Today I was going through the different features of Microsoft Teams when a staff member asked me “How do you manage to keep up with all these changes in this stuff??”.
Well here’s how I stay fresh and how you can too – it’s really easy and is available in Microsoft Teams from the Search bar.
Open Microsoft Teams and in the Search Bar at the top of the screen type /whatsnew
When you include the forward slash Teams recognises the entry as a Command, not as something you are searching for in a Conversation or Chat.
That /whatsnew Command – will take you directly to the Help Section in Teams and show you the latest features to be added or tweaked in Teams by the Microsoft Developers.
There are other commands you may find helpful – type the forward slash into the Teams Search Bar and hit enter and you’ll see a list appear.
Microsoft also run a Uservoice website for each of their products. This is well worth contributing to and if you have an idea for a feature or wish a product did something it currently doesn’t – you can search Uservoice to see if someone else has made the same suggestion and Vote for it. If it’s not there suggest it and give others the chance to vote it up.
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration tool now used in over 500,000 organisations (March 2019). It supports groups of people working together by providing communications, file sharing and information storing modules. The Conversations area in Teams is a place where you can discus topics formerly sent around using email.
These 3 tips for using Microsoft Teams Conversations will show you how to:
Format Text in a new Conversation Post
Use the @mention to alert a Team Member about a conversation
Use the @mention to alert ALL Team Members about a conversation
3 Tips when using Conversations in Microsoft Teams
1. Format Text in a New Conversation Post
When you create a new conversation thread use the format text button to:
add a Subject line to your conversation
modify text colours, bold, underline anything appropriate, or mark the conversation as important
After opening the text format box youll see that you are able to:
modify font style – Bold, Underline, Italics
highlight text, change font colour and change font size
insert hyperlinks
insert tables and mark the Conversation as Important
This will make you a Conversation pro and help your posts to stand out!
2. Use the @mention to alert a Team Member about a conversation
In a new Conversation or a Reply you can tag or @mention a colleague so they receive a notification about your post. In your post simply type the @ symbol followed by the members name, then click their card when Teams finds them in the directory. You are able to backspace and delete their surname if you want to keep things more personable.
3. Use the @mention to alert ALL Team Members about a conversation
In a conversation post or reply, if you @mention the Team name it will generate a notification for each Team member. Depending on their notification settings a banner or Banner and email will appear for them. I’d suggest using this in a Teams Conversation where you are finding members not responding to requests or not interactive when seeking input! 🙂
If you have another Tip for people using Conversations comment below! I hope those 3 are helpful and you can be more productive by using them.
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration tool which provides an online space for a group of people working together. The Team provides communication tools, file storage, information storage and a place for video/text/audio messaging and meetings.
You would create a Microsoft Team for a group of people working together – on a project or together in the long term as a group of staff like – Finance, HR, Science Teachers, Leadership Team, Directors, etc etc.
The Microsoft Teams the core features which support collaboration are:
Chat – connect to anyone in your organisation, not just those you are Team members with
Teams – different Teams for different groups of people. Contains Conversations, Files, OneNote, links)
Meetings – host or join online meetings (audio or video) which can be recorded and saved in Teams
Here’s what the Teams interface looks like:
You can see in the layout that once you have selected the Teams module within the Teams window you have sections titled: Conversations, Files and PLC Notebook.
Conversations
The conversations area is where Team members can post new conversations (like posts in a discussion board). Post a New Conversation and team members can reply. Use text, images, emojis, GIFs, and @mention a colleague to alert them that they have been mentioned/tagged in a post.
Files
This is the file storage location for members of this team. Office documents can be edited from within Teams, using the online versions of Office apps, or opened on your computer using installed versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. This Files section can also be synced to your laptop just like your OneDrive by opening the Files section in SharePoint and clicking the Sync button. Typically the files stored here would be considered working documents – documents which require input from multiple team members. A SharePoint portal would be used to share finalised documents
PLC Notebook
Every Team includes a OneNote notebook. This is a great tool on it’s own and within Teams it provides a shared notebook to store information the team needs. For example the notebook could have sections in it to: store team meeting agendas and minutes; “How to” information for shared or team tasks; project notes; reference information on venues and travel; notes from professional development workshops members have attended;
Microsoft Videos for getting started and using Teams
Follow this link to see a whole swag of helpful videos:
I am a Learning and Collaboration technologies advisor living in Cairns, Australia. An educational technology leadership background and experience managing a globally located information technology team, has given me wide experience in the application of digital technologies to a variety of educational and workplace contexts.
Certified Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist
Microsoft eSports Leader
Microsoft Innovative Educator
Mountain Biker and Triathlete
Former Asia Pacific Information Services Manager MAFINT
