Are you and your organization using Microsoft (MS) Teams for collaboration, communication, socializing?
Microsoft Teams is a unified collaboration and communication platform to allow you to connect with your team members and work together on projects.
So if you’re new to MS teams or using it, read this guide to learn how to use MS Teams.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- Microsoft Teams tips, tricks and hacks
- MS Teams commands and keyboard shortcuts
- Essential MS Teams apps to get you started
Recommended: Play Trivia right inside Microsoft Teams: Make Remote Work Fun with quizzes, puzzles, and other interactive games!
How to Use Microsoft Teams Effectively (MS Teams Tips and Tricks)
1. Sign in to MS Teams
On Windows, click Start > Microsoft Teams. On Mac, go to the Applications folder and click Microsoft Teams. On mobile, tap the Teams icon. Then sign in with your Microsoft 365 username and password. (If you’re using Teams free, sign in with that username and password.)
On the web, go to https://teams.microsoft.com.
2. Go to a Team and Channel
A team is a collection of people, conversations, files, and tools—all in one place. A channel is a discussion in a team, dedicated to a department, project, or topic.
Go to Teams >>> And choose a team >>> Pick a channel to explore Posts, Files, and other tabs.
3. Create a Channel
Find the team name and click More options > Add channel. You can also click the Manage team, and add a channel in the Channels tab.
4. Make a Channel Private
Go to the team you want to create the private channel for and choose More options >>> Add channel >>> Enter a name and description for your channel >>> Under Privacy, select the down arrow on the right, and then select Private – Accessible only to a specific group of people within the team >>> Select Add.
5. Start a Conversation
Start one-on-one and group chats: Select New chat at the top of chat list >>> Enter the person’s or group’s name >>> Compose your message in the box >>> And Click Send.
Want to send a message to the whole team? Select Teams >>> Pick a team and channel >>> Write your message >>> and click Send.
6. Message Formatting
There are lots of formatting options for messages. Select Format beneath the box where compose your message >>> Select the text you want to format >>> Click Send once you’re done.
7. Add Teammates to the Conversation
Click Add people (or View and add participants in group chat) in the top right corner of Teams >>> Enter the names of the people you’d like to chat with >> Select how much of the chat history to include >>> And click Add.
8. Mute a Chat
Select Chat to open the chat list. Find the name of the chat you want to mute. Then, select More options >>> Mute.
9. Pin a Chat
Select Chat to open the chat list. Find the name of the conversation you want to pin. Then, select More options >>> Pin.
10. Start an Instant Meeting
To start an instant channel meeting: Go to Teams on the left side >>> Choose the channel you want to meet in from the list >>> Select Meet now under the area where you type a message >>> Give your meeting a title >>> Hit Join now >>> Start inviting people.
11. Record a Team Meeting
To start recording, go to the meeting controls and select More options > Start recording >>> Everyone in the meeting is notified that recording has started.
12. Start a Video or Audio Call
You can make personal or group calls with anyone in your team directly from a chat.
Go to your chat list, and click New chat icon >>> Type the name or names into the To field at the top of your new chat >>> Then click Video call or Audio call to start a call.
13. Reply to a Post
Channel posts are organized by date and then threaded. Find the thread you want to reply to >>> Click Reply >>> Add your thoughts and click Send.
14. @mention Someone
To get someone’s attention, type @, then their name (or pick them from the list that appears). Type @team to message everyone in a team or @channel to notify everyone who favorited that channel.
15. Send an emoji, GIF, or Sticker
Emoji, animated GIFs, and stickers add a fun element into your conversations!
To insert an emoji in a message, select Emoji beneath the message box >>> Select the emoji you want from the emoji gallery >>> Click Send.
To send ad GIF: Just select GIF beneath the message box >>> Use the search bar to look for something specific (like “cats dancing”) or browse the collection of popular GIFs.
To send a meme or sticker: Click Sticker under the box where you type your message >>> Then pick a meme or sticker from one of the categories.
16. Arrange Your Team List
To reorder your teams, select Teams >>> Then click and drag the team name anywhere in your teams list.
