Microsoft Teams Tips: 18 Essential Tips

Microsoft Teams is a powerhouse in the world of corporate collaboration and meeting applications. We can help you benefit from this service whether your workforce operates from the office or remotely. Teams is a Microsoft tool that seamlessly integrates into your business, regardless of size. 

Teams offers features to help streamline work, including the ability to set up multiple channels, share and store files, and conduct voice and video meetings. Teams integrates with a suite of Microsoft business apps and services, including Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, Planner, PowerPoint, SharePoint and Word. We have 18 essential Microsoft Teams tips for you.

Take Control of the Interface

1. Organize Your Teams and Channels

Teams offers an intuitive interface to organize workspaces, like pinning important channels to the top for easy access. Other features include titling messages and hiding older irrelevant messages keeps focus on what matters. 

2. Quickly Find Conversations

Use the Activity icon to see all the conversations and messages at a glance. To reference messages quickly, save important messages to the Saved pane. 

Make Conversations and Messages Stand Out

3. Get Someone’s Attention

Use the @mention feature to ensure a specific person sees your message. To quickly send direct messages, start by typing @ and the person’s name. To turn a conversation into an announcement, post it in multiple channels or mark it as important for urgent matters.

Chat More Effectively

4. Reply to a Specific Message

Reply directly to a message in group chats to provide context and maintain organized conversations.

5. Pin a Message

Pin important messages to the top of the chat window to ensure they catch the attention of others.

6. Poll Your Colleagues

The polling feature allows you to gather feedback and make informed decisions from the members in your team. 

Manage Notifications

7. Alerts 

Stay updated on colleagues’ activities by setting channel notifications to receive cloud alerts for specific events. Notifications can be tailored to minimize any unnecessary distractions to maintain focus on work. 

Share Documents

8. Add Documents to a Channel’s Tabs

Share and collaborate on documents by adding them as tabs within your channels. This way everyone can find the documents easily. You can leverage SharePoint for secure file storage and collaboration, seamlessly integrated with Teams.

9. Sync Files in a Channel With OneDrive

Sync files from a channel to your OneDrive storage for ease of access and collaboration. 

Master Meetings

10. Let Attendees Bypass the Lobby

Customize meeting settings to allow specific attendees to bypass the meeting lobby.

11. Manage Cameras and/or Mics

Manage meeting etiquette by controlling attendee camera and microphone access. You can also ensure clear communication by enabling or disabling the auto-adjustment feature for your microphone.

Integrate Teams With Other Apps

12. Send Emails Directly to a Channel

No need to switch between applications to send messages, and emails. To do this, generate an email address for a specific channel. 

13. Schedule Events With a Calendar in Your Channel

Keep the team organized by adding a calendar to your channel to schedule and track events, vacations and out-of-office reminders. 

14. Collaborate Visually With Microsoft Whiteboard

Enhance teamwork by using Microsoft Whiteboard within the Teams channels for visual collaboration.

15. Manage Tasks With Microsoft Planner

Stay on top of tasks and projects by integrating Microsoft Planner into your Teams channels.

16. Use “Loop Components” to Collaborate in a Chat

Collaborate on small snippets such as tables, lists and paragraphs using Loop Components within chat messages. 

Explore Extras

17. Invite Others Into the Fold

Expand collaboration by providing guest access to external team members with Outlook accounts. This extra allows for streamlined communication with freelancers, or vendors working with the team. 

18. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Boost productivity by utilizing keyboard shortcuts for quick actions in Teams. 

Wrapping Up Microsoft Teams Tips

With these expert Microsoft Teams tips, you’ll be able to navigate Teams with confidence and maximize your team’s productivity. Whether you’re organizing your workspace, enhancing chat conversations or mastering meetings, Teams is your ultimate ally for efficient collaboration.

If you need more assistance in setting up and maintaining your Microsoft platforms, let’s talk. We look forward to empowering your business to thrive in the digital era.