Teams: Meeting

Join by link:

All you need to join a Teams meeting is a link. This might arrive by email or as a calendar invite.

Select Join Microsoft Teams Meeting link in your email or in your Outlook meeting invite. You will then be taken to a page where you can choose to either join on the web or download the desktop app. If you already have the Teams application installed on your desktop or laptop, the meeting will open there automatically.

Join from calendar in Teams:

Select Calendar  on the left side of the Teams application to see your meetings. Find the meeting, and then select Join:

Join desktop app when someone starts the meeting:

If you have the desktop version of Microsoft Teams, and you are already logged in, when the first person joins the meeting you get a pop-up notification on your screen that you can use to join the meeting directly.

Join from chat:

If the meeting has already begun, it appears in your recent chat list. Select the meeting in your chat list and then select Join at the top of the chat:

 

Outlook on web browser:

If you're using Outlook on the web, you can schedule a Teams meeting easily using your webmail calendar.

1) Open your calendar in the Outlook web app and click on:

 

You'll see this in the top left. This will then open the following screen:

3) In the calendar invite options, you will see a Teams meeting option alongside "Search for a room or location". Click on the switch icon to make this a Teams meeting.

4) Fill in the meeting details such as title, attendees, date and time

5) Click the save button to create your Teams meeting and automatically send invites to all included people.

 

Outlook application on your desktop:

If you use the full Outlook application (when it is downloaded onto your computer and not accessed through the web), you will see a New Teams Meeting button available in the top menu on your email screen. Simply click this to schedule a Teams meeting. 

Please note: You will only see this button if you have the desktop versions of both Outlook and Teams downloaded onto your computer.

 

1) Open the Chat tab in Teams and select the Schedule a meeting button at the bottom of the screen:

 

If you do not see the Schedule a meeting button, click on the Meet now button and then choose the Schedule a meeting option:

 

Select a range of time in the calendar. A scheduling form will pop open.

 

2) The scheduling form is where you'll give your meeting a title, invite people, and add meeting details. Use the Scheduling Assistant to find a time that works for everyone:

Once you're finished filling out the details, select Save. This will close the scheduling form and automatically invite everyone you have included.

If you want to check the status of your personal tutor or a fellow student, you can do this by going to Calls and then clicking on Contacts.

All of your contacts should appear or you can start to type their name and select them from the list that appears:

When you can see the person's identity icon, there will be an availabilty dot in the bottom-right corner:

 

Using the main toolbar in Teams, you can do the following actions:

Toggle your audio on and off

To speak in a call/meeting you will need your microphone switched on. Hit the microphone icon to toggle audio on and off. If you are in a call with multiple people, you may want to mute your microphone when not talking as this reduces the amount of background noise going into the call:

Toggle your video on and off

To video chat, you simply click on the video button and if you have camera setup on your device Teams should be able to detect it and show you to the others in the call/meeting:

 

Whilst you would often have your video switched on when talking to another person or a small group, you may want to switch your video off if you are having any difficulties seeing or hearing the other person/people as this can improve the call quality.

See who is in the meeting/call

Clicking on the People icon will show you a list of everyone who is attending the current call/meeting. You can toggle this on or off as required:

 

Access the text chat panel

Open the text chat panel to leave comments or to share content such as URLs and documents. A call/meeting that includes any interaction with the Chat panel will automatically create a new Chat thread back in the main Teams window so you can refer back to it even after the call has ended.

 

Raise your hand

If there are a few people in the call and you want to make a point or join the conversation without directly interupting someone - raise your hand so the current speaker can see that you want to speak:

Hover over the Raise Hand icon and a new set of options will pop-up. Click on the Hand symbol to raise your hand (which will show as a raised hand against your video or profile in Teams. Click it again to lower your hand:

The other options in this popup allow you to express your agreement, love, shock, etc. for anything that is being said by otherss. The chosen icon will simply float up everyone's screen before fading away. You do not need to toggle these reactions off. 

Share your screen or an application

You may want to share your own screen or an application (i.e. PowerPoint presentation) with others in the call. This is easy to do, but is often lease confusing if you are working on two screens.

Click the Share Screen button: 

This will drop down a new panel that allows you to choose what you want to share. In this example I have two screens to choose from and twelve separate windows. Clicking on a screen will automatically share that screen with everyone else on the call. Clicking on the Window option will expand to show me all of the programs I have open - I can choose one of the programs to share and everyone on the call will be able to see just that window as it is displayed on my computer.

To stop sharing - simply click on the Share screen button again.

Screen Sharing in Teams - Video Tutorial

You may need to login to Microsoft Stream to see this video - use your University of Cumbria username and password.

More options

The the-dots menu icon provides access to lots more tools including device settings (if you're having trouble with audio or video), meeting notes, live transcripts (of what is being said), call/meeting recording (where this option is allowed by the meeting creator) and more...

 

Leave the meeting/call

Click on the big red Leave button to log out of the current call:

 

 

Test your setup:

1) Find the Microsoft Teams icon  on the desktop toolbar you may have to click the  if you can’t see it on the immediate toolbar.

2) Right click the icon to bring up a set of options – choose settings:

3) Select   Then make sure you have selected the relevant devices you are trying to connect. Devices are such things as: the speaker, microphone and camera.

4) When you are happy select  

Please note: When using the web version of Microsoft Teams, you will not see the the toolbar icon in order to select and manage your devices. However, you can instead select 'devices' when you are joining a meeting. The 'devices' option will show next to your camera and microphone buttons, as shown below:

 

Mute your mic when not talking:

If it’s not your turn to speak during the meeting, keep your microphone muted even if you are alone in the room. Background noise can be an annoying distraction and stifle any meeting's flow.

Blur or change your Video background:

Maybe you don’t have ideal conditions at home or maybe you would prefer that the video hides what is behind you. Microsoft Teams offers a background blur feature that allows you to blur your actual background and place the focus of the video on you.

You can blur your background by clicking the three dots in the bottom toolbar. Depending on whether your camera is already on there should be “blur background” or “start camera with blurred background “option. Please note: that this function is only available on the desktop application of Microsoft Teams and is not available on the web version.

If background blurring isn’t your thing you can also change your background to something such as an office backdrop. To choose a background effect click the three dots in the bottom toolbar during a video meeting and select “Show background effects”. Please note: that this function is only available on the desktop application of Microsoft Teams and is not available on the web version.

If your video call is experiencing lag:

Maybe the call is breaking up and you either know or suspect it’s due to your internet slowing down. This can be an issue especially in larger calls where you’re receiving multiple video inputs.

You can easily turn off the all incoming video by doing the following:

During the call look for the 3 dots at the bottom of the Teams call you are in.

You will see a menu with a number of options – you are looking for Turn off incoming video. This will save your internet some stress and may also improve the call quality.

Your calendar in Teams is connected to your Microsoft Exchange calendar. In other words, when you schedule a meeting in Outlook, it will show up in Teams, and vice versa.

Every meeting scheduled in Teams is automatically made into a Teams meeting and is included in your Outlook calendar.