Tips for experienced users

So far we've covered the basics for Microsoft Teams, but there's much more to the service than meets the eye. You'll certainly pick up on some of the more advanced features as you use Teams, but to get you started, here are some tips for experienced users.
  • Review the settings. You can control and tweak certain features in Teams via the Settings panel. To get there, click your profile icon in the upper right, and select Settings. Here, you can choose how and when the Teams app launches, control the Do Not Disturb option and other privacy settings, manage your notifications, test your audio and video, and control incoming calls and voice mail.
  • Manage members. The free version of Teams doesn't offer a dedicated management tool, but you can still manage permissions and other features for those on your team. Click the More Options button for your team, and select the option to Manage Team. At the Team Management screen, go to Settings. Select Member Permissions to control what members can do. Select Fun Stuff to restrict the ability of members to add emoji, GIFs, and stickers.
  • Tag team members. You can assign tags to individual members of a team, and communicate to them all at once by including the tag in your mention. Click the More Options button for your team, and select the option to Manage Tags. Create your tag name, and assign members to it. In the chat window, type @ followed by the tag name to reach out to all people assigned that tag.
  • Use the command line. The command line at the top of the screen offers a handy way to access key features and functions. Simply type a forward slash followed by the command you want, such as /activity to see someone's activity, /call to call someone, or /dnd to set your status to Do Not Disturb. To see a list of all commands, just type the forward slash by itself.
  • Blur your video background. If you're working from home and don't want other people to see your messy room during a video call, you can blur your background. To do this during a call, click the More Actions button, and select the option for Blur Background. To turn it off, click the same button, and select the option for Don't Blur Background.
  • Take meeting notes. During a conference call, you can easily take notes about the meeting. During the call, click the More Actions button, and select the option to Show Meeting Notes. Give a name to your notes, and type them as the meeting progresses. You can format your notes, divide them into different sections, and copy a link to the finished notes to share them with others.
  • Listen to a message. If you have trouble reading the screen or just like to hear messages read aloud, you can enable the Immersive Reader for team and individual messages. Click the More Options button next to the message, and select the option for Immersive Reader. The Reader screen displays the message in a large clear font. Click the Play button to hear it read aloud.
  • Add a subject to a chat. Randomly chatting with other team members can be confusing, especially if the conversations are out of context. To remedy this, you can add a subject to a message. Click the Format icon on the toolbar below the chat window. In the formatting window, type a subject in the field that says Add A Subject. Type your message and send it, and the subject will appear in a larger font above the message.
  • Create a private channel. Sometimes you may want a channel that's private for which you invite only certain people. Such a channel is only visible to those people. To set this up, click the More Options button for your team, and select the option to Add Channel. Name the channel. Under Privacy, change the setting to Private, and invite the members.
  • Link to a channel. Some team members may work only with a specific channel or two. In that case, they may want to go directly to that channel each time they use Teams. To help, you can create and share a link to a channel. Click the More Options button next to a channel, and select the option to Get Link To Channel. Copy and share the link with the people who use that channel.
  • Add tabs. Keeping track of all the apps and files for your team can be difficult. One way to make them easier to access is by adding them as tabs. In the Activity, Chat, or Teams window, click the + icon. At the next window, select a specific app that you frequently use. You may also need to select a specific file for that app. Go through the rest of the steps. At the end, a tab for that app or file appears next to the other tabs for quick access.
  • Pin apps. The more apps you add to your team, the more challenging it can be for people to access them, and some team members may use only certain apps. In this case, they can pin a favorite app for quick access. Click the Extensions button on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Right-click an app you want to pin, and select the Pin command. That app then appears on the toolbar.
  • Create and manage files. Teams provides a few different ways to work with files. Here's one handy option. In a particular channel, click the Files tab at the top. From here, you can create a new Office file, upload a file from your computer, sync a file via OneDrive, create a link to a file, and download a file to your computer. By selecting a file, you can also delete it, rename it, pin it, move it, and check it out so no one else can modify it.
  • Add cloud storage. Beyond using OneDrive or SharePoint, you can access other online storage sites to share and sync files. Click the Files icon on the left sidebar, and click the button to Add Cloud Storage. Choose the service you want to add, such as Dropbox, Box, ShareFile, or Google Drive. Sign into the site, and you can access any stored files.
  • Add the How-To app. Learning how to use all the features in Teams can be tricky and time-consuming. You can give yourself and your team members a helping hand through the right app. CoreView's How-To app offers a range of instructional videos with helpful information on using Teams. To add this, click the Apps button on the left sidebar. Look for and add the How-to app from the Productivity section.