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The Future of SharePoint and Roadmap 2016

Yesterday Microsoft announced general availability of SharePoint 2016 along with a slew of new features coming our way in the near future.  This marks a very exciting time for those operating in the SharePoint ecosystem.  If you haven't had a chance to attend Microsoft's virtual live event, and have a couple of yours to burn, you can still register and view the recording here: Future of SharePoint.

 If you just care about the cliff notes, here is a quick summary of whats being made available as of yesterday and some exciting new features we'll get to leverage down the road.  This applies to both Office 365 SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server 2016 on-premises counterpart.

Available this quarter - Q2 2016

Modern document library experience (in flight to First Release tenants)

SharePoint library UI is getting a makeover.  New simplified UI (much like OneDrive) allows for adding columns on the fly as well as slicing and dicing how data is presented by applying views and metadata without drilling into Library Settings.

New Pin to top feature increases visibility of important files by allowing users to Pin files therefore making them featured at the top of the list.

SharePoint mobile app for iOS

Ability to access, edit, share, and take offline all your Office 365 files in OneDrive and SharePoint.

SharePoint home in Office 365

Coming this month, we'll be seeing a new SharePoint home page in Office 365.  It gives you unified view of all of your sites, both online and on-premises, and allows for much more seamless navigation through your organization's intranet than ever before.

More Office Graph integration (Android)

New Discover view for OneDrive Android app uses Office Graph to surface relevant suggestions on files from Office 365.  This is very similar to Delve.  Discover view suggests content tailored personally for each user, based on how they interact with files, people, and other objects within the Office 365 realm.

Modern List experiences

Lists, just like libraries, are getting a facelift while the core function of Lists remains intact.  Quick action buttons are made available across the top for commonly used Lists tasks (i.e., New, Edit, Alert me, Export to Excel, Add flow).  Basically, much of the same visual overhaul applied to Libraries is made available in Lists.

Site activity and insights on the Site Contents page

Remember the Site Contents page?  The new and improved version allows Site Owners, Members, and Visitors to better understand the activities occurring within the respective site.  The new design provides up to date visibility on top-viewed content, a site map and site tips for users.  Nice touch by adding some analytics per site level.

Just as before, from Site Contents page we will be able to create lists, document libraries, subsites and other apps.

Office Online Server (OOS)

Office Online Server is a successfor to Office Web Apps Server 2013.  It allows for viewing and editing of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote files from within the browser.

OOS is designed to integrate with SharePoint Server 2016, Exchange Server 2016 and Skype for Business Server 2016.  Not to forget, it is also backwards compatible with 2013 versions of SharePoint, Exchange

Available later this year

Copy and Move files between OneDrive and SharePoint

Ability to copy/move files from OneDrive to a SharePoint document library.

SharePoint mobile app for Windows and Android

This is the same SharePoint mobile app currently available for iOS, and will be making its way to Android and Windows mobile devices later this year.

Integration of SharePoint sites and Office 365 Groups

SharePoint team sites and Office 365 Groups are coming together to simplify collaboration and provide a more efficient way of managing memberships across Office 365 services.

Think about creating a team site while provisioning a corresponding Office 365 Group in a matter of seconds, all with integrated information classification and compliance.

Simple, fast site creation

Creating a Team Site has never been so fast.  The improved provisioning flow and stronger integration allows for establishing governance and compliance controls for site classification based on how the site is going to be used.

Modern pages experience

Pages authoring experience has been updated, built to respond to screens of all sizes, and under a watchful eye of Office Graph.  Pages can be shared and become more easily discovered.

This comes hand-in-hand with the introduction of the brand new SharePoint Framework, a new client-side development model which supports development using modern JavaScript frameworks like Angular and React.  This model provides tremendously better experiences, performance and mobile support while broadening the developer ecosystem.

SharePoint Framework is expected to arrive in the third quarter of 2016.

PowerApps and Microsoft Flow integration with SharePoint

Alleged plans are for both PowerApps and Microsoft Flow to be built right into SharePoint Online document libraries and lists.  This opens up new possibilities in terms of process automation and bringing insights on existing data while on the go.

Comments

  1. Karthika ShreeJune 9, 2017 at 1:01 AM

    This is extremely great information for these blog!! And Very good work. It is very interesting to learn from to easy understood. Thank you for giving information. Please let us know and more information get post to link.
    Sharepoint Training in Chennai

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ismar AlikadicJune 9, 2017 at 11:09 AM

      Thank you for the feedback! Glad you found this helpful. I'll have a more updated roadmap in days to come.

      Delete

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