Working with Teams

Team Interface

The Team Interface lists all the teams that you are a member of. If you want to access conversations or files within a specific team, you will select that Team from the interface.

If you click an option on the left-hand navigation (Activity, Chat, Calendar, Calls, or Files) these are not tied to a specific Team.

Managing a Team

1. Click on a Team on your Team Interface (you may only have one team).
2. Click the ellipses to the right of the team
3. Click on Manage Team in the drop-down A list of owners, members, and guests appears.

Adding Team Members (only owners can add members)

4. Click on the purple Add Member button      on your Team Interface (you may only have one team).
5. Enter the name of the potential team member in the search A list of names appears as you type.
6. Choose a name from the
7. Click Add.

If you are not an owner, but believe someone should be added to your Team, you can request for the owner to add them. Follow the instructions as stated above. Instead of clicking Add, you will have the option to Submit Request. Your Team owner will have to approve/deny the request

Accessing Your Profile Settings

1. Click the Profile icon in the top right corner 
2. Browse through the settings and change the ones that you would like or leave them set to them.

Changing Your Profile Picture

1. Click Change Picture.
2. Click Upload Picture.
3. Select a picture from your files and click Upload.
4. Click Save.
5. The picture you select for profile will become your default profile picture in MS Outlook (and visa-versa).

Changing Your Status

By default, your status in MS Teams will update based on the events that are scheduled in your Outlook Calendar.

1. Click on (or hover over) your current status. A drop-down will appear with additional
2. Choose the appropriate status.

If your status is set on “Do Not Disturb”, you will not receive any notifications. However, you can set “Priority Access” for contacts that you would like to receive notifications from regardless of your status. When you have chosen this setting, a message will appear at top of your screen. Click Change settings to manage your priority access.

Changing Notification Settings

1. Click Settings

2. Click Notifications. This opens the default notification settings which you can adjust.

As in Skype for Business, Chat in Teams provides a way to have a private 1 on 1 conversation or, an ad hoc group conversation that provides immediate notifications and quick answers from team members whether they are in the office or on the go.

Notification Preferences

1. Click your profile icon in the top right corner of the MS Teams
2. Click Settings on the drop-down.
3. Click the Notifications
4. Change the notification settings you would
5. When you have finished, click the icon in the top right Your preferences will be saved.

Start a New 1:1 Chat

1. Click on the Chat icon located on the Application bar to the left of your screen.
2. Click in Command/Search box at the top of the

3. Enter the name of the person you want to
4. Choose the correct person from the drop-down
5. Click in the textbox at the bottom of the
6. Type your message.
7. Click Send to start a

Start a Group Chat Message

1. Click on the Chat icon located on the Application bar to the left of your
2. Click on the New Chat icon to the left of the Command/Search box at the top of the
3. Type the names of the people you want to add to the chat in the To
4. To name the group, click the down arrow to the far right of the To
5. (Optional) Type a group name for the chat in the Group Name

Chat Message Format Options

1. Click on the Chat that you want to send a message
2. Click the Format button located under the text box at the bottom of the screen. This expands the compose box and exposes more formatting options.

3. Click the ellipses ...to view additional formatting

Sharing a File in a Chat

There are three ways that you can share a file in a chat:

1. Upload the file to your
2. Share a OneDrive
3. Share a MS Teams

Uploading a File to your Chat

1. Click on the chat you would like to share your file
2. Click the attachment icon at the bottom of the
3. Click Upload from my Computer.
4. Select the File you want to
5. Click Open.
6. Click the Send icon to send the file in your

Sharing a File in a Chat (Cont.)

