Microsoft Teams Tips & Tricks

Peer to Peer: To begin a conversation with anyone within UHN select the New chat icon at the top of the page

Enter the person's name in the To field that appears

 

Type your message in the box at the bottom of the screen, when you are ready to send the chat click the Send iconin the bottom right.

 

Add people into an existing conversation: click Add people  (or View and add participants in group chat) in the top right corner of Teams. Then, type the names of the people you would like to chat with and click Add.

 

Group chat: Once you have selected New chat click the down arrow ( Ë… ) to the far right of the To field and type a name for the chat in the Group name field. Then, type the names of the people you would like to add in the To field. This starts a new conversation.

 

Tip: You can have up to 100 people in a group chat

Peer to Peer: To begin a call proceed to the Calls tab on the left-side toolbar. From there type names in the Make a Call field (you can add multiple individuals here).

 

Then at the bottom select either the Audio or Video button to initiate the call.

 

Tip: You can include multiple people in the Make a Call field to start a group conversation by audio or video

Participating in a Meeting: To join a meeting you have been invited to there are two different methods:

• Calendar: You can access the Calendar function from the left-side toolbar. From there you can click on the meeting in your calendar that will open the details of the meeting and you can then select the “Join” button to join
  
  
   
• Outlook Invite: In Outlook, your email invite will display the Teams link as “Join Microsoft Teams Meeting”– click on this link to launch the meeting automatically.
  
   

Creating a Meeting: To create a meeting there are two different methods:

• Schedule a meeting: Select Schedule a meeting in a chat
  
  
   
• or go to Calendar and select New meeting. Then, select your preferred meeting channel and choose whom you would like to invite. Use the Scheduling Assistant to find the right time.
  
  
   
• Start an instant meeting: From your calendar or channel by clicking the Meet now button, this will launch a meeting and you can then invite people from the active meeting screen.
  
  
   

There are several methods for sharing and collaborating on files (Excel, OneNote, PDF, PowerPoint, Word, etc.) within Teams.

Chat: You can share a file directly in your Chat by dragging and dropping the file into the message box in the chat.

 

Then, you can access the file via Teams by clicking on the Add a Tab (+) at the top of the chat and selecting the app that your file corresponds to.

 

Files: From the files tab on the left-side toolbar you can view all files that have been shared with (or by) you. You can right-click on a file and select an action: edit in Teams, open in Browser, Open in Desktop or download.

 

Teams: You can share a file directly in your Team (or Channel) by going to the Teams tab on the left-side toolbar. Once you have selected the Team you will see the Files option at the top. From there you can select + New to create new folders and files. Alternatively, you can upload existing files to this section through the Upload button.

 

Private channels in Microsoft Teams create focused spaces for collaboration within your teams. Only the users on the team who are owners or members of the private channel can access the channel. Anyone, including guests, can be added as a member of a private channel as long as they are already members of the team.

You might want to use a private channel if you want to limit collaboration to those who have a need to know or if you want to facilitate communication between a group of people assigned to a specific project, without having to create an additional team to manage.

For example, a private channel is useful in these scenarios:

• A group of people in a team want a focused space to collaborate without having to create a separate team.
• A subset of people in a team want a private channel to discuss sensitive information, such as budgets, resourcing, strategic positioning, and so on.

A lock icon indicates a private channel. Only members of private channels can see and participate in private channels that they are added to.

Each team can have a maximum of 30 private channels and each private channel can have a maximum of 250 members. The 30 private channel limit is in addition to the 200 standard channel limit per team.

When to create a private channel

To determine whether a private channel is appropriate, consider the following questions about who needs to work together and what the collaboration is about.

When a private channel is created, it's linked to the parent team and can't be moved to a different team. Additionally, private channels can't be converted to standard channels and vice versa.

Who can create a Private Channel?

Only Team Site owners are able to create a Private Channel. Team Site Owners are responsible for managing private channels as UHN Digital will not be able to provide support for this feature.

The person who creates a private channel is the private channel owner and only the private channel owner can directly add or remove people from it. A private channel owner can add any team member to a private channel they created, including guests. Members of a private channel have a secure conversation space, and when new members are added, they can see all conversations (even old conversations) in that private channel.

What happens when a team member leaves or is removed from a team?

If a team member leaves or is removed from a team, that user will also leave or be removed from all private channels in the team. If the user is added back to the team, they must be added back to the private channels in the team.

What happens when a private channel owner is removed from a private channel?

A private channel owner can't be removed through the Teams client if they are the last owner of one or more private channels.
If a private channel owner leaves your organization or if they are removed from the Office 365 group associated with the team, a member of the private channel is automatically promoted to be the private channel owner.

What can team owners and team members see in a private channel?

Team owners can see the names of all private channels in their team and can also delete any private channel in the team. (A deleted private channel can be restored within 30 days after it's deleted). Team owners can't see the files in a private channel or the conversations and member list of a private channel unless they are members of that private channel.
The following table shows who can see what in a private channel.

Manage private channels

The following table outlines what actions owners, members, and guests can do in private channels.

Each private channel has its own settings, including the ability to add and remove members, add tabs, and @mentioning for the entire channel. These settings are independent of the parent team settings. When a private channel is created, it inherits settings from the parent team, after which its settings can be changed independently of the parent team settings.

The private channel owner can click Manage channel, and then use the Members and Settings tabs to add or remove members and edit settings.