larger form. From here we can also open the Microsoft Whiteboard and brainstorm with co-workers across the globe while interacting with them across audio and video feeds. The Surface Hub 2S 85” delivers on the idea of remote and in-person collaboration in a truly massive scale.

I’m happy to share that we can now provide this complete demo and product walk through, no NDA required.  If interested, please reach out to your Surface Specialist to schedule a time and if you don’t have a Surface Specialist to work with, look for an upcoming Webinar schedule we’ll be sharing soon on this blog.  

You can learn more about the Tech Specs and device administration details from our updated Docs pages located here:  https://docs.microsoft.com/surface-hub/surface-hub-2s-85

If you’re taking part in Microsoft Ignite (It’s FREE, you should!) be sure to watch the following sessions for more details and overview of the Surface Hub 2S 85”.

• There is a wonderful demo of the 85” and Microsoft Teams inside of Satya’s Keynote here: Building digital resilience
• The Microsoft 365 Keynote will highlight some very cool features of Microsoft Teams and collaboration using the 85” here: The Future of Work
• You can also watch a terrific walk through of Surface Hub by our designers and engineering leads here: Driving Innovation for Modern Work with Surface Hub and Duo
• Finally for a fun look at the Surface Hub and technical review of the device, check out Surface Hub: The Future of Collaboration from Anywhere

Let us know what you think about the Surface Hub 2S 85” and any questions you have.  We’re happy to answer them here and in the Technical Community forum. 

*Surface Hub 2S 85” has not yet been authorized under U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules; actual sale and delivery is contingent on compliance with applicable FCC requirements.

The Data Visualizer add-in for Excel is now generally available!

by Scott Muniz | Sep 22, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Last year at Microsoft Ignite, we announced the public preview of the Visio Data Visualizer add-in for Excel. This year, we are thrilled to announce that the add-in is now generally available. The Data Visualizer add-in, which is also now available for the first time from a dedicated button in the Excel ribbon, lets you create diagrams—basic flowcharts, cross-functional (swim lane) flowcharts, and org charts—from data directly in Excel.

Dedicated Data Visualizer button in the Excel ribbon

All you need to get started is a Microsoft work or student account—no Visio subscription is required. This means you can create, view update, edit, share, and print your diagram all for free. If you are using personal accounts like hotmail.com or outlook.com, you can still use the add-in with limited capabilities.

Getting started

The Data Visualizer add-in is available for Excel on Windows (2016 or later), Mac (2016 or later), and Excel for the web with a work or school account. To start using it:

• Open Excel and create a new blank workbook.
• Save the workbook to a OneDrive or SharePoint location. (This step is optional but recommended).
• Add ‘Visio Data Visualizer’ add-in from Insert > Get Add-ins section. You can start from an add-in ready template as well from File > New. Search for keywords like flowchart, org chart etc. in the ‘Search for online templates’ box.
• If you see a security message regarding the add-in, select Trust this add-in.

Using the add-in

You can find a bevy of information about the Data Visualizer add-in on our support site.

The add-in comes with a variety of data-linked samples. Each diagram category comes with a variety of data linked samples in different themes and layouts for your you get started. You can customize the diagram by bringing your own data. When you’re done, click Refresh in the add-in to see your changes sync with the data-linked diagram—all right within Excel.

If you have a Visio Plan 1 or Visio Plan 2 license, you can do even more with your Data Visualizer diagrams, like adding text, applying design themes, and making other modification, using either Visio desktop or Visio for the web. To edit a diagram in Visio for the web, click Edit in the add-in menu bar.

Recent updates

Earlier this year, we announced several updates to the add-in that make it even easier for everyone to use Data Visualizer. Here they are again.

Add-in ready templates:

There are three new templates for the Data Visualizer add-in—one for basic flowcharts, one for cross-functional flowcharts, and one for organizational charts—that offer repeatable models for expediting the diagram creation process. You can find each of these in the Excel backstage or at templates.office.com.

Three new Data Visualizer add-in templates available in the Excel backstage

To get started with these templates in the backstage, open Excel > File > New. Type “flowchart” in the search bar, choose your preferred template, and select Create.

To get started from the tempaltes.office.com, search for “Basic flowchart from data,” “Organization chart from data,” or “Cross-functional flowchart from data.” Again, choose your preferred diagram from the available templates and select Download.

Please note that these new templates are currently only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers on the monthly channel in the Excel backstage. If you’re on the semi-annual channel, you’ll be able to access the new templates from there once they’re deployed; alternatively, you can start using the templates now by downloading them from templates.diagrams.com.

Extended language support:

The add-in now supports all 26 languages available in Visio for the web, extending Data Visualizer to your colleagues around the world. Some of these languages include English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Russian. The language defaults to the one set on your browser. If your admins set a tenant-level language, that will take precedence over the browser-level setting.

The add-in now supports 26 languages

Single sign-on integration:

If you are already signed into Excel with your work or school account, you’ll be automatically signed into the Data Visualizer add-in, too, bringing more convenience to the add-in experience. For semi-annual channel users, single sign-on will be deployed with next release; until then, those users can continue with manual sign-in.

