Microsoft has readied itself to offer new smarter SharePoint search capabilities, as well as several other new features for its SharePoint customers.
On the search front, Microsoft is bringing personalized search for SharePoint in Office 365, which will show results not just for files and sites but also people.
The recommendations in recent documents, relevant content and news will now appear instantly when users click on the search box in office. People recommendation will provide related information based on information in their Office 365 profiles. And also ‘The People Cards’ when activated will provide pertinent information from users' profiles.
This new personalized people search is how Microsoft will deliver the knowledge management capabilities that officials previously expected to deliver using various other methods.
What makes the search results truly "personalized" is the underlying Microsoft Graph. Microsoft is committed to bringing in more signals from Yammer, Microsoft Teams and Planner to the Microsoft Graph, which will affect the lists of files, sites and people that users see in their SharePoint results in a single tenant within Office 365.
Microsoft's simple sharing experience allows users to share content directly with specific people to access shared content or send a link to allow anyone inside or outside an organization.
Microsoft also is going to modernize existing SharePoint Team sites by connecting them to Office 365 Groups with plans to add SharePoint pages as tabs in Microsoft Teams later this year. Additionally, users will be able to create SharePoint communication sites that can be viewed on various form factors - Web, PC or Mac, mobile browsers and/or in SharePoint apps.
Microsoft is adding many more integration points between SharePoint and PowerApps and Flow. Users can now use PowerApps to create custom forms from inside SharePoint lists and libraries rather than relying only on default SharePoint forms. And now, new built-in approval forms will allow users to send customized email messages from inside SharePoint.
Microsoft will provide an update on its progress and more firm delivery dates on these new capabilities at its Ignite conference in September between 24th - 29th in Orlando.
