Creating Your First Team

To create your first team, click the Teams icon located on the left in the Microsoft Teams application. You’ll see the Teams dashboard open, as shown in Figure 5-3.

Click “Join or create a team” from the lower-left corner; this initiates the creation of a team. You will be presented with a choice to “Create a team” or “Join a team with a code.” Select “Create a team,” as depicted in Figure 5-4.

MS Teams offers multiple templates, which will create the appropriate teams and channels. Some templates are Manage a project, Onboard Employees, Organize Help Desk, and a whole bunch more. For this example, select “From scratch.”

The first option you will be presented with is to determine what kind of team to create. As we discussed earlier and throughout this book, Microsoft 365 has a notion of Private or Public. Private teams are teams where users will need to be granted permission, while public teams are open to all. Go ahead and select Public for now. Populate the fields as needed. This includes a team name and a description. Click “Create” when ready.

After clicking Create, you can add any members you want. You’ll be directed back to your MS team. This screen allows you to add members to the team by populating the text box with their name or email address. You can use a distribution list or mail-enabled security group to add users in large batches. Contact your IT department for more information to see if you can benefit from a distribution list or mail-enabled security group.

There is an interesting integration between Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Groups. Teams allows the creation of a team from an existing Microsoft 365 group. The option to do so is called “Create a team ➤ From a group or team,” as shown in Figure 5-4. Clicking the link allows a team to be created from a group without losing data or changing the existing group in Outlook. Also, you can create a new team from an existing team. This will copy settings, apps, and channels to the new team but will not affect the existing team.

Managing a Team

In the preceding example, you created a team for Capeless IT Solutions. Now that the team is created, let’s explore the available options. Similar to SharePoint or OneDrive, click the ellipsis (…) next to the Microsoft team. Doing so will open a context menu with different options, as shown in Figure 5-5.

The first available option within the context menu is “Hide.” Clicking it removes the team from the Your teams menu and moves the team to Hidden teams. Don’t worry; it does not delete the team. To add the team back, click “Show” via the context menu within Hidden teams.

The second available context menu item is “Manage team” and is depicted in Figure 5-6.

Clicking “Manage team” allows you to manage memberships and modify settings, analytics, apps, and channel information. The Members tab allows you to search for members and view members and their associated permission and offers the ability to remove or add a member. To remove a member from the team, click the X all the way to the right of the row you want to remove. To add a member to the team, click “Add member.” Adding a member opens the interface. Begin to type the user’s name or email address or, as mentioned, you can also add a distribution list or mail-enabled security group. Once the user or group is added, assign it an appropriate permission level through the interface.

The Channels tab allows you to create a channel, which is a way to organize a project, discussion, or content and is a logical container. An example is to create a channel for senior managers to collaborate on a pending acquisition or to create a collaborative environment to discuss confidential matters. Let’s create a channel by clicking “Add channel” within the Channels dashboard. This will open the interface for channel creation, as shown in Figure 5-7.

The first step is to name the channel appropriately and give it a description (if desired but not required). You also have the ability to make the channel show for all members of the team. With recent updates, channels can now also be public or private to the team. This is important as it allows a team to be public but have private channels for confidential teams. Click the Add button when complete. You will explore channels in their entirety in the next section.

Still within the Manage team options, “Settings” allows you to configure the team picture; permissions of members; if guests are allowed; who can use @mentions; team code; fun stuff including emojis, gifs, and stickers; and who can manage tags.

The last two settings of Manage team are Analytics and Apps. Analytics will show statistics of number of users, active users, inactive channels, and engagement of the team in different time periods. Apps are components that provide functionality and integration. Apps are also available via the “More apps” link and will bring you to the app store. Some apps are free and some are not. Be cautious when installing apps, as some apps are not free or may not be suitable for your business problem.

The fourth and fifth options from the context menu are “Add member” and “Leave the team.” Clicking “Add member” allows users or groups to be added. Clicking “Leave the team” allows a member to leave the team and stop receiving updates or being included. Prior to removal, the user will receive a warning confirming the selection.

The last four options from the context menu are “Edit team,” “Get link to team,” “Manage tags,” and “Delete the team.” Clicking “Edit team” allows you to modify the team name, description, and privacy setting. The “Get link to team” option generates a URL that can be copied into an email or shared via another method such as chat. The party will still need access if it is a private team. “Manage tags” is an interesting feature and allows a tag to be created and users assigned to the tag. That tag can then be used in a chat using @mention within Teams, notifying the users assigned to it. “Delete the team” allows the owner to delete the team and the data behind it. The owner needs to confirm the request for deletion.

Exploring Channels

You created your first channel in the previous section (if not, please go ahead and create one), and now you will take an in-depth look at the components of a channel within a team. In the Teams dashboard, you will see the team and channel. The first thing you will notice is that there are two channels: General and Microsoft 365, as shown in Figure 5-8.

