I wanted to collate all SP2016 information together and this is what I have
The main driver for this release of SharePoint was to enable customers who are still not in a position to move to the cloud to utilize some of the newest and coolest innovations which cloud technologies provide. This is all wrapped up with better user experiences and more people-centric compliance.
Features deprecated in SharePoint Server 2016
Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint Foundation
Standalone Install mode
ForeFront Identity Manager client (FIM)
Excel Services in SharePoint
SharePoint BI capabilities
Tags and Notes
Work Management Service Application
Stsadm.exe
Access Services plus Access client and server
Central Administration is no longer provisioned on all servers by default
Compliance features
Document Library accessibility
Encrypted connections
Fast Site Collection Creation
File names - expanded support for special characters
Hybrid in SharePoint Server 2016
Identify and search for sensitive content in both SharePoint Server 2016 and OneDrive documents
Image and video previews
Information Rights Management
Large file support
MinRole farm topology
Improved Mobile Touch Experiences
New controls for working with OneDrive for Business
Open Document Format (ODF) available for document libraries
Project Server 2016
Power Pivot add-in and Power View are now available to use with SharePoint Server 2016 Release Candiate
Request Manager service improvements
Sharing
SharePoint Search Service application
Simplified SSL configuration for Central Administration site
Site collection upgrades
SMTP connection encryption
Sites page pinning
Site folders view
Suite Navigation is themable
Use SMTP ports other than the default (25)
The main driver for this release of SharePoint was to enable customers who are still not in a position to move to the cloud to utilize some of the newest and coolest innovations which cloud technologies provide. This is all wrapped up with better user experiences and more people-centric compliance.
Microsoft’s Focus for SharePoint 2016 is on :
- Content Management
- Security Compliance
- Advanced Analytics and Insights (data analysis and reporting)
- Cloud experiences
Features deprecated in SharePoint Server 2016
The following features and functionality have been deprecated or removed in SharePoint Server.
Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint
Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP cannot be deployed with SharePoint Server 2016. SharePoint Server 2016 doesn't have any Duet components, so it will not install.
If you want to deploy Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint you must use SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise Edition.
SharePoint Foundation
SharePoint Foundation 2013 remains available for use. For more information, see SharePoint Foundation 2013.
Previous releases of SharePoint Server included SharePoint Foundation, a free edition of SharePoint that included most of the core functionality and architecture provided by the commercial editions of SharePoint. SharePoint Foundation is no longer available in the SharePoint Server 2016 release.
Standalone Install mode
SharePoint Server 2016 doesn't support the standalone install option, so it is no longer available in the setup program. Use the MinRole feature during installation and choose one of the available install options. The Single Server Farm option where everything is installed on the same computer is supported for dev/test/demo purposes. When you use this option, you must install SQL Server yourself and then run the SharePoint Server 2016 farm configuration wizard.. For more information, see "MinRole farm topology" in New and improved features in SharePoint Server 2016.
ForeFront Identity Manager client (FIM)
Earlier versions of SharePoint used ForeFront Identity Manager client (FIM) to synchronize between Active Directory and SharePoint. SharePoint Server 2016 no longer uses FIM as the synchronization client. The default process is Active Directory Import. You can also use any synchronization tool such as Microsoft Identity Manager 2016, or any third-party tool. We'll soon release tools to help you deploy and configure Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 to work with SharePoint Server 2016 for identity synchronization.
Excel Services in SharePoint
Excel Services and its associated business intelligence capabilities are no longer hosted on SharePoint Server. Excel Services functionality is now part of Excel Online in Office Online Server (this is the next version of Office Web Apps Server), and SharePoint users can use the services from there. For more information, see Office Online Server now available, Office Online Server, and Configure Excel Online administrative settings.
If you currently use Excel Services in SharePoint 2013 and upgrade to SharePoint Server 2016 you must also deploy Office Online Server with Excel Online to ensure Excel Services functionality remains available.
