8 minute read

Tip number 1 - forward e-mails to Teams

If you get an e-mail into boring old Outlook, which you would like to share with colleagues inside a Teams team, you don't have to copy/paste. Each channel in a team has an e-mail address to which you simply forward the e-mail. It then (almost magically) appears in the channel thread.

You can find the e-mail address by clicking on the channel's three dots and choosing Get email address.

Tip number 2 - simplified reader

If someone writes a longer post in a Teams thread, you can turn on Simplified Reader with one click.
This opens a more readable version of the post. You can even get it read to you by clicking the play button at the bottom of the reader. Whip out the popcorn.

To view a post in Simplified Reader, click on the three dots and select Simplified Reader.

 

Tip number 3 - add other cloud-based storage accounts

In the Files area in Teams, you can add a number of other cloud-based file storage accounts. For instance, Dropbox and your personal OneDrive, but also services like box.com.

Tip number 4 - Teams meeting directly from a channel

If you start a meeting directly from a channel in a team, you get suggested team members as meeting participants. It's a quick way to meet in a team.

Tip number 5 - filter and mark unread

In your activity stream, you can filter all sorts of things. For instance, you can choose to focus only on posts where you are mentioned, or only on unread items.

In the activity stream - and also in your chats - you can mark things as unread by clicking on the three dots.

Tip number 6 - keyboard shortcuts

No tips and tricks about a product without mentioning keyboard shortcuts. We know there are shortcut nerds out there.

See all the shortcuts right here. 

Tip number 7 - add 3rd party apps

You can add GitHub, Salesforce, MailChimp, SurveyMonkey, Jira and hundreds of other cool apps - including our own Self-service app - to your teams or chats. 

You do this by clicking Apps in the left menu of Teams or - if you want to add at the team level - the plus at the top of the tabs.

Tip number 8 - clean up

After using Teams just a little while, it can get a little confusing with all the teams and chats in the menu on the left. Fortunately, you can easily hide teams from the overview by clicking the three dots.

New activity in hidden teams will, of course, still appear under, for example, Activities.

You can also hide chats this way.

Tip number 9 - commands in the search box

If you type a slash in the Teams search box, you can perform a wide range of functions directly from there. And with the @ sign, you can go directly to user profiles or apps.

Tip number 10 - search the chats and name them

To find a specific chat that you may have had a long time ago, use the global search box at the top of Teams. Here you can search into the body of the chat and quickly find that all-important chat about "hamster feed".

Chats that have more than two participants you can also name - and thus find faster.

 

Tip number 11 - notify me when a colleague is available

If you're waiting for a colleague to change their status from, for example, "Away" to "Available", you can let Teams tip you when it happens.

To do this, simply click the three dots next to the colleague in the chat and select Notify when available.

Tip number 12 - add your own background to Teams meetings

When you're in a Teams online meeting, you can choose to blur your background or select a specific background by clicking on the three dots and then Show background effects.

If you want to add your own background, you can add an image (in e.g. png or jpeg format) by clicking Add new.

Tip number 13 - @ mention people, channels and tags

You probably know that you can mention a person in a conversation in Teams by typing the @ sign and then their name. This notifies the person and makes him or her aware of the conversation.

But you can actually also mention a channel by using the @ sign and then the channel name. This causes all channel members to be notified.

You can even create a tag that you then add to people across Teams and channels. You can then mention that tag (and with it the people tagged) via the @ sign. Read more about tags here.

Tip nummer 14 - attach apps in the side menu

You can pin the app that you want quick access to in the Teams sidebar. Once you open an app, just right-click it in the sidebar and select Pin. Right-click select Unpin to release it again.

And yep, we've tried to see how many can be pinned in the side menu: five in addition to the six standard ones.

Tip number 15 - set a status message

You can add a status message that people who write to you or mention you in a conversation will be able to see. To do this, click on your user and select Set status message.

When setting the message you can also choose when to clear it.