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15 Microsoft Teams Tips You Should Know
During these challenging times, more companies are requesting that their employees work remotely. This can be difficult when managing multiple projects while still having to effectively communicate with other departments and external contacts. However, due to various apps that deliver useful tools like remote collaboration and video conferencing, the experience has been simplified. One of these apps is Microsoft Teams, which allows companies and departments to centralize communication, collaboration, and documentation into a single platform that all may access. If you are new to the app, the following is a list of 15 Microsoft Teams tips and tricks for you to consider.
For those who do not speak English as their native language, Teams offers a translation feature.
Tip #2: Adding a favorite channel or team
When working on multiple projects, you can favorite a channel or team to be updated with advancements.
Tip #3: Sharing a chat
Given that Teams has all Office apps integrated into the software, you can share a conversation as an Outlook email without leaving the Teams platform.
Tip #4: Leveraging slash commands
Slash commands allow you to get certain functions done quickly with a ‘/.’ The most popular slash commands include:
- /activity—view someone’s activity
- /call—call someone directly
- /unread—view unread activity
- /keys—view all keyboard shortcuts
- /whatsnew—see what is new within the team
- /goto—jump to a channel or team
- /mentions—view all mentions
Tip #5: Changing your background
When working from home, you can change your background to hide messy surroundings during video calls.
Tip #6: Filtering activities
For channels with many users, countless messages may flow in during discussions, so it may be difficult to find specific information. Teams allows you to filter the conversation using mentions to separate messages you need from those you do not need.
Tip #7: Following a channel for updates
You can follow a channel to receive quick updates when other team members enter or upload new content. This ensures you do not miss important developments or updates.
Tip #8: Recording Teams messages
Certain communications or documents may come up when you are in a meeting with teammates that you may wish to visit later. Teams allows you to record meetings to access the information later.
Tip #9: Marking messages as unread
Channels allow you to have discussions on a variety of developments, so if there are many members, it can become a swarm of messages. Therefore, Teams allows you to mark priority messages as unread to be visited later.
Tip #10: Creating rich-text messages
Rich Text Editing gives you more control over all text to ensure your messages are effectively communicated. This includes annotation, fonts, pictures, and custom formatting support.
Tip #11: Using the immersive reader
The immersive reader saves you time by reading out texts at various speeds and provides accessibility options to show the text in different colors, font sizes, and spacings.
Tip #12: Mastering shortcuts
The most useful shortcuts include:
- Goto—command + G / Ctrl + G
- Go to search—command + / Ctrl + E
- Attach file—command + O / Ctrl + O
- Reply to a thread—R
- Open settings—command + / Ctrl +
- Start a new chat—command + N / Ctrl +N
Tip #13: Integrating apps with Teams
One of the greatest benefits of Microsoft Teams is the ability to integrate all Office 365 apps within the platform. If your team uses these apps, they can continue to be used within the platform with a few simple clicks.
Tip #14: Using bots
Bots are tools that help automate specific functions or assist with minute tasks. Teams allows you to set reminders, look at meeting agendas, pull pending requests from GitHub databases, and view reports.
Tip #15: Bookmarking messages
In the same manner you can mark email messages as unread to revisit later, you can bookmark images, texts, messages, and other types of content within a conversation for future viewing.
