SOLVED

Create permanent video meeting link in Microsoft Teams

Iron Contributor

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.

32 Replies

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, @Linus Cansby, 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-vide.... If anyone reading this likes the idea, please support it by voting on it.

 

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.

@Chris Webb, 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.

No, not changed.

For regular team meetings I suggest that re schedule a reoccurring Teams meeting in Outlook. Or maybe even better, create a reoccurring Teams meeting in a channel.

I'm in a similar position and a bit unsure what to do. 

I'm holding virtual agile stand up meetings each day with my team an in addition we have sprint plannings and retrospectives. Until now we have been using a single channel for all the meetings and i have copied the link from previous meeting invitations. I only invite persons within my company and the meetings aren't above 10 persons, so if someone is in the wrong meeting it's very easy to notice and challenge them.

 

The merit of this is that when there is a meeting I just open Teams and choose the "Agile meeting" from my favourites. I dont have to go through outlook each time. I minor hassle, but still... Also if someone that isn't invited feel the need to join they know where to find us.

The drawback i'm aware of is that it's a bit fiddly to create new meetings, the "create teams meeting" in outlook is very handy.

 

Difference here from OP is that i don't mind the history beeing availiable as it's more or less the same persons beeing invited each time.

 

Is there any risks/problems that I'm not aware of that I should factor in to the decision to either reuse or create new channels? 

 

@Chris Webb 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.

@Tripartio I am experimenting with creating a long-lived meeting for myself -- 9-5 every workday for a month.  Creates one URL that i can share with everyone to drop in on me.  Not exactly your use case, but it does solve the adhoc meeting issue and gives me a URL similar to a webex personal meeting room or a Zoom personal room

I need this feature as well. Our usage case is we use HubSpot to let people book meetings with us. HubSpot automatically them send a (Zoom) link to a meeting room. If this was capable via Teams, I would not need Zoom.

@SteuartR, I had a similar use case with x.ai (AI meeting scheduling assistant), which was my main point and the reason I started this post. But then they recently added a Microsoft Teams integration (they formerly only had Zoom), and so now my practical need is resolved.

 

So, you should probably ask HubSpot to add a Microsoft Teams integration. With the Covid-19 crisis, Microsoft Teams is hot on the heels of Zoom in popularity, and pretty much any service that currently integrates Zoom would readily see the business need to integrate Teams. So, you might be surprised how quickly that might happen if you make the request.

I also need to be able to share a URL to link directly into an open channel video conference.

 

This works very well with Zoom, Google Meet, Miro, MURAL, RemoteHQ and pretty much every other video conference collaborative workplace.

 

Microsoft Teams is falling behind by limiting the ability to share a URL to enter a public video conference. Until they get their act together it looks like other platforms are better suited for ease of use and scenarios where this is essential.

@Tripartio  I am looking for this functionality as well.  I am a brand new Teams user and my use case is that I give a permanent meeting link to a 3rd party to schedule meetings for me and my sales team.  These 3rd party service providers do not have access to our team's environment. This was a great feature in that other conferencing tool that rhymes with "oom".

@gallo2002, see my answer to @SteuartR. In short, it is worthwhile asking the 3rd party service provider to add Teams integration--they might actually do it.

@SteuartR HubSpot and Microsoft are working on this. Should be in beta soon.

The functionality you’re asking is the opposite of one of the key features of teams. If your meetings are with different groups of people, then they aren’t recurring, they are all new meetings. In teams, recurring meetings store history of all past meetings - brilliant feature for what are progressive discussions between teams.

That said there is the possibility to create a private space that doesn’t record history - maybe that would work - but as I said you’re asking for the opposite of what teams is.

This is my issue as well.  We book a meeting with Hub Spot and we would like to be able to send out a  link.  I have used bookings, just does not look as nice. @SteuartR 

@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.

ShowGo_Shane_0-1611456323452.png

 

 

We are setting up a calendar for prospects to book time for the marketing interview. The calendar appointment is auto-generated and would need to have a Teams link. We'd need to hard code in a single link into the calendar appointment for everyone who books time.
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Tripartio (Iron Contributor)
Solution

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=...

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.

View solution in original post