The following Excel Services functionality has been deprecated:
- Trusted data providers
- Trusted file locations
- Trusted data connection libraries
- Unattended service account
- Excel Services Windows PowerShell cmdlets
- Opening of Excel workbooks from SharePoint Central Administration site
The following Excel Services functionality requires Excel Online in Office Online Server:
- Viewing and editing Excel workbooks in a browser (with or without the Data Model)
- Excel Web Access web part for SharePoint
- ODC file support (no longer requires Data Connection Libraries)
- Programmability features such as JavaScript OM, User Defined Function Assemblies, SOAP and REST protocol support
SharePoint BI capabilities
If you want to use Microsoft SQL Server Power Pivot for SharePoint or Microsoft Power View for SharePoint for BI solutions with SharePoint Server 2016 you must install the Power Pivot or Power View add-ins for SQL Server 2016 RTM. The SQL Server 2014 (SP1) Power Pivot for SharePoint and Power View for SharePoint add-ins cannot be deployed or used withSharePoint Server 2016. To deploy these add-ins you need to upgrade to SQL Server 2016 RTM. For more information, see New and improved features in SharePoint Server 2016. The following business intelligence features are available with SharePoint Server 2016 when you download SQL Server 2016 RTM:
- Power Pivot Gallery
- Scheduled Data Refresh
- Using another workbook's Data Model as a data source
- Power View reports (standalone or embedded in Excel workbooks)
- Power View Subscriptions and Report AlertingPower Pivot Management Dashboard
- BISM Link support
Tags and Notes
The Tags and Notes feature is deprecated in SharePoint Server 2016. This means that users can still create new tags and notes and access any existing ones. However, we don't recommend using this feature because it will be removed in the next release.
Administrators can archive all existing tags and notes by using the Export-SPTagsAndNotesData cmdlet.
Verify that you meet all of the following minimum requirements.
- You must have membership in the securityadmin fixed server role on the SQL Server instance
- You must have membership in the db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated.
- You must be a member of the Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows PowerShell cmdlet.
Export-SPTagsAndNotesData -Site -FilePath
Where :
Work Management Service Application
The Work Management Service Application has been removed from SharePoint Server 2016. The My Tasks and associated Exchange Task Sync features have also been removed from SharePoint Server 2016. Both of these features required the Work Management Service Application.
Stsadm.exe
We recommend that you use Windows PowerShell when you perform command-line administrative tasks. The Stsadm command-line tool has been deprecated, but it is included to support compatibility with previous product versions.
SharePoint Designer
Sharepoint Designer will not be shipped with SharePoint 2016 – Designer 2013 will continue to be supported
InfoPath 2013
Inforpath 2013 will continue to be supported (EOL April 2023) and InfoPath Forms Services will be includedUpgrade Considerations
- There is no direct upgrade path from 2010 to 2016 (sites and databases must be running in 2013 mode)
- The upgrade process is the same as 2010 to 2013 (2013 databases are attached to a new 2016 Farm and are upgraded)
New and improved features in SharePoint Server 2016
Access Services plus Access client and server
The following new Access features are available when you deploy Access Services in SharePoint 2016:
- Support apps for Office. For more information, see Spice up your Access app with add-ins for Office.
- Access App Upgrade. For more information, see Upgrade an Access app.
- Download in Excel feature available for users to pivot Access tables. For more information, see Introducing a new feature in Access 2013 web apps-Download in Excel.
- With the improved Related Item Control, you can do the following:
- Choose from any existing view for the dialog box on the Related Item Control.
- Add a new item on the Related Item Control when the parent record isn't saved.
- Turn off the Add link at the bottom of the Related Item Control.
- The Cascading Combo box is now available in Access. For more information, see Introducing a new user experience feature in Access web apps: Cascading Controls.
Central Administration is no longer provisioned on all servers by default
SharePoint Server 2016 Central Administration is now provisioned on the first server in a farm by default when using the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard. Central Administration is not provisioned on additional servers in a farm by default.
You can provision or unprovision Central Administration on individual servers in a farm, no matter what the server role is by using the following methods:
- The Services on Server page on Central Administration > System Settings
- Windows PowerShell cmdlets:
- The
psconfig.exe -cmd adminvsoperation - The SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard
 Note: |
|---|
| The state of Central Administration does not affect whether a server is considered compliant with MinRole. The MinRole health rule will not attempt to provision or unprovision Central Administration. |
Compliance features
The document deletion policy allows you to delete documents in users' OneDrive for Business sites after specific periods of time. The In-Place Hold policy allows administrators to preserve documents, email, and other files.
