Recent Stream Updates Enhance Video Functionality

Enhancements to Stream Browser App Make it Easier to Consume Video

Stream’s proclaimed mission is to make video as easy to work with inside Microsoft 365 as documents and email are. We’re in the final stages of the transition from Stream Classic to Stream on SharePoint. The reminder published in message center notification MC703758 says that Microsoft will close down Stream classic on April 15, 2024 and remove any remaining videos stored in that platform after that date. In other words, it’s way past the best time to migrate.

With that cheery thought in mind, let’s do a quick fly-past of recent developments in Stream.

Changes to Stream Browser App

Although Stream is embedded in many places within Microsoft 365, the browser app is the most obvious instantiation of Stream. It’s the app launched when users select Stream from the app menu. A bunch of small but important changes have appeared in Stream that might have escaped your attention. For instance, Microsoft has given the Stream browser app a visual makeover (Figure 1) to include new choices for filtering and a screen recording capability (the old ‘recording’ option is now ‘camera recording’). The filtering options include fast access to Teams meeting recordings and the videos you’ve shared with others.

Stream in Teams

Examples of where Stream shows up elsewhere in Microsoft 365 include the Stream web part for SharePoint pages, the Stream app in Teams (really just a version of the Stream browser app), and being able to preview and play Stream videos inline in Teams chat and channel conversations. The latter functionality is covered by MC649917 (last updated 15 December 2023, Microsoft 365 roadmap item 127596) and it’s taken a while to deploy. The latest update is that deployment should complete worldwide by the end of January 2024.

What this means is that people can copy a link for a video from the Stream browser app and insert it into a Teams message. In the example shown in Figure 2, the video is stored in a SharePoint document library. The nice thing is that the viewers don’t need to know anything about where a video comes from (the location is shown beneath the video if someone really wants to know). The important thing is if the link allows access, users can play the video inline and have access to features like the transcript, chapters, and comments.

Share but No Download

Speaking of sharing, message center notification MC699712 (December 19, 2023) announced a change to the sharing link setting with the addition of the “Can view, but not download” option to the permission drop down. This change is supposed to hit targeted release tenants in mid-December, but I haven’t seen it yet and still have the old sharing experience (Figure 3).

Some folks are unaware that you can send sharing links which block downloads, so that’s why I include it here. Stay tuned for the improved version.

Analytics and the Timeline

Stream has supported access to video analytics for a couple of years. The latest addition is the ability to superimpose details of viewer retention on a video as it is viewed by its owner. Previously this functionality was available as part of the analytics available in the flyout panel. As shown in Figure 4, as a video advances through its timeline, analytics shows the percentage of engaged viewers at any point.

Clearly the aim is to retain viewers until the end of a video but it’s natural to see some drop-off toward the end, which is why it’s important to communicate important messages early.

Preview Mode

Another new feature is the ability to preview a video so that the owner sees the content as others do when they view it. This option is available when playing a video. Previewing allows access to the transcript, analytics, and comments but not video settings. Oddly, the route back to owner mode is to click the Edit button.

It seems like preview mode is associated with the update described in message center notification MC698135 (December 14, 2023, Microsoft 365 roadmap item 124992). The notification covers the difference between View mode and Edit mode and says that the default mode will be View to prevent inadvertent changes to video metadata happening when users with edit access open videos. At the time of writing, I see videos open in edit mode so the change hasn’t reached my tenant (deployment is due to be complete by the end of January 2024).

Hyperlinks and Forms in Videos

More changes are described in MC688631 (last updated December 14, 2023, Microsoft 365 roadmap item 180795) where video owners can add a hyperlink or text callout to videos. The callouts are associated with specific points in the video timeline and appear when viewers reach those points. MC688632 (9 November 2023, Microsoft 365 roadmap item 180796), describes much the same except that the timeline insertion covers surveys, quizzes, or polls created with Microsoft Forms.

Large Video Files and Automatic Transcript Generation

MC635989 (last updated 5 October 2023, Microsoft 365 roadmap item 124932) promised that automatic generation of transcripts for videos uploaded to SharePoint Online, Viva Engage (Yammer), and Office.com would be complete for standard tenants by the end of December 2023.

That is, unless your videos are too large. I noticed that a video of a podcast I recorded with the CodeTwo Software team at the European SharePoint Conference didn’t have a transcript. When I tried to generate a transcript manually, Stream informed me that transcript generation only caters for videos with a maximum size of 4 GB. That’s a good limitation to know because many professional high-definition videos can generate very large files (11.8 GB in this case).

Odd Video Search

While working with videos in the Stream browser app, I noticed the availability of Visual Search option button when hovering over videos (Figure 5). I hadn’t seen this button before, but that could be the result of my inability to find options.

But I suspect it’s related to the announcement in MC681879 (16 October 2023, Microsoft 365 roadmap item 117552) covering improvements in video search for Office.com and SharePoint. In any case, clicking the button causes Stream to perform a visual search. I’m not sure what criteria Stream uses for the search but it generated some odd results from YouTube (Figure 6). At least, results that I couldn’t correlate with the selected video.

Stream Evolving Fast

Because Stream is available in places like SharePoint and Teams it’s easy not to have a reason to go near the browser app for months at a time. The experience gained here revealed that because Stream is evolving fast it’s wise for tenant administrators to keep an eye on what’s happening, just in case you’re asked if a capability is available for video files. It’s just plain embarrassing when a feature exists and you aren’t aware of it.

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