Cisco Webex Latest Release - 42.2

Overview

Your Webex service will be upgraded to the Latest release 42.2 according to the Cisco Webex maintenance schedule.

Summary of the upcoming release is below. 

For users

Webex Webinar

• Webinar materials are now supported. As a host, you can upload webinar materials such as Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, PDF, Microsoft Word documents, JPG, and PNG files in the webinar information page. Attendees can download material in the webinar information page.
• In addition to polls using Slido, you can now start polls in webinars from the Polling panel, similar to Webex Meetings. Use polls to engage your participants, even if Slido is not available in your webinar. Slido can be activated on an organisation level if you are an administrator. Go to this article to find out more here.  If you aren’t an admin, contact your BT Account Team to have this activated.
• The maximum number of webinar registrants and attendees is increased. In this update, users who have the 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, and 100,000 license plans can accept registration more than their current license allows. They now can accept 20 percent more of their maximum attendee numbers.
• Webex meetings and webinars now support 1080p. Site administrators can enable 1080p support.This feature is not available for Webex for Government.
• End webcast after all content is displayed feature is now available. When the webcast stops, attendees continue to see the content until all the content is displayed. This feature is not available for Webex for Government.
• Webex now allows host and cohost to change registration form including registrant number, registration ID, and approval rules option even after someone has registered for the webinar.

Webex Pre/In-Meeting Experience

• The Productivity Tools are nearing end of life. The 42.6 update will be the last release of Productivity Tools. Current users of Productivity Tools should migrate to the Webex Scheduler add-in. This announcement applies to the Latest and Slow channel too.
• Opened embedded apps are in a new location. When you want to reopen an embedded app, you can open the Apps panel and find the app at the top of the In Meeting list. Previously, it was in the More (...) menu.
• Google Workspace add-on user interface has been improved. From now on you can toggle between Personal Room and one-time meeting links directly from the meeting settings panel. Default settings are used when you choose Webex meeting from the Add video conferencing option menu.
• Real-time transcription is available for 13 spoken languages. Now, as a host you can select transcription for the meeting and webinar in 13 spoken languages, such as English (existing), Chinese Mandarin, Dutch, and so on. The captions for these languages can also be translated to 100+ other languages. This feature has a beta tag, and an improvement in the way that captions are rendered is planned for release in 42.3. It is not available for Webex for Government.
• The Raise hand icon is moved out from the Reactions menu to the control bar. This makes it easier to find and faster to use.
• Sync my Stage is enabled for everyone. As a host or cohost, you can now sync your exact layout of the stage for attendees.
• Meeting attendee display names can now be anonymised (beta – enabled by request). When enabled, hosts can use the Keep attendee names private option in the scheduler. This setting assigns an anonymous display name (Participant 1, Participant 2, and so on) to attendees as they join. Only the host or cohost has access to an attendee’s real name. This feature is available on an independent release cycle. Check status.webex.com/maintenance to see when it’s available on your site.
• Filter for Slido events’ is added in the Webex panel. As a Slido org owner and administrator, you can now filter only your Slido events by clicking the filter icon in the Webex sidebar. The default My own option includes their Slido events (classic) and webinar, and the All option includes Slido events of all users under the organization.
• As a cohost and panelist, you can request access to co-administer Slido directly from the Webex sidebar. If the host added Slido to the Webex Meeting or webinar. Therefore, the host doesn’t have to necessarily invite you as a collaborator beforehand using slido.com > Settings > Share access.

Webex Post-Meeting Experience

• *.PDF is the default file format when the shared file content is saved in meetings. *.UCF is an old file format that can only be viewed in a meeting or with Webex Media Player, which is no longer supported. 

For administrators

• In Webex Control Hub, administrators can choose to allow users to change their profile attributes in the mobile app. According to this configuration that is made in Control Hub, the users can see whether they can edit the attributes on the Webex Meetings mobile app.
• Administrator controls are now available for video device layouts. Users joining your meetings on video devices can now enjoy the default video layout that you set in your meetings configuration.

Webex Meetings VDI

• In Meetings VDI, you can extend the maximum video ports from 3x3 to 5x5 in grid view. Your administrator controls the maximum video ports from Webex Control Hub.

Webex for Government Updates

• Collaboration restrictions for your company users joining external meetings is now on Webex for Government. As an administrator, you can apply policies to users joining external meetings from a Webex for the Government environment. You can add your own approved site list where you want these restrictions not to take effect. This setting can be configured using the Control Hub site admin page.

Webex Meetings APIs

• Webex RESTful APIs to support approve and reject registration for meetings and webinars. Using Webex Meetings RESTful API you can now approve and reject a registration for meetings and webinars and check the number of views of a specific recording. This feature is not available for Webex for Government. For more information, go here.
• Webex Meetings RESTful API support for webinars. Developers can schedule webinars using the meetings API. The API supports standard CRUD operations in line with the current meetings API endpoint. This feature is not available for Webex for Government. For more information, go here.
• List recordings API is now available. You can list recordings based on service type, recording format type, and recording name. For more information, go here. This feature is not available for Webex for Government.

Go here for more details on what's new in 42.2 Latest release.

Impact description and actions

• Review the above features and inform your users
• Follow 'Next steps' below

Next steps

Refer to the below resources for support through this upgrade process:

• Customer Monthly Update for 42.2
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Latest Channel Guide for IT Managers

We recognize that you may require software to remain on lockdown for compliance with regulations or internal policies. Please submit your request by completing this form.

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