You may have noticed your Microsoft Teams meeting invites now include meeting IDs and passcodes, and there’s a new Join with an ID button on Calendar. In this blog post I’ll cover several meeting ID-related topics for meeting organizers:

• Find your Teams meeting ID and passcode
• Find your Teams meeting ID and passcode during a meeting
• Add someone to a Teams meeting already in progress
• Microsoft Teams meeting IDs vs join links

In a rush? Here’s the quick answer:

• Not in a meeting yet? Open the event on your calendar and you’ll find the meeting ID and passcode in the event details
• In a meeting already? Go to More | Meeting info

Find your Teams meeting ID and passcode (when not already in the meeting)

1. Open Microsoft Teams and select Calendar from the left
2. Double-click or edit the meeting for which you’d like to retrieve the meeting ID
3. Copy the Meeting ID and Passcode from the meeting details

Note that you can also get the join link from the same section if you prefer. The contents you see here as the meeting organizer (join link, ID, passcode, and call-in info when relevant) is the same contents any invited participants received. They can find this on their calendar by opening the event and viewing its details.

Find your Teams meeting ID and passcode during a meeting

To find your Teams meeting join link, meeting ID, and passcode during a meeting, select More | Meeting info.

From here, you can scroll to the bottom for the join link, meeting ID, and passcode.

You can select Copy join info at the top of the same panel which resembles the following and includes both entry options as well as call-in info when you’re licensed appropriately. This might be handy to paste in a quick Teams message or email for last-minute requests:

Add someone to a Teams meeting already in progress

Now let’s imagine you’re in the middle of a Microsoft Teams meeting, and you’d like someone to join you. If they’re in your organization’s directory, you can simply:

1. Open the People panel
2. Type in their name and select Request to join next to it when it appears

However, you can’t invite external participants as easily because no matches show up.

So for external people, use the method described at the beginning of this post (More | Meeting info) and send the join link, meeting ID, and passcode to the individual you’re asking to join. If the link doesn’t work for them and they want to use the ID to join, they’ll go to Calendar in Microsoft Teams, select Join with an ID and enter the info you provided.

If they don’t have a Microsoft Teams account to utilize Calendar, there will also be a public join webpage soon where they can enter the meeting ID and passcode and join.

Microsoft Teams meeting IDs vs join links

When it comes to secure meetings, links and IDs are about the same. If someone forwards the meeting invite to a stranger, they can attempt to join the meeting. If you’re concerned about this, perhaps because you’re sharing NDA content in a meeting or just don’t want strangers hopping in, be sure to utilize the “People I Invite” lobby settings so you can decline any unfamiliar or uninvited persons attempting to enter.

Join links specifically are perfectly fine to continue using and they are very difficult for a bad agent (with the intention of crashing your meeting) to guess. Imagine trying to guess something this long and complex, even with bot assistance:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19:meeting_MGZlO23U4YjItOTE2MS00ZTSkLWIyMGUtNGRiMWRiYjc4ZjU2@thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22Tid%22:%225a447937-4988-4622-ab53-g1e384ec3c1a%22,%22Oid%22:%22c3db5526-5334-4d0a-ba50-bece903d370%22%7D

Join links are quick and easy for invitees to use. Click the link and you’re at the pre-join screen making sure your devices are setup properly.

Meeting IDs also take you directly to the pre-join screen, and may be a better option if someone is having difficulty using the link you provided. Perhaps their firewall is preventing the link from working or there are other restrictions on their machine that don’t allow them to utilize links normally. Meeting IDs give them an alternative entry method that isn’t dependent on an https:// url.

Why is there a passcode? Without a passcode, a stranger could simply start guessing meeting IDs (which are much easier to guess than the long, complicated join links) and they could pay you and your colleagues an unwanted visit.

Best practice would be to send people both options so they have a backup method if needed. Your meeting invites automatically include both already, and if you’re in a meeting attempting to add someone who wasn’t originally invited, you can go to More | Meeting info and select Copy join info which will copy both options to your clipboard for those last-minute invites via messages or emails.

The process used when sharing your screen in Teams depends on whether you’re using the Teams desktop app or web app. I’ll cover both methods in this post, and provide a video demonstration for each.

Share your screen using the Microsoft Teams desktop app

Using the desktop app (installed on your machine), you can share your screen during a meeting in just a few clicks:

1. Once inside the meeting, select the Share icon (rectangle with an arrow) in the upper right corner next to the Leave button.
2. Choose which content you’d like to share with the other participants:
   • Screen (one of your monitors and everything you see on it, even if you change windows/apps)
   • Window (one specific window or app – prevents accidentally sharing things like your email)
3. If you’ll be sharing video audio or music, toggle the button to include computer sound
4. When finished sharing, use the same Share button to stop sharing.

If you’ll be sharing a PowerPoint presentation, consider using PowerPoint Live as opposed to just screen sharing the full-screen presentation. This enables your attendees to benefit from individual features that won’t affect others including:

• Moving forwards and backwards through slides for a refresher or more time to consume the content
• Changing slides to high contrast for better visibility
• Translating slides to a language of choice
• Click on links directly on slides (such as social media, references, survey, or company hyperlinks)

Watch the desktop version video demonstration to see these steps performed, including PowerPoint Live:

Share your screen using the Microsoft Teams web app

The web app is entirely browser-based, meaning you don’t need to have anything installed on your device to use it. You can access it anytime from any device with web access by navigating to https://teams.microsoft.com in your browser of choice.

In the web app, you can share your screen during a meeting by following these steps:

1. Once inside the meeting, select the Share icon (rectangle with an arrow) from the lower central area menu. If the menu has disappeared, simply move your cursor around the meeting space to make it reappear.
2. Choose which content you’d like to share with the other participants:
   • Desktop/Window (either a whole monitor or a specific app or tab). After you select this, you can then choose between:
     • Entire screen: A whole monitor/screen and everything that becomes visible on it.
     • Window: A single app or window (prevents accidentally sharing things like your email)
     • Microsoft Edge tab: A single browser tab (similar to the app/window option, this prevents accidentally switching to a sensitive app or tab)
     • If you’ll be sharing video audio or music, check the box to Share system audio
   • PowerPoint (PowerPoint Live): Select a recent presentation, or click Browse to find a presentation and utilize this feature.
3. When finished sharing, use the same Share button to stop sharing or one of the Stop sharing dialogs you may see.

Watch the web version video demonstration to see these steps performed, including PowerPoint Live: