M365 Changelog: New Admin PowerShell control for Loop components

MC371268 – In response to customer feedback, Microsoft is introducing a new PowerShell control, IsLoopEnabled to control Loop components experiences in Microsoft 365. Now admins can control Loop components independently from other experiences. This allows admins to be able to disable Loop components while keeping the new Whiteboard in OneDrive enabled.

Additionally, you no longer need to set IsFluidEnabled to True to enable other Fluid Framework powered experiences. Microsoft highly recommends admins to stop using IsFluidEnabled because it will be retired later this year. The property will only be available until the November 2022 release of SharePoint Online Management Shell on November 25, 2022.

Learn more about managing loop components here

When this will happen:

• Introducing a new PowerShell control IsLoopEnabled to control Loop component in Microsoft 365. This is now available as part of the new version of the SharePoint Online Management Shell (16.0.22413.12000). It may take 1-2 days for the msi to be available to your tenant.
• Starting the process of retiring the IsFluidEnabled toggle which currently controls all experiences powered by Fluid Framework. The property will only be available until the November 2022 release of SharePoint Online Management Shell on November 25, 2022.

How this will affect your organization:

Experiences powered by Fluid Framework can be controlled individually. This means admins can now control Loop components and the new Whiteboard on OneDrive for Business independently of each other.

eDiscovery considerations:

• Loop components and Whiteboard on OneDrive are discoverable but have limited eDiscovery workflow support. Currently, these files are stored in the creator’s OneDrive for Business and are available for search and collection in both eDiscovery (Standard and Premium). However, they do not render in preview and the export format for review is not consumable by existing tools. To view the exported content, upload them to any OneDrive for Business.
• Microsoft is working on an offline consumable export format. In the meantime, if this workaround for review flows is not sufficient for your organization’s needs, you can temporarily disable these experiences with the new toggle settings.

What you need to do to prepare:

No automatic change in your environment with this new release of the SharePoint Online Management Shell. Microsoft simply provide the ability to control Loop components independently from other experiences.

To turn off Loop components while leaving Whiteboard on:

1. Upgrade to the latest SPO Management Shell
   • Update-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell
2. Run Get-SPOTenant without any arguments.
   • Verify that you can see IsLoopEnabled in the list of property. If you don’t see this property yet, please upgrade and check again on May 1st, 2022.
   • Verify that value of IsWBFluidEnabled is true. If false, then run Set-SPOTenant –IsWBFluidEnabled $true to enable the new Whiteboard in OneDrive.
3. Disable Loop Component using the Set-SPOTenant cmdlet.
   • Set-SPOTenant -IsLoopEnabled $false

These changes take approximately 60 minutes to apply across your tenancy.

Learn more about Loop’s settings management

Additional information