Microsoft Teams has evolved significantly, becoming a powerful hub for productivity and collaboration. If you're looking to maximize your efficiency and leverage the latest AI-powered features, you're in the right place. We've curated 25 actionable tips and tricks to help you become a true Microsoft Teams master. Let's dive in!
Microsoft Teams is no longer just a chat platform. With advancements in AI and innovative features, it's now smarter, more efficient, and tailored to your workflow. These tips will help you:
Ever need to step away without constantly updating your status? Teams lets you set a duration for your status, automatically reverting after the time expires. Here's how:
Keep important files and apps at your fingertips by adding tabs to your chats. Whether it's a shared document or a frequently used website, tabs streamline access.
Need a quick overview of chat participants, shared files, or pinned messages? The Chat Details feature (Alt + P or ⌘ D) provides a comprehensive summary. Simply click 'Open chat details' in the top right corner of your chat.
Collaborating across time zones? Schedule your messages to ensure they're delivered at the optimal moment.
Reduce clutter and keep your most-used apps and chats easily accessible by pinning them to your Teams app bar.
Stay ahead of the game with personalized insights from ModuleQ. This AI-powered tool delivers timely information, like pre-meeting briefings, directly within Teams.
Make your meetings more inclusive with live transcriptions. This feature is invaluable for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
Say goodbye to tedious note-taking. Teams' Intelligent meeting recap provide intelligent summaries, allowing you to focus on the conversation.
Meet Now lets you start instant, informal chats right in your group chat. It's like dropping by a coworker's desk but for remote teams. No scheduling is needed – just quick, real-time conversations whenever you need them.
Avoid sifting through endless results by refining your Teams searches. Use the Messages, Files, or People tabs to narrow your search. Use the search bar, then use the tabs above the results to refine. Search Documentation.
Emojis aren't just for casual chats! In Teams meetings, use live reactions to express yourself without interrupting the flow.
During a meeting, use the emoji reactions like "Like," "Love," "Applause," etc.
Keep everyone on the same page by taking collaborative meeting notes directly in Teams.
Just like in your email, you can mark Teams messages as unread to revisit them later. Press and hold on a message and select 'Mark as unread.' This helps you manage your message flow and stay organized.
Capture every detail of your meetings with Teams' recording and transcription features.
Make your group chats easier to find by adding descriptive titles.
You can set up Microsoft Teams notifications to get notified when new messages appear in all your channels, just favorited channels, or only when you're mentioned.
If you enjoy your privacy or just want to hide the messy kitchen behind you, you can blur your background prior to joining a meeting. You even add a custom background.
As soon as you make a channel in Microsoft Teams, a SharePoint folder is made for you automatically. You can also add a document library from a different SharePoint site as a tab. Overview of the Teams and SharePoint integration.
Teams' updated meeting gallery lets you customize your view during video calls. Click the 'View' tile icon and select different views and gallery sizes. It allows you to tailor the meeting experience to your preferences.
If you want to refer specifically to one person, you can do so by @mentioning them by name, such as "@ModuleQ". Or, you can filter messages by using the @mention as a message filter.
From the Outlook desktop app, you can share a copy of an email with its attachments directly to Microsoft Teams. Share an email documentation.
You can now drag and move the presenter toolbar during a Teams Presentation, which may make it easier to handle PowerPoints or anything else you’re sharing on your screen.
The Teams search bar also functions as a command-line terminal. You can speed up some of the most common tasks by typing one of the recognized commands: /files lets you see your most recent files, /unread shows you what's new, and /call lets you make a call. Microsoft documentation for commands.
You don't need to scour through Microsoft Teams trying to find that one important message. Click on the three ellipses in the top left corner of the message and select “Save this message” and you're good to go.