Microsoft Teams

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's new enterprise communication tool. Teams combines persistent chat rooms, Skype for Business, file sharing, meetings, and many other features into one application. Teams is a great solution for a group of any size, allowing you to take the conversation anywhere you go. 

When can we use it?

We are currently pilot testing teams with various groups within the University environment. There is no static date set on general availability yet, but we are working diligently to ensure this rolls out smoothly so our clients can start using it right away.

How do I access Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is accessible via your web browser, Android or iOS device, or via a desktop client available on both Windows and Mac operating systems. We recommend testing out all available options to determine the method that best suits your productivity requirements.

Web Browser

To access Teams in your web browser, visit https://teams.microsoft.com and sign in with your USF email address.

Desktop/Mobile Client

Visit https://aka.ms/getteams and select the version that works for your device

What can I do with Teams?

Teams is extremely capable, serving as a neat one-stop-shop for your productivity requirements.

Chat

Teams at it's core is a persistent chat service. You can create channels for specific conversations or projects within your team. Chat records will stay there for review later, or to allow people to respond without requiring an immediate reply. You can break off into one-on-one conversations with co-workers, and people within other groups and teams.

You can enhance your chat with emojis and visual responses.

You can also post documents and files to the channel like a Word document, and the entire team can edit it in real time within the Teams app, creating a much more collaborative and interactive workspace.

Click here for more information on chat.

Tabs

Microsoft Teams uses tabs at the top of each Team. This allows you to integrate with many of Microsoft's cloud offerings like Excel, Word, Planner, and Power BI.

Click here  for more information on Tabs.

Meetings

You can create ad-hoc meetings with your Team, or even schedule them all within the Teams app. Starting a meeting is easy - you just open the channel you want to meet with, and select the meeting notification icon at the bottom of your screen. It opens up to a video chat where you and your team can collaborate, share files, present your desktop, and meet no matter where your team is. 

To schedule a meeting, select the "Meetings" tab from the left, and select "Schedule Meeting". 

For more information on the Meet Now feature, click here. For meeting scheduling assistance, click here.

Apps, bots, and other integrations

Microsoft Teams supports a wealth of external applications, bots, and other integrations to enable you to be more productive.

Some examples include Asana, Box, PagerDuty, and others. Additionally, there are bots that can automate repeat tasks or alerts that your Team depends on.

Review the full list of integration instructions here.