Two new Microsoft 365 “mini-apps” are being rolled out to some customers. People and File Search are coming for business and enterprise customers.
Microsoft buries the important limitations of the two new apps, so we’ll put them first to save you wondering.
- File Search and People apps are only available on Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise plans (not consumer or education plans).
- Files have to be saved on OneDrive or SharePoint. Microsoft is (deliberately?) vague on this point talking about “Microsoft 365 files”.
- Windows 11 is required.
- For the moment, only Microsoft 365 Insiders (beta) are getting the apps.
Microsoft 365 Companions
Both File Search and People are being called “Companions” or mini-apps intended to be pinned on the Windows taskbar and pop-up as required.
File Search
This is a slightly enhanced way to find files. Search by file name or contents, which is already possible in either Windows Explorer or the OneDrive/Sharepoint/Teams apps or web pages.
We say ‘slightly’ enhanced because File Search has clearer filters to narrow a search according to people involved, @Mentions, type of file, Edited status etc.
Presumably there’s more to come in File Search. Glaringly missing from the release is even a mention of AI or Copilot. Copilot should be able to return results for more human questions like “The document about widgets that was edited last week”.
Preview – each search result comes with a preview button.
Share – documents can be shared directly from File Search without opening.
People
The People app finds fellow staff within an organization.
Search by name, job title, department/division, location or project. View someone’s details including their place in the organization chart.
Messaging – a Teams message can be sent to a person via the People app.
If the People app seems familiar, that’s because there was an app with the same name and broad purpose in Windows 8 and 10.
