Microsoft Loop wants to overhaul your office online collaboration

Mar 24,2023
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Loop components are constantly updated and editable for whoever they’re shared with. Imagine a table that you’re working on with colleagues; you can drop that as a Loop component into a Teams message or Outlook email, and any edits to the table will be reflected wherever it’s embedded or shared.

What is Microsoft Loop?

In its official announcement, Microsoft has described what the Loop app is about:

“With all the tools, documents, files, and links that your team needs, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Microsoft Loop helps you organise everything you need for your project into a single workspace and even does the searching for you to kick it off. Simply add a workspace title and any other relevant keywords, and Microsoft Loop will suggest the most relevant pieces to add to your workspace. Choose which ones to add and create your workspace—content will be organized into pages that you can easily view.”

Projects can often move faster than everyone can track. Microsoft Loop aims to solve this problem with its flexible workspaces that help you and your team keep up. Templates let you start new pages easily, while easy drag-and-drop controls enable users to structure their workspace according to their needs.

Microsoft Loop and Copilot

In Loop, Copilot will save a history of submitted prompts so they can be refined to produce better results, and allow generated work to be saved as a “component” (essentially a document) in a Loop workspace to be collaborated on or shared within other Microsoft 365 apps, such as Teams or Outlook.

It can also summarize the content of a page in Loop, in addition to that of documents shared in a workspace. Microsoft says that Copilot’s summarization features will arrive in Loop “in the next few months”, while Copilot in Loop itself is only in private preview.

Loop Workspaces: According to the official website, Loop Workspaces will let users group all important project elements, see what everyone’s working on, and track progress on shared goals.

Loop Pages: Users will be able to organise their Loop components and important elements in their projects such as links, files, and data in Loop Pages.

Loop Components: This is where users will be able to collaborate on the workflow. They will be able to work together on lists, tables, notes, and even customer sales opportunities from Dynamics 365 on a Loop Page or in chat, email, meeting or document.

There’s a mobile application, a notification system, progress trackers, document templates, comments, and much more, but if your organization isn’t already chained to Microsoft 365, there’s little to set it apart from, say, Google Workspace, apart from a nicer interface.

Conclusion

Team members can also use Loop’s insert menu to add labels, tables, or even fun things like emojis into the workspace. Anything on a loop page can be turned into a component which can then be shared on other Microsoft 365 apps.

A mobile app for Microsoft Loop is also present on both iOS and Android, allowing users to stay ‘in the loop’ when they’re on the move. On Android, it’s under ‘Early access’ so it’s clear that the app is still being tested. Both desktop and mobile apps have a notification feed that lets you keep track of mentions, assigned tasks, and replies.

On its official website, Microsoft has listed Loop Workspaces, Loop Pages, and Loop components as the defining elements of the new product.