Overview
This quick start guide goes through the basic functions of Microsoft Teams.
Information
Ways to sign in
- In a browser, go to portal.office.com, log in with your full email and password, and click the Teams tile.
- On a Windows laptop, click Start > Microsoft Corporation > Microsoft Teams.
- On a Mac laptop, go to the Applications folder and click Microsoft Teams.
- On mobile, tap the Teams icon. Then sign in with your Office 365 username and password.
Pick 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. Click Teams and select a team. Pick a channel to explore the Conversations, Files, and other tabs.
Start a chat
- With the whole team: Click Teams, pick a team and channel, write your message, and click Send.
- With a person or group: Click New chat, which is an icon of a notepad and a pencil. Then type the name of the person or group in the To field, write your message, and click Send.
Reply to a conversation
Channel conversations are organized by date and then threaded. Find the thread you want to reply to, then click Reply. Add your thoughts and click Send.
@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.
Activity feed
Click Activity on the left. The Feed shows you all your notifications and everything that's happened lately in the channels you follow.
Start a meeting
Click Meet now under the area where you type a message to start a meeting in a channel. (If you click Reply, then Meet now, the meeting is based on that conversation.) Enter a name for the meeting, then start inviting people.
Make video and audio calls
Click Video call or Audio call to call someone from a chat. To dial a number, click Calls on the left and enter a phone number. View your call history and voicemail in the same area.
Share a file
Click Attach 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.
Work with files
Click Files 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!
Add a tab in a channel
Click + by the tabs at the top of the channel, click the app you want, and then follow the prompts. Use Search if you don’t see the app you want.
Search for things
Type a phrase in the command box at the top of the app and press Enter. Then select the Messages, People, or Files tab. Select an item or click Filter to refine your search results.
Find your personal apps
Click the button with three horizontal dots on the left to see your personal apps. You can open or uninstall them here. To uninstall, just right click while hovering over the app's icon. You can add more apps by clicking More apps.
Add apps
Click Apps on the left. Here, you can select any apps you want to use in Teams, choose the appropriate settings, and click Add.