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How to add apps to Microsoft Teams (Video)

In this final lesson for this course, learn how you can extend Microsoft Teams by adding additional apps to it. Whether from Microsoft or a third-party provider, your apps can be used within the context of Microsoft Teams making your day simpler and keeping more of your work within a single context.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

You can add or utilize additional apps in Teams in individual chat messages, channel conversation posts, channel or chat tabs, or your left-hand navigation rail. This makes it easier for you and your colleagues to quickly access important resources and tools all within a single context. Teams becomes a one-stop-shop for your communication and collaboration needs because of the flexibility app integrations provide.

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How to search and use commands in Microsoft Teams (Video)

You can use the Microsoft Teams search bar to find content, conversations and chats, people, channels, and more. But you can also use it to execute commands. Learn about both in this lesson.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

Your search bar does more than just search. You can find files, messages, people, teams, channels, and more using the search bar and the filters available in results. You can also execute commands by beginning with a forward slash (/) and typing or selecting an available command such as /pop to pop a chat out into a separate window.

Be sure to check out the shortcut and command PDF handout linked below.

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Personal settings, preferences, and status in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Learn how to manage your personal settings, app preferences, and your availability status in Microsoft Teams.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

In addition to managing your chat and channel notification settings, you’re also able to configure your status/availability, out of office settings, display preferences, and much more by taking advantage of all that’s available in your settings dialog (ellipsis next to your profile photo > Settings).

Click to enlarge

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How to join and participate in Microsoft Teams meetings (Video)

Learn how to attend a Microsoft Teams meeting and what your options and features are when meeting online.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

Attending a meeting is usually as simple as clicking a join link and turning your devices (camera and microphone) on or off as desired. There are several features available to attendees throughout a meeting including chat and reactions, live captions, device settings, and more. Meeting organizers may also have attendees participate in polls, breakout rooms, and more.

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How to schedule meetings in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Learn how to schedule Microsoft Teams online meetings.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

You can schedule Microsoft Teams meetings from Outlook or Teams, but by scheduling through Teams your join information, chat, files, whiteboard, attendance, and more are all added to the event details after scheduling, enabling you to prepare dynamic and engaging meeting experiences in advance as well as follow-up with attendees and keep meeting assets organized.

Teams meetings ca be scheduled from the Calendar node, a channel, or a chat. 

  • If scheduled from Calendar or via chat, the invite is sent from your individual calendar and the meeting chat and recording (when applicable) will be in your Chat node – specifically, the thread with the attendee(s).
  • If scheduled from a channel, the invite is sent to the group/team and lives on the group calendar (but still individually invites members). Attendance, recordings, and meeting chat will all be found in the particular channel’s Posts feed as well as in the event details from Calendar.

Be sure to check out Microsoft’s Microsoft Teams Meetings Quick Start Guide for 32 pages of additional information, resources, one-pagers, etc. related to Microsoft Teams meetings.

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How to use @ mentions and Activity in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Learn how to manage your activity and personal preferences in Microsoft Teams, as well as how the usage of @ mentions improves communication and attention. Did you know there are 4 different ways to @ mention others?

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

From the Activity node in Teams, you can see when you’ve been @mentioned, added to a team, when others react or reply to your messages in chats and channel conversations, and more. You may also see specific app activity, such as Insights letting you know it’s time to check-in.

You can adjust your own notifications per channel and chat, or universally using your Settings > Notifications settings.

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How to add channel tabs and apps in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Adding tabs to your Microsoft Teams channels allows you to embed other apps, sites, documents, etc. for convenient, one-click access to important resources you and your colleagues use frequently. Learn how to create additional channel tabs in this lesson.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

Tabs allow you to extend the capabilities of your chats and channels. You can add a tab to a chat to embed a document you and your co-chatter use often together, such as an HR portal or a state financial resource. You could add a tab to a channel to give yourself and your teammates one-click access to a frequently used website, Power BI report, Power App, etc. No matter what specific app you’re adding in the tab, the idea is simplifying your work days by bringing as many tools, apps, processes, etc. into a single starting place – Teams becomes a single place from where you and your colleagues can access and work with most of what you need each day.

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What are channel conversations in Microsoft Teams? (Video)

Learn the ins and outs of team channel conversations in Microsoft Teams. Channel conversations are more formal than chats, and offer slightly different features and behavior.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

Channel conversations allow you and your teammates to talk about that specific channel’s subject. For example, in a channel named Project Zebra, you’ll post conversations and replies regarding Project Zebra and use its Files tab for files about Project Zebra. Remember that files attached to conversation posts and replies are stored in a folder sharing the channel’s name in the team’s supporting SharePoint site.

Channel conversations and replies work in much the same way as chat in Teams. The primary difference is chat is typically ad hoc and less formal whereas your channel conversations are part of an official team (aka Microsoft 365 group) that tends to last longer and have regular membership changes as staff rotate in and out.

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How to create teams and channels in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Learn how to create a new team and channels for that team in this lesson.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

Create a team whenever you have a reason to bring a new or existing group of people together to communicate and/or collaborate. You can create private or public teams (aka private or public Microsoft 365 groups). Private groups require membership management and requests (when applicable) whereas public groups can be discovered by anyone in your organization.

Create a channel whenever you need to separate a specific topic, client, subject, discipline, etc. from the main conversation and contents (General channel) to its own channel. This helps keep the General channel clear for small talk, truly general conversations and contents, etc. while your more focused subject-specific conversations, files, meetings, apps, and more are in the channel you’ve created.

Your channels can be standard (same permissions as team) or private (unique permissions from team). If you choose private channels, they’ll each have their own entire SharePoint site as opposed to sharing one like all of your standard channels will. Private channels are also owned by the channel creator (not necessarily the parent team’s owner).

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Teams vs channels in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Learn the differences between a team and a channel when collaborating in Microsoft Teams. This video shows that teams are groups of people who need shared access and space to collaborate and communicate on a shared initiative. Channels are how that group organizes their content and work.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

Notes

Teams are a group of a people along with all of the resources, apps, conversations, meetings, and more they share. Channels are how team members keep their content organized by particular topics, subjects, projects, etc. Channels can be thought of as a way to “folderize” your team’s content.

Teams have team settings, and each channel has it own settings as well. Each member of your team has equal access to the team’s standard channels – this only differs if you utilize private channels (which have separate membership management).

Additional resources