For more information, see Overview of document deletion policies.
Document Library accessibility
The following features are now available for working in SharePoint Server 2016 document libraries:
- Landmarks to a page make it easier to navigate, and there are alt text improvements for all major navigation links.
- Keyboard shortcuts are provided for the following document tasks:
- Alt + N - New
- Alt + E - Edit
- Alt + U - Upload
- Alt + M - Manage
- Alt + S - Share
- Alt + Y - Synchronization
- Focus improvements, such as keeping focus on prior elements and focus trapping.
- Announcements for upload progress.
- Announcements for file name and file types when browsing folder and file lists.
- Improved callout reading.
- Fixed use of color issues for views switcher.
- Updates to the Help documentation.
Encrypted connections
When you set up an SSL binding in Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager to host your web application, SharePoint uses TLS 1.2 connection encryption if your client application supports it. SharePoint also supports TLS 1.2 connection encryption when connecting to other systems, for example when crawling websites.
| Note: |
|---|
| A security vulnerability was identified in the SSL 3.0 protocol that can allow an attacker to decrypt data. For enhanced security, some SharePoint features now disable SSL 3.0 connection encryption by default, as well as certain encryption algorithms (for example RC4) with known weaknesses. SharePoint disables SSL 3.0 connection encryption by default for some, but not all features. To ensure that SSL 3.0 is disabled for all features, you should disable it in Windows by editing the Windows Registry. For more information, see the "Disable SSL 3.0 in Windows For Server Software", and "For Client Software", workarounds in Microsoft Security Advisory 3009008. |
Fast Site Collection Creation
This new feature provides templates that work at same level as SQL Server, which reduces the round trips required between the SharePoint and SQL servers. Use the SPSiteMaster Windows PowerShell cmdlets to create sites and site collections quickly, see Use Windows PowerShell cmdlets to manage sites in SharePoint Server 2016.
File names - expanded support for special characters
SharePoint has historically blocked file names that included the &, ~, {, and } characters, file names that contained a GUID, file names with leading dots, and file names longer than 128 characters. These restrictions are removed in SharePoint Server 2016 and are now available to use.
| Important: |
|---|
| Restricted characters such as % and # are still not allowed in file names. |
Hybrid in SharePoint Server 2016
In SharePoint Server 2016, new hybrid features are available to enable hybrid solutions.
Hybrid sites
Hybrid sites features allows your users to have an integrated experience while using SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online sites:
- Users can follow SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online sites, and see them consolidated in a single list.
- Users have a single profile in Office 365, where all of their profile information is stored.
For more information, see Plan for hybrid sites features.
Hybrid OneDrive for Business
Hybrid sites features are used in concert with Hybrid OneDrive for Business (introduced in SharePoint Server 2013 with Service Pack 1 (SP1)):
- Users can sync files with Office 365 and share them with others.
- Users can access their files directly through Office 365 from any device.
Cloud hybrid search
Cloud hybrid search is a new hybrid search solution alternative. With cloud hybrid search:
- You index all of your crawled content, including on-premises content, to your search index in Office 365. You can set up the crawler in SharePoint Server 2016 to crawl the same content sources and use the same search connectors in Office SharePoint Server 2007, SharePoint Server 2010, and SharePoint Server 2013.
- When users query your search index in Office 365, they get unified search results from both on-premises and Office 365 content.
For more information about cloud hybrid search, see the public Microsoft cloud hybrid search program on Microsoft Office connection.
For more information, see Plan for hybrid OneDrive for Business.
For more information about the hybrid solutions available today, please visit the SharePoint Hybrid Solutions Center.
Identify and search for sensitive content in both SharePoint Server 2016 and OneDrive documents
With this new capability, you can:
- Search for sensitive content across SharePoint Server 2016, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.
- Leverage 51 built-in sensitive information types (credit cards, passport numbers, Social Security numbers, and more).
- Use DLP Queries from the eDiscovery site collection to discover sensitive content relating to common industry regulations from the SharePoint eDiscovery Center, identify offending documents, and export a report.
- Turn on DLP Policies from the Compliance Policy Center site collection to notify end users and administrators when documents with sensitive information are stored in SharePoint and automatically protect the documents from improper sharing.
