Microsoft Teams - Ultimate Guide to using Teams

Logging into Teams for the first time and downloading the desktop and mobile app version of Teams

To login to Teams:

1. Open office.tcd.ie in a web browser
2. Log into your Microsoft 365 account with your Trinity email address and password.
3. Click on the Teams app

The Microsoft Teams downloads page provides a convenient place where you can download the desktop app for Mac and Windows as well as mobile apps for android and iOS.

Joining a team, inviting people (including 'guests') to a team

Joining a team

You will be automatically added to a Team once the the team owner adds you.

Inviting people to join your team

If you’re a team owner, go to the team name and click More options> Add Member > type email address of new member > click send. This will add a new member to your team.

Inviting people from outside of Trinity

You can invite people from outside of Trinity to join your team and you can share links to files from within the Team with your guests.

Please note that any access granted to guests, including links and files shared with them, will require two-step sign-in (TSSI) in order to gain access to the Team, shared link, or file.

Any guests who require assistance with TSSI should speak to their contact within Trinity. If you are unable to assist your guest yourself, then please contact the IT Service Desk on their behalf.

Who can join a Team?

• Both Postgraduate and undergraduate students can be added to your Team.
• You can invite people from outside of Trinity to join your Team, participate in Teams meetings. They don't have to have Teams themselves.

Customise and manage your team

1. Select More options next to the team name.
2. Select Manage team to find Members, Channels, Settings, and Apps for your team all in one place.
3. Select Settings > Team picture to add a team picture and give your team some personality.
   
   

On which devices and browsers can I use Teams?

Teams is available on all of your devices and can be downloaded from Microsoft's Teams downloads page. You can download Desktop apps for Mac and Windows as well as Mobile apps for Android and iOS.

At present, Teams works on all browsers except Safari.

Can I get training for using Teams?

Yes, training in Teams is available through Microsoft's support site or through lil.tcd.ie (remember that you will need your Trinity username and password to access this training)

What is a channel in Teams?

Teams are made up of channels, which are the conversations you have with your teammates. Each channel is dedicated to a specific topic, department, or project - essentially a channel adds organisation and structure to your team files, documents and conversations.

Creating a channel

Channels add organisation to the conversations and files in Teams. Depending on your permissions level, you can add Channels to a team that you are a part of.

Here's how to add a Channel:

1. Select More options next to the team name
   
2. Select Add channel
3. Enter a name and description for your channel. You can build a channel around a topic, project, department name, or whatever suits.
4. Select Add.

Managing Channels: 'Favourite' a channel and 'Delete' a channel

Favourite a channel in your Teams list

If you have a lot of channels, mark important channels as a favourite to make them easy to find.

• To favourite a channel, select the More channels menu below the channels list, and select the star icon for the channel you want to make a favourite.

• To remove a favourite, select the three dots next to the channel name, and select Remove favourite.

Delete a channel from your Teams list

To delete a channel, go to the channel name and click More options > Delete this channel.

Keep in mind that once you delete a channel, you also lose its entire conversation history. However, the OneNote sections associated with that channel will still show up on your team's SharePoint site. *Note, only Team owners can decide which team members have permissions to delete and restore channels.

Start channel conversation and how to use @mentions to address specific people, start a private chat within your Team

Start a channel conversation

To start a conversation with everyone in a particular channel (and thus everyone on the team), select the channel. Click Reply to respond to an existing thread or go to the compose box at the bottom of the screen to start a new one. Type your message and click Send .

Use @mentions to address specific people

To get someone's attention in a channel conversation or a chat, @mention them. Just type @ before their name and then select them from the menu that appears.

They receive a notification, which they can click to go directly into the point in the conversation where they were mentioned.

To get the attention of an entire team, try one of these:

• Post something in the Team's general channel. The channel name appears bold for every team member.
• Type @team to message everyone on that team.
• Type @channel to notify everyone who has favourited that channel.

Start a chat

To send a private message, first click New chat at the top of the app to start a new conversation. Type the name of the person or people you want to chat with. Then, compose your message and click Send .

You can include up to 50 people in a group chat.

Add people to a private chat (start a group chat)

To loop more people into a private conversation, just click Add people in the top right corner of your screen. Then, type the names of the people you'd like to add, select how much of the chat history to include, and click Add.

