Things are getting personal with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft has announced new Teams features to enable users to communicate better in their work and personal life.

The new features are designed to enable Teams to be used as a central hub for individuals, groups, and families to collaborate, stay connected and organised, Microsoft states.

According to Microsoft, the new features will start to roll out in preview to the Teams mobile app today and will be fully rolled out in the coming weeks.

Essentially, Microsoft has designed the new features to help users to manage daily life; share grocery lists, organise across family calendars, safely store important information like Wi-Fi passwords and account info, and see location updates when loved ones arrive home or at other locations like work or school.

With text chat and video calling Microsoft Teams can be used as a messaging hub for all personal chats and video and voice calls, with options for sharing GIFs, photos, videos, documents, and location integrated. Users can create groups to chat and call.

Users will also be able to stay organised by sharing lists, documents, and calendars within the group dashboard. Microsoft Teams allows users to go back and see the chats, tasks, pictures, videos, and group calendars shared within the dashboard.

For greater collaboration and security, Microsoft Teams integrates with other Microsoft 365 apps including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

All documents are also stored on OneDrive and users can now access these documents across other devices. Finally location sharing is now available as part of these new personal features, making it easier for users to share their location and find their friends.

The company states that Microsoft Teams will also come with a Safe, which lets users securely store and share important information, like passwords, rewards numbers, or login information.

Users can share this information directly from the Teams app with families and friends, all backed by two-factor authentication and end-to-end encryption.

Microsoft Office Asia regional director Rami El Bayadi says, "We are using multiple apps and tools - both online and offline - such as calendars, email, messaging, photo apps, to-do lists, and documents to manage it all.

"Every day more people love what Teams does for them because it is the hub for teamwork that lets you chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place. And while Teams is great for work, we believe it can help everyone better manage their responsibilities across work and personal life.

"With these new features, we hope to extend the power of Teams to your personal life whether you're managing daily family life or just trying to stay connected and in sync with those who matter most.

To get started on the preview, users can use their Microsoft Teams mobile app at work and add in their personal account. sers will then be able to toggle between their personal and work accounts.

New users can also visit the app store on iOS or Android to download the mobile app and sign up with a personal Microsoft account, or create a new one with their phone number.

General availability of the new features, as well as expanding features to the desktop and web versions of Teams, is expected later this year.