Information on configuring and using this feature is documented in SharePoint Online and Office 365. For more information, see:
Image and video previews
In SharePoint Server 2016 when you post images and videos to a document library, you can see a preview by hovering the mouse over the image or video, or by clicking on them.
Information Rights Management
For more information, see Secure and sync with Information Rights Management on OneDrive for Business.
Large file support
Previous versions of SharePoint did not support uploading or downloading files larger than 2,047 MB. SharePoint 2016 now allows you to upload or download larger files. You can configure the desired maximum file-size limit on a per-web application basis in your SharePoint farm.
MinRole farm topology
The role of a server is specified when you create a new farm or join a server to an existing farm. SharePoint automatically configures the services on each server based on the server role, optimizing the performance of the farm based on that topology. There are six predefined server roles that are available, as shown in the following table.
| Server role | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Front-end
|
Service applications, services, and components that serve user requests belong on front-end web servers. These servers are optimized for low latency.
| ||
Application
|
Service applications, services, and components that serve back-end requests, such as background jobs or search crawl requests, belong on Application servers. These servers are optimized for high throughput.
| ||
Distributed Cache
|
Service applications, services, and components that are required for a distributed cache belong on Distributed Cache servers.
| ||
Search
|
Service applications, services, and components that are required for search belong on Search servers.
| ||
Custom
|
Custom service applications, services, and components that do not integrate with MinRole belong on Custom servers. The farm administrator has full control over which service instances can run on servers assigned to the Custom role. MinRole does not control which service instances are provisioned on this role.
| ||
Single-Server Farm
|
Service applications, services, and components required for a single-machine farm belong on a Single-Server Farm. A Single-Server Farm is meant for development, testing, and very limited production use. A SharePoint farm with the Single-Server Farm role cannot have more than one SharePoint server in the farm.
|
For more information about the MinRole feature, see MinRole overview.
Improved Mobile Touch Experiences
When you use a mobile device to access the home page for a SharePoint Server 2016 team site, you can tap tiles or links on the screen to navigate the site. You can also switch from the mobile view to PC view, which displays site pages as they are seen on a client computer. This view is also touch enabled.
Microsoft also introduced a Responsive User Interface Package for SharePoint on premises, designed to adapt SharePoint views to your screen size so you can work on any device. Microsoft Senior Program Manager Vesa Juvonen illustrates the different views in his blog post and video on Channel 9.
New controls for working with OneDrive for Business
You can click a control to create new Office documents, upload files, synchronize your files for offline use, and share your files. For more information, see “Simple controls” on The OneDrive Blog.
Open Document Format (ODF) available for document libraries
The Open Document Format (ODF) enables you to create new files in a document library and save as ODF files so that users can edit the new file with a program they choose. For more information, see Set Open Document Format (ODF) as the default file template for a library.
Delve and the Office Graph
Delve and the Office Graph
With SharePoint 2016, Microsoft brings the power of Office 365’s Delve and the Office Graph to on premises. The new SharePoint home page design incorporates top links, recommended sites, and an activity stream for each user based aggregated through the use of Office Graph. SharePoint 2016 also integrates Delve, an Office 365 app that leverages the power of Office Graph to surface the content most relevant to you. In SharePoint 2016, you can launch Delve directly from the on-premises App Launcher – yet another example of how improvements aim to help save you time working in SharePoint.
Project Server 2016
Project Server 2016 for SharePoint Server 2016 has many new capabilities and features, including:
- Resource Engagements: Now project managers can request needed resources from resource managers to complete their projects. Also, resource managers can use the new heat map functionality to see where resources are spending their time.
- Multiple Timelines: Project and Portfolio managers can now create richer timelines that display multiple timelines in a single view.
- Simpler administration: Project Server now has multi-tenant storage capabilities and has combined data storage with SharePoint. This greatly reduces IT overhead by eliminating the dedicated Project Server database and improves backup and restore capabilities.
- Cloud grade performance and scale: Many performance and scalability improvements that have been added to Project Online have also been added to Project Server 2016.