Upload files (short video instructions included)

Anywhere in Teams, look for the paperclip icon to Attach a file. Alternately:

1. Go to the Files tab.
2. Select Upload.
3. Select single or multiple files from device computer or OneDrive for Business account.
4. Select Open.

A quick (1min07sec) video which demonstrates how to upload files

Edit a file

To make changes to Microsoft 365 files, open them in their respective Microsoft 365 apps. From the Files app, select More options next to the file name and select the app.

From an opened file in Teams, select [the chevron image] next to Edit.

Other file types can't be edited once you upload them to Teams. You need to update your local copy, then upload it again.

Download a file

You can download any file you see in Teams—whether it’s in a channel’s Files tab, sent in a message, or stored in a OneDrive folder. Click More options next to a file name to see the options for downloading it, opening it, or getting a link to it.

Clicking Files on the left side of the app lets you see recently accessed files, a list of your files in Teams, OneDrive and other cloud storage files you’ve added to Teams, and your download history.

Sharing files & folders with other Team members and people outside of your Team

To send a file in a one-on-one or group chat, click Choose file beneath the compose box, select the file you want to share, and then send. You can also upload a file by going to the Files tab and clicking Share. You can select a file from your computer or OneDrive for Business account.

To share a file with your team in a channel, click Choose file beneath the compose box or go to the Files tab and click Upload.

Once you share a file, you can also share a link to it. That way, you don't ever have to upload multiple copies of the same file to share it in different places.

Share a file with someone outside your team

Notes: 

• If sharing files / folders with people outside of Trinity, please be mindful of the type of data shared, more information on the type of data that can be stored and shared is available in Data Classification and Data Storage & Sharing


• When sharing with people outside Trinity, please note you must select Specific People and enter their email address, they must validate ownership of that address before they can view the file.


• The permission granted by a sharing link lasts only as long as the link exists. For example, when a link is disabled, access is revoked (though people may still have access to the file via other means).


• When Allow editing is selected: After they sign in/ validate, people you have shared with can edit, copy, or download the files. When Allow editing isn’t selected, people can view, and may be able to copy or download the files.

Use a Planner to add, assign and organise tasks

If you're using Microsoft Teams, you can organize your tasks by adding one or more Planner tabs to a team channel. You can then work on your plan from within Teams or in Planner for web, and remove or delete your plan.

Learn more:

• Add a Planner tab to a team channel
• Work on your plan in Teams
• Open your Teams-created plan in Planner or Teams
• Remove a Planner tab or delete a plan

See Microsoft Planner help for details on how to use all the features of Planner.

Watch a short (2min 05sec) video on using a Planner within Teams

Advice on closing / archiving a Team

Archive a team when it’s no longer active, but you want to keep it around for reference or to reactivate in the future. The conversations and files in the team become read-only once you archive it. You’ll still be able to search through it for stuff you need—you can even keep it as a favourite. Only team owners can archive and restore teams.

Archive a team

1. Select Teams on the left to see the list of your teams.

2. At the bottom of the list, select Manage .

3. In the Active list, find the name of the team you want to archive, then select More options > Archive team.

4. To prevent people from editing the content in the SharePoint site and Wiki tab associated with the team, select Make the SharePoint site read-only for team members. (Teams owners will still be able to edit this content.)

To view and search through the content of the archived team, click its name in the Archived list. Or, make it a favourite if you think you’ll refer to it often (in the list, select the team, then More options > Favourite).

All of the team activity is frozen once the team is archived. No one will be able to start new conversations or reply to posts in a channel, add or remove channels, edit team settings, or add apps. As a team owner, you’ll still be able to add or remove members, update roles, and delete, renew, or restore an archived team.

Restore a team

• To restore an archived team, follow steps 1 and 2 above. Then, in the Archived list, find the name of the team you want to archive, and select More options > Restore team.

Teams features by platform

To learn about which Teams capabilities are available on different platforms, please visit Microsoft's Support Pages.

Share a Microsoft Teams recording

Teams recording are stored in OneDrive or SharePoint and can be shared in the same way as any other Microsoft 365 file. See the section Sharing and Collaboration with OneDrive for more information.

How to add a Trinity Virtual Background to your Teams calls

View video on how to add a Trinity Virtual Background to your Teams call. You can find the Trinity Virtual Backgrounds on the Trinity Identity site.