Microsoft Teams User Guide

Self Service Team Requests

To request a new MS Team, go to the Microsoft Team Request Form and submit the required information.

Please note:

• The person submitting the request will become the owner of the new Team (this can be changed after the Team has been created).
• You will need to manage additional Team owners/members yourself using the Team desktop app or web interface. See Microsoft's Go-to Guide for Team Owners for more info.

Requesting a New Team via the IT Service Desk

Contact the IT Service Desk to request a new Team if:

• you are doing so on-behalf of another staff member.
• if you would like to have additional Owners/Members added at the time of the Team’s creation.

You will need to provide the Service Desk with the following information:

• Name of your Faculty, Department, etc. 
• Name of the Faculty/Department leader
• Individuals who will require access to the Team channel (Sheridan email address or username required)
• Name of an individual will act as a local Microsoft Teams 'champion’ or point-of-contact
• Preferred Team name
  • 256 characters maximum
  • Should describe ownership and purpose of Team (e.g. A Teams page for the Admissions team in the Office of the Registrar could be: OTR-Admissions-Team)

You can reach the IT Service Desk at servicedesk@sheridancollege.ca or call 905-845-9430 ext. 2150.

Go to Sheridan's AppsAnywhere page to download and install the MS Teams desktop app.

1. Launch the Teams app and enter your Sheridan email address and click Sign In.
   
2. You will be redirect to Sheridan's single-sign-on page. Enter your Sheridan username and password and Login.
   
3. You're ready to start using Teams.

Turn On/Off Read Receipts in Teams

Have you have had those moments where you wanted to read a Microsoft Teams chat message but didn't want to feel obligated to instantly reply because the other person saw that you have read the message? Turn off read receipts by going to Settings > Privacy > and Turn off Read Receipts and message senders will no longer see when you have read their message. If you don't see this feature yet, sign-out/sign-in to Teams and this option should be available to you.

Stay Connected and Focused with the Viva Insights app

The Microsoft Viva Insights app in Teams provides personalized recommendations to build better work habits. Insights will help you stay on top of your collaboration with colleagues through features such as AI-based task suggestions and meeting assistance. The app can also help you find more time to eliminate distractions and focus on your core priorities.

• Microsoft Viva Insights app in Microsoft Teams

Leaving, Archiving, or Deleting a Team

There may come a point in time where the Team you were part of is no longer necessary or your membership in the group is no longer required. The links below will show you the steps required to leave, archive, and/or delete a Team.

Leaving a Team

Users can choose to leave a Team at any time. However, if a Team has more than one owner, any owner can leave the team except for the last owner—they must choose to archive or delete that team if it is no longer required.

• Leaving a Team

Archiving a Team

Archiving a team will allow all members of that Team to access existing content like files and messages but will not allow new messages or files to be posted.

• Archiving a Team 

Deleting a Team

When you choose to delete a Team, the Team will no longer show up in your Teams list, but it will reside in your list of managed teams for up to 30 days from the day of deletion. After those 30 days the Team will be permanently deleted unless you choose to restore the Team. 

• Deleting a Team

Capture meeting attendance in MS Teams meetings

With the attendance report feature in MS Teams you can easily download a list of all attendees that made it to your Teams meeting. This is a great feature for users that need to track attendees for committee meetings or for faculty members that need to record student attendance for virtual classes.

Helpful Hint: Make sure that you download the attendance report right before you end the meeting – the report is only available while you are joined to the meeting. 

Managing Teams Meeting Participant Roles

By default at Sheridan, each person that is invited to a Teams Meeting is given the presenter role unless otherwise changed during or prior to the meeting. It is important to learn about the permissions that each role has during a meeting so that you don't have any unexpected surprises. See Roles in a Teams Meeting to learn more. 

Tips on Presenting PowerPoint in Teams

By now most people have had a Teams Meeting where they needed to share a PowerPoint but sharing the desktop screen just doesn't cut it. Watch the following videos to learn some additional methods on how to share PowerPoint presentations in Teams.

How to use Presenter View in Microsoft Teams

How to properly present PowerPoint Slides in Microsoft Teams

How to control file permissions in a Microsoft Teams chat 

Our default permissions for file sharing in a Teams chat is set to "People in your organization with the link", allowing anyone with that sharing link in Sheridan to view and download that document. However, you have other options you can employ that include giving access to anyone, people with existing access, or specific people.

Turn on the New Meeting and Call Experience in Teams

Turn on the new meeting features in your Teams desktop app for an improved user experience. Enjoy focused pop-out windows for calls and meetings, new meeting controls, and other cool features. Learn more

Everyday Etiquette and Best Practices in Microsoft Teams

This definitive guide covers some everyday etiquette and best practices for using MS Teams to help keep things clean, organized, and productive (yet still fun and enjoyable). Learn more

Teams Group Chat vs Team Collaboration

With common features such as file sharing, chat, and planning connectors, many users wonder when they should use Teams Group Chat versus Team Collaboration. This AvePoint blog article will go over both and offers reasons when each should be used. Learn more

Here's some handy tips for using Teams. The links below will direct you to resources from Microsoft.

Send an email to a Channel in Teams

If you want to send an email to a channel in Teams, use the channel email address. Once an email is part of a channel, anyone can reply to it to start a conversation. Learn more

Six things to know about notifications

This is the who, what, where, and shh! of notification settings in Microsoft Teams. Visit Manage notifications in Teams for more details about how to adjust your notification settings. Learn more

Add Emoji's to your Channel Names

Microsoft has implemented a way to further individualize your channel names in Microsoft Teams by adding images in the form of emoji icons to the name. Learn more

Use Read Receipts in Private Chats

Do you often wonder if your teammates saw your message in Teams? Read receipts in private chats allow senders to know when a message was read by the recipients. Learn more

Manage your Teams Meeting Options*

A meeting organizer may want to change the default participant settings for a specific meeting. Organizers can make these changes on the Meeting Options web page. Learn more

* Note: changing meetings options is browser-based and not currently available for Safari. You can use Google Chrome, Firefox, or MS Edge.

How to work in Teams Channels

Stay connected with channels in Microsoft Teams. Channels in Teams are where team conversations and collaboration happen, and this tutorial will give you some tips on how to use them.

Sync SharePoint and Teams files with your OneDrive application

You can sync your SharePoint or Teams files to a folder on your computer where you can work directly in File Explorer and access the files even when you're offline. Whenever you're online, any changes that you or others make will sync automatically. Learn more

Cross-Post a conversation to multiple channels

Do you have information or an announcement that needs to be shared across multiple teams and channels? Learn how to post messages to multiple channels at once. Learn more

Pop out a chat conversation to a separate window

You can instantly pop out your one-on-one or group chat into a separate window. and then, resize, reposition, or close the window as you wish. It’s a great way to get a lot done when you’re in a meeting or in a call.  FYI: You can pop out multiple conversations, but not the same chat twice. Learn more

Visit the links below for more details about using Teams.

• MS Teams Quick Start Guide
• End user training for MS Teams
• Join a Meeting in Teams
• Accessibility Support for Teams
• Getting Started with Guest Access for Teams
• Getting Started Guide for Teams Guests
• Teams Training On-Demand

Several video tutorials regarding MS Teams are available from LinkedIn Learning. Follow the instructions below to access the courses:

1. Go to https://linkedin.sheridancollege.ca/
2. You will be directed to Sheridan's single sign-on page. Enter your Sheridan credentials. You will return to LinkedIn Learning.
3. Use the search field at the top of the page to find learning resources (e.g. Microsoft Teams)