How to become a Microsoft Teams super user – Insider Tips from the Teams team
Published Nov 12 2018 09:00 AM 234K Views
Microsoft

Want to learn how to get the most out of Teams from the folks behind the product? We asked the Teams team to share their favorite Teams tips and tricks.  

 

 

Looking for more super user tips? Keep reading to learn how to: 

  • Increase your focus time 
  • Collaborate better with others 
  • Stay organized 
  • Have fun in Teams! 

Increase Your Focus Time

1. Filter Activity by @mentions  

  • How this helps: Your activity feed keeps you up-to-date on the latest conversations and updates. Filtering by @mentions let’s you separate your personal To-Dos from the FYIs and focus on the key conversations.  
  • How to do this: Click on Activity, then click the filter button and choose @mentions.  
  • Want to learn more about the activity feed? Click here.

@mentions.gif

 

2. Bookmark a message or content  

  • How this helps: A bookmark lets you save a message or attachment for later reading or helps you find frequently used information.  
  • How to do this: In a chat, click the bookmark icon in. To find your bookmarked chats, Type “/saved” in the Search bar to find all your saved messages. 

Bookmarking2.gif

 

 3. Marking messages unread  

  • How this helps: See something but can’t act on it right away? Marking message as unread will help you remember to go back to it at a later time and take action.  
  • How to do this: In your message, click on the ellipses then in the pop-up window click “Mark as unread.” Check unread messages in the activity feed or type /unread into the search box.  

MarkingUnread.gif

 

 4. /dnd (do not disturb)  

  • How this helps: Stop the noise and stay focused by setting your status to “Do not disturb.” Prevent pop-ups and other distractions so you can get work done 
  • How to do this: Type in /dnd (do not disturb) in the search box. To switch off /dndtype in the command “/available.”  

dnd.png

 

 5. /Commands  

  • How this helps: Increase your app navigation speed and get through Teams more efficiently with shortcuts. 
  • How to do this: If you type in “/” into the search box, all of our shortcuts & commands will show up!  
  • Click here to learn more about our commands here.
     

command.png

 

Collaborate Better with Others 

6. @mentioning someone in the search bar and typing the message directly in the search bar 

  • How this helps: Stay on task and send a quick message without leaving your current window or project. 
  • How to do this: @mention a co-worker in the search bar, click enter, then type and send your message.  

@MentioninginSearch.gif

 

 7. Quick Video sync or call functionality in Chat 

  • How this helps: Have that quick video chat or call to easily sync and get the information faster. Often it’s quicker to speak directly with someone. 
  • How to do this: Open up the chat with the person you’d like to video or call, then click on the video or call icons in the top right-hand corner. 

video sync.png

 

 8. Liking a chat  

  • How this helps: Acknowledge that you’ve read a message or agree without having to type a reply. 
  • How to do this: Hover over a message and click on the thumbs up icon.

Liking.gif

 

 9. In-Line Chat Translation 

  • How this helps: Jump any language barrier and work with people from around the world. 
  • How to do this: In a message, click on the ellipses, then click “Translate.” Find all of the supported languages here. 

 translation.png

 

Stay Organized 

10. Dragging and dropping your teams to order them the way you want 

  • How this helps: Our projects and priorities change. Moving your team order gives you the flexibility to put your priorities at the top and move them when you need to. 
  • How to do this: Click and drag the team you’d like to move. Once the screen turns grey, move the team up or down depending on the order you’d like. 

MovingTeams.gif 

 

 11. Favorite a team or channel 

  • How this helps: Some teams are more important than others. Favorite a team or channel to prioritize your workThis helps divide relevant and irrelevant teams into “Favorite” and “More, and shows channels that are most important to you.  
  • How to do this: Go to the team or channel, then click on the ellipses and select Favorite.  

Favorting.gif

 

 12. Following Channels 

  • How this helps: Get updates from projects and topics that are most relevant to you. Follow a channel and you’ll be notified of any channel conversation updates in your Activity feed.  
  • How to do this: Click on the ellipses next to the Channel then click on “Follow this channel.”  

FollowingChannels.gif

 

  13. Managing a team 

  • How this helps: Teams are dynamic. New team members join while others leave. Manage who is on your team - add owners, members, guests, and remove folks who are no longer relevant to the team. If you are a team owner, you can also see all Channels and Apps in the team. 
  • How to do this: Click on the ellipses next to the team of your choice, select Manage team. 

ManageTeam.gif

 

 14. Using the /goto command to quickly jump to teams 

  • How this helps: Stop the searching and navigate directly to a team or channel 
  • How to do this: In the search bar, type “/goto”, then type the team and channel you’d like to go to. If you type in “/” into the search box, all of our shortcuts & commands will show up! Go explore! 

goto command.png

 

 15. Rich text editing  

  • How this helps: Never accidentally press “Send” again while creating a message masterpieceAdd a title, mark the message as importantand add other rich text options, such as bullet points, highlighting etc.  
  • How to do thisWhen you are going to “type a new message” in the chat box, click on the symbol below the bar on the left hand side.  

rich text editing.png

 

 16. Using the Organization tab in private chat to understand how people fit into the org 

  • How this helps: Get the birds eye view of who you work with. See the organizational hierarchy, like who’s on their team, who their manager is, and learn how they fit into the organization. 
  • How to do this: Open a chat with one teammate and click on “Organization”.  

 organization.png

 

Have Fun in Teams! 

17. GIFs 

  • How this helps: Lighten up and have some fun! Share feelings, moods, wins and lessons in a short expressive clip. 
  • How to do this: In the “Type a new message” box, click on the GIF symbol. Type in the GIF you’re going for, click on your pick, and send! 

