As organizations continue to evolve in these dynamic times, they need modern tools that can embrace ambiguity and enable people to work where and how they want to in order to be effective. Microsoft Loop is the perfect solution for your teams to think, plan, and create together, like never before, even when they’re not in the same place. It’s a transformative co-creation experience that brings together teams, content and tasks across your tools and devices. It is a new app that combines a powerful and flexible canvas with portable components that stay in sync and move freely across Microsoft 365 apps. Learn more here.
We are excited to announce that Microsoft Loop is now in Public Preview! The Loop app is opt-in during our Public Preview, so as an IT Admin, you need to follow the steps below for your users to experience it, otherwise it is disabled. Once enabled, you and the people in your organization can try it today at: https://loop.microsoft.com/
Why enable it for your organization?
You can empower your organization and join the modern workplace movement by enabling Loop. Loop lets your team collaborate seamlessly, even when working remotely and in hybrid environments. With Loop, you can create and share Loop components-portable pieces of content that sync across all the places they have been shared including, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Word for the web, Whiteboard, and the Loop app. These components are always up to date, regardless of where they’re shared, and your team can edit them inline from those applications. The Loop app itself enables your teams to collect everything they need for a project in one place, enabling them to think, plan and create together.
Learn more about the end-user value of the Loop app here in our announcement blog.
How do I enable Loop app for my organization?
All the information you need is in our Loop admin settings documentation. This Microsoft Learn article offers a screen-by-screen version of the same guidance.
Overview of steps
- Optional: Create a new Microsoft 365 group that contains all the users in your organization who you want to grant access to the Loop app during Public Preview.
- Sign into the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center and create a Cloud Policy configuration, scoped to the Microsoft 365 group mentioned above, or to the full tenant, to enable the Loop app.
- Wait an hour or so for the policy to propagate and log in to Loop!
Optional: Creating a Microsoft 365 group
Microsoft 365 groups allow you to manage access to products, features and shared resources for a specific group of people in your organization. If you are not familiar with Microsoft 365 groups, you can review the Overview of Microsoft 365 Groups for administrators guide.
If you need to create a new Microsoft 365 group, you can follow these steps to create a Microsoft 365 group.
Note: The Cloud Policy service also support security groups managed by Azure Active Directory. See the Resources section below for links to instructions for creating security groups in Azure Active Directory.
Creating a Cloud Policy
For detailed steps explaining how to create and manage policies using the Cloud Policy service, see How to secure your remote workers with Office Cloud Policy Service. Make sure to also check out this video walk through: The New Office Cloud Policy Service
- Login into https://config.office.com with your administrator account and choose Customization > Policy Management > Create to create a new policy configuration in your tenant. You can name the policy as you please. In the example below, we named it, "Loop Policy":
Note: You can also use an existing policy configuration. - On the Basics page, provide a name for the policy configuration and click Next. In the example below, we named it, "Loop Policy."
3. In the Scope page, select either of these options:
a. This policy configuration applies to all users to apply this setting and enable the Loop app for everyone in your tenant.
b. This policy configuration applies to users in the specified group, to target the Microsoft 365 group that contains the users you want to enable the Loop app for, then click Next.
4. On the Policies page, Search for the Loop app policy, "Create and view Loop workspaces in Loop." (This policy was previously named, Create and view Loop files in Loop.")
5. Click on the "Create and view Loop workspaces in Loop" policy to open the configuration pane.
Note: If you also need to change the default configuration of Loop component integrations across Microsoft 365 apps (they are all ON by default if you do nothing), or specifically need to change the default configuration of Loop components in Outlook (they are ON by default if you do nothing), this is the same part of the process where you would configure them.
6. In the configuration pane for “Create and view Loop workspaces in Loop” change the configuration setting to Enabled and click Apply.
7. After confirming that the “Create and view Loop workspaces in Loop” policy is Configured, click Next.
8. On the Review and publish page, click Save or Update.
Use Loop
With the policy configured you can now sign and use Loop. Log into https://loop.microsoft.com using an account that is a member of the Microsoft 365 group you selected in the policy configuration from the steps above.
Note: Loop will only be accessible for the user accounts that are members of the group if you chose to target a group in step 3.
When Loop is enabled, they will see the Loop app!
When Loop is disabled or users don't have access, they will see this screen:
Requirements
If you have a firewall configured, ensure connections to Loop services and Cloud Policy services are enabled; they are the same services you’ve already enabled for Microsoft 365. Read more about Loop service requirements here, and ensure you’ve enabled the services documented here: Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges. Read more about Cloud Policy service requirements here.
If you have disabled some of the feedback features, please reset them to default or enable them in order to ensure that your organization can send high quality and actionable feedback to our product engineering team. Specifically, the three items highlighted in green in the image below: “Allow users to submit feedback to Microsoft”, “Allow users to include screenshots and attachments when they submit feedback to Microsoft”, and “Allow user to include log files and content samples when they submit feedback to Microsoft.”
Helpful resources
More information about Loop components in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem:
- Use Loop components in Outlook
- Overview of Loop components in Teams
- First things to know about Loop components
Continue the conversation by joining us in the Microsoft 365 community! Want to share best practices or join community events? Become a member by "Joining" the Microsoft 365 community. For tips & tricks or to stay up to date on the latest news and announcements directly from the product teams, make sure to Follow or Subscribe to the Microsoft 365 Blog space!