Share a OneDrive Link

1. Click on the chat you would like to share your file
2. Click the attachment icon at the bottom of the
3. Click OneDrive.
4. Click on the File you want to share a link
5. Click Share.
6. Click the Send icon to send the file in your

Share a MS Teams Link

1. Navigate to where your file is located in MS
2. Click on the file. The file name will highlight in purple when it is
3. Click the Get Link button at the top of the
4. Click the Copy
5. Click the Chat icon on the navigation bar on the left of the
6. Click on the Chat you want to share the file
7. Click in the text box at the bottom of the
8. Right-click and Paste (or use the keyboard shortcut ctrl+v) to insert the
9. Click the Send  icon to share a link to your file in the

Message Search

There are two ways that you can search for a chat message:

1. Search based on a person’s
2. Search based on a

Search Based on a Person’s Name

1. Click in the Search bar at the top of your MS Teams
2. Type the person’s name into the When you are done typing, hit enter on your keyboard.
3. A list of messages including the person’s name will pop-up. This list will include conversations that you’ve had with this person, as well as conversations with other people where you mentioned them.
4. Click on a conversation with the person to resume chatting with them, or click on a conversation that mentioned that person to view the full context of the

Search Based on a Keyword

1. Click in the Search bar at the top of your MS Teams
2. Type the keyword into the When you are done typing, hit enter on your keyboard.
3. A list of messages including the keyword will pop-up.
4. Click any of the messages to view the conversation surrounding that key

Meetings in Teams

Schedule a Meeting in MS Teams

1. Click on the Calendar icon on the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the MS Teams
2. Click on the New Meeting button located in the top-right
3. Enter a Title for the
4. (Optional): Enter a channel to meet the occurrence of the meeting and who participated in it will be stored in the Channel’s conversation tab. You can schedule/have a meeting without linking it to a channel.
5. To invite people, click within the Invite Someone text
6. Type the name the person(s) you would like to
7. Select the correct person(s) from the drop-down that appears as you
8. Click the Schedule Assistant button to determine a meeting date and time based on the invitee’s Outlook If the invitee’s calendar is up to date, it will show you when they are busy or available.
9. Click on a block of time to select it for your from here, you have two options:

Click the Back button to return to your meeting invite and add additional details. Click the Schedule button to Schedule your meeting and email the invitee(s).

All invitees will receive an email containing a link to join the meeting in MS Teams.

Invite Outside Guests to a Meeting

To invite an outside guest to a MS Teams meeting you simply supply them a link to the meeting.

1. Enter the guest’s email address in the MS meeting invite (see steps 1-5, above).
2. Click the Schedule button to sending an email invitation to the guest. The email will contain a link for the guest to click on to join your meeting.

Join a Meeting as a Guest

Once the guest has received their emailed invitation, they will need to click the link within the email to join. Once they have clicked the link, they will have two options to join your meeting:

1. Download the Windows/Mac Desktop
2. Join using the Web

Meet Now Meetings

Meet Now meetings allow spontaneous meetings that are open for all team members to join. They are similar to channel meetings as they are also initiated and take place in a channel. When a Meet Now Meeting begins, it starts a conversation message that looks the same as it does for a channel meeting.

The only difference in a Meet Now meeting vs. a scheduled meeting is the video option is automatically on when the meeting is first initiated. Hence, starting with the video camera icon.

Start a Meet Now Meeting from your Calendar

1. Click the Calendar icon located in the Application Bar on the left side of the
2. Click on the Meet Now button located on the top right of the
3. Enter a Title of the meeting so your team members know what you want to
4. Click the Join Now button to begin the

Start a Meet Now Meeting within a Channel

1. Click the Camera icon located below the text box in the conversations tab associated with the
2. Enter a Title of the meeting so your team members know what you want to
3. Click the Join Now button to begin the

Invite Someone to a Meeting

Add Someone Before a Meeting

1. Open the meeting invite in MS
2. Click on the Invite people box to search for a
3. Begin typing their name in the field
4. Select the appropriate name(s) from the drop-down. This will invite the person(s) you

All additional invitees will receive an email containing a link to join the meeting in MS Teams.

Invite Someone During a Meeting

When you are in an active meeting, you can invite additional people to join as necessary.

1. Click the Participants
2. Type a name or email in the in the
3. Select the appropriate person(s) from the drop-down list. If you are using an email for a person outside of your organization, you will not see a drop-down, but they will still receive an emailed invitation to
4. Select Ask to Join.

