Over 300,000 organizations have adopted Microsoft Teams as their trusted application for collaboration and the reasons are obvious. With Microsoft Teams, setting up multiple threads or discussions among your team is seamless. It also allows you to send, share, and organize video or audio meetings. This application makes collaboration and communication so simple and straightforward.
If your organization is already making use of Microsoft Teams, try out the following tips and tricks that you can incorporate for improved productivity, engagement, and organization.
Productivity Tips with Microsoft Teams
· Use the command line
The search bar within Teams can also be used as a command line, and it can save you time. Commands can be used to perform a common task in Teams such as /dnd to change your status to Do Not Disturb, /call to make a call, /files for viewing recent files, and so on.
Commands are only available on desktop and web app, and if there is a specific command that isn’t working for you, your organization might have disabled it.
For more lists of commands, you can visit Microsoft’s website.
· Customize Notifications
If you belong to multiple active channels and you won’t like being interrupted with alerts, you can customize your notifications for a better experience with Teams. You can modify this by clicking on your profile photo located at the top right corner, select settings, click on the notifications tab, and set your preferred alert type and frequency.
· Use of @mention
@mentions are extremely useful when filtering activities and messages. To get quick results on messages directed at you, just click the filter button while you are in the activity feed and choose @mentions from the menu.
This is also useful when you want to shoot off a quick message to your colleague, without leaving your current task at hand. On the search bar, just type the @ sign, find their name, and instantly send off your message.
· Mark your messages as unread
If you don’t have the time to address messages right away, Microsoft Teams allows you to mark messages as unread so you can circle it back at a later time. Just click on the three dots next to the message and mark it as unread.
· Use Microsoft Teams keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are one quick solution to find or do whatever you need within Microsoft Teams, such as replying to messages, editing your messages, attaching a file, or muting yourself during a meeting. Here are some useful shortcuts:
- Ctrl + Shift + M– Mute & unmute
- Ctrl + Shift + O– Turn on & off your camera while in a call
- Ctrl + N– Start a new chat
- ^– Edit the last message you send
- Ctrl + O– Select the file to attach and send in your Teams chat
- Ctrl + 4 – Open your calendar
- Alt + Shift + R – Reply to thread
- Ctrl + Shift + A – Accept a video call
- Ctrl + Shift + S – Accept an audio call
Engagement Tips with Microsoft Teams
· Send urgent notifications
If you need an immediate response from your colleague, there is an option in Microsoft Teams where you can send an urgent message. Click on the exclamation sign below the message window and click the Urgent menu. Microsoft Teams will send notifications to your respondent every 2 minutes for 20 minutes.
· Create and send your GIFs
Animated GIFs can make your chats more fun and engaging, especially for the younger minds in your organization. While Teams features a lot of animated GIFs that you can send into your chats as a form of motivation or encouragement, you can also use the Giphy app to create your very own GIFs. Who wouldn’t love personalized GIFs?
· Rich-text Messages
Make it easier for your colleagues to view and understand the information you are trying to convey by composing rich-text messages. Click on the ‘A’ button under the text box and format your messages by changing the font style, size, color, add links or bullet points. Also, add subject lines to grab their attention and to divide your conversations into different threads.
Organization Tips with Microsoft Teams
· Utilize SharePoint
It’s an important feature that is highly integrated with Microsoft Teams to secure your files and easily collaborate on shared documents. In an organization, team members can be in one place or spread across different locations, thus the importance of SharePoint. Utilize it for better collaboration and organization.
· Integrate Microsoft Planner
Microsoft Planner is a great tool to monitor task by all the team members. Since this tool can be easily integrated inside Microsoft Team, you can use it to reference tasks via Planner without the need for a third-party task manager. You can also use Teams and pin the Planner for easier accessibility.
· Bookmark Important Messages
If you want to save important messages for later, you can do so by selecting the bookmark on the specific message to ensure you won’t have trouble finding it. To review your bookmarks, type the command /saved into the search bar.