For more information, see What's new for IT pros in Project Server 2016.
| Important: |
|---|
| Project Server 2016 is installed with SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise, though is licensed separately. For more information about Project Server licensing, see Licensing Project. |
Power Pivot add-in and Power View are now available to use with SharePoint Server 2016 Release Candiate
SQL Server 2016 CTP 3.1 is now available. You can now download SQL Server 2016 CTP 3.1 to use the Power Pivot for SharePoint add-in. You can also use Power View by installing SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) in SharePoint-integrated mode and the SSRS front-end add-in from the SQL Server installation media.
Download SQL Server 2016 CTP 3.1 from Microsoft Download Center.
The following SharePoint Server 2016 business intelligence features are available when you upgrade to SQL Server 2016 CTP 3.1:
- Power Pivot Gallery
- Scheduled Data Refresh
- Workbooks as a Data Source
- Power Pivot Management Dashboard
- Power View reports
- Power View Subscriptions
- Report Alerting
For more information, download the new Deploying SQL Server 2016 PowerPivot and Power View in SharePoint 2016 white paper. For details about configuring and deploying business intelligence in a multiple server SharePoint Server 2016 farm, download Deploying SQL Server 2016 PowerPivot and Power View in a Multi-Tier SharePoint 2016 Farm.
Request Manager service improvements
SharePoint Request Manager now provisions on the server roles shown in the following list, to support both throttling and routing scenarios:
- Application
- Distributed Cache
- Front-End
Additionally, the Request Manager service will no longer prevent sites from rendering when the service is enabled while you have no routing rules defined.
Sharing
The following list shows the sharing improvements that are available for SharePoint Server 2016:
- Create and Share folder
- Sharing Hint
- See who the folder is shared with when viewing a folder
- Members can share
- Improved invitation mail
- One-click email to approve or deny a request for access
- Recently Shared Items cache, see Enable the Recently Shared Items (RSI) cache to quickly populate the Shared with Me view.
SharePoint Search Service application
SharePoint Search supports indexing of up to 500 million items per Search Server application.
Simplified SSL configuration for Central Administration site
We've simplified the process for configuring Central Administration to use SSL bindings. The following command parameters are now available to use:
New-SPCentralAdministration -Port-SecureSocketsLayer Set-SPCentralAdministration -Port-SecureSocketsLayer Psconfig.exe -cmd adminvs -port-ssl
You must assign a server certificate to the Central Administration IIS web site by using the IIS administration tools. The Central Administration web application won’t be accessible until you do this.
If you specify port 443, it will automatically create an SSL binding instead of an HTTP binding even if you don’t include the SecureSocketsLayer or SSL parameters.
The Central Administration public AAM URL will be automatically updated to use the appropriate protocol scheme, server name, and port number.
Site collection upgrades
There are three options available for upgrading site collections. For more information, see Upgrade a site collection to SharePoint Server 2016.
SMTP connection encryption
The following list shows the SharePoint 2016 requirements that are needed to negotiate connection encryption with an SMTP server:
- STARTTLS must be enabled on the SMTP server.
- The SMTP server must support the TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, or TLS 1.2 protocol.Important:
SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0 protocols are not supported. - The SMTP server must have a server certificate installed.
- The server certificate must be valid. Typically, this means that the name of the server certificate must match the name of the SMTP server provided to SharePoint. The server certificate must also be issued by a certificate authority that is trusted by the SharePoint server.
- SharePoint must be configured to use SMTP connection encryption.
To configure SharePoint to always use SMTP connection encryption, open the SharePoint Central Administration website and browse to System Settings > Configure outgoing e-mail settings and set the Use TLS connection encryption drop-down menu to Yes. To configure SharePoint to always use SMTP connection encryption in Windows PowerShell, use the
Set-SPWebApplication cmdlet without the DisableSMTPEncryptionparameter. For example:$WebApp = Get-SPWebApplication -IncludeCentralAdministration | ? { $_.IsAdministrationWebApplication -eq $true }
Set-SPWebApplication -Identity $WebApp -SMTPServer smtp.internal.contoso.com -OutgoingEmailAddress sharepoint@contoso.com -ReplyToEmailAddress sharepoint@contoso.com
To configure SharePoint to never use SMTP connection encryption in SharePoint Central Administration, browse to System Settings > Configure outgoing email settings and set the Use TLS connection encryption drop-down menu to No. To configure SharePoint to never use SMTP connection encryption in Windows PowerShell, use the
Set-SPWebApplication cmdlet with the DisableSMTPEncryption parameter. For example:$WebApp = Get-SPWebApplication -IncludeCentralAdministration | ? { $_.IsAdministrationWebApplication -eq $true }
Set-SPWebApplication -Identity $WebApp -SMTPServer smtp.internal.contoso.com -DisableSMTPEncryption -OutgoingEmailAddress sharepoint@contoso.com -ReplyToEmailAddress
sharepoint@contoso.com
| Note: |
|---|
| If SharePoint is configured to use SMTP connection encryption, it will only send email messages if it successfully negotiates connection encryption with the SMTP server. It will not fall back and send email messages unencrypted if connection encryption negotiation fails. If SharePoint is not configured to use SMTP connection encryption, it will always send email messages unencrypted, even if the SMTP server supports connection encryption. |
Sites page pinning
You can now pin sites that you see on the sites page. A pinned site shows at the top of the list of sites that you're following.
