Your Microsoft Teams conversations could soon look drastically different thanks to an update to one of its most basic features.
The videoconferencing service typically shows call or meeting participants in a 3×3 view, giving everyone the same window, even if they’re part of a group from a conference room or other location.
However, this will now change, with users now able to change the default number of participants visible on your screen to whatever best suits your preference – and your monitor size.
Gallery view of Microsoft Teams
In the future, users can now choose to have up to 4, 9, 16 and 49 participants visible on the screen in the gallery view, giving you a much clearer view of the main speakers, or seeing exactly how all attendees are responding to the same time.
To address the issue of multiple people joining from the same location being too small, anyone joining from a Microsoft Teams Rooms will now automatically appear in an enlarged window. Microsoft says this tweak (pictured below) will give remote participants a much clearer view and better connection and collaboration, meaning they can quickly identify who is speaking.
Tile sizes can still be adjusted and adjusted to suit the user’s needs, but Teams will also aim to prioritize visibility for participants who have a raised hand, also paying extra attention to the active speaker, increasing their visibility is enlarged so that comments are not missed.
Elsewhere, for those who might get a little self-conscious when their own video is visible to them on the screen, there’s now an option to hide your own tile from the gallery view – although this will only shield it from yourself, not other participants .
“The meeting stage, or gallery, is at the heart of the virtual meeting experience and can hinder or improve meeting efficiency depending on your needs,” Microsoft’s Meera Ajam noted in a blog post announcing the news.
“We’re excited to share how we’re evolving the default gallery experience in Teams meetings to give you an easier, more predictable meeting presence, while enabling more controls to help you personalize the view according to your preferences.”
The new Microsoft Teams gallery viewing options will be available in a public preview launching in January 2024.