Forum Discussion
Create permanent video meeting link in Microsoft Teams
I schedule many videoconferences with people outside my organization (some of them repeated) and the way I do it now is to create a Teams meeting link from my Outlook invitation and then send this to the meeting invitees. I would prefer to create a permanent link that I can always give to people, for example, in an email message, without having to generate a new Teams meeting each time in Outlook.
I considered simply reusing the same link from a previous meeting for subsequent meetings, but it seems that each Teams meeting creates its own space in Teams. So, it seems that people I meet with later would be able to see the names of those whom I met with earlier using the same link, as well as any conversations I might have had with them. So, I don't think this is what I want--I want a link that gives meeting attendees access to only the present, live meeting, with no access to past exchanges using the same link. This is important to respect the privacy of each meeting.
I initially posted this as a help question to Microsoft Teams support, but they said that it is not an existing feature. If this is not currently a feature, could anyone here possibly suggest a workaround that would let me use the same permanent link for all my videoconferences (e.g. with a short URL), but that preserves the privacy of attendees across different meetings using that same link? This is similar to what many videoconferencing services (e.g. Zoom and Whereby) offer.
You could ask HubSpot to add functionality to automatically generate Microsoft Teams links using the API: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-ca/graph/teams-concept-overview. There are specific commands that can generate new meeting links each time you need them: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-ca/graph/api/application-post-onlinemeetings?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http
You might find them surprisingly responsive, since Covid-19 has boosted Microsoft Teams to be one of the leading online meeting solutions.
Actually, my original use case was similar: I used x.ai to schedule meetings and I was frustrated by the lack of permanent links. But then x.ai added Microsoft Teams link generation, and my most pressing issue is actually solved now. That said, I believe there is still a need for regular users like us to be able to provide a permanent teams link.
32 Replies
- What I would do, if it's for simplicity to publish a link and not so much saving you time, you could use a URL shortening service that allows you to edit the target link. Then you use the URL from that service to publish. Then you can do Meet Now meetings, or schedule a meeting on your end and update your URL to have the updated URL.
It's extra work, but it would technically keep the same URL published, but update new meetings on the back end when they go to use the URL.ChrisWebbTech This is exactly what I do for a weekly webinar I run. URL stays the same, but the back-end meeting link changes each week.
ChrisWebbTech, thanks for your response. However, extra work defeats the purpose: perhaps I was not clear in my original post, but one of my goasl is primarily to avoid having to generate a new link for each of this kind of meeting. Considering that the new meeting attendees see the link only once (whether it is a newly generated link or a permanent link) and that I am the only one who sees new links each time with the way things currently work, the convenience of a permanent link is primarily for my benefit, not for those whom I invite.
Is it the case that noting has changed on this topic? With the current lockdown this is required functionality for regular team meetings right now. If nothing has changed I guess I will have to switch to Zoom.
Hi,
I can't see any workaround for this. In Lync and Skype for Business it was possible to have a personal meeting room for a users, so they always had the same conference id and meeting URL. Many organisations thought that this was a security risk (wrong people can enter the meeting) so most organisations changed to have dynamic meeting rooms (new URL for each meeting). So of the same security reason I think it is good that it is an unique meeting URL for each meeting in Teams.
Since you are sending an e-mail to the attendees in your meeting, why not change that and schedule an outlook meeting instead. Then it is only one click on a button away and you have created a conference in Teams for that scheduled meeting.
You can also request this solution by creating a uservoice at https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/. Microsoft reads these if they get enough votes and then might implement it.
Thanks, LinusCansby, for explaining the security concern as a possible reason why such a feature might be absent. However, as I mentioned at the end of my question, there is a use case for such a permanent link, which is why most dedicated videoconferencing applications offer and boldly advertise this feature. Up till now, I have indeed been generating and copying a unique URL for each meeting, but it is very inconvenient for regular types of meetings with different external people each time (applicant interviews, in my case) and it is a hindrance to automating my workflow.
I have already made a Uservoice post, but with only one vote (probably me) as of now, I don't know if it will get anywhere: https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/39869779-create-permanent-video-meeting-link-in-microsoft-t. If anyone reading this likes the idea, please support it by voting on it.
Tripartio , nice work and great suggestion. Let me know if you find anything.
Also, not sure if you've been following it or not but as of now, 01/23/2021, there are 787 Votes on your post. Smart to put the link in this post as it made it easy for me, and anyone else reading this post to click and follow your lead.
Let's hope this rattles the cage in Redmond a bit... and please let me (us all) know if a solution arises.