Site folders view
For more information, see "Site folders" in The OneDrive Blog.
Suite Navigation is themable
You can now apply themes to your Suite Navigation.
Use SMTP ports other than the default (25)
To configure SharePoint to use a non-default SMTP port open SharePoint Central Administration, browse to System Settings > Configure outgoing email settings, and set the SMTP server port to the port number of your SMTP server. To configure SharePoint to use a non-default SMTP port in Windows PowerShell, use the parameter. For example:
Set-SPWebApplication cmdlet with the SMTPServerPort $WebApp = Get-SPWebApplication -IncludeCentralAdministration | ? { $_.IsAdministrationWebApplication -eq $true }
Set-SPWebApplication -Identity $WebApp -SMTPServer smtp.internal.contoso.com -SMTPServerPort 587 -OutgoingEmailAddress sharepoint@contoso.com -ReplyToEmailAddress
sh arepoint@contoso.com
OneDrive Redirection
In SharePoint 2016 you can redirect your My Sites to your Office 365 subscription’s OneDrive for Business host. A click on OneDrive, the user will be redirected to his Office 365 My Site and no longer to his On-Premises.
Sites you follow in one place
Now users can click on “Follow” both On-Premises and on their Office 365 and see them all in one place under the “Sites” app in the App Launcher.
Hybrid Cloud Search
The Office 365 Search takes the On-Premises SharePoint Search Index to get results from both for the same query.
Note that it is mandatory that you use the Office 365 Search.
However, once available, this will allow users to fully embrace Experiences like Delve in Office 365 and more to come in the future.
App Launcher and UI changes in SharePoint 2016
Our users couldn’t care less about the technology they have to use, and even less if they're in Office 365 or SharePoint 2016. That’s why it’s important to provide them with an (almost) identical interface to navigate both.
SharePoint 2016 introduces the App Launcher, as well as changes to the UI, to help it match the Office 365 experience.
SharePoint 2016 Infrastructure and Performance Improvements
“SharePoint 2016 was built from the Cloud-Up” – Bill Baer
Hybrid isn’t the only thing to get attention with SharePoint 2016, a lot of polishing has been done by Microsoft after having used the platform themselves with Office 365.
MinRoles
You can now install just the role that you want on particular SharePoint 2016 servers. This will only install what’s required there, but even better, it'll make sure that all servers that belong to each role are compliant. You’ll also be able to convert servers to run new roles if needed.
Zero Downtime Patching
Now this will surely please many of you managing the SharePoint servers, the size and number of the packages are immensely reduced. They’ve also removed the downtime previously required to update SharePoint servers.
Removed 5,000 View Threshold – sort of
A Document Library can have 30,000,000 documents, that’s never been an issue. However, many of you know that 5,000 seems to be the actual limit for many end users that don't know they had to index their columns.
I'll spare you the details, but the 5,000 view threshold is actually necessary, or your entire SharePoint would be slowed down. It prevents SQL from locking the entire database, really.
Instead of removing this unpopular threshold, they automated the creation of Indexed Columns. This means that, technically, the limit is still there, but you won’t have to worry about it.
Increased File Size for uploads
Though I still wouldn’t recommend storing large files in SharePoint, you can now go way beyond the previous 2GB limit for files. Though there's no real limit, Microsoft has strongly recommended it stays at 10GB. Otherwise, end users will very likely get disconnected, or get a time out while uploading large files.
