Getting Started With Microsoft Teams

Users across the country and around the world are harnessing Microsoft Teams to connect with staff members, clients, and other business contacts. In this training seminar, we’ll walk you through the basics of Microsoft Teams so you can start using it with your staff.

Are you using Microsoft Teams yet?

It is a vital part of the Microsoft 365 suite of solutions. Many organizations have access to Teams, but most haven’t heard even tried using it until recently.

Check out our latest video to learn more about it:

Microsoft Teams: The Basics

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based workspace in Microsoft 365 that lets you bring together other users and collaborate with conversations and content. The idea behind using Teams is to help you do more and increase your employees’ productivity. Basically, it helps your teams get work done. You can easily integrate it with other Microsoft applications via its secure cloud.

Microsoft Teams allows you to schedule and join online video meetings with HD video, VoIP, and dial-in audio conferencing options. It provides users with a dedicated phone number for placing and receiving domestic and international phone calls, with advanced features including voicemail, transfer, delegation, and emergency calling.

There are many benefits of using Microsoft Teams, including:

• Host Video Meetings: Whether you have 10 employees or 10,000 employees, they can all meet in one place, no matter where they’re located.
• Share Files & Collaborate: Edit, access, and share files with simplified search capabilities that make it easy to find what you need, alongside access to all Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files in real-time from one convenient hub.
• Maintain Remote Cybersecurity: Teams’ advanced security controls including data loss prevention, information barriers, legal hold, retention policies, and much more to keep any sensitive data within files safe against unauthorized access.
• Manage Your Team Remotely: Stay in the loop regarding meetings as employees have access to a complete view of their scheduled meetings, the timing, the subject, and a full list of other people who will be in attendance.

Chatting On Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams’ chat function is your most direct way to get in touch with team members. Use this function to send a quick message.

There are a number of features of the chat function that make communication simple:

• Under the Chat tab, you’ll have access to a range of different information — who has read a message that you’ve sent, your full list of contacts, and recent conversations
• Teams shows your coworkers’ availability, with green for Available, yellow for “Be Right Back” or “Appear Away”, or red for “Busy” or “Do Not Disturb”
• You can start a new chat with the pencil icon near the top right of the window, and either select the person you want to talk to from your contact list, or type their name in.
• You can add additional people to the conversation to start a group chat
• Beneath the text field for your message, you’ll see the many different types of content you can send — files from your computer or another Microsoft app, emojis, GIFs, stickers, calendar invites, and more
• You can also chat with entire channels, allowing you to better communicate with specific teams within your organization.

Harnessing the full capabilities of the chat function will allow you to communicate more quickly and efficiently than by composing an email. Any time you need to ask a quick question or directly share some info, the chat function is your best bet.

Internal Team Calling On Microsoft Teams

For some conversations, text chatting isn’t the most efficient method of communicating. For a more direct interface with team members, you can place audio and video calls.

• You can place a call to a specific team member by selecting the phone icon (audio only) or video camera icon (audio and video) in the top right-hand corner of the chat window.
• During a video call, you can maintain the call while viewing other windows, which will minimize the video feed.
• You can add additional team members to an active call by selecting the Participants option on the call menu, and inviting other contacts in the right-hand menu.
• Clicking the ellipsis on the call menu will open up a range of additional options, such as the capability to record the meeting
• Microsoft Teams allows users to blur or replace their background, also found under the ellipsis on the call menu
• You can share your screen via the option on the call menu, which allows you to select whether you share your desktop or a specific window

File Sharing On Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams offers a range of ways to upload and share files:

• Sharing In A Teams Channel: On any channel in which you operate, you can select “Files” on the top menu, and then select “Upload”, to share a locally stored file with the members of that channel.
• Sharing Files In A Post: Similarly, in the chat window for any given channel or user chat, you can click the paperclip icon to select and upload a file as a chat message.
• Drag & Drop: At its simplest, Teams allows you to share files by directly dragging a file from your local computer and dropping it in the chat or channel in which you want it uploaded.

Record Meetings In Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams also has a recording function —  here’s how to use it:

• Start or join the meeting.
• Go to the meeting controls and select More options (the three-dot symbol)  > Start recording. Everyone in the meeting will be notified that it is being recorded, and a notification will be posted in the chat as well.
• To stop recording, go to the meeting controls and select More options > Stop recording.

After the call is done, the recording is then processed (which can take some time). Once the processing is complete, it will be saved to Microsoft Stream, and a notification will be sent to the user that started the recording.

Need Expert Assistance With Microsoft Teams?

Outsource IT Solutions Group can help:

1. Book a Microsoft Teams consultation with our team.
2. Tell us what you’re trying to achieve with Microsoft Teams.
3. Let us show you how to optimize your Microsoft Teams processes.

The more you know about the software you use every day, the more productive and effective you’ll become while you’re using it. Case in point: if you and your staff are using Microsoft Teams every day, shouldn’t you be Microsoft Teams experts?

Outsource IT Solutions Group is here to help.