17. Hide a Team or Channel
Don’t want a team or channel to show in your list? Head to a team or channel name >>> And select More options button >>> Hide.
18. Pin a Channel
To pin a channel, go to a channel name and select More options >>> Pin.
19. Stay on Top of Things with Activity and Notifications
Click the Activity icon on the left. The Feed shows you all your notifications and everything that’s happened lately in the channels you follow. To set up notifications for a channel, Select three dotted lines next to the channel name >>> then Channel notifications.
20. Add a tab in a channel
Click Add a tab at the top of the channel or chat >>> click the app you want, and then follow the prompts >>> Use Search if you don’t see the app you want.
21. Share a File
Click the Attach icon under the box where you type messages, select the file location and then the file you want. Depending on the location of the file, you’ll get options for uploading a copy, sharing a link, or other ways to share.
22. Search for Messages, People, or Files
You can search across teams, channels, and files.
Type a phrase in the Search box and hit enter to start a search >>> Select Messages, People or Files >>> You can click the Filter icon to sort or filter your search results.
23. Work with Files
Click the Files icon on the left to see all files shared across all of your teams. Click Files at the top of a channel to see all files shared in that channel. Click “More options …” next to a file to see what you can do with it. In a channel, you can instantly turn a file into a tab at the top!
24. Get Help In Teams
Click Help on the left >>> Then choose Topics, Training, or What’s new. In help, browse the tabs or search for a topic you’re interested in.
25. Add Apps
Click Apps on the left. Here, you can select apps you want to use in Teams, choose the appropriate settings, and Add.
26. Forward Emails into a Channel
Go to the channel name >>> And click More options three dotted icons >>> Get email address.
27. Translate Conversation
To translate a message to your preferred language, Tap the ellipsis (three-dot) button next to the text in the conversation >>> And select Translate.
28. Mark a message as saved or unread in Teams
If you want to remember to read a message later, you can mark it as saved or unread. Go to the top of the message and select More Options > Save this message or Mark as unread.
29. Bookmark Messages
You can also bookmark texts, images, or some other content in a conversation to check them out later. In a message, just click on the bookmark icon.
You can view your bookmarked messages by typing “/saved” in the search box.
30. Use the Power of Slash Command
Some of the best slash commands include:
/goto – helps you jump to a team or a channel
/call – call someone directly
/chat – send a quick message to someone
/activity – to view someone’s activity
/whatsnew – to see what’s new with the team
/mentions – view all your mentions
/saved – to see your saved list
/unread – to view your unread activity
/keys – to view a list of all keyboard shortcuts
/available (or away, brb, dnd, and busy) – to set a status
31. Immersive Reader Mode
Immersive allows you to focus and display just the message. Hover over a message with your cursor or tap with your finger on a touch screen device. Select More options , and then Immersive Reader .
32. Change Your Background During a Meeting
Go to your meeting controls and select More actions >>> Show background effects >>> Select Blur to blur your background, or choose from the available images to replace it.
33. Change Themes
Click your profile picture at the top of the app, then select Settings >>> General. In the Theme section >>> click High contrast (You can also select the Dark or Default theme.)
Keyboard Shortcuts for MS Teams
Here you’ll find some keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Teams on Windows and MacOS.
