Your work team might soon hate Microsoft SharePoint a little less

A man copying from the laptop screen of his colleague

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Fizkes)

Using Microsoft SharePoint to orchestrate your team's work could soon be a lot more pleasant thanks to several upgrades to the software.

The online collaboration and work sharing platform has revealed it is working on a number of new site templates, a move it says should make using team sites clearer and more intuitive.

The new templates include sites for your IT helpdesk, crisis communication team, and new employee onboarding team, covering several key milestones for all businesses.

SharePoint site templates

In its entry in the official Microsoft 365 roadmap, the change is listed as being in development now. However it has an expected release date of August 2022, meaning that users may get to experience the new site templates relatively soon.

SharePoint web users around the world will be able to enjoy the new templates, but we'll stay tuned for specific release date information.

The update comes as Microsoft looks to ensure all its Office 365 programs are providing the efficiency and productivity boost workers need as many companies embrace hybrid working.

This includes adding improved voice dictation for apps such as Outlook and Word, allowing users to dictate documents, emails and more using their voice.

But the company has also introduced information barriers in Microsoft 365, where organizations can restrict communication and collaboration among specific groups of users for both business and security purposes.

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SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams and OneDrive for Business all support the new tool, with admins able to define policies that allow or prevent communications between groups of users. Using information barriers in SharePoint Online and OneDrive can prevent unauthorized collaborations like adding a member to a site, accessing a site or content, sharing a site or content or searching a site.

The updates will hope to make customers appreciate the value of Microsoft's services after the company recently introduced price rises for Office.

The move, which was the first increase since the launch of Office 365, saw prices rise across the board, with consumer and business users both affected.

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Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he's not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.