New Teams Client Now Available—Upgrade Today

On Monday, January 22, Northwestern IT enabled Microsoft’s new Teams client (work or school), and users will now notice a “Try the new Teams” toggle in the upper left area of the Teams client window on both PCs and Macs. Teams web clients running in the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers will also display the toggle in enabled users’ browsers (the Firefox version is due to be released before March 31). Microsoft intends to sunset its existing client on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Timeline of the Change

• Use of the current, classic Teams client will remain available through March 31, 2024. 
• After March 31, anyone remaining on the classic Teams clients (web and desktop) will be automatically updated to the new Teams client.

New Teams Client Benefits

The new client is not significantly different from a “look and feel” perspective. However, from a technical standpoint, the new client offers several benefits, including:  

• Doing What You Want Faster—The new client is up to two times faster, whether launching the app, joining meetings, or switching chats or channels.
• Doing More With Less—It offers up to 50 percent less memory and disk space utilization, lower CPU usage, and more battery life.
• Doing What You Expect More Securely—It is more reliable and offers improved security and better manageability.

Support Information

• Microsoft is actively updating the new client to ensure all existing functionality is carried forward.
• However, if you encounter a functional issue when toggling on the new Teams client, please know that you can revert to the classic Teams client (through March 31, 2024).
• You can refer to Microsoft’s website for a list of feature improvements.
• Visit the Knowledge Base for a list of possible installation issues, or contact the Northwestern IT Service Desk at consultant@northwestern.edu or 847-491-4357 (1-HELP).