The General channel is created by Microsoft 365 as the default channel. This default channel contains and catalogs all the activity in a team and displays it on the homepage of the channel. The default General channel and any channel you create will share the following options via the ellipsis to the right of the channel: “Channel notifications,” “Pin,” “Manage channel,” “Get email address,” “Get a link to the channel,” and “Connectors.”

The “Channel notifications” is a welcome addition to the age of constant notifications through email, text, alerts, and so on. These notifications can be tailored to show all activity, which will notify you on posts, replies, and mentions. Toggling the notification setting to off will limit the notifications. You can also create a custom notification setting if desired. I would recommend leaving the default notification settings to fully understand and then tweak them as needed.

The “Pin” option allows the channel to be pinned to the very top of the application. This is useful as it will keep track and always show the pinned channels for easy access. The opposite setting “Hide” will hide the channel in place so it is not displayed.

The “Manage channel” setting will allow one to set who can start posts in the conversation stream of a channel, and if enabled, channel moderation will allow a finer set of permissions on what channel members are able to do.

The “Get email address” allows mail to be sent to the channel. Clicking the “Get email address” option within the context menu reveals an email address. Any mail sent to the address will show in the Conversations tab of the channel. You also have the option to download the original email if desired. The “Get a link to the channel” allows you to generate a URL to share with colleagues. “Edit this channel” will allow you to set the name and description; however, you cannot change the privacy setting of a channel.

The Connectors option allows you to connect the channel to a variety of sources. Connectors exist to connect Microsoft Forms, Bing News, Dynamics 365, or other sources with the team. As Teams is adopted by more and more companies, the list of connectors will grow, and the integration will grow as well.

The final option, “Delete this channel,” will delete the channel permanently. This includes all conversations and currently cannot be undone.

Now that you know the basics of creating and maintaining teams and channels, let’s take a ride through the components of a channel and how they work together to provide a seamless experience.

Clicking any channel opens the channel within Microsoft Teams. For this example, let’s use the channel you created earlier in this chapter. When the channel opens, you’ll see four options along the top: Posts, Files, Wiki, and the (+) sign.

The Conversations section contains the chat stream for the team. A conversation can be started by typing into the conversation text box located at the bottom of the channel, as shown in Figure 5-9.

A chat or post can be edited by clicking the corresponding icon underneath the text box: formatting text, attaching an item, emojis, gifs, stickers, scheduling a meeting, and the option to meet now. Recent updates to Microsoft Teams now include links and integrations into other apps, Stream, and showing praise. Once a post is posted, it is viewable by all members of the team in the conversation stream, and members can reply back to the post.

First and foremost, if you posted a chat and decided it shouldn’t have been posted, the chat can be deleted from the conversation stream by choosing the Delete option from the ellipsis when you hover over your post. When deleting a post, it does not delete the replies to the post and will display a “This message has been deleted” message in the conversation stream. You also have the ability to undo the deletion by clicking “Undo” within the deleted chat.

Your chats can also be edited by selecting Edit from the context menu. Clicking “Edit” allows you to edit the post with the same tools when you originally posted the post with the exception of the “Meet now” option. Editing any post will mark the post with an “Edited” message, indicating it is not the original post.

The final two options for discussion via the context menu of a post are “Mark as unread” and “Copy link.” Marking a post as unread will not separate the post but will separate all the posts that were created after the post you are marking as unread. The “Copy link” option generates a link back to the channel and copies the post so it can be posted in an email or document. There are a few other options such as Share to Outlook or Translate. Feel free to explore those options too as you feel more comfortable with the application.

Every post also has the ability to be saved as well as liked; both of these options are available in the upper-right corner of any chat. Saving a post saves it and allows it to be accessed at a later date in a single convenient location regardless of the channel you are on. To like a post, just click the thumbs-up icon in the message, and you liked the message.

To view your saved messages and modify a subset of settings for Teams, click the corresponding icon in the upper-right corner of the application. The icon will be your initials or some combination, as shown in Figure 5-10.

The first option is Available, and it relates to what is known as presence, which can be Available, Busy, Do not disturb, and Away. Each presence status relates to a particular color, and this indicator is used throughout the Microsoft 365 applications. Next is the Saved option; clicking it loads all of the posts you have saved.

The Settings menu allows you to change the color scheme of Teams from the default interface to Dark and High contrast. You can also modify the notifications from Mentions, Messages, and Other categories. To begin, I would leave these as is until you feel comfortable with Teams and know what information you want to see in the activity stream, banner, and email notifications.

Within the channel, there is also the Files link. The Files link allows members to upload files into a SharePoint document library, as discussed in Chapter 2. A surprising option that Microsoft has released is the ability to add cloud storage that is not part of Microsoft 365. You have the ability to add Dropbox, Box, ShareFile, Egnyte, and Google Drive. You will need a subscription (paid or free) to use these cloud storage providers, but it shows that Microsoft is open to integrating with the tools people use and to bring those technologies into a central application like Teams.

