Ways to Work Smarter with Microsoft Teams: Tips and Tricks Around Teams

October 26, 2022

By Welmar Benedicto

 

Every day, more and more businesses adopt Microsoft Teams for collaboration. Microsoft Teams is a powerful productivity tool that can help you work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. The platform offers great functionality to stay connected with colleagues and clients, organize your work, and access information anywhere, anytime. If you are a power user of Microsoft Teams or want to use it efficiently at work, you can try new features, use advanced commands and work with specialized bots.

The best part is that you don’t even need to be a technical specialist to use them. We’ve rounded up most useful ways how to improve your productivity through Microsoft Teams in everyday life.

Use the search box

The search box is an important tool in Microsoft Teams, and it’s easy to use. To begin searching, simply type your query into the search box at the top of your Teams window. You’ll see a list of results appear on the left side of your screen. The first few results will be from a global search that includes all the messages across all channels and groups in your organization. You can narrow down your search results by using specific keywords or phrases that are relevant to what you’re looking for. For example, if you want to find messages about upcoming events, you might use the word “event” in your query.

Chat, chat, chat

There’s no denying that chat is one of the most popular features of Microsoft Teams. Use the @ symbol to mention someone in your chat. If they’re online and have their status set to “Available,” they’ll see what you’ve said right away! If you want to talk privately with someone who isn’t in the same chat as you, try adding them as a contact in Microsoft Teams (inbox > contacts > add new contact). Then send them a message through that channel instead of through team chats.

Create your own shortcuts

When you’re using Microsoft Teams, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of shortcuts and forget about the ones that are most important to you. You can add your own shortcuts to text or images by clicking on the ellipses next to the text box, selecting “Add a shortcut,” then typing in what you want it to say. For added convenience, create a keyboard shortcut for any action that you use frequently. To do this, open the settings menu (indicated by three dots at the bottom right corner of your screen) and select “Keyboard shortcuts.” Then click on “Add new shortcut.”

Use the task module on your Teams

The task module is a way for you to create lists of tasks that need to be completed by members of your team. Use @mentions when assigning tasks to other people in your team. This way, everyone knows who the task is assigned to. Keep the status field up to date so you know if a task has been completed or if it’s still being worked on by a team member. To add details about a specific action item in an existing conversation thread, click “Add” on top of the chat window and then select “Task.”

Use Files tab to access local file shares and other file storage services

The Files tab is where you can access the files you’ve shared with your team. If you haven’t shared any files, just click on the Team Files icon in the left sidebar to show all your shared files. Use the search bar at the top of the page to find a specific file. Also, click on a folder to see its contents or click the three dots in the upper right corner of any folder to open its menu and choose whether you want to view it as a folder tree or as thumbnails.

Use Giphy to add fun to your communication!

Giphy is a great way to inject some fun into your Microsoft Teams workspace. The first thing you’ll want to do is open a chat and click the smiley face icon at the top left of your screen. This will bring up a search bar where you can type in anything from “cat” to “ice cream.”

Microsoft Teams is getting smarter all the time, and you can use it more effectively with these tips and tricks to get your work done more efficiently. Learn how to use the tools on Teams, organize and use your files in the best possible way. Choose your weapon, pick out the tips that will help you boost your productivity and get more done using Microsoft Teams.

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