Create Improved Collaboration with Microsoft Teams (Tips and Tricks)
As more people work from home, companies need to find new methods for collaboration. Microsoft Teams is a popular way to bring distanced coworkers to a centralized location, but it is a newer platform. ITNS in Florida has tips and tricks on Microsoft Teams to help productivity in distance meetings.
Basic Meetings
Learning a few of the basics will help meetings go faster. The first and most useful trick is the keyboard shortcut. Press Ctrl + . to open all available shortcuts. Further, the search bar doubles as a command bar. Press Ctrl + / to list all available commands.
Allowing External Users
It can be assumed that people outside the organization will need to join occasional meetings. Here’s how to let them in. Open the Microsoft Teams Admin Center and look for org-wide settings. From there, click on guest access, toggle allow guest access in teams to on, then press save. Remember that it will take a few hours to update and for external users to join.
Background Blur
Sometimes there isn’t time to clean up the background, so blur it out. Toggle the Blur button, which will open a variety of backgrounds. Change the background during a meeting by clicking on the three ellipses located on the floating menu and choose, show background effects.
Record a Meeting
Record any meeting for future reference with the three ellipses on that floating menu mentioned earlier. Click on Start Recording at any point in the meeting.
Transcribe a Meeting
While in a recording, click on the three ellipses and choose Open in Microsoft Stream. Find the video. Choose Details, click on three dots, update video details, video language, autogenerate caption file, apply. Your transcribed file will appear in Microsoft Stream.
Messaging
Keep track of messages and gain better control over communication.
Bookmarking
Look for the three ellipses in the message (top left corner) and click save. Find saved messages by entering /saved in the search bar.
Unread Messages
Mark a message as unread by finding the Mark as Unread option in the three ellipse dropdown menu. Find it again using the /unread command in the search bar.
Translate Message
This option is only available through the Microsoft Teams Admin Center. Under that tab, find Messaging policies, then select the text. Click Edit, then set Translate message to on. Press Save. Similar to the external user option, this option needs a few hours to update.
@Mention
Ensure a specific person gets the message with a mention—type @ anywhere in the message with an individual, channel, or team name.
Urgent
Set up an urgent message by finding the exclamation icon and selecting Urgent. The recipient will get a notification of the message every two minutes for twenty minutes.
From Chat to Voice or Video Call
Teams makes it easy when a chat needs to switch to voice. Click on the phone or video icons in the top left corner.
Miscellaneous
This program does so much that it’s hard to mention it all. Here are some miscellaneous tips that help move meetings forward.
Files Tab for SharePoint Storage
Share files in Teams without leaving the platform. Find the File tab to upload files, where they will be stored in SharePoint. Search SharePoint to find previously uploaded files.
Channel Tags
Tag groups of specific people in message with channel tags. Click on the three ellipses in a Team and find Manage tags. Use it just like any Teams tag.
Pin a Channel
Channels can be pinned to find again. Pinned channels default to the top of the Teams list.
Teams comes with a Help menu that covers a wide range of topics. Find it under the Help icon, near the lower-left corner. There will be articles, videos, summaries, and more to help use the program to its fullest advantage.
Feel free to contact us with any questions regarding your technical needs.
