Microsoft Teams Basics: Our Top 15 Tips & Tricks For Businesses In Ottawa

Microsoft Teams Basics: Our Top 15 Tips & Tricks For Businesses In Ottawa

The need and demand for tools that facilitate collaboration in the current times continue to increase as businesses adopt remote working. One of the collaboration tools that sufficiently meets this need is Microsoft Teams.

Teams is a Microsoft application that enables remote teams to communicate and work together. Microsoft Teams combines features that support instant and group messaging, chats, file storage, video conferencing, and audio calls.

Many organizations currently use Microsoft Teams to meet their communication and collaboration needs. Having a more efficient and quicker way to access features and tools on the app is essential to save time.

Check out our latest video to learn the top tips and tricks to use on Microsoft Teams:

What Are The Top 15 Microsoft Teams Tips and Tricks You Should Know?

Keyboard Shortcuts

The Teams app on Windows and the web application supports keyboard shortcuts. These shortcuts make it easier for you to move to the main options on Teams.

• To access the list of keyboard shortcuts supported by Teams, press Ctrl + Period(.) or type in /keys on the search tab and press Enter.
• To learn more about the available keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Teams and how they vary between the windows and web app, click here.

Navigation Shortcuts

These navigation shortcuts help you navigate between the features provided in Teams.

• To get access to your activity feed, press Ctrl + 1
• To go to chats, press Ctrl + 2
• To get access to your teams, press Ctrl + 3
• To go to your Teams calendar, press Ctrl + 4
• To get access to calls, press Ctrl + 5
• To get access to your files, press Ctrl + 6

These shortcuts will vary depending on how the above features are arranged on the left navigation tab.

Changing Your Status

Microsoft Teams allows you to share your status with your colleagues to let them know whether you are available or not. Since Teams is synced with your Microsoft Outlook calendar, it will automatically set your status. However, you can also manually change your status from the command box to busy, available, be right back, away, do not disturb, or offline.

In addition to changing your status, you can also set a status message and set for how long the message will display.

The Command Box

The command box in Teams helps you search, launch applications, and take quick actions.

• To search using the command box, type in what you are looking for on the search bar, select one of the suggestions presented, and press enter.
• To perform tasks using the command box, type in a / to see the list of available commands, select the command you want, and press enter.

@Mentions

To get a colleague’s attention in a team or channel conversation, @mention them. Key in @ then select the intended person’s name from the list of names that appear. You can also get the whole team’s attention or a specific channel by keying in @ followed by the team’s name or channel.

Managing a Team

As a team administrator, you can change your team’s profile, make team members team owners, add and remove team members, and manage team settings.

Searching in Teams

You can search for teams, team members, and channels from the command box or within chats. Teams also has a filter option that can be accessed by clicking on the funnel or using the Ctrl + Shift + F  keyboard shortcut.

Editing a Message

Teams allows you to edit sent messages within a chat or conversation. To edit your message, click on the message and select More options  > Edit. Make changes to your message, then press Enter to save the update.

Creating Private Channels

If you’re looking to have more isolated conversations away from the team, create a private channel. To create a private channel, create a new channel, and set the privacy level to private.

Turning a File into a Tab

To change a file into a tab in Teams, open the file’s location, on the file name, click on More options  > make this a tab.

Adding a Poll

Microsoft Forms, an app in Teams, allows you to create instant and real-time polls. You can share these polls in your channels and teams and quickly get feedback.

To create a poll in Teams:

• Open the chat or channel in which you want to include a poll. At the bottom of your Teams window, select Forms
• Add your questions and answer options to your poll.
• Select Save and send the poll

Switching to the Dark Mode

To switch to dark mode, go to your profile and select Settings. In the themes section, select the Dark theme.

Saving Messages

To save a message, look for the message, click on More options  > save this message.

Pinning Important Conversations

Pinning a conversation or chat is a great way to keep track of it. To pin a chat or conversation, highlight the chat, then select More options  > Pin.

Formatting and Making Conversations Fun

Teams offers you numerous formatting options to make your conversations lively. These options include; highlighting, italicizing, underlining, adding emojis, and smileys. All these options are present in the compose box.

Looking to Partner With the Leading Microsoft Solutions Provider in Ottawa and Grow Your Business?

At Fuelled Networks, we offer experience and expertise in providing Microsoft solutions to businesses in Ottawa, Kingston, Brockville, and Eastern Ontario.

Schedule a consultation with us today, or call us on (613) 828-1384 to learn more about how Microsoft Teams can help your business as you work remotely.