Screen Sharing in Microsoft Teams

Common uses of screen sharing are to show presentation slides, or to walk participants through some process or work tool. All participants, except unauthenticated guests can share their screen. Unauthenticated guests are

given a call-in number, and will have to wait in a Lobby until the organizer allows them access to the meeting.

Start Screen Sharing

Screen sharing can take place within a chat, call, or meeting.

1. Click on the Share Screen icon within the chat, call, or
2. Choose to share:

Your entire desktop

• Just one window (monitor screen) A PowerPoint presentation
• A whiteboard

The chart below demonstates how to use the above sharing options.

Give and Take Back Control of the Screen

If you want another meeting participant to change a file, help you present, or demonstrate something, you can give control to that person. You will both have control of the screen sharing. You can take away their control at any time.

Give Control of the Screen

1. Click the Give Control button on the tool bar at the top of the
2. Select the name of the person you want to give control

MS Teams sends a notification to the person to let them know you are sharing control. They will then be able to make selections, edits, and other modifications in the shared screen.

Take Back Control of the Screen

Select the Take Back Control button on the tool bar at the top of your screen.

System Audio in a Teams Meeting

Sharing your system audio allows you to stream your computer audio to meeting participants through Teams. It can be used to play a video or audio clip as part of a presentation.

Share System Audio in a Teams Meeting

1. Click the Share icon in the meeting Once screen sharing begins, this option is visible.
2. Choose to Include System Audio.

Adjust Teams audio output in the devices system settings in Teams. To share your system audio, your MS Team Device settings and your computer need to be set to the same speaker.

When you share your system audio, all audio (including notifications) will play during the meeting.

Join a meeting by using phone for audio

Click Join to join a meeting, then Phone audio on the Choose your video and audio options screen and click Join now. From here, users can have the meeting call and join them or dial in manually to the meeting.

Let the Teams meeting call

On the Use phone for audio screen, the user enters their phone number, and then clicks Call me. The meeting calls the user and joins them to the meeting.

Dial in manually

Another way to join is to dial in directly to the meeting. On the Use phone for audio screen, click Dial in manually to get a list of phone numbers to use to dial in to the meeting.

Get a call back when something goes wrong with audio during a meeting

If a user experiences audio issues when using their computer during a meeting, the user can easily switch to using their phone for audio. Teams detects when an audio or device issue occurs and redirects the user to use their phone by displaying a Call me back option.

Here's an example of the message and the Call me back option that's displayed when Teams doesn't detect a microphone.

The user clicks Call me back, which brings up the Use phone for audio screen. From here, they can enter their phone number and have the Teams meeting call and join them to the meeting or dial in manually to the meeting.

Upcoming Meetings in MS Teams

View all your upcoming meetings and appointments within your MS Teams calendar. The calendar shows you everything that was scheduled in Teams, Exchange, or Outlook.

Select a meeting on your calendar to get details about it. From there, you can also: Join the Meeting

View and chat with participants Respond to meeting invitations

Cancel the meeting (if you are the organizer of the meeting)

View all Meetings in MS Teams

1. Click on the Calendar button on the application bar to the left of your screen.
2. Switch between day, work week, or full week. The drop-down menu is located on the top right corner of the screen below the New Meeting button.
3. Find the month and year drop-down menu located in the top left corner of your screen.
4. Click on Today to get back to the current day/week.

Record Meetings in MS Teams

Meetings can be recorded in Teams to capture audio, video and screen sharing activity. The recordings take

place in the cloud but can be saved to a local desktop or shared network drive. Only meetings and group calls can be recorded.

Record a Meeting or a Group Call

1. Start or join a meeting or group
2. Click the ellipses for more
3. Select Start Recording.

Everyone in the meeting is notified that the recording has started. The meeting notification is also posted to the Chat History. Multiple recordings of the same meeting at the same time cannot be done. If one person starts recording a meeting, that recording will be stored on the cloud and available to all participants.

Adding co-organizers to start or manage your meeting

After you've invited people to your meeting, you can add up to 10 co-organizers to help manage your meeting

Co-organizers are displayed as additional organizers in the meeting participant list and have most of the capabilities of the meeting organizer.

