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Microsoft has launched its Fluid Framework Technology for Microsoft 365 in public preview, enabling users with a work or school Microsoft account to test out the offering. Availability is in English and worldwide environments.

Focusing on collaboration

The Fluid Framework is a new technology and set of ‘experiences’ that aim to aid collaboration and improve communication between apps, according to Microsoft.

The offering includes three key aspects. These are multi-person co-authoring on web and document content, access to a componentised document model, and use of intelligent agents.

The document model allows authors to deconstruct content into different ‘blocks’ and use them across different applications. This provides users with a more flexible approach to creating and collaborating on documents, according to Microsoft.

The intelligent agents are able to work alongside humans to translate text, retrieve content, suggest edits, perform compliance checks and more, in order to aid users in creation and co-creation of documents.

In addition to the public preview, Microsoft has announced a private preview for developers which interested parties can sign up to join online.

Improving Microsoft 365

According to the company, Microsoft expects these features to improve user experience across the different apps and use cases within 365.

In a blog post, Dan Zarzar of Microsoft writes, “Over time, we expect these capabilities to light up in experiences across Microsoft 365, including within chat in Teams, mail in Outlook, portals in SharePoint, notes in OneNote, and documents in Office.”

Microsoft says Fluid Framework highlights a new approach to workplace tools which enable teams and individuals to collaborate faster and more efficiently, and are ultimately grounded in new ways of working. The comprehensive approach from the vendor also includes Teams, the communication service for chat, meetings and calling.

The Fluid Framework offering was initially announced at Build 2019, the vendor’s developer conference held in Seattle earlier this year.