Look out for new SharePoint Features in November 2019

Introduction

Microsoft has a roadmap for all its products and services. Based on this new plan, they will continue releasing new features or updating the existing features. SharePoint is one of the products/services under their Tech Stack, and as such receives updates frequently. Here, I list important features and enhancements coming to SharePoint before the month's end.

New Features:

Sharing Reports for SharePoint Online

This new feature enables SPO site owners to view all items in a site that are shared externally in a report. The SPO site owners can use the “Run Report” button under Shared with external users section in the Site Usage page.

The report exports a list of every unique user, permission, link, and item that has been shared with both internal and external users.

Look Out For New SharePoint Features In November 2019

Affected Roles – SharePoint Online Site Collection Administrator
Where – Shared with external users section under Site Usage

Use Flow to approve hub-site joins

This new feature enables the administrators to use Flow in Office 365 to approve hub joins in SharePoint Online. Hub Site Owners get the ability to create approval workflows that help decide who can approve a SharePoint site association request. Administrators can enable or disable hub join approvals. This setting is available in Hub Site Settings. By default, this feature is off.

Affected Roles - Hub Site Owners, Site Collection Administrators
Where - Hub Site Settings

Form customization in SharePoint lists and libraries

This is the most anticipated feature. It allows users to customize the order and visibility of columns on forms in lists and libraries. Users can use the “Show/Hide Field” menu in the property form or the details pane.

Affected Users - Users who have permission to create columns in SharePoint lists and libraries. Users who can view the form can adjust the property order.
Where - Property (New / Edit ) Form or the Details Pane.

Expand/Collapse button in lists

By using the new Expand button, users can hide the site’s navigation and header. To make them reappear, click the corresponding “Collapse” button. This enables the user to make use of the entire screen.

Affected Users - All Users
Where - Toolbar in Lists/Libraries

SharePoint and OneDrive support for sensitivity labels (preview)

The preview of sensitivity labels enables the below features:

SharePoint recognizes sensitivity labels applied to Word, Excel, PowerPoint files in SharePoint and OneDrive. It applies the settings that correspond with each label
Sensitivity label settings still apply even after downloading the file from SharePoint or OneDrive.
Based on the sensitivity label associated permissions, users can open/edit the files on web versions of Word, Excel & PowerPoint.
Office 365 eDiscovery supports full-text search in files that have sensitivity labels applied. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies cover content in these files.
Three new audit events are available for monitoring sensitivity labels: FileSensitivityApplied, FileSensitivityLabelChanged, FileSensitivityLabelRemoved
Affected Roles - All Users
Where - Applied to all documents in SharePoint and OneDrive

Updated Features

Updated SharePoint start page

The SharePoint start page, previously known as SharePoint home, will come with a new look and feel.

Affected Roles- All Users
Where - SharePoint Home Page

PowerApps integration with SharePoint libraries

So far, we have the option to customize the list forms with built-in PowerApps. Now, we can use PowerApps to customize the forms for document libraries.

Affected Roles - Users have permission to customize the Library
Where - SharePoint Library Edit Form/New form

Some of you may have already received some of the above features. If not, you may get them by the end of this month. Ensure you are enabled as a Target First Release in your tenant so that you will get the latest updates before they are available to all users.