A list of ‘Did you knows’ from using MS Teams for a number of years. Anything else that you use that you couldn’t be without? If so add it in the comments!
Back & Forward buttons
Back buttons in teams will take you back to the last screen you visited. Irrespective if you went from a channel conversation to a 1-1 conversation. The back and forward buttons can be found in the top left hand corner.
Search & Filters
The search bar located at the top of teams is global and will search all content native to teams. Once a search is entered the results pane will show results with matching criteria based on the query. The results pane has three easily accessible filters and an additional Filter option to :
- Messages
- People
- Files
These filters will scope the result to those particular areas in teams.
Conversations
Formatting a message
Teams is brilliant and handling conversations. From 1-2-1 conversations, group messages and channel conversations. Teams encourages a threaded conversation so that replies to a particular message are all contained and relevant. Gone are the days of linear conversations!
One key tip I’ve found useful over the past few months is formatting a message. Formatting a message will allow you to add a little more detail than just the usual text entry.
The key differences in the formatting and a normal message are:
- Ability to add a title to rich formatting
- Use of the rich text editor controls – some of these can be done in a normal message but by using keyboard shortcuts. (e.g. ctrl + b for bold)
While these don’t seem like great benefits if you are sending a message that will spark allot of conversation then adding a subject will help people when they try to find the message in the future.
Reply in context
When in a team with allot of conversation and messages being sent one thing I have done a few times is reply to a message by posting a new one! This isn’t per say a tip but more of a heads up that if you are replying to a message that you do so in the correct location and not in the New Conversation box.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Teams has many keyboard shortcuts to speed up the repetitive tasks and reduce the need to use the mouse. You can view these shortcuts by selecting the profile in the top right and then keyboard shortcuts. I’ve added a image of the current keyboard shortcuts below.
Email a Channel
Yes, email still exists even in the teams world and each channel of a team gets an email address by default. This can be used to send emails to. Emails that are sent to this channel are embedded in the conversation tab.
To get the email address for a channel you would navigate to team > find channel > select three dots > get email address.
When an email is sent into a Channel it is stored in the files section as a file. This enables team members to download the email and view it in a native email client.
Background Blur
In a video call with a busy background? Well now you can filter out the background with background blur.
JackBinnall 