MC917748 - Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook: Name pronunciation on the profile card

Service

Exchange Online
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft 365 for the web
Microsoft 365 apps

Last Updated

Nov 13, 2024

Published Oct 24, 2024

Tag

Updated message
New feature
User impact
Admin impact

Platforms

Desktop
Mac
Web

Summary

Microsoft Teams and Outlook will soon introduce a name pronunciation feature on profile cards, aiming to enhance inclusivity. It will be previewed without an admin toggle but will include one before general availability. Admins can opt out by raising an incident. The feature stores pronunciation data in user mailboxes and applies to various Teams and Outlook versions. Rollouts begin mid-November 2024 for Targeted Release and mid-January 2025 for General Availability. Admins need to enable the feature manually.

More information

Updated November 13, 2024: We will be shipping to preview without the admin toggle however an admin toggle will be available before general availability. If there are concerns or your organisation wants to opt out, please raise an incident to address this. 

Coming soon to Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Teams: A name pronunciation feature on the profile card in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook. This new feature helps promote diversity by giving working colleagues relevant information about each other. Names are a crucial part of a person’s identity. The incorrect pronunciation of a person’s name can lead to anxiety and offense in some cases. Correctly pronouncing a person’s name helps to create an inclusive environment.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 420329.

Pronunciation data is stored in each user's mailbox until the user deletes the recording. Learn more: Data Residency for Exchange Online - Microsoft 365 Enterprise | Microsoft Learn

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, new Outlook for Windows desktop, and new Outlook for web.

When this will happen:

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out mid-November 2024 and expect to complete by late November 2024.

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out mid-January 2025 and expect to complete by mid-February 2025.

How this will affect your organization:

After this rollout, users can record and share the correct pronunciation of their name on their profile card. With a click, users can play and listen to name pronunciations recorded by their colleagues.

To open a profile card in Outlook, double-click a name in the To or From field in any sent or received email.

To open your profile card in Teams, select your profile photo in the upper right corner of the screen, and then select your name.

To listen to a colleague's recorded pronunciation, select the speaker icon on their profile card:

user controls

To record the pronunciation of a name, open your profile card in Outlook or Teams, and select the microphone icon:

user controls

user controls

What you need to do to prepare:

This feature is off by default. As an admin, you can enable the feature in Microsoft Graph using these instructions: namePronunciationSettings resource type - Microsoft Graph beta | Microsoft Learn

Before rollout, we will update this post with revised documentation.

You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

#newoutlookforwindows