Teams is a collection of online tools intended to allow groups to collaborate flexibly and securely.
· Here’s Microsoft’s Explanation – both text and short video
· What's below are Jim Mitchell’s notes to explain key concepts
· There are two tools for texting, Called Chat and Post respectively. They work the same way.
· Chat - With individuals or ad-hoc groups from all teams and the whole enterprise – access via the Chat tool in the left margin
o Note that for guests accessing Teams this tool has limits.
· Post - Within each Team Channel - access using the Posts menu choice
o Visible to the whole team – called a Conversation within a specific team
§ Each channel within a team has its own conversation– see below
· Standard MS office files that use the web version of Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc.
o This includes collaborative editing – a very useful tool
o They can also be edited on the desktop via OneDrive and automatically uploaded
· Other file types as well – some of which can be viewed online (e.g. PDF)
· Built in – with transcript possible
It’s an organized set of conversations and files related to the subject of the Team
You can be a member of many Teams within an organization
There are public and private Teams within an organization
Anyone can easily create a Team within an organization
You can share many features with people not in your organization
· Channels are Subdivisions of a team – usually focused on a single topic
o A team can have as many channels as members want
o Any member can create a channel
· Channels CAN be private – with limited membership within a team – up to 30 private channels
· Every Team starts with a General channel
· Each channel has its own Conversation (chat)
· Each channel has its own Files
o All members of a team can create, edit, upload and download files
o Office 365 files can be collaboratively edited online
o Other files can be often be viewed online, or at least downloaded
· Select the Team icon on the left – then select the specific team you want in the next pane to the right.
o The content of the channel you’ve selected will appear in the rightmost large pane.
· When you first start using Teams you’ll probably have only one Team to choose from.
· Via a web browser – https://teams.microsoft.com
· Via a desktop app – downloaded from website – highly recommended
o Keep it open in the background to respond to chat requests quickly
· Via a phone or tablet App – From the store for that device – Apple and Android
· Anybody within an enterprise having an Office 365 license
· Guests – invited by email to join a team previously set up by someone in an enterprise
o Guests have somewhat limited capabilities, but most that matter are available
These are accessed through the vertical bar on the left
· Notifications of what’s happen in ALL teams of which you are a member
An area for a private chat with anyone who has an account in the domain, OR who is in a guest in one of your teams
It is the icon at the top of the screen to initiate a chat. Just click on it and start typing the person’s last name to bring up people matching that last name.
If a person is not labeled as “online” with teams they’ll get an email that you’re trying to chat with them.
Shows all the files from ALL the teams of which you are a member.
It also can show those and apparently also those in your one-drive folder that are shared.
· Teams are a subset of Microsoft Sharepoint
Files that you create in Teams can typically be viewed in Sharepoint
This is powerful, but can be complex to understand.
Membership in Teams is controlled by Office 365 Groups
As of later 2024 I find that Google Gemini, Perplexity, MS Copilot are often quicker and more useful.
Updated: 12/19/2024