GIFs.gif

 

 18. Stickers  

  • How this helps: Get the real feels of the office by sending some cheer to a co-worker, or personalizing a sticker to create a perfect message to a teammate. 
  • How to do this: Click on the fun little smiley face. Pick your sticker theme (anything with the pen allows you to write in your own content). Finish picking and creating and send! 

Stickers.gif

 

We hope these insider tips gave you all the fuel you need to dive back into Teams and be a super user! Still looking for more ways to learn about Microsoft Teams? Check out our Microsoft Teams End-User Training and another great blog post. 

 

Already a super user and don’t see your tip? Comment here to help others become a super user! 

We always love hearing from you –give us your feedback via UserVoice so we can continue making Teams more awesome. 

28 Comments
Iron Contributor

@Abby Schilbach

It would be nice to add metadata or tags from a shared term set when clicking Saved (or bookmark) icon. This way, it is a collaborative effort to categorize items posted in Teams conversations. Maybe to start with is adding a #BestResponse, #MarkedAsResolved and #Featured tags similar to Communities in SharePoint sites. 

 

Fred

#FredO365Tips

 

 

Microsoft

Great idea, @Fred Y! If you haven't already, add that idea to Teams UserVoice here so other Teams enthusiasts can vote it up.

Deleted
Not applicable

Great content ! :)

Copper Contributor

Nice tricks! Thanks for sharing.

 

Jeff

Brass Contributor

Great article, thanks for putting this together. All of these are great tips. 

Iron Contributor
Brass Contributor

I wish T-Bot could send one of these tips everyday or every Monday? 

Deleted
Not applicable

@Julian Frank, T-Bot is no more.

Iron Contributor

Great post!

 

Some feedback...

 

When I mark an item unread in the activity feed, it indeed:

  • displays when I filter the activity feed by unread
  • displays when I use the unread command in the search bar

When I mark an item unread in the conversation feed:

  • it does not display when I filter the activity feed by unread
  • it does not display when I use the unread command in the search bar
  • what it does do is make the channel bold
    • but when I click on the bold channel a week later, it does not scroll to the post I marked as unread, instead it just opens to the most recent
      • which confuses me as I have often read the most recent post, so I wonder why the channel was bold (forgetting that it was because I marked a post as unread a week before)

 

Maybe someone could confirm if this happens to them...or is it just me

Brass Contributor

Great tips, going to share this with my current project team before pushing it out to the rest of the business, many thanks for putting this together.

Brass Contributor

I can't seem to get tip number 6 to work. "@" and then someone's name in the search bar doesn't work. Any suggestions for what might be wrong?

Iron Contributor

Hi, @Marc Goff.

Do you see any suggested contacts under Chats menu? Typically, I get "We didn't find any matches" when I initiate a chat at the bottom message area as compared to the Search bar. 

Fred

Chat-Contacts.png

Brass Contributor

Hi @Fred Y,

No, I see nothing under chat except recent. No pinned or suggested. We do not use Exchange Online in our organization although for testing I have enabled a few licenses and still don't see the expected behavior.

2018-12-10 12_04_00-Teams without Exchange Online License - OneNote.png

Brass Contributor

I have the same issue when I type "@" in the search/command box.  I only get a list of apps.  No contacts pop up.  Not sure if there is some setting that isn't turned on . . .   We have edu Office 365 licenses.

 

2019-02-27_11-23-53.png


Iron Contributor

Hi, @Marc Goff and @Greg Maschman 

I've made a clarification on the Search/command bar when a contact is displayed in my post below. The alternative is to use Ctrl-N if you would like to initiate a new chat. 

 

I'll leave it to a Microsoft rep whether Exchange Online migration is a requirement. 

 

https://twitter.com/fredyano/status/1100519625257873408

 

Fred

Iron Contributor

Thank you, Great post!

Copper Contributor

Great post, thank you!

 

Would it be possible tu use simple slash ("/") key stroke—when text field is not in focus—to quickly jump to GoTo field? Maybe at least slash on numerical keyboard? That would be a time-saver!

 

Thanks!

 

M

Copper Contributor

I have a very large customer with multiple locations across 5 districts. We want to include this external customer on the Teams Site. I notice this is an option but access must be granted by IT. How do we request access for this external customer?

@donovancouchjcicom hi! post your question in the Teams forum here on Tech community

Brass Contributor

Great post.

Could we get this post freshened? (reviewed and updated)
Some things have changed/morphed in Teams over the last year since this was posted.  

Copper Contributor

Thanks!

All those excellent tips for the search bar are even more valuable if you know the shortcut to jump there: Ctrl-E on Windows

I like to @mention colleagues in status messages to get things done when I am away or busy.

Copper Contributor

Thanks! for all the shortcuts..

 

Copper Contributor

Good

Copper Contributor

Hi,

can anyone help me: I’m a new user to teams and I have one team of around 28 students.

I want them all to take part in a quiz which is a set of question on PDF. How do I run this most efficiently with 28 people ? I imagine Breakout rooms is the best for them to work in smaller groups but then how do I manage feedback and ensure reliability of results ? Or is there a way of transferring the quiz to another format so results come in as soon as students get the right answer?

thank you

Iron Contributor

Moved into another job since I replied to this post, it would be great to know if this can be included in a Teams or SharePoint roadmap. :stareyes:

 

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/36009547-allow-categorization-...

 

 

Copper Contributor

Very Efficient Platform to do activity  & Productive work with Team

Copper Contributor

Hello! everyone.

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