Getting familiarized with Microsoft Teams- Setting up and the main things to know about Teams

Question

Hey (again),

I'm back (again) with a new help topic-getting familiarized with Microsoft Teams (not again!). There may be some changes with the Teams features in yours compared to mine, because I'm running on version 1.3.00.28779. So, look out for any feature changes, and don't complain to me that you don't have this feature, that feature, blah, blah, blah. I'm speaking about the ones that I have. The keyboard keys mentioned here are from Windows, and not from Mac. Note that, too.

So, the 1st thing you need to know is the sign-in screen. There, you enter your work / school account, and hit the 'Enter' key or click the 'Sign in' button. In the image here, the 'Sign-in' button is deactivated because I haven't entered my work / school account (to protect my privacy :p).

The 'Sign-in' screen

---

After clicking the 'Sign-in' button or hitting 'Enter', you will be directed to another window where it shows to enter your password. If you haven't got a password, ask your organization for a temporary password, enter it there, and then make your own password. Do not enter the temporary password again in the 'New password' row and 'Confirm password' row. Instead, enter your own password. If you already had an account, then enter the account's password there, and hit 'Enter' or click 'Sign-in'. Now, a question may arise from users, 'Oh no! I don't have a password enter screen, but I am directed to the Teams window directly after entering my work / school account. Why is it so and how can I fix it?'. I'll explain it all in the next step.

The 'Password-enter' screen

---

After making a password or clicking 'Sign-in' after entering your existing password, you'll be directed to another page given below. The answer to the question users may ask is this : It's because, one day, after entering your password and clicking 'Sign-in' or 'Enter', you may have clicked the 'OK' button in the window that comes given in the picture below. It means, you have allowed your organization to manage your device, and you have allowed Teams to stay signed in all the time. This removes the password-enter screen, and takes you directly to your team. It's good, because you don't need to enter your password anymore again after entering your work / school account. If you don't need your organization to manage your device, go to Settings > Accounts > click Access work or school in the left pane of Settings window > click on your account that appears in the page **>**click 'Remove' > click 'Yes' when prompted, 'Are you sure you want to remove your account?'. This won't remove your account from your workplace or school, but from your device, and prevents your organization from controlling your Windows PC (the method I told is only applicable in Windows 10 series, and Windows 8 series' method is slightly different. I don't know how to do it in other Windows OS's). Then, after entering your password and reaching the screen I told, uncheck the box near **'Allow my organization to manage my device'**and click,  'No, sign in to this app only'. You have to click the 'No, sign in to this app only' every time you re-enter Teams.****Below is the screen:

The screen

---

So, after clicking the option 'No, sign in...', wait until a maximized window comes. Then, it will load soon. Click 'Let's start' (or similar option) in the pop-up window that comes, if you're a new Microsoft Teams user. Others, wait until, near your profile picture on top, there shows your current status (i.e., 'Available', 'Busy', 'Do not disturb', 'Be right back', 'Appear away'). By default, it is 'Available'. Users who have their Teams up-to-date has got a new status option- 'Appear offline'. We'll discuss about status later, now let's go back about the main window that opens up. After the main window loads, it will show you the available team(s) in which you are a member. Here's an image to show how it looks like.

The main window

---

New users will have a window like given below. Either you enter your team with a code if you have not entered (if you don't know the code, ask your IT Admin / Organization for it), or search for a team that you know you already joined.

The 'Join a team' window for new users

---

Next is the profile and app managing window. Click on your profile picture on the top bar, this opens a window like this:

The profile and app managing window (I don't know its real name.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The uses of the highlighted ones are given below:

1. Change your current status.
2. Create a status message. (I already made a status message, so that is why it has my favorite song's lyrics. You can also add status like 'I'll be back soon', 'I'm in a meeting', and such. You can adjust timings upto what time the status must be there. You can make the status appear to others while chatting in Teams by clicking the option 'Show when people message me'. There's a limit for how much characters should appear in your status. Remember that.)
3. See or manage a 'saved' message.
4. Change the app's settings and your profile settings. The option doesn't contain an option to change your profile name or modify your work / school account. The option contains settings like theme, grid view or list view, ringtone (it only contains in-built ones), and many other features. I'm not mentioning them all.
5. Zoom your Teams window.
6. See keyboard shortcuts in Teams to navigate through Teams with your keyboard.
7. Check for any available / latest updates.
8. Download the mobile phone app in your iOS or Android.
9. Sign out from Teams. You can sign-in again after signing out. Don't think that your account will be deleted when you click the option.

Now, I'll show you the un-circled ones in the picture. The 'Change picture' option allows you to change your profile picture to another one. You can set a car, motorbike, your portrait, etc. as your profile picture. Note: You cannot add GIF's as your profile picture. Microsoft hasn't coded that yet.

The 'About' option will give you info about Teams like version, legal notice, third-party notice of desktop, and third-party notice of the web. Here's an image:

The 'About' window

---

Here's an image of the insides of the 'Change picture' option:The insides of 'Change picture' option

---

Next is the 'app bar', which is really important. It contains the 'Activity', 'Chat', 'Teams', 'Assignments', 'Calendar', 'Calls', and 'Files' tabs. This is a picture of the app bar:

The 'app bar'

---

Next is the 'Search box', where you can search for people in your organization. You can also run some commands. Below are the images:

The 'Search box'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Commands

---

So, that's all you need to know mainly. Hope this helps you!

Joe13 B-) 2.0

EDIT: I have removed some parts which were to be posted in part 2, but now I have changed my mind not to post the part 2 because this one is time-consuming.

Answer 1

I'm back (again) with a new help topic-getting familiarized with Microsoft Teams (not again!). There may be some changes with the Teams features in yours compared to mine, because I'm running on version 1.3.00.28779. So, look out for any feature changes, and don't complain to me that you don't have this feature, that feature, blah, blah, blah. I'm speaking about the ones that I have. The keyboard keys mentioned here are from Windows, and not from Mac. Note that, too.

[snip]

Is there part 2?

Answer 2

Is there part 2?

Yes, of course. But I won't post it soon, as we have exams. Next week, our exams will finish. Surely I'll post it after those exams. :)

Joe13 B-) 2.0

Answer 3

Ok but I still don't see the part 2. Exams are over Joe.

Answer 4

Okay, I planned not to make the part-2, because while I was gone, many people have already 'got familiarized with Microsoft Teams'. So I'll edit and rename the help topic's heading and remove some parts (not any main- unimportant).

Joe13 B-) 2.0