Must-know tips for Microsoft Teams

Working from home is becoming the norm for many small businesses. Digitalisation of business operations is the key to making this move successful. Here are tips on how to maximise your collaboration with Microsoft Teams.

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Must-know tips for Microsoft Teams

Business benefits-at-a-glance

  • Microsoft Teams allows employees to stay engaged, connected and efficient while working from home.
  • Desktop (PC or Mac) and mobile applications ensure accessibility on all platforms.
  • By setting up teams and channels you can create effective digital collaboration.
  • The Activity Feed ensures small business owners can track jobs and projects to ensure completion.
  • Conversations can easily be conducted publicly or privately so every employee can easily be reached.
  • Video meetings can be conducted with employees and outside partners, vendors or customers.
  • Features like record, sharing, note taking and live captions increase the effectiveness of video meetings.

Must-know tips for Microsoft Teams

4 May 2020 | SMB, Digitalisation, Software-as-a-Service, Voice and Collaboration | 7 min read

Thanks to technology, employees can easily connect and stay engaged with one another and remain productive daily, via various digital collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams, which is part of Microsoft 365 applications, is a collaboration hub that enables everyone to work better together. It is all about facilitating group interactions through video conferences, voice calls, online meetings and co-editing documents, all through one application – be it via the desktop (PC or Mac) or mobile application.

Here are some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of Microsoft Teams to boost your productivity.

Glossary of terms used in Teams

  • Activity: Works like a newsfeed showing all activity across teams, channels, chats and apps.
  • Chat: Instant messaging for one-to-one or to multiple parties.
  • Teams: A group of employees built around a job or task who collaborate digitally.
  • Channels: Sections within Teams dedicated to specific topics or projects.
  • Files: Stored files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) that were uploaded for team collaboration.
  • Calls: Voice over IP (VoIP) function to call Teams users. Calls can also be linked to the company phone system (add on feature) to call non Teams users.
  • Video: Host web, audio and video conferencing on your preferred device.


Navigate through the Teams application through the tabs on the left - Activity, Chat, Teams, Calendar, Calls, Files.

Keep up to date on Activities throughout the day

  • Stay up to date on what’s happening through the Activity Feed (1st tab on the left of the application). Here, you will be able to view mentions, replies and other notifications.
  • Adjust your channel notification settings so you can expand or limit the type and number of notifications you receive throughout the day.

Start a conversation (in Chat)

  • To start a private conversation with a person or a group, simply click on ‘New Chat’ icon next to the search bar on top, type in the name of the person or group, and send your message.
  • Within a channel, you can @ someone to direct a message at that person.


Chat privately with another Teams user, or with a group. 

Collaborating within Teams and Channels

  • Before you and your colleagues can begin on any collaborative work, get your teams set up first. To start, simply create a team name along with a description.
  • Once that is all done, populate your teams by adding in members.
  • You can assign owners who can manage the team, or guests and members.
  • Under each team, easily set up different channels. You can create channels via topics, departments, projects or anything specific you’d like.
  • You can also set whether a Team or Channel is private so that other members of the company won’t be able to access it.


Collaborate with a group of users in a Team and create separate Channels for specific tasks or discussions.

Easily schedule Video Calls and Conferences (within and outside of the company)

  • To set up a meeting in advance, go to the Calendar tab and click on ‘+ New Meeting’ button. You can also add it in your Outlook meeting invites.
  • If you need to start an ad-hoc meeting in a channel or chat, simply click ‘Meet Now’ to go live immediately and invite members to join. The camera icon is located below your text entry field (when in a team or channel), or on the top right corner in chats (when in a one-on-one chat).
  • The use of the call and video meeting feature isn’t strictly limited to within your company. You can also easily carry out virtual meetings with individuals and vendors outside of your company’s network.
  • The video call can also be recorded so members not present on the call can get access to the recording and keep up to date with what was discussed.
  • Other special features include live taking of meeting notes, the ability to blur video backgrounds and introduction of live captions.


Calendar entries are automatically synchronised with Outlook.

File sharing and co-authoring

  • Files shared within a channel can be edited simultaneously by members of the channel.
  • If you want to edit a file in a separate window, you can click on the ... next to a file name and choose “Open in Sharepoint”. that will open the file in a web browser window.
  • The ‘Share’ function allows one to easily share their screen or open windows, Word and Excel files as well as PowerPoint presentations. Participants can even make changes on the screen if permissions are granted.

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