To do This | Windows Commands | Mac Commands |
Show keyboard shortcuts | Ctrl+Period (.) | Command+Period (.) |
Go to Search | Ctrl+E | Command+E |
Goto | Ctrl+G | Command+G |
Start a new chat | Ctrl+N | Command+N |
Open Settings | Ctrl+Comma (,) | Command+Comma (,) |
Open Help | F1 | F1 |
Close | Esc | Esc |
Open Activity | Ctrl+1 | Command+1 |
Open Chat | Ctrl+2 | Command+2 |
Open Teams | Ctrl+3 | Command+3 |
Open Calendar | Ctrl+4 | Command+4 |
Open Calls | Ctrl+5 | Command+5 |
Open Files | Ctrl+6 | Command+6 |
Go to previous list item | Left Alt+Up arrow key | Left Option+Up arrow key |
Go to next list item | Left Alt+Down arrow key | Left Option+Down arrow key |
Move selected team up | Ctrl+Shift+Up arrow key | Command+Shift+Up arrow key |
Move selected team down | Ctrl+Shift+Down arrow key | Command+Shift+Down arrow key |
Go to compose box | C | C |
Expand compose box | Ctrl+Shift+X | Command+Shift+X |
Attach file | Ctrl+O | Command+O |
Accept video call | Ctrl+Shift+A | Command+Shift+A |
Accept audio call | Ctrl+Shift+S | Command+Shift+S |
Decline call | Ctrl+Shift+A | Command+Shift+D |
Start audio call | Ctrl+Shift+C | Command+Shift+C |
Start video call | Ctrl+Shift+U | Command+Shift+U |
15 Essential Apps to Get You Started
OneNote
OneNote is your very own digital notebook. Whether you have a million ideas, a million things to do, Or a million things to remember, OneNote is the perfect app for capturing pretty much everything.
2. Trello
Quickly create, edit, and comment on cards on your Trello boards without leaving your inbox.
3. Asana for Outlook
Asana is the easiest way for teams to coordinate and manage their work. With Asana for Outlook, you can turn emails into actionable, trackable to-dos and helpful context—without switching tools.
4. Mailchimp
Connectors keep your team current by delivering content and updates from services you use directly into a channel. The MailChimp connector sends notifications about your email marketing campaigns.
5. Zoom for Teams
With the Zoom integration for Microsoft Teams, frictionless video communication is as simple as toggling your Zoom Meetings tab or using @mentions from your preferred channel.
6. Hubspot
Organize leads, track email opens and clicks, and send email templates all in one place. HubSpot automation makes it possible to instantly notify your users where they spend their most time collaborating — Microsoft Teams.
7. Dropbox
Access your Dropbox files directly in Microsoft Teams when you add Dropbox as cloud storage. Any Dropbox user can add Dropbox as cloud storage in their Microsoft Teams account.
8. Wrike
Bring project management into Microsoft Teams and transform conversations into structured work.
9. Hive
Hive is a productivity tool that helps employees to manage their workflow in a way that works best for them.

10. Zoho Desk for Teams
It brings chats, files, and apps together, so much so that users can start working on Zoho Desk tickets from within the Teams workspace.
11. Google Calendar
Google Calendar to Microsoft Teams integration template will send a message to the desired channel in Microsoft Teams every time there is a new event added in Google Calendar.
12. AttendanceBot
AttendanceBot can be summed up as the one app to track vacations and PTOs, sick days, work from home and remote work, employee shift planning and hours. It is especially helpful for remote teams.
13. EngageWith
EngageWith is a peer-to-peer employee rewards and recognition platform that helps foster a culture of recognition, enhances employee engagement and helps the organization celebrate accomplishments – both big and small.
14. Adobe Creative Cloud
With the Creative Cloud app for Microsoft Teams, designers can easily share their work, get feedback and stay up-to-date on actions taken on their assets all within Microsoft Teams.
15. Trivia
Trivia is the new way to connect with your remote team while playing exciting quizzes on Slack and Microsoft Teams! Get summarised results at the end of every Trivia quiz and find your very own Quizzard!
MS Teams FAQs
MS Teams is a chat-based collaboration tool that helps global, remote, and dispersed teams to communicate and work together and share information. It has cool features like document collaboration, one-on-one chat, video conferencing, team chat, and more.
You can read Microsoft Teams tutorial to learn more about its functioning.
Read above mentioned MS Teams hack and learn the basics!
Here are some reasons to use MS teams:
It’s more than a chat communication tool. You can share files and make video/audio calls.
You can create meeting notes and to-do lists and share it with your teams.
No more emails!
Stay with your team in one click, anytime, anywhere!
Yes! The free version includes:
Unlimited chat messages and search.
Audio/video calls.
10 GB of team file storage.
Integration with other office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
Want to bring your teams together? Trivia is the new way to connect with your remote team while playing exciting quizzes on Slack and Microsoft Teams. Get Your Free Trial Now!