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The Lync Windows Store App keeps getting better!

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By Phil Garding, Sr Program Manager, Lync

Many thanks to all who have downloaded the Lync Windows Store app on your Windows 8 devices! An extra thank you to those who took the time to write a review and give us feedback. We are listening and working hard to add the features you want, fix problems you are encountering, and make the app an even better experience for customers.

As part of our continued commitment to improve the app, we are excited to announce that our second update to the Lync Windows Store app is now available in the Windows Store! We have done a ton of work over the last few months, and we hope you love the update.

HERE'S AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT'S NEW

Access more about your meetings — Use the new Meetings screen to view details about all your meetings for the current and next day, and, when more than one meeting is scheduled for the same time, to choose which meeting to join. You can still join your next meeting from the Join Lync Meeting tile on the home screen.


Meetings button on Home screen


See two days of meetings in the Meetings screen

Do more with the snapped view — Make calls, view contact information, start and have conversations, and see contacts’ presence all while working on other apps.


See your contacts in snapped view and start conversations

Join meetings anonymously — Join a Lync Meeting from the Lync app even if your credentials don’t work for that meeting or if you don’t have a Lync account.


Join meetings anonymously, without a Lync account

Browse someone else’s shared slides — During a PowerPoint presentation in a Lync Meeting, move forward and back through the slides without changing what everyone else is seeing.


Browse PowerPoint slides privately

Take over as presenter for someone else’s shared slides — During a PowerPoint presentation in a Lync Meeting, present a PowerPoint file that someone else has started sharing.

Click a phone number to make a call — Make a call by clicking a phone number when it appears as a link in a browser or other app. (Available only if your account supports calls to standard phone numbers.)

Change the speed of voice mail playback — Slow down messages to make them easier to understand or speed them up to more quickly get to the part you want to hear. (Voice mail might not be available for your account.)


Change voice mail speed

Improved high-contrast support — Choose any high-contrast Windows theme to make Lync easier to see.

Sign in reliably — Sign into Lync Windows Store more reliably, with better error messages and troubleshooting help when you have a problem.

To learn more about all that the app can do, watch our new Using Lync Windows Store App video or look through our online Help topics.

To download the update, go to Windows Store, select Updates (in the top, right corner) > Lync > Install. When you see the Meetings button on the Lync Home screen, you’ve got the update.

While you are enjoying the updated Lync Windows Store app, we have already gone back to work to make it even better. Please leave us feedback and give us a new or updated rating in the Windows Store, or leave feedback in the blog comments so that we know how best to make this the best Lync app ever.

HAVE FUN USING LYNC!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    thanks for the post.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The abiltiy to join meetings anonymously is great as our staff invite a lot of people outside our company or may wish to join from a personal PC.  However, this feature would be better included in the iOS and Android versions of the Lync 2013 app as those devices cannot use the Lync Web app.  Are there plans update those mobile apps with the anonymous access option?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The Tel: protocol handler is a great addition I was waiting for, thanks for prioritizing it for this update. Would be good to fix it on the Lync 2013 (desktop) client as well, so that we can pick which one to use when both are installed, especially since the desktop client is needed for USB "optimized for" devices. I noticed Lync 2013 and Lync MX seems to be unable to playback WMA voicemails, which forced us to switch from WMA to MP3 in Exchange UM. Is this by design ? I didn't notice this limitation in the documentation. Finally, something that still doesn't work in this update: If several users have the same phone number but different extensions, as in User 1 = +1234567890;ext=111 and User 2 = +1234567890;ext=222, calling an extension from Lync MX dial-pad gets normalized to the phone number only and fails. For example, calling 222 will try to call +1234567890 without the 222 extension. The same scenario works fine in Lync 2013 (desktop) and Lync Phone Edition, calling the user corresponding to the extension part. This problem makes it impossible to call by extension in networks where several users share a single DDI.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Phil, Lync Team - is there a way i can download and distribute this app to multiple desktops without actually giving access to Windows Store for all users?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The Lync Windows Store App keeps getting better!
    thanks

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The Lync Windows Store App keeps getting better!
    thanks

  • Anonymous
    June 25, 2013
    Great job Lync Team!  All I/we need now is the ability to share desktop/ppt/whiteboard from the Windows 8 client.  That would finally make my RT device my primary device!  Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    June 25, 2013
    Just need support for "optimized for" Lync devices now and its a first class citizen.

  • Anonymous
    June 25, 2013
    Anyone know of a way to make Lync the default app for url:tel on the Surface RT?  I have attempted to set the default application but have no option to add url:tel to the Lync App.  Also removed Skype, the default app for URL:tel on a default install but now attempts to click to dial fail with "No App found".

  • Anonymous
    June 26, 2013
    Mira estoy asiendo un proyecto de análisis entres CISCO UC MANAGER y Microsoft Lync por ende necesito platicar con alguien que me explique por que debo elegir Microsoft LYnc

  • Anonymous
    June 26, 2013
    Austinite79 - Check this article out: myucthoughts.blogspot.ca/.../windows-8-chrome-and-lync-2013-client.html

  • Anonymous
    July 03, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 23, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 12, 2013
    What is the url to start Lync RT from an RT app? With Lync 2013, sip:  works, but does not work for Lync RT.

  • Anonymous
    September 12, 2013
    I have 2 computers with W8.1 installed. Lync RT crashes right after start on both of them.

  • Anonymous
    October 02, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 02, 2013
    Hi Phil & team, I have been using the Lync desktop app for years, but just started trying to use the Lync touch app more seriously on a Dell Venue 8 Pro.  There are two things that just don't work right, though, which have driven me back to using the desktop app.  Of course that's not ideal on a touch device! First, there is no desktop sharing.  If I want to show someone my screen I can't do it. Second, the video sharing is way zoomed in for some reason.  I have to hold my arms completely outstretched to show my whole face, and even then I'm too close.  In the desktop client this problem is not there - my face is sized correctly with my arms at a comfortable distance.

  • Anonymous
    December 29, 2013
    Pingback from New Lync features available to make meetings even better - Information Store - ExchangeBlog - TechNetKlub

  • Anonymous
    August 11, 2014
    Phillip Garding, you mentioned that Lync can not be downloaded separately from the Windows Store. You wanted to know more. I have this requirement, my company wants to use Lync on the Surface Pro 3 for multiple users. I have an SCCM task sequence to install common applications and I would like to have Lync installed as part of this process. Can you tell me if this feature is available yet, or when it might become available.

    Thanks

    Rob

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    October 07, 2014
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    October 08, 2014
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    October 08, 2014
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    October 09, 2014
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    October 12, 2014
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  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2015
    Dear lync team - the presentation icon is grey when I using lync 2013 store app in my surface 3. any advice to solve it? thanks~

  • Anonymous
    December 04, 2015
    The comment has been removed