MS Teams meetings and calls
Cloud-based meeting recording, support for larger meetings of up to 250 participants; teams meetings, which provides the ability to host meetings across multiple organisations. Meetings in Teams include audio, video, and sharing.
You can launch an instant meeting with a colleague using the Meet Now service of MS Teams. You can start a Meet Now as follows meeting, do one of the following:
- 1.Click on the Meet Now icon from a channel or conversation.

Meet Now icon
- 1.In your video preview, enter a name for the meeting, and select Meet Now
- 2.Select the names of the team members you want to invite to the meeting. You can also type a phone number, a good way to add people outside your organization that aren't using Teams.
Meetings can either be set up through the Microsoft Teams App or Outlook. There are several ways to schedule a meeting:
- 1.Select Schedule a meetingin a chat (this is below the compose box) to book a meeting with the people in the chat.
- 2.Go to Calendaron the left side of the app and either select New meeting at the top right of the app, or select a range of time in your calendar and it will pop open a scheduling form.
Similar to Outlook, in the scheduling form is where you'll give a title to your meeting, invite people, and add meetings details.
On the right side of the scheduling form you will have the option to add a channel, individual people, or leave both blank to book yourself an appointment.

- 1.Open Outlook and switch to the calendar view. Click New Teams Meeting at the top of the view
- 2.Add your invitees to the To field—you can even invite entire contact groups (formerly known as distribution lists). Add your meeting subject, location, start time, and end time. Then click Send.
- 3.You can also invite people from outside your organization from Outlook. Just be sure to add them as guests before the meeting starts or they will have to join anonymously.
You can join Teams meetings anytime, anywhere, from any device.
All you need to join a Teams meeting is a link.
When you open the link or select Join Microsoft Teams Meeting in your meeting invite, you’ll be directed to a page where you can choose to either join on the web or download the desktop app and then join. If you already have the Teams app, the meeting will open there automatically.
If you don’t have a Teams account and the organizer has allowed it, you may have the option to enter your name to join the meeting as a guest. If you do have a Teams account, select Sign in to join with access to the meeting chat and more. Then, depending on the organizer’s settings, you may join the meeting right away or go to the lobby where people in the meeting can admit you.
Even if you don’t have internet access or the Teams app, you can join some meetings by phone. If it has a phone number and conference ID in the meeting invite, just dial to join.

A meeting invitation with dial-in numbers and a conference ID as well as a link for local numbers
If you see a phone number in your invitation, but it’s not local to you, select Local numbers and find one that works for you.
Select Calendar
on the left side of the app to see your meetings. Find the meeting you want, and then select Join.


Meeting with join button
Or, if someone starts the meeting, you'll get a notification you can use to join.
If a meeting takes place in a channel, you’ll see an invitation to join, relevant content, and who’s in the meeting right in the channel. Just select Join.
If the meeting has already begun, it appears in your recent chat list. Select the meeting in your chat list and then select Join at the top of the chat.

A meeting chat with a Join button in the header
You can join a Teams meeting anytime, from any device, whether or not you have a Teams account. If you don't have an account, follow these steps to join as a guest.
Note: Some meetings don't allow people to join as guests.
Go to the meeting invite and select Join Microsoft Teams Meeting.
- 1.That'll open a webpage, where you'll see two choices: Download the Windows app and Join on the web instead. If you join on the web, you can use either Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. Your browser may ask if it's OK for Teams to use your mic and camera. Be sure to allow it so you'll be seen and heard in your meeting.
- 2.Enter your name and choose your audio and video settings. If the meeting room (or another device that's connected to the meeting) is nearby, choose Audio off to avoid disrupting. Select Phone audio if you want to listen to the meeting on your mobile phone.
- 3.When you're ready, hit Join now.
- 4.This will bring you into the lobby. We'll notify the meeting organizer that you're there, and someone in the meeting can then admit you.
To invite someone to join a meeting, use the Invite people box to search for and invite people when you schedule or edit a meeting. Then, you can use the scheduling assistant to see times when everyone is free.
- 1.When you're in a meeting, select Show participantsin your meeting controls to see the people who were invited but haven't joined yet.
- 2.To ask someone who was invited to join the meeting, select their name > More options> Ask to join. You can also type a person's name or phone number in the search box to add someone who was not previously invited.
- 1.Select Sharein your meeting controls. Then, choose to present your entire desktop, a window, a PowerPoint file, or a whiteboard.
When you're done sharing, go to your meeting controls and select Stop sharing.
Note: If you're using a Mac, you'll be prompted to change your privacy settings before you're able to share your screen. Also, window sharing isn't available for Linux users.
Sharing your system audio lets you stream your computer audio to meeting participants through Teams. You can use it to play a video or audio clip as part of a presentation.
- 1.Select Sharein your meeting controls and then Include system audio. When you share, all your system audio, including notifications, will be included in the meeting. For more on sharing system audio, check out Share system audio in a Teams meeting.
During a meeting, you can raise a virtual hand to let people know you want to contribute without interrupting the conversation.
This feature is not available in one-on-one calls.
- 1.During an ongoing meeting, just select Raise your hand optionin the meeting controls.

Button to raise your hand
All meeting participants in the meeting will see that you've got your hand up.

Raised hand notification
The meeting presenters will receive a notification that your hand is raised, and they can lower your hand once you've had a chance to talk.
Select Show participants
to see a list of everyone in attendance. Anyone who's raised their hand will have an icon next to their name. When multiple people raise their hands, they'll be listed in the order in which they raised them.

Meeting notes are a great place to capture and share notes before, during, and after a Teams meeting.
- 1.Go to More options> Show meeting notesin the meeting controls section. If you have not taken any notes yet, select Start taking meeting notes.
- 2.Otherwise, start typing your notes. Use the controls at the top of the panel to format and lay out the text. To add a new note, select Add a new section here. Use @mentions to draw someone's attention to a specific note or assign an action item.
When you first add a note, a notification will be sent on your behalf in the meeting chat.
In a recurring meeting, the notes persist from meeting to meeting. Each meeting becomes a new section in the notes.
To access notes from a channel meeting, go to the channel where the meeting occurred and find the meeting. Beneath it, select Show notes in fullscreen.

The meeting notes are open in a Wiki tab that you can read or add to. Edit and format the tab just like you would any other Wiki tab

Following a recent update, Microsoft Teams made it much easier to add custom backgrounds. Here's how to use your own images for backgrounds within Teams.
1. Within a video call, select the More actions button (three dots).
2. Select Show background effects.

Source: Windows central
3. Select Add new.
4. Select the image you'd like to use as a background.
5. Select Open.
The image is now available to use as a custom background. We break down the steps on how to set a background below.
How to set a custom background in Microsoft Teams
Whether you're setting a background from an image you've uploaded or one of the images that are built into Microsoft Teams, the process is the same.
1. Within a video call, select the More actions button (three dots).
2. Select Show background effects.
3. Scroll down and select the image you've uploaded.
4. Select Preview to preview how your background will look (optional).
5. Select Apply or Apply and turn on video if your webcam is currently off.