4 Microsoft Teams Tips and Tricks You Need to Know in 2023.
Microsoft Teams is an incredible tool used for effective communication and collaboration across business teams. It is a central location for conversations, files, and in-depth information on project work. Businesses that use Microsoft Teams benefit from its extensive communication features that allow employees to stay connected to their team members, track calls and chats, and be highly productive in their work. Check out 3 common Microsoft Teams myths, and how to debunk them with the following helpful tips.
Myth 1 - Microsoft Teams Messages Can Only be Sent Instantly
We all know that one person that’s a night owl, sending messages in the middle of the night. No need for the 2 am message that wakes someone up, when it couldn’t’ve easily waited till 8 am!
Schedule Teams messages to deliver any time you like by going to the message thread of the person you want to send the message to. On the far right of the text box where you type your message, right-click the ‘send’ arrow, and you can schedule the time you want the message to deliver.
Myth 2 - There’s Only 4 Emoji Reactions to Use on Teams Messages
For the longest time, there were only 4 reactions to choose from, but that’s changed in recent months! Now, there are hundreds of emojis to pick the perfect reaction. When you hover over a message or post in Teams, it shows the four common emoji reaction options to choose from. Click the emoji on the far right with the little ‘plus’ sign to see more options. When looking at all the emoji options, you can scroll to your liking, or type in the search bar to find the reaction you’re looking for (we recommend the emoji wearing sunglasses, to represent just how cool you are).
Myth 3 - Microsoft Teams and Yammer are Pretty Much the Same Thing
You’ll want to know the truth to this myth to avoid getting teased at work. You don’t want to share a picture of your new puppy in the wrong place (or maybe you do, you rebel). Microsoft Teams and Yammer are similar in functionality but are used in very different ways. Yammer is more created and driven by social behavior (aka – fun). Yammer is Microsoft’s way of offering a social outlet for business organizations. You can have personal posts, comment on others’ posts, and the general mood of the conversation is social and relaxed.
Microsoft Teams is for professional work conversations and project work. Having separate tools allows companies to offer productivity and social while staying organized. Both tools integrate and communicate with an organization’s SharePoint, but what is transmitted between the two is different.
Myth 4 - When Calling a Teams Group, it Has to Include the Whole Group
No need to bother everyone on the project team when you only need to speak to two of them! To customize a call, create a new chat with the group’s name and hit ‘enter’. At that point, all the individual group member's names will appear, with a little ‘X’ by each name. You can then remove the group members until it’s down to the group you want to call. Start the call as usual by pressing the phone icon/button in the top right to call your newly refined group instantly. You can also use this same tip in Outlook by composing a new email and adding the group to the 'To' field. Select the plus button to the left of the group name and this will expand out all users. You can adjust users accordingly from there.
Microsoft Teams Collaboration
Microsoft Teams is an impressive Microsoft application built to improve communication within business teams. With frequent updates thanks to user feedback, your team members’ collaboration can constantly improve.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed debunking some common myths found within Microsoft Teams and use them to improve communication and collaboration in your organization. Have questions about Teams, SharePoint, or other Microsoft products? Contact us to ask us your questions.