Microsoft Teams Tutorial: Become a Teams Expert Quickly

Last Updated on November 28, 2021

With the pandemic sweeping all over the world, most businesses have been greatly affected. Business processes slowed down, manpower was reduced, gathering for meetings became hard due to established safety protocols.

But along with it, the importance of a means of communication has also risen and Microsoft Teams have become a hallmark in that regard.

Connecting you with your peers, coordinating with your co-workers, and working hand-in-hand with your clients have become a lot easier if you become an expert in Microsoft Teams.

This article will serve as your “at-a-glance” manual in your quest to become a Microsoft Teams Expert.

You can jump around the article to go to the parts where you need more help with but the article is also set up to be a step-by-step guide so you can go back a bit if you feel like you missed a step.

How to Set up Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is available both as a web application available on their website and as a desktop and mobile app that you can download. While most of the features are accessible, there are some limitations in the web application in comparison to the desktop app.

Signing up to Microsoft Teams

First off, if you are going to do anything on MS Teams, you will need an account.

Here’s the step-by-step guide that you can follow:

Go to the Microsoft Teams web page. You can click this link or copy this URL (teams.microsoft.com) and paste it on your browser’s address bar.

You will see a “Sign In” page. Click on the “Create one!” link to set up your new account.

Once you’re in the “Create account” window, enter your email address (it is preferred that you should use your work email address) and click on the “Next” button.

Follow the instructions on the screen to create your password. You will then need to enter some more details on the pages that will follow.

Once you have finished inputting all your details, you will be asked to verify your email so go ahead and do just that.

After verifying your email, you can visit the Microsoft Teams homepage to use the web app. For mobile users, you can download the MS Teams app and follow the same instructions above.

Downloading Microsoft Teams

Downloading MS Teams does not require you to have an account. But to use the app, you’ll need an account so if you haven’t done that yet, you can refer to the guide above.

Here’s how you can download the MS Teams app:

Go to the Microsoft web page. Click on the “All Microsoft” button on the upper right corner of the web page and that should open up a list.

Under the “Software” list, click on “Microsoft Teams”.

You should be brought to the MS Teams section of their website. Click on “Download”. On the next page, click on “Download Teams”.

Once the download is finished, open the file to start Microsoft Teams.

Setting up Microsoft Teams

Supposing you already downloaded the Microsoft Teams app for desktop, this section will guide you when you open the file you downloaded.

Open the Microsoft Teams installer that you downloaded. Once it runs, it should open up a small window that informs you of the installation of the application.

You will then be asked to log in to your account. Choose which account to log in to and follow the instructions. After you log in using your account, it will open the Microsoft Teams home screen.

That’s it! You will then be able to log in and use the application.

How to Join or Create a Team

A team in Microsoft Teams is a group of people who collaborate together, usually consisting of the entire organization. It is in these team groups where you can share files and collaborate through working on the same files at the same time and even conduct and attend meetings.

It is important to know that one team is separate from another team and therefore, files you shared in one team cannot be accessed from another team. The same goes for conferences and calls.

With that idea, you are now ready to create or join a team.

How to Create a Team in Microsoft Teams

Here’s the step-by-step guide that you can follow:

Open Microsoft Teams. Select Teams and then click Join or Create a Team found at the bottom of the teams list. Click the purple “Create team” box at the center of the application.

You will be presented with a few options. If your team was using Office 365 before, you may choose the “Create from…” option. Otherwise, if you want to create a new team, click on “Build a team from scratch”.

Three different options for what kind of team you will create will be presented to you. Pick the one that best describes the type of teams you need.

These are the options:

1. Private requires your permission before people can join.
2. Public is where anyone in your organization can join
3. Org-wide is where everyone will automatically be invited to the team.

Give your team a name. A description will give members of your team an understanding of what the team is all about so make it count. Click on “Create” once you are done with the name.

Once the team has been created, you can find it when you click on Teams.

How to Edit Team Settings

Click on the three dots beside the name of the team whose settings you want to change. You can click on several options that you want to change.

Here’s a list of what you can change with the options presented:

1. Manage Team: Here you can change the privileges of team members, accept membership requests, and channel and app privileges.
2. Add Channel: This gives you the option to add a channel.
3. Add Member: This gives you the option to add a member to your team.
4. Edit Team: This gives you the option to change your team name, description, and privacy setting.

For a more detailed explanation of creating a Team, you can also read my guide on how to create a team in Microsoft Teams.

How to Join a Team in Microsoft Teams

Select Teams and then click Join or Create a Team at the bottom of the teams list. Type a specific team name in the search box at the top right and press “Enter”. Find the team you want to join and then select the Join team option.

Note: You can immediately join public teams but private teams will need confirmation and approval from the owner before you are granted access to the team and its channels.

If the owner of the team has disabled their team’s discoverability option then you will need to contact the owner directly to request to join.

Another option to join a team is by using a code that you can get from the owner of the team.

How to Set Up and Schedule a Meeting in Microsoft Teams

As a remote communications application, one of Microsoft Teams’ most defining features is its capability in setting up meetings.

Here is an easy step-by-step tutorial that you can follow that will surely make you an expert in setting up and scheduling meetings:

Click on “Calendar” on the Teams menu. In the upper right corner, click on the + New Meeting button.

Type the information you want on the appropriate fields:

• Meeting name
• Attendees: Write down the email address of your participants. If you created the meeting to a specific team channel, then all members of that channel will automatically be notified of the meeting.
• Date, Time, and Duration: This determines when the meeting will happen.
• Repetition: This determines how often the meeting repeats.
• Channel: You can choose which channel you want to post the meeting.
• Location: You also have the option to decide on where the meeting will happen.
• Meeting details: You can type in here the details of the meeting that you want participants to see upon receiving the meeting. The information here will also be the first chat/message entry once the meeting starts.

Click on “Send” at the upper right corner once you have finalized the details of your meeting.

There are other ways that you can also set up the meeting.

For a more detailed explanation in setting up and scheduling a meeting in Microsoft Teams, check out my guide on how to set up and schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams.

How to Set up Video Conferencing in Microsoft Teams

Setting up video conferences is an extension to setting up and scheduling meetings. Any meeting in Microsoft Teams features not only voice conferences but participants have the option of turning on their cameras for a video conference.

You only need to follow the steps above and you can start having video conferences with your friends, co-workers, and clients in no time.

How to Work On Your Files in the Document Library

If you have files from SharePoint or other team resources, it is possible to work on them in Microsoft Teams. You can add a SharePoint tab in your teams’ channel so that participants of your team can focus, communicate and collaborate to get work done effectively.

Team members, with the right privileges, can view, edit lists, work with their shared files, and even add comments.

Here’s how you can do this:

Select the team channel where you want your participants to have access to the Document Library.

To the right of the channel name (where you can click on the different tabs), click on the + button to add a new Tab.

Select the SharePoint Tab.

Select the Document libraries to see the existing SharePoint list available from your team site. You can also pick a document library from the Recommended section to add as a tab in the Teams channel.

You may select the “Post to the channel about this tab” option to inform participants of that channel about the newly added tab.

Click on “Save” to add the new tab to the channel.

You may go over a few of these step-by-step guides until you get it to a tee. Part of being an expert is getting the basics down and exploring to discover different ways to get things done.

If you have any questions regarding Microsoft Teams and other related products, feel free to drop a comment down below or send me a private message on my contact page.