The Wiki link allows a wiki to be created and have members of the team add content. I have never liked wikis and always viewed them to be challenging to create and manage. However, you should explore the wiki. If you don’t want that functionality, remove the Wiki link by selecting “Remove” from the drop-down arrow.

The last link in a channel is the + link, which allows you to add a tab from a variety of sources, as shown in Figure 5-11.

For example, I discuss Planner in detail in Chapter 8, but the primary purpose of Planner is task management. You can create a plan from the channel and have the ability to add tasks, assign them to members, and view it all in a dashboard that shows the tasks and their status. Not only will you have a conversation stream and any supporting files but also the tasks that need to be completed. This allows for a 360-degree experience without ever leaving the Microsoft 365 applications or purchasing additional applications or signing in multiple times.

Activity

The Activity feed catalogs the activity on the channels you follow and offers an audit trail of what you have been doing in Teams, as shown in Figure 5-12.

However, you can’t filter the My Activity feed and instead will see all of the activities you have made in Microsoft Teams.

Chat

As described earlier, Teams is based on the concept of chatting, not emailing, so it only makes sense that chat is integrated into the Teams platform without the need to open another application. Figure 5-13 shows the Chat dashboard.

Access the Chat dashboard via the Chat icon located below Activity on the left-hand side of Teams. Once the screen refreshes, you will be able to chat with your colleagues, see past chats, and also have the ability to call others from within a chat.

To start a chat, click the new chat icon in the upper-right corner of the chat stream next to the filter icon. Clicking this icon allows you to type the name of your colleague and send a message via the same interface you explored in the Conversations section of channels, as shown in Figure 5-14.

Not only are you able to chat with a colleague but seven other options exist. These options are Files, Organization, Activity, and the + symbol as links. The other three options are Video, Phone, and Add members. The last three icons are located to the right of the chat window.

Focusing on Files, Organization, Activity, and the + sign, let's explore each option to gain a better understanding of what can be done. The first option, Files, is a location for files to be uploaded and shared among the chat members. Adding files is a simple process and involves dragging the file to be added to the files screen. The uploaded file will also be added to the chat or conversation screen.

The next option, Organization, displays the organizational hierarchy, if the appropriate fields are populated within Active Directory.

Active Directory is a system that contains all the users and their properties in a central location. These properties include name, phone number, manager, and a variety of other fields to identify and catalog users. The organization hierarchy depends on the Manager field being populated. Hovering over a contact will also allow you to chat, email, call, or video call with them. This is not available if you are chatting with more than one person.

The Activity link is slightly different than the Activity dashboard I described earlier. This Activity link displays updates based on the teams that are common between you and a singular chat participant. This is not available if you are chatting with more than one person.

The + sign link to the left of Activity allows you to add a tab to the chat window. This is very similar to how it works within channels, as described earlier.

Within a chat, in the right corner of the Teams app, there is a share icon (square box with an arrow). This is one of the best features of Teams and allows one to share their screen or application.

Calendar

The Calendar icon, located under the Teams icon on the left-hand side of the application, allows meetings to be scheduled in a variety of ways to have the most significant impact on communicating. Depending on the situation, a scheduled meeting might be the best route, or maybe you want ad hoc meetings, keeping the team more fluid and adapting to day-to-day operations.

Meetings can be scheduled within a channel or with a particular colleague. Figure 5-15 depicts the “New meeting” interface, which is available when clicking “Schedule a meeting” within the Meetings dashboard.

To schedule a meeting, the fields must be filled in to ensure the accuracy of the invite. Picking the “Select a channel to meet in” option and choosing the appropriate team allows the meeting to take place and be open to anyone who has access to that specific channel. You can also “Select a channel to meet in” and invite a small subset of users. This creates an openness of communication and transparency with the team. Members of the team will also be able to join if needed.

Video and phone meetings can also be started from within a chat conversation by selecting the video or phone icon from the chat area. These meetings are referred to as ad hoc because they are generally not scheduled and also are private.

Calls

Calls allow users to communicate via the Microsoft Teams app to make calls within the application to other users and choose to display video or just voice and the ability to leave a voicemail if the user does not answer the call.

One to thing to note is this does not mean you can call non-Teams users who are not using Microsoft Teams. If you wish to call non-Teams users, certain Microsoft 365 licensing, software, and IT administrative setup are needed.

Files

The last area to discuss with Microsoft Teams is the Files icon located on the left-hand side of the application. The Files icon, when clicked, opens the Files dashboard and allows you to see recent files, Microsoft Teams, and OneDrive files. Also, if any cloud storage was added previously, it will be accessible through the Files dashboard. Figure 5-16 shows the Files dashboard of Teams.

The files, if supported by Microsoft 365, can be edited by clicking the ellipsis in the rightmost column. Editing files is a similar experience in almost every Microsoft 365 application; for reference, I discuss Office and Office Online in Chapter 7.