Did You Know? Microsoft 365 is Ending Support for Internet Explorer

One of the important things to stay on top of is when certain technologies are losing support. If you suddenly get hit with a problem like Microsoft Teams meetings no longer working, it can completely disrupt your business until the issue is resolved.

Cloud services are always evolving. This is a positive in that you are always getting new features and new capabilities added that can improve productivity. The negative is that older technologies and components are phased out as new ones come in, which necessitates a change in workflow.

A big change that is coming up this month is the loss of support by Microsoft Teams for Internet Explorer (IE 11). This means that your previously smooth video calls may suddenly stop working or a client might not be able to join a meeting like they used to.

And this is just the first step. Later in 2021, all Microsoft 365 applications will stop supporting IE 11, which can cause an even bigger disruption if you’re not ready.

Being unaware of this type of sunsetting of a browser, operating system, or application can leave your business continuity strategy with some big holes and result in costly, unexpected downtime.

Internet Explorer 11 Dates & Details

Here is the information you need to know to properly prepare a migration of your business tools and processes to keep them from being impacted by the IE 11 phaseout.

November 30, 2020: Microsoft Teams No Longer Supports IE 11

On 11/30/2020, the Microsoft Teams application will no longer support use in the IE 11 browser. This impacts both the Teams web experience and video meetings being done via browser rather than inside the Teams application.

August 17, 2021: Microsoft 365 No Longer Supports IE 11

You have a little longer to prepare for all the other apps in Microsoft 365 to stop support for Internet Explorer. All other apps in the platform will no longer support the browser on 8/17/2021.

This will impact all online experiences for Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook as well as other applications like OneDrive and SharePoint.

What happens when you try to use a Microsoft 365 app in IE 11 after these dates?

According to Microsoft: “Customers will have a degraded experience or will be unable to connect to Microsoft 365 apps and services on IE 11.”

The company defines “degraded experience” as:

• New Microsoft 365 features not being available; and/or
• Specific features may cease to work when accessed from Internet Explorer 11

What Should You Do to Prepare for IE 11 Losing Microsoft 365 Support?

First, it’s important to know the difference between EOL (end of life) for a product and when a product is just losing support from an app or service.

The dates above refer to IE 11 losing support from Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365, but that is not the same as EOL. The application, if run on a supported operating system, will continue to receive vital security updates.

Because IE is a component of the Windows operating system, has the same lifecycle as the OS version it’s installed upon.

So, if you’re running Windows 10, you have no worries. If you are running it on Windows 7, then both IE and the OS are no longer supported. You should upgrade as soon as possible because your device is at risk.

Here are the things to do to be ready for this transition.

Transition From IE 11 to Another Browser

Microsoft 365 and Teams can be used on Edge, Chrome, and Safari browsers. Firefox can also be used, but not all Teams features will work in that browser.

If transitioning to Microsoft Edge, it’s important to know that you want to upgrade to the Chromium version. The legacy version of Edge is reaching end of life and end of support March 9, 2021. You definitely don’t want to choose the wrong one.

A bonus feature in Edge to help those companies using legacy IE websites is IE Mode. This allows you to open sites in IE 11 without needing another browser to do it.

Create a Notice to Send with Teams Video Conference Invites

To avoid having someone you’ve invited to a Teams video meeting run into issues, you’ll want to add a notice to your Teams video conference invitations. This notice should let the recipient know that IE 11 is no longer supported after 11/30/2020 for Teams meetings.

Create a Comprehensive Migration Plan

There are a lot of things stored in a browser, including bookmarks, auto-fill settings, and passwords. You don’t want to tell all your employees to switch over to a new browser on their own. They may not do it correctly and be without that important data migrating over.

Get technical support help with a comprehensive migration plan so your team can transition smoothly.

Is Your Cloud Infrastructure Up to Date?

Copperband Technologies can help your Tennessee business with a review of your current cloud infrastructure and point out any technologies that will be losing support in the near future, so you can prepare.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation! Call 931.263.8000 or reach us online.