If you’re signed into Excel, you’ll be automatically signed into the add-in, too

Centralized deployment:

Lastly, we have made it easier for admins to deploy the add-in directly from the Microsoft 365 admin center. This is the recommended way for admins to deploy all add-ins (including the Data Visualizer add-in) to users in a group or the tenant. You can find all the details for using Centralized Deployment in this article. But for a quick tutorial, follow these steps.

• Log into the Microsoft 365 admin center. From the left sidebar, go to Settings > Add-ins > Deploy Add-in. This will open the add-in wizard.
• In the wizard, select Choose from Store and type “Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer” in the search bar. Then, select the add-in.
• Read through the licensing terms and privacy policy.
• Choose if you want to enable the add-in for your entire organization or just a limited number of users or groups. Once decided, deploy the add-in, which will now appear on the Add-ins list.

The Data Visualizer add-in on the Add-ins list

If you’d like to learn more about any of these enhancements, please read our blog post from July.

Today marks the opening day of Microsoft’s first all-digital Ignite conference. Check our the Data Visualizer skilling video at aka.ms/Visio/DataVisualizer for additional tips, tricks, and information. All the other Visio conference videos can be found on the Ignite Virtual Hub.

As always, please send us your feedback about the Data Visualizer add-in—or any other Visio feature for that matter—through UserVoice. And keep visiting Tech Community for all the latest Visio news, including more from Ignite in the coming days.

“Ignite news with Omar Shahine” ? – The Intrazone podcast

by Scott Muniz | Sep 22, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Microsoft Ignite 2020 (#MSIgnite) is upon us – in the virtual world – with real-world announcements flowing left and right. And we’ve got a front-row seat with Omar Shahine, VP of OneDrive and SharePoint Program Management; aka, Jeff Teper’s lead guiding what OneDrive and SharePoint are in Microsoft 365.

We asked Omar about the recent back-to-school surge, Ignite updates for Project Cortex, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Stream, new SharePoint innovation in Microsoft Teams, the Leadership Connection site offering, OneDrive sync reports, and more. And we rounded it all off hearing how he and team take an overall design approach that best provides for “consumers in the commercial space.”

Ok, ok, Mark. Bring on Omar. On to the show…

Subscribe to The Intrazone podcast! And listen to episode 57 now + show links and more below.

The Intrazone guest, Omar Shahine (VP of OneDrive and SharePoint Program Management).

Link to articles mentioned in the show:  

• Hosts and guests
  • Mark Kashman |@mkashman
  • Chris McNulty |@cmcnulty2000  
  • Omar Shahine | @OmarShahine  
• Articles and sites
  • BLOG | “Microsoft Ignite announcements across Project Cortex, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams and more” by Jeff Teper.
  • SESSION (on-demand soon) | [#MSIgnite 9/22/20 #DB158]: “Enabling collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing with Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Project Cortex, and more“
  • OmarKnows blog: https://omar.shahine.com/   
    • Recent post: “How are you doing?“
  • #ProjectCortex: https://aka.ms/ProjectCortex + Cortex Ignite 2020 announcements
  • #MicrosoftLists: https://aka.ms/MSLists + Lists Ignite 2020 announcements
  • #MicrosoftStream: https://resources.techcommunity.microsoft.com/stream/
  • SharePoint education (EDU) templates
  • Microsoft Docs – The home for Microsoft documentation for end users, developers, and IT professionals. 
  • Microsoft Tech Community Home
  • Stay on top of Office 365 changes
• Events
  • Microsoft Ignite 2020 (Sept.22-24.2020; aka, now) + the Adoption Center: Virtual Hub
  • Teamsfest (Oct.7.2020)
  • European SharePoint Conference Online (Oct.14-16.2020)
  • GlobalCon4 (Dec.1-4.2020)

Subscribe today!

Listen to the show! If you like what you hear, we’d love for you to Subscribe, Rate and Review it on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Be sure to visit our show page to hear all the episodes, access the show notes, and get bonus content. And stay connected to the SharePoint community blog where we’ll share more information per episode, guest insights, and take any questions from our listeners and SharePoint users (TheIntrazone@microsoft.com). We, too, welcome your ideas for future episodes topics and segments. Keep the discussion going in comments below; we’re hear to listen and grow.

Subscribe to The Intrazone podcast! And listen to episode 57 now.

Thanks for listening!

The SharePoint team wants you to unleash your creativity and productivity. And we will do this, together, one Omar’ized episode at a time.

The Intrazone links

• Show Page: https://aka.ms/TheIntrazone
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Play
• Spotify
• Stitcher
• Amazon Music
• TuneIn
• Overcast
• Pandora
• RadioPublic
• iHeart
• RSS

+ Listen to other Microsoft podcasts at aka.ms/microsoft/podcasts.

Left to right [The Intrazone co-hosts]: Chris McNulty, senior product manager (SharePoint, #ProjectCortex – Microsoft) and Mark Kashman, senior product manager (SharePoint – Microsoft).

The Intrazone, a show about the Microsoft 365 intelligent intranet (aka.ms/TheIntrazone)