Microsoft Teams

Owned by Grosshandler, Mike
Last updated: Aug 07, 2024
3 min read

Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that brings conversations, content, and apps together in one place, so your team has easy access to all the tools they need to work effectively. Share files, edit documents, take notes, schedule meetings, chat with the group all right in Teams. 

Microsoft Teams provides the following features:

  • Chat and audio & video web conferencing with screen sharing: Enjoy public and private conversations with your Teams and colleagues. Includes popular social features, such as adding emojis and custom memes to your discussion.

  • 1TB OneDrive file storage: Teams creates a SharePoint document library for each Channel in a Team to provide many options for working collaboratively. Beyond simply editing and sharing files, you can select a file and start a new Conversation about it which appears in your Team Channel Conversations tab so other members of your Team can view your comments and replies. 

  • OneNote Notebook: Organize and take notes for and with your Team in one central location.

  • SharePoint Team Site: Create an internal website for your Team. 

  • Microsoft Planner Plans: Organize and manage projects within your Team.

  • Highly Customizable: Every Team is unique with differing workflow methods and requirements. Microsoft Teams allows you to tailor your Team and Channels to meet each group's needs. Enable modules to provide updates and notifications from third-party services like BitBucket, GitHub, and Twitter, among others. Make accessing other Office 365 services such as Forms, OneNote, and Planner, just a click of a tab away.

New Teams

If you are still using Classic Teams, you will see a banner encouraging you to switch to New Teams: 

You are encouraged to use New Teams as soon as it is available to you.  New Teams provides a faster, simpler, and more flexible experience.

To learn more about Microsoft Teams, including free on-demand training, visit Using Microsoft Teams.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH TEAMS?

Staff

Faculty

Researchers

Students

Staff

Faculty

Researchers

Students

  • IM (instant message) and share files with your colleagues

  • Reduce travel between buildings/campuses by holding online meetings

  • Interview a job candidate remotely

  • Host a meeting or training with people in your office

  • Keep track of projects, including conversations, files, and plans using Microsoft Planner for task management

  • Store your procedural documentation in one place that is easily accessed by anyone on your Team

While Microsoft Teams does provide some learning management system (LMS) functionality, at this time, ITS does not recommend or support the use of Teams for Teaching & Learning purposes. Brightspace and Zoom Workplace are the University's supported online course-delivery platforms.

  • IM (instant message) and share files with your colleagues

  • Orchestrate a grant funding submission, using chat, audio, video, and integrations with Microsoft Planner for task management and collaborative group file storage.

  • IM (instant message) and share files with other students

  • Collaborate on group projects in a private workspace for chat, file collaboration, and online meetings that can instantly form.

  • Connect with professors and teaching assistants during office hours

  • Give a class presentation remotely

  • Hold office hours for a class where you are a teaching assistant

  • Interview remotely for a job

  • Build a platform for Student Clubs and Interest Groups

WHO CAN USE TEAMS?

All UAlbany Faculty, Staff, and students can use Microsoft Teams to chat/IM, make video or voice calls, manage Teams Meetings, and create/use Teams within the service.  External users may be granted access to be on a Team.

HOW TO USE TEAMS

Using Microsoft Teams

GET TEAMS APPS

The Microsoft Teams desktop client is automatically installed on desktops connected to the UAlbany network.

Install Microsoft Teams (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS)

ACCESSIBILITY

Microsoft offers a unique set of accessibility features to efficiently navigate through Teams.

The desktop or mobile app version of Microsoft Teams is recommended over the web version. The web version may be difficult to navigate with a screen reader. 

LIMITATIONS

Microsoft Teams Limitations

NAMING OF TEAMS

Naming of Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Groups

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Microsoft Teams FAQs

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