Microsoft Teams Tips, Tricks, & Treats
Halloween might be upon us, but there’s nothing scarier than your business not utilizing all the features Microsoft Teams has to offer! There is a common misconception that Teams is most useful as a simple chat tool. However, it is much more than an instant messaging platform. Better yet, it has a seemingly limitless number of features and shortcuts. So, instead of dishing out candy, we’ve got something even sweeter for Teams users. Here are our favorite Teams tips, tricks, and treats!
Utilize Tabs for Quick Access
If you and a colleague are working on a specific document often and don’t want to keep digging through folders to find it, you can save it as a tab in a chat. Click on the “+” icon in the chat window’s header bar and choose the file type you would like to attach (e.g., Excel, Word, PDF, etc.). Then a dialogue box will appear, and you can choose from the files shared between the people in that chat to create a tab.
Make Chats Searchable
No one wants to dig through thousands of conversations to find that one message you need. Teams takes away this frustration by allowing full customization of your chat titles so you can find them in the future. All you have to do is hit the pencil at the top right of your chat and rename it accordingly.
Ask T-Bot for Help
T-Bot is Microsoft Teams’ dedicated help robot. Click Chat, and you’ll see T-Bot. Click on it, and you can start typing questions or keywords to get instant answers. If you want to browse, you’ll also find solutions under the Help, Videos, and What’s New tabs.
Turn on Immersive Reader Mode
Microsoft Teams features an immersive reading mode that lets you read messages without distractions. You can also set fonts, colors, and spacing to get the reading experience you want. To get started with Immersive Reader, you’ll want to find it by putting your mouse over a message in a chat or channel. Then click on the ellipses (. . .), and select Immersive Reader. Your Teams window will then switch over to a full-screen experience. In this window, you can choose Text Preferences, and when you’re ready to play a message, click the play button at the bottom of the screen. Teams will begin reading back whatever you highlighted and continue onwards. In addition, you can control the speed or type of voice by clicking the sound icon next to the play button.
Take Meeting Notes
You don’t need to set up a Word document or grab a pen and paper to make sure you pick up the key points of your meeting. You can create meeting notes in the meeting window itself. To start taking notes, click the three dots icon and select meeting notes. This will open a panel where you can start jotting down your meeting notes.
Share Sound From Computer in Meetings
You can now share sound from your computer while sharing your screen in a Teams meeting. This is an easy trick! First, click the ‘Share’ button to share your screen from within a Teams meeting. Then, on the screen that pops up where you select the Window, Screen, or Application you wish to share, just toggle on the Include Computer Sound. This will share all your computer’s sounds. However, it is also worth noting that alerts and notification sounds will also be heard in the meeting while you are sharing your screen.
These tips are just a few of our new favorites. Microsoft Teams offers easy collaboration, provides convenient access to all files within an organization, and integrates with many useful and popular apps. You can find even more Teams tips and tricks on our blog. If you’re interested in learning more about Office 365 integrations and everything, our team can do to support yours. Give us a call at (904) 606-6011 or email info@helpgts.com. We’re ready to help!