Fast Site Creation
By using a template, they're now able to create Site Collections in 1 second. This compares well to SharePoint 2013 that takes up almost over 40 seconds sometimes. This will require a level of configuration with PowerShell to set up.
New Compliance Center in SharePoint 2016
Not only can you leverage a lot of the compliance features in Office 365 with your On-Premises SharePoint 2016, new sites have been introduced to help you stay in control.
The In-Place Policy Hold Center and the Compliance Center allow you to build your own policies and apply them against your environment. New basic policies allow you to delete data in OneDrive for Business sites after an x amount of years for example, not unlike “Retention Policies” if you think about it.
New Collaboration Experience in SharePoint 2016
Can’t really go to work without a mobile device of some kind these days and that expands to tablets as well now. For this reason, you’ll find SharePoint 2016 comes with a touch friendly interface.
Durable Links
The concept is simple, make sure that links you sent to people to open or work on your content continues to work regardless of what happens to the document. If the file name is changed or the document moved, durable links should make it seamless to the user.
Problem is, I have no idea how it actually works for a SharePoint user. I took the URL in the hover panel of a picture, changed the filename and pasted the old URL and it did not work. I am sure I am missing something, but will update this as soon as I find out more.
Update: It turns out that Durable Links isn't necessarily a SharePoint 2016 new feature, you'll actually need to have Office Online Server previously known as Office Web Apps Server. Granted we typically have this when installing SharePoint On-Premises so customers should benefit from Durable Links anyway. It works as described meaning your URLs to documents will always work, great news.
Site Folders
The OneDrive for Business area is turning out to be more than just a My Site. It aims to bring users to one place to help them work with their files regardless of where they are. Now, you’ll also be able to navigate your Sites and their libraries from there.
Source : Microsoft site
User Improvements
- Support for ODF documents
- Files shared via “Durable Links” will reference a site ID and document ID, so renamed or moved files will not result in broken links
- File name length and other character restrictions are being removed
- New Knowledge Management Portal (Site Template?)
- New User Profile page to include content from Delve and Office Graph API
- Updated blogging experience including drag and drop feature for adding images to posts
System Improvements
- Optimisations within the server roles to reduce latency and traffic between servers
- Initial configuration of Farm and Server Roles has been simplified in the GUI (MinRole server configuration)
- Fast Site creation based on copying a master template Site Collection from the database level using “SPSite.Copy” function
- Reliability improvements to Distributed Cache (still relies on AppFabric 1.1 and will continue to be supported for SharePoint 2013 and 2016’s lifecycles)
- MS Project Server content is now consolidated into the SharePoint Content databases and not in separate databases
- SharePoint Logging API (SLAPI) allows easier ability to record and report on analytics and telemetry across a whole range of objects in the Farm
Security Improvements
- SMTP connections now support TLS
- SAML claims-based authentication is the preferred and default authentication method (NTLM and Kerberos will continue to be supported)
- Compliance features with complex rules (51 out of the box) to support identification and protection of sensitive data
Hybrid Improvements
- eDiscovery and Legal Hold will now traverse SharePoint Online in O365
- Search Service can query SharePoint Online in O365 and provide a single ranked results set with integrated relevancy (no separate verticals)
- Consolidation of Social features to ensure followed on premise and online content appears in a single social profile
- Delve and Office Graph API can surface content from on premise services along with content in O365 (will be released for 2013 this year)
- Item level encryption using Azure AD Rights Management Services
Patching Improvements
- Patches will be much smaller – currently 37 MSIs and down to 4 MSIs in a single patch
- Can be applied to servers online with zero downtime to the Farm and no disruption to the users
Scalability Improvements
- Content DBs will scale into TBs (no specific figures on site template, workloads and actual size released yet)
- 100,000 Site Collections per database (was 20,000)
- List view threshold will reach >5,000 items (currently 5,000 but no specific figures released yet)
- Maximum upload size has increased from 2GB to 10GB (BLOBs will still be stored in the content database and leverage Shredded Storage)
Performance Improvements
- 500 million maximum items per search index partition (was 10 million)
- BITS now replacing FSS over HTTP and Cobalt to reduce IO between servers and bandwidth to the end user
- Traffic Management endpoint automatically routes user requests based on server health
