I noticed on tech community there was an update for the Skype for Business Mac client released yesterday on 7th December. Yet again so great to see the Mac client being invested in and updated for fixes and new features. The previous update from October which had a lot of good stuff in and Decembers looks like a goodie as well! tech community blog post is here
Lots of new awaited features and improvements! lets check it out.
Updating
- New version – 16.13.184
- Manual Download URL here
- For updates you can use Microsoft AutoUpdate or download and install manually from the above URL.
Client requirements (Same as previous updates)
- Skype for Business Server 2015 or Lync Server 2013 or SfB Online
- OSX 10.11 (El Capitan) or OSX 10.12 (Sierra)
- Outlook Mac build 15.27 (161010) required for Outlook integration
SfBO / Lync Server 2013 / SfB Server 2015 requirements (Same as previous updates)
- Skype for Business Server 2015 customers minimum CU of Skype for Business Server 2015 Cumulative Update version 9319.272 or higher.
- Lync Server 2013 CU Lync Server 2013 Cumulative Update version 8308.974 or higher.
- Lync Server 2010 is not supported – instead we recommend customers continue to use the Lync for Mac 2011 client.
First off lets have a little look at what’s new ?
- Status from your Outlook calendar
- Manage people in your meetings and calls
- Know when you are offline
- See your missed IM messages
- Automatically close the window when you hang up a call
- Monitor the quality of your audio and video calls
Also how about Improvements?
There’s some performance improvements and yet another regarding E-911 so best to get this update out
- Fixed an issue that prevented a user from seeing a security desk notification when they dial 911.
- Improved the performance of opening chat conversations.
- Changed the position of notifications so they do not cover action buttons when you leave a call or meeting.
- Improved the performance of displaying the Devices window.
- Improved the visibility of Next Slide and Previous Slide buttons when sharing a PowerPoint file in a meeting.
- Fixed issues around sending IMs when a presenter enables or disables all IM in a meeting.
- Fixed an issue with how HTTP proxy passwords were stored.
- Fixed an issue that caused users with an Alternate ID to be prompted to sign in multiple times.
But don’t forget about Known issues!
Please don’t forget to make note of these as well, this was last updated 23rd October 2017 with the latest issues listed as below.
E-911 still mentioned not supported! but is mentioned as improved above so not fully sure on this support yet, i would trend carefully.
One new addition since 27th September which is the first one regarding access settings when using Outlook on Mac so a new to watch out for.
- Conference access settings do not default to values defined by policy when scheduling a meeting from Outlook on Mac
- In Outlook, cannot join a meeting from a non-federated organization
- E-911 is not supported
- Contact Management, including Delegate Management, is only supported on Skype for Business 2015 Server with UCS disabled
- Skype for Business on Mac fails to sign in
For the full list see below.
Lets dig in to what’s new : ) !
- Status from your Outlook calendar
Wohoo! the SfB Mac client will automatically update your status to indicate when you are in a meeting or busy based on your Outlook calendar. You can also turn this off by clearing the Update my status based on my calendar information in General page of Preferences dialog box.
- Manage people in your meetings and calls
We can now manage people in meetings as well !! Wohooo !
You can mute someone’s microphone, promote them a presenter or attendee, or remove them from the meeting.
- Know when you are offline
Now we have a notification at the top of the window when you aren’t Online, and the buttons to start conversations and join meetings will be disabled.
Nice little touch with the “No internet connection prompt”" as well.
- See your missed IM messages
Another must awaited feature.
When you miss an IM conversation, you can see the message text in the chat window even if your organization has disabled automatic archiving of IM messages.
- Automatically close the window when you hang up a call
Now the SfB Mac client will automatically close the call window when you hang up a peer to peer phone call BUT its as long as no one has sent IMs in the conversation.
- Monitor the quality of your audio and video calls
Only for mac OS Sierra or later, your admin can monitor the Quality of Service (QoS) of users audio and video calls which is awesome to have.
References
Tech Community Post
Whats new with SfB 2016
Download
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54108
Known Issues
Martin Boam's Microsoft Blog 