Note: To make co-organizers breakout room managers, you must first assign them the breakout room manager role.

Add co-organizers to a meeting

To add co-organizers to a meeting, make sure the people you want to add are already required attendees then follow the steps below:

1. Select your meeting and then choose
2. Select Details and then click on Meeting Options
3. On the meeting options page, next to Choose co-organizers, select the down arrow and choose the name of the additional co-organizer(s).
4. Select Save at the bottom of your screen.

Note: Co-organizers must be in the same organization as the meeting organizer, or be using a guest account in the same org.

Download a File

1. Click the File(s) that you want to download, which highlights in gray when they are
2. Options will appear at the Click Download.

Create a new Folder

1. Open the Files Tab in your
2. Click New. A drop-down list will
3. Select Folder.
4. Name the
5. Click Create.

Upload a File

1. Open the Files Tab in your
2. Click the Upload located under the channel name at the top of the
3. Select the files(s) on your computer that you would like to
4. Click Open.

Create a new File within Teams

1. Open the Files Tab in your
2. Click New. A drop-down list will
3. Select one of the File Options to
4. Name the
5. Click Create. The file automatically
6. Add text to your Changes will save automatically.
7. Click the Close button at the top of the screen to

Rename a File

1. Click the File, which highlights in purple, and adds a checkmark to the left of the
2. Click the Rename button at the
3. Type a new name in the
4. Click anywhere on the screen to save the new

Deleting Files and Folders

1. Click the File or Folder you would like to delete, which highlights it in purple and adds a checkmark to the
2. Additional options appear at the Click Delete.
3. Click Confirm.

Channels in TEAMS

Channels are where you communicate with your team members. Each channel within a team is for a specific task or topic within that team's scope. Each team includes a General channel, where you can chat with your team members about general topics that are outside of the purpose of other channels.

View a Team Channel

Every channel in a team will be listed in the Teams list pane below the team’s name.

1. Click a channel in the list pane.

The conversation threads in that channel will appear in the Content pane.

Start a Channel Conversation

Unlike a chat, which is a single thread of discussion, a channel can have multiple conversations going on at once. The first message in a conversation begins a thread that everyone else can reply to.

1. Click in the conversation text field at the bottom of the Content pane.
2. Enter a message.

When using channels, you're also able to tag (or mention) other people in a message. This sends them a notification, letting them know that they need to see this message. You can mention someone by typing the @ symbol, followed by their name.

3. Click Send.

The new conversation thread is added to the channel, and everyone in the team can view it and reply to it.

Reply to a Channel Conversation

You can respond directly to a specific thread to keep all dialog about that topic together. This helps keep vibrant conversations, with several participants and various topics, organized and in context.

1. Click a conversation's Reply
2. Enter a message in the reply text field.
3. Click Send.

The reply is added to the conversation thread, and notifications will be sent to everyone else participating in that conversation.

Manage Channel Notifications

By default, you'll get notified whenever someone replies to a conversation you're involved in, or one that you started. If a particular channel is very important to you, you can choose to get notifications whenever there's any activity in it.

1. Click the More Options button next to the channel's name in the List pane.
2. Select Channel notifications.

The Channel notification settings dialog box lets you customize the notification settings for all new posts, as well as channel mentions.

3. Click an activity type's list arrow.
4. Select a notification setting.
   • Banner and feed: Notifications will display in a pop-up banner, as well as in your Activity feed.
   • Only show in feed: Notifications will appear in your Activity feed but won’t pop up on the screen.
   • Off: No notifications will appear for this activity.
5. (Optional) Click the Include all replies check box.

This setting will enable notifications for all replies to all posts in a channel. This may result in a lot of notifications, depending on how active the channel is.

6. Click Save.

Your notification settings for the channel are updated.

Create a New Channel

A team can have any number of channels, so if you have been granted the proper permission, you can add new ones when they’re needed.

1. Click the More Options button next to a team in the list pane.
2. Select Add channel.
3. Enter a name for the channel.
4. (Optional) Give the channel a description.
5. Click Add.

