Nearly 270 million people use the famous Teams app, but many still need an essential guide to Microsoft Teams. Many know Teams gained excessive popularity during the height of the pandemic in 2021 when more employees than ever began working remotely.
Desks, office chairs, supplies, and webcams became a hot commodity across the world as people started to use their home offices more than ever before. In addition to these items, businesses scrambled to put together effective communication tools for remote employees. One of these methods meant using Microsoft’s Teams applications for meetings and presentations. Of course, at first, Teams became overwhelmed with the amount of people using its software. They even experienced a brief crash, which caused temporary panic.
Now, you may feel a little awkward asking for help with Teams, thinking you’re behind the times. But it’s okay to have questions! You’re definitely not alone. Software such as Teams, Zoom, and other applications can be confusing with their constant updates, added features, and so on. That being said, here’s what you need to know regarding Microsoft Teams.
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Teams can be confusing, especially if you’re working with it for the first time. Whether you’re a business professional, teacher, freelancer, or anything else, Teams is a fantastic place to connect with others and collaborate. Before diving in, the number one component you need is a strong WiFi connection. Without any type of internet, you cannot connect with Microsoft Teams.
There are a few ways you can connect with your co-workers throughout the day. Video and call conferencing is the most common way to connect through Teams. You can use Microsoft Teams across multiple devices, including Apple. You can schedule or call into a conference or meet immediately with the “Meet Now” button. You can also share meeting invitations within Teams through a shared link, email, calendar invite, or by simply adding people to the conference.
Long gone are the days of AOL and AIM account names. However, one essential element that remains in the workplace today is the use of instant messaging. Teams uses this feature to provide instant communication between team members. Have a quick question for a specific person? Need to confirm information? Or maybe you simply want to send a shoutout to your amazing employees. Teams chat gets the message across instantly. If you need to talk to only one person, you can privately chat or tag that person in any channel.
Microsoft Teams pairs up seamlessly with Google and Outlook calendars. Mac users can subscribe to Teams calendars, which keeps you connected even if you don’t own a Microsoft device. Stay on top of your business and personal schedule while remaining in tune with your co-workers’ schedules, PTO, meetings, and more.
As mentioned above, you can fully infuse your calendar with Teams to remain connected and share your whereabouts throughout the day. Feeling a bit too personalized? You can always go to your privacy settings and adjust what others can see. The same goes for who you want to allow to see your calendar. Then while you’re at it, ensure you like your other settings. If you don’t, simply change them around to customize your Teams experience to your needs. Change your notification alerts, switch to dark mode, block certain people, and more.
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Email, chat, meetings, and your daily responsibilities can stack up, leaving you feeling overwhelmed. But you don’t need to worry about missing a thing with Teams. Click on “Activity” to find out which conversations need your attention, reactions, and other notifications. After you’ve scrolled through your activity list, you’re all set!
One of the best features of Teams is the ability to see and hear multiple people at one time. It gives you the feel of an office meeting with the freedom to stay at home while you collaborate. There are a few things you can do to ensure you have a good connection.
Start by testing your mic and video. Go ahead and start a meeting by yourself, and you can quickly check if your camera is working. Then, within the settings of your test meeting, you can adjust and test your microphone, too. When in a call, if you hear any buzzing, echoing, or unwanted feedback, try turning off your microphone to see if you need to adjust anything. If you turn your microphone off and the sound persists, it isn’t you with the problem.
For optimal video performance, try blurring your background to take the distraction away from your surroundings. Make sure your lens is clean and, depending on your job, put your best self in front of others by dressing and appearing put together – even if you are wearing fuzzy slippers on your feet.
Have a document you need to share? What about a slideshow you need to walk your group through? Teams allows you to do both. Share documents, notes, and other items easily by simply uploading them into your meeting.
For important presentations or discussions, you can share your screen so others can see what you’re looking at. They won’t be able to access the same capabilities, but they will be able to easily follow along as you walk them through each bullet point, image, and link available.
Create individual channels as needed for separate departments, clients, etc. You can make different channels and include whomever you want to be a part of them. Only those people will be able to get notifications from the channel and be involved in the conversations they’re a part of within Teams.
Furthermore, you can hide certain groups from public view and have one-on-one conversations with people outside of your organization as long as you invite them.
“Show Meeting Notes” allows you to type while your meeting is ongoing. You can format how you like and organize your notes to make them easier to read later. This saves you the headache of trying to operate Teams and a separate notes application simultaneously.
Use the search bar to search certain words or phrases to find previous conversations between yourself and others. It’s an easy way to recall a conversation when you need confirmation.
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