Zoom In and Zoom Out in Grid View

Need to get a closer look at someone's video? By default, the Webex Meetings desktop app grid view adjusts automatically based on the number of people in the meeting. In this update, we're introducing a new slider, giving you more control over how many videos you want to see at any given time. Zoom in to see videos larger or zoom out to see more people at a time on screen.

Customize Stage View

Our new customizable stage allows you to easily control who or what you want in view at any time. When in the Stack or Side by side view, you can now easily grab a participant from the filmstrip and move them to the stage. This is a great way to get a closer look at a participant, to place an active speaker right next to the content that is being shared, or to keep users who are not actively speaking in view (for example, a sign language interpreter).

Simply drag a video from the filmstrip to the stage with your mouse or select Move to stage from the more options menu of the user you would like to move. Up to four videos can be added to the stage, in addition to the shared content or active speaker.

As a host or cohost, once you customize your stage, you can sync your view to become the default stage view for everyone in the meeting.

All New Webex Events

We are adding an All New Webex Events service that supports up to 3,000 participants depending on your subscription. The classic version of Webex Events will remain available on your site. Webex Events (New) brings you a best-in-class virtual event experience that is video-centric, intelligent, and simple to use.

With Webex Events (New), hosts can schedule an event from either the Webex site Home page or the Meetings page. Hosts can choose between two modes in the new scheduler -Event mode for an interactive and highly engaging experience and Webcast mode for events with limited attendee interactions. Please note that Webcast mode is available only for Webex Events 3000 licensed hosts. Both modes include the following:

• Presenters can share content optimized for motion and video with computer audio.
• All attendees can view the panelists' video and shared content.
• Cohosts can be assigned at the time of scheduling or during an event to help manage attendees in an event.
• Hosts can set a stage view for all attendees. Note that the layout in the recording will follow the host's Recording> Preferences option.

Some Webex Events (Classic) functionality is not yet available but will come in future updates. This includes, but is not limited to, attendee telephony audio options in Event mode, registration and attendance reports, importing attendees, and registration auto-approval rules.

Note: The dates for the All New Webex Events will be posted on our release calendar in April as it becomes available. Please subscribe to our RSS Feed for this feature to receive updates on availability.

See Webex Events (New) to learn more about the new scheduler, Events mode, and Webcast mode.

New AV1 Codec for Content Sharing

We have added a new next generation video coding format from the Alliance for Open Media to our Webex Meetings desktop app. This codec is referred to as AV1 and is optimized to provide a great user experience while using less bandwidth than existing codecs.

In this update, we have added support for this codec when sharing has been manually set to Optimize for motion and video. Sharing content with this codec requires a minimum of a Quad-core processor. Receiving content shared with AV1 requires the minimum of a Dual-core processor. In this initial update, all participants in the meeting must meet the minimum requirements for this codec to be used.

When AV1 is successfully negotiated, all participants will display the AV1 logo for 5 seconds at the beginning of content sharing.

End of Support for Mac Productivity Tools

The final release for Productivity Tools for Mac will be 41.5 as Microsoft plans to block injection-based plugins on Mac Outlook beginning mid-May. Mac based Outlook customers who wish to use Webex should move to the Cisco Webex Scheduler for Microsoft 365.

Webex Productivity Tools is a separate package from the Webex Meetings desktop app. The Mac version of Productivity Tools no longer supports integrations with IBM Lotus Notes, IBM Sametime, Microsoft Lync, Internet Explorer, and Skype for Business.

For more information on migrating to the Webex Scheduler Add-In, check out the Migrate from Productivity Tools to the Webex Scheduler Add-In help article.

Java Clients End of Service Announcement

There are three Java clients that will reach EoS (End of Service) on April 1, 2021. The first is a tool that enabled Linux operating system users to access Webex Meetings, Webex Training, and Webex Events. The second is for Mac Webex Support users. The third is a Java applet for Internet Explorer (IE) users. EoS means we will no longer make these apps available, provide updates to, or provide support for these tools. However, they will continue to work if already downloaded. The best alternative to these apps is to use Webex on the web.

Start or Join a Webex Scheduled Meeting as a host using your Saved Phone Number

Starting in the June (41.6) update, we are adding the capability for phone only users to be able to start a Webex scheduled meeting from their phone. Users who want to start a Webex scheduled meeting from their phone will need to validate their phone number along with the Host PIN. Users should save their phone number in Preferences> Audio and Video> My phone numbers to be able to start or join a meeting as a host by phone.

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*NOTE: The DATE and TIME will not be displayed in the localized Customer Care Messages. Please refer to the original communication for the DATE and TIME scheduled for your deployment.

For your convenience, Cisco publishes product update schedules for all clusters on the Service Upgrades and Scheduled Maintenance Calendar.