How to get started with Microsoft Teams

Introduction: What is Microsoft Teams and How Does it Help Businesses?

Microsoft Teams is an effective platform for teamwork that enables organizations to establish connections and collaborate with their team members. It provides an all-in-one workspace for teams to share files, chat, and work together on projects. By providing advanced features, it simplifies communication and collaboration for businesses, thereby increasing their efficiency and speed of work. Microsoft Teams also offers integrated tools such as voice and video calling, task management, file sharing, and more that help businesses stay organized while working on projects. With its intuitive interface, Microsoft Teams makes it easy for teams of any size to stay connected and productive.

How to Set Up Your First Team on Microsoft Teams

In almost all cases, the IT department of your organisation will provide you with the credentials for your MS-Teams account. This is very common, because MS-Teams provides the most value to your business, when everyone is using it. Check in with your organisation to get information on if they provide you with a license for MS-Teams.

If however this should not be the case for you, here is how to get your own account:

To get a Microsoft Teams account, you can follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the Microsoft Teams website or download the Teams app from the Microsoft website.

2. Click on the “Sign up for free” button.

3. Enter your email address and follow the prompts to create a Microsoft account, if you don’t already have one.

4. Once you’ve created your Microsoft account, enter your personal details and create a password.

5. Choose your organization type and enter some basic information about your organization.

6. Agree to the terms of service and privacy policy, then click on “Sign up”.

7. You can now access your Microsoft Teams account and start collaborating with others in your organization.

The chat section of Microsoft Teams

1. Open Microsoft Teams and select the “Chat” tab from the left-hand side menu.

2. Click on the “New Chat” button to start a new conversation.

3. Enter the name or email address of the person you want to chat with in the search bar and select them from the list of suggestions.

4. Start typing your message in the text box at the bottom of the screen and hit “Enter” to send it.

5. You can also add emojis, GIFs, files, and other content to your messages by clicking on the corresponding buttons.

6. To manage your chats, you can use the search bar to find specific conversations, pin important chats to the top of your list, or mark messages as unread or important.

The Groups section of Microsoft Teams

1. To start a group chat, click on the “New Chat” button and select “New Group Chat”. Add the people you want to include in the chat and give the group a name.

2. You can also join or existing groups or add members of your team or organization to the groups you manage.

The calender

1. Open Microsoft Teams and select the “Calendar” tab from the left-hand side menu.

2. Click on the “+” button to create a new event.

3. Enter the event details, such as the title, date, time, and location.

4. You can also add attendees, set a reminder, and choose a status for your event (busy, free, tentative, out of office).

5. Once you’ve filled in all the relevant information, click “Save” to add the event to your calendar.

6. You can view your calendar by day, week, or month, and see all your upcoming events in one place.

7. To edit or delete an event, simply click on it and make the necessary changes.

8. You can also share your calendar with others in your organization by clicking on the “Share” button and selecting the appropriate options.

Thirdparty Apps

Microsoft Teams supports a variety of third-party apps that can help you enhance your productivity and streamline your workflows. Here’s how to use them:

1. Open Microsoft Teams and select the “Apps” tab from the left-hand side menu.

2. Browse the available apps or search for a specific app by name.

3. Click on the app you want to use and select “Add to a team” or “Install” depending on the app’s functionality.

4. Follow the prompts to authorize the app and grant it access to your Teams data if necessary.

5. Once the app is installed, you can access it from within Teams by selecting the “Apps” tab and clicking on the app icon.

6. Depending on the app’s functionality, you can use it to share files, manage tasks, conduct surveys, or perform other tasks without leaving the Teams environment.

7. You can also customize your Teams experience by pinning frequently used apps to the left-hand side menu, or by creating custom app tabs within Teams channels.

One such thirdparty app is TeamLinx42, it enables your team members to find documents and information quickly and easily inside their Microsoft Teams client – decentralized, self-organized, and collaborative! According to the decentralized self-service principle, the users independently make the team-specific processes available to the entire organization. This empower all team members to work self-organized and save valuable time with a clear dashboard in Microsoft Teams. Everybody with a bit of working experience knows, that historically grown working methods, habits and process landscapes are often inconsistent. This tool allows to merge the heterogeneous documents, information, and processes and make the really important entry points visible and quickly accessible without having to change the locations where resources are made available. Should there be a need for changes in a process though, process owners are able to introduce changes and make them available to employees quickly, easily and clearly.