How to use Teams meeting annotations – Vesa Nopanen – Future Work today

Do you know that if you share a display screen in a Microsoft Groups assembly, you possibly can annotate with one other on something that’s in your display screen? It could possibly be a advertising and marketing advert, new visuals, price range – even any app operating in your desktop. Annotating is mainly inking on prime of your display screen. The cool factor? Everybody within the Groups assembly can be a part of you on the similar time (you possibly can allow / disable their entry) so you possibly can co-create collectively very simply. And just lately annotations have gotten new options, which are very helpful.  

Begin annotationInteract with the background Take a snapshot Annotations are whiteboards 

Begin annotation

Let’s begin sharing the display screen. The display screen sharing toolbar has gone via an replace just lately. It may be pinned (sure!) and it’s a lot simpler to make use of with bigger icons. 

Optimize within the toolbar means optimizing the display screen share for video content material. This was earlier behind a shortcut key – now it may be executed simply utilizing menus.  

First, begin by deciding on begin annotation from Groups display screen share toolbar.  

We will see we’ve fairly acquainted instruments for us to make use of. 

Inking, feedback, reactions, notes, textual content and shapes will be discovered there.   

We now have additionally settings beneath the gear, simply as earlier than. 

There are two new options to learn about. 

Work together with the background 

When you choose work together with the background from the annotations toolbar, you possibly can work on any app you’ve gotten in your desktop. Maybe it is advisable to open the following web page or tab. Simply activate interplay (the leftmost instrument) by clicking it. 

You’ll be able to scroll, change tabs, open new apps.. something you often do on the desktop. Inking, notes and different annotation objects should not proven when you find yourself interacting with the background. 

And when you executed, simply click on the work together once more, to cease the interplay.  

Take a snapshot 

One other nice new function is the power to create a snapshot of what’s being displayed on the display screen, together with annotations. This isn’t a print display screen or display screen seize, as a substitute the snapshot saves your display screen to the whiteboard board. Learn on.   

Annotations are whiteboards 

When annotations had been launched, it was clear that it was a whiteboard. However at the moment, they weren’t saved – you wanted to make use of display screen seize to have the ability to save the end result. Now there’s the snapshot button, that may save no matter is seen within the display screen and all annotations. There’s a one whiteboard board for annotations, the place all objects are saved.  

You’ll be able to simply click on open annotations in whiteboard to go on to annotation boards. 

Or you possibly can simply open them from the whiteboard starter display screen. 

What is basically cool, is that in case you open the annotations whiteboard on the similar time you make annotations, you possibly can see it up to date actual time 

Animated image makes this fairly clear; I feel. You’ll be able to annotate on the display screen and edit the whiteboard concurrently. Speak about potentialities with Floor Hub..  

Whenever you take a snapshot, you could find that snapshot in the identical annotation whiteboard. 

Whenever you take a snapshot 

The background (behind inking) is captured as a picture 

Inking (drawings, notes, shapes, emojis, … each whiteboard object) is saved as a whiteboard on prime the captured picture. 

Whenever you press snapshot once more, it inserts a brand new snapshot to the identical whiteboard.  

This implies, that you may share that annotations whiteboard within the assembly if you wish to – and all snapshots will be discovered from the identical board. All objects are simply whiteboard objects – you possibly can work together with them usually – similar to you had been utilizing whiteboard by taking a screenshot, putting it onto the whiteboard after which inking.  With annotations this quite a bit simpler and extra productive. 

All snapshots are similar to this one – every thing executed in annotation is editable with whiteboard instruments. I’ve to confess that after I found this one, it was higher than what I anticipated. Thanks, whiteboard crew at Microsoft, that is glorious work!  

When zooming out the whiteboard, you possibly can see each the actual time annotation and all snapshots you’ve gotten taken – and it doesn’t matter in case you rejoin the assembly later.  

That is opening quite a bit (a LOT) of potentialities for the way you should utilize annotations in conferences. For instance, open the primary design on the display screen, begin annotating with others, take a snapshot, work together with the background and produce a second design to the display screen. At this level you wish to delete all annotations from the display screen – in any other case they might be simply complicated as they had been executed to the earlier design. Collaborate usually with annotations, take a snapshot, work together with the background to herald the third design, clear annotations, annotate, take a snapshot, … and so forth.  And every thing shall be saved to the whiteboard for post-meeting work.  And you may make the most of Copilot in Whiteboard as effectively to categorize and summarize info from notes.. and presumably from extra content material sooner or later.

I do know I shall be utilizing annotations quite a bit any longer. These new options make a giant distinction on usability.  

You’ll be able to share these to the Groups assembly as effectively, so you possibly can proceed enhancing the board afterward – or simply open it to the observe up assembly. That’s executed usually – simply share a whiteboard and choose the one you wish to use: there isn’t any distinction between annotation or abnormal whiteboard.  

In the present day (the day I used to be penning this weblog) I did a Groups webinar to 200+ attendees. And naturally, I demonstrated for them these new annotation options. What’s enjoyable, that whiteboard/annotations labored very well – no lagging, no delays, no signal of efficiency points. It simply works.  

Oh sure, there have been lots of people annotating on the similar time, as there have been 200+ individuals within the assembly, however not everybody. I’m glad not all of them had been actively inking or annotating – however there have been a whole lot of collaborative cursors till message popped out that collab cursors are turned off as a result of variety of individuals.  

I took a couple of snapshots to avoid wasting these “moments” 

What I didn’t have time to do, was to clear present annotations after taking a snapshot. Since this was only a fast demo, and nothing actual, it didn’t matter. 😊  

And you may also discover the real-time annotations within the whiteboard, even with out taking a snapshot.  Nonetheless, I’d take a snapshot simply in case, and after I really feel the collaboration about one thing is getting near the tip (=to avoid wasting that second) 

Printed by Vesa Nopanen

Vesa “Vesku” Nopanen, Principal Marketing consultant and Microsoft MVP (M365 and AI Platform) engaged on Future Work at Sulava.

I work, weblog and discuss Future Work : AI, Microsoft 365, Copilot, Microsoft Mesh, Metaverse, and different companies & platforms within the cloud connecting digital and bodily and other people collectively.

I’ve about 30 years of expertise in IT enterprise on a number of industries, domains, and roles.
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