The channel is added and is available for everyone in the team to use.

Posts

Posts occur within Team Channels. Each channel has its own Posts tab. All team members can view messages or posts that occur in the Posts Tab. They are not private.

1. Select the Channel you would like to start a conversation The Posts Tab opens automatically.
2. Click the New Conversation button and type a message in the text box that appears at the bottom of the

3. Click Send.

Mention a Team Member or a whole Team

To get someone’s attention in a channel post, you can @mention them! This will send them a notification letting them know that you have started a post that requires their attention. You can mention individual people or whole teams.

@Mention your Team (@Team)

1. Select the Channel you would like to start a post The Post Tab opens automatically.
2. Click the New Conversation
3. Type @Team in the text box at the bottom of the Your team will appear.
4. Select your Team.
5. Type the rest of your message.
6. Click Send.

@Mention an individual

1. Select the channel you would like to start a post The Post Tab opens automatically.
2. Start typing @theirname in the text box at the bottom of the A list of people will appear.
3. Click the name of the person you want to
4. Type the rest of your message.
5. Click Send.

Mention a Channel

A post using an @Channel can be used to announce and supply a link to a new channel. For example: “@Team, here’s a new channel I made: (@channel name). Check it out!”

1. Select the Channel you would like to start a post The Post Tab opens automatically.
2. Click the New Conversation
3. Type the @ symbol, plus the name of the channel in the text box at the bottom of the A list will appear.
4. Select your Channel.
5. Type the rest of your message.
6. (Optional) @Mention your team or an individual to notify them about the Channel
7. Click Send.

Reply to a Post

Posts are organized by date and then threaded. The replies in a thread are organized under the initial post so it is easier to follow multiple posts.

1. Find the Post Thread you want to reply
2. Click the Reply button.
3. Type your
4. Click Send.

Share a File in a Post

1. Click the channel you want to share the file
2. Click the Attachment icon below the text box at the bottom of the Posts
3. Choose which of the three location options you want to share the file

Option One: Browse Teams and Channels

4. Select the file you want to share, which highlights it in
5. Click Share
6. (Optional) Type a message and @mention your team to provide context for the file and notify them that you have shared If you skip this step, your team will not get a notification that you have shared a file.
7. Click Send.

Option Two: OneDrive

4. Select the file you want to share, which highlights it in
5. Click Share
6. (Optional) Type a message and @mention your team to provide context for the file and notify them that you have shared If you skip this step, your team will not get a notification that you have shared a file.
7. Click Send.

Option Three: Upload from my Computer

4. Navigate to the location on your computer where the file is
5. Select the file you want to
6. (Optional) Type a message and @mention your team to provide context for the file and notify them that you have shared If you skip this step, your team will not get a notification that you have shared a file.
7. Click Send.

All Files/Documents posted to a channel can be found in the Files tab located at the top of the channel, next to the Posts Tab.

React to a Conversation

Similar to Facebook, the reaction buttons can be used to acknowledge that a conversation was read or indicate how you feel about content of the conversation.

1. Hover your mouse over the post or message you want to react
2. Click one of the reaction buttons like the thumbs-up icon. The person who initially sent the message will receive a notification that you reacted to

Undo your Reaction

When you react to a conversation or message, the icon of your reaction choice will be shown in the top right corner. To undo your reaction, click the icon and it will be removed.

Save a Conversation Message

1. Hover your mouse over the conversation or message you want to
2. Click the ellipses that appears in the top right corner of the
3. Click the Save this message option on the list.

View a Saved Message

1. Click on your profile icon at the top right corner of the MS Teams
2. Click the Saved A list of your saved messages will open.

OR

1. Type /saved in the Search Bar at the top of the MS Teams

2. Hit Enter on your A list of your saved messages will appear.

Microsoft's Video Training: TEAMS

Learn how to use Microsoft Teams from these online video tutorials designed to help you communicate with your team, track projects, manage shared files, run online meetins and more.

Microsoft TEAMS video training series

• MS TEAMS video trainings by Microsoft