“Doing little things can make a big difference” –
Yogi Berra, former professional baseball player
Following the motto of this quote, we would like to introduce you to seven little tricks in Microsoft Teams that will improve your daily work within the app and help you be more productive.
1. Frequent commands
In the search bar in Microsoft Teams you can enter commands. This will help you find the things you are searching for faster. You can find a list of commands in the support section of the Microsoft website or you can simply type “/” in the Teams search bar and all frequent commands will be suggested. My favorite commands that I use the most are: /files, /chat and /status settings. With /files you get an overview of all recently edited documents. /chat allows you to quickly and easily start a conversation with another person. With /status settings you have the option to update your status, e.g. in /available, /busy or /offline.
2. Mark messages as unread
Surely you have often received an important message and clicked on it. But you were busy with another task and forgot about the message. In Teams you can mark the message as “unread” so that you can look at it when you have a chance, and it will not be forgotten. To do this, click on the three dots in the conversation in the activity feed and then select “save this message”.
3. Send urgent notifications
This feature is very useful when you have an important task to complete. You are under time pressure, or you are in a meeting and need a document from someone. By clicking the exclamation mark below the message field, you can choose whether the message should be sent as “standard”, “important”, or “urgent”. Urgent” means that the recipient will receive a notification every two minutes for 20 minutes. If you choose “important”, the message will be displayed to the recipient as important.
4. Take meeting notes
When you are in a meeting, Teams give you the option to write down notes with the important points of the conversation right away. This is especially useful in debriefing sessions, as you can immediately share the most important points with your colleagues. The notes can be made in parallel to the meeting, similar to the chat function on the right. Under “more options” you can create notes with “start taking meeting notes”.
5. Translation of teams messages
If you are writing to a person whose language you don’t understand, you can immediately translate what you have written in Teams and don’t need to call in an external translator. A cool feature that not only saves language transparency, but also time. To do this, click on the three dots in the chat and then select “translate” and the message will be translated into the language you have set in Microsoft Teams.
6. How to use breakout sessions
Creating multiple groups within the participants in a meeting is possible in Teams. Breakout Rooms can be used especially when you want to discuss and agree with one person about what was talked about in the main meeting. However, only meeting organizers can create breakout sessions with their Desktop version of Microsoft Teams.
The button to create breakout rooms is located at the left of the three points. When you create breakout rooms, you can set the number and manually assign group members to the session. You can release the room by clicking on the three dots and setting it to “open”. In case it is time to end the session, you can select “close rooms” and the participants will automatically return to the main session. Within Teams you are able to close individual breakout rooms or make everyone return to the main session.
7. Pin to app
If you have an app installed in Mircosoft Teams and you always want to be able to switch to it quickly and easily, pinning the app will save you some time. You can pin the app in the navigation pane so that it is accessible to you at any time. Just click on the three dots in the navigation bar with your mouse. Then select the app, press the right mouse button and choose “pin”. This will give you instant access to the app in the navigation area.
We also offer timeghost as a Microsoft Teams app. So if you use our time tracking tool, you can easily connect it to your Microsoft account and use it in Teams. the app in Teams, you have the possibility to transfer Teams events like calls or calendar events directly into timeghost.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, we can say that Microsoft Teams gives many great options that make it easier for users to operate within the Teams app and thus improve their work .
Our recommendation is therefore: Use the functions that Microsoft Teams offers you … and of course, download the timeghost Teams App!
Get the timeghost App
Try the timeghost app in our 14-day free trial.
Install the timeghost Teams App
You only need to install the timeghost Teams App directly from the AppSource Store in the application. You can find a manual on how to do this right here. The timeghost app includes all features that you know from the web client and since you use your Office 365 account in order to access timeghost you’re set and done in only a few seconds.
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