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A beginner's guide to Microsoft Teams — how to chat with colleagues, join meetings, make calls, and share files all in one place.

Microsoft Teams is the hub for teamwork in Microsoft 365. It brings together chat messages, video meetings, file sharing, and calls in one app — so you don't need to switch between multiple tools.

Quick summary

Teams handles two kinds of conversation: channels (group conversations organized by team, topic or project) and chats (private one-on-one or small group conversations). By default they now sit together in one combined list, and you can split them back into separate Chat and Teams views if you prefer. You can also join and host video meetings, make voice calls, and access shared files. It works in a browser, as a desktop app, and on your phone.

Accessing Teams

Go to teams.microsoft.com and sign in with your work email and password.

The Teams layout

When you open Teams, you'll see a navigation bar on the left side. Depending on how your Teams is set up, it will include:

Activity — a feed of all your recent notifications (mentions, reactions, replies)
Chat — your conversations. In the combined view this one list holds both your chats and your channels
Teams — your team channels, if you've chosen the separate view
Calendar — your meetings and calls, synced with Outlook
Calls — make and receive voice calls (if enabled)

In the combined Chat view, conversations are grouped into Favorites, Chats, and Teams and channels. To change between the two layouts, select More list options at the top of your chat list, choose Customize view, and pick Combined or Separate.

Chatting with a colleague

Click Chat in the left navigation.

Select New message (the new-chat icon) at the top of your list of chats and channels.

Search for a person's name or email address in the To field.

Type your message in the text box at the bottom and press Enter to send.

Chat messages in Teams are not formal emails — they are more like instant messages. Keep them concise.

Posting in a channel

Channels are shared conversations for a team. They are organized by topic — for example, a "Marketing" team might have channels for "General", "Social Media", and "Campaigns".

Find your team in the left navigation — under Teams and channels in the combined view, or in the Teams list if you use the separate view.

Click a channel name to open it.

Select Start a new post at the top of the Posts tab, or Start a post at the bottom — whichever you see depends on the order your posts are in. If your channel uses the threads layout instead, just type in the message box.

Add a subject and your message, then select Post (or Send in a threads-layout channel).

Use @mentions to get someone's attention

Type @ followed by a name to mention someone — for example, @Sarah. They will get a notification. You can also type @ followed by a channel name to notify everyone in that channel, or @ followed by the team name to notify everyone on the team. In a chat rather than a channel, @everyone notifies everybody in the chat. A team owner has to switch these group mentions on first. Use them sparingly.

Joining or starting a meeting

To join a meeting from your calendar:

Click Calendar in Teams (or open Outlook calendar).

Find the meeting and click Join. This opens the pre-join screen.

Check your camera and microphone settings on the pre-join screen, then click Join now. Depending on how the organizer set the meeting up, you may then wait in the lobby until someone admits you.

To start an instant meeting:

Select Meet now in a channel, or at the top of a group chat, to start a meeting immediately and invite participants. There's also a Meet now button in the top right of your Calendar.

Every team channel has a Files tab at the top. Click it to see shared files for that channel. You can upload files here, and they are stored in the team's SharePoint library behind the scenes.

You can also share files directly in a chat by clicking the attachment (paperclip) icon.

Common questions

What's the difference between a chat and a channel post?

A Chat is private — only the people in the conversation see it. A Channel post is visible to everyone in the team who has access to that channel. Use chat for personal conversations; use channels for project updates and team discussions.

Can I turn down notifications from a busy channel?

Yes. To the right of the channel name, select More options, then Channel notifications. From there you can turn notifications for new messages or posts on or off, and choose whether they show as a banner and in your Activity feed or only in the Activity feed. You can change it back the same way.

Can external guests join my Teams meetings?

Yes — when you create a meeting, you can invite anyone by email address, including people outside your organization. They join via the meeting link and don't need a Teams account. On some meetings an admin setting blocks unverified people, in which case the guest has to enter a one-time passcode sent to their email or create a Teams account.

How many people can join a Teams meeting?

On Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium, a Teams meeting holds up to 300 people. The enterprise plans (Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and F1/F3, Office 365 E1/E3/E5, and similar) raise that to 1,000. For most business calls you'll never come close to either limit.

Need a hand?

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Microsoft Teams basics