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        SharePoint Team Sites Now Integrated with Office 365 Groups
        
        
        
			- By Kurt Mackie
- January 10, 2017
SharePoint  Online subscribers should see a new capability that integrates SharePoint Team  Sites with Office 365 Groups by the end of January,  Microsoft said this week.
According to a blog post on Monday by Mark Kashman, a senior product manager on Microsoft's  SharePoint team, the integrated feature will start rolling out to  SharePoint Online   subscribers as early as Jan. 12, 2017. Distribution will be completed    worldwide by month's end, he added. Previously, the integrated Team   Sites and Groups  feature was just available to "first-release" testers.
The addition represents a milestone in Microsoft's efforts,  kicked   off in April, to make SharePoint Online more accessible and user    friendly for end users. When available, the feature will automatically   create a  new Office 365 Group when a SharePoint Team Site is created.   In addition, users  will get a shared inbox and calendar. They also will   have a common OneNote notebook  application, plus access to the Planner   app for task management activities.
Microsoft's rollout of the feature also will affect organizations    that have already created SharePoint Team Sites. They'll get Groups   integration  and shared applications, too. 
"Once the rollout is complete for your tenant, all  existing and   newly created groups will get a team site by default,"  Kashman   explained, adding that no actions are required of SharePoint Online   users  to get the feature.
The update also will bring a so-called "modern home  page" experience for end users. Back in  August,   Microsoft had suggested there would be a way for organizations to    continue to use the "classic home page," if wanted. If so, the point    wasn't highlighted by Kashman. 
Microsoft plans to deliver other SharePoint improvements  this year as well, which Kashman described  in October.   He said back then that Microsoft would be bringing its modern    interface improvements to SharePoint Publishing Sites, as well as Pages.   Development  tools such as PowerApps and Flow, aimed at business users,   were being integrated,  as well. 
Those improvements are targeted for arrival in the first  half of   2017. Other improvements expected to arrive at that time include    SharePoint Add-in improvements, Team Site "extensibility" and content    delivery network integration with Publishing Sites.
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
            
        
        
                
                    About the Author
                    
                
                    
                    Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.