Microsoft Launches Loop in Public Preview

Microsoft has launched Loop, a new collaboration app integrated with Microsoft 365 that’s being touted as a competitor to Notion.

Last week, Microsoft announced that it will begin a public preview of Loop, an online platform that aims to facilitate co-creation and collaboration among team members. It helps teams work better together in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, especially in today’s world where many people are working remotely.

Loop has three main elements to structure projects: workspaces, pages, and components. Each project is organized in a workspace, and once the title and keywords are added, Loop will make suggestions on which content to add. Users can adapt or update the structure using a drag-and-drop type interface and preformatted page templates.

The synching capability ensures that components and pages are kept up to date from all the applications where they are shared. Users can “turn any content on a Loop page into a component, then simply copy and paste across M365 apps, including Teams chat, Outlook, Whiteboard, and Word for the web.” This allows all team members to access and contribute to a project, as well as “decompose information” to allocate tasks based on role and involvement.

Up to 50 people can edit a workspace at once, however Microsoft recommends teams of up to 12 for an optimal user experience. Access rights are easy to see and can be defined at the component level.

Loop has included elements to help team members communicate with each other using comments, nudges, reactions, and emojis. Notifications allow users to easily identify mentions or tasks that are assigned to them.

Copilot in Loop is currently only available in a limited private preview. With user-generated prompts, this AI assistant can provide suggestions to help users create and refine content. Copilot will also be able to create a summary for a Loop page and its attachments.

Microsoft is using the public preview to allow Microsoft and Azure Active Directory account holders to test, explore and provide feedback on the web version or mobile app for Android and iOS. Microsoft hasn’t released a date when Loop will be available for personal accounts.

Microsoft already has a rich roadmap of product evolutions for Loop, including adding components that facilitate business workflows and allowing developers to create custom Loop components.