Get Started
Guidance and videos introducing Microsoft Teams to help you get started using Teams.
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform that is part of the Office 365 suite. Teams allows you to easily chat with colleagues, upload and collaborate on files, hold audio and video meetings and integrate other apps within the communication space.
Key Features of Teams
- easily reach out to colleagues
- collaborate on documents, schedules, plans or notes
- @mention someone to get their attention
- initiate and participate in live group conversations, meetings and webinars
- chat privately
- feed activites from your other apps (such as Planner, Forms, OneNote, SharePoint) to your Team
- built in compliance for data loss prevention and privacy
If you are new to Teams or just want to learn more, Microsoft have created an informative video to introduce you to Teams and it's features:
Why should I use Teams?
There are many different reasons that you should use Teams, but some general reasons picked up from our user cases are:
- the ability to work remotely with colleagues
- less email communication preventing your inbox becoming cluttered
- collaborative document editing
- uses your University log-in details
- easy to use
- integrated with other Office 365 apps
We've published use cases from staff and students across the university on our Teams use cases page. We would encourage you to have a look at this page to learn about others experiences of using Teams.
For help with using Teams there are various resources that you can access.
Teams Training Webinars
If you want extra help with Teams you can book a place on one of our "Getting Started with Teams" training webinars. These are open to all staff and students at the University of Edinburgh.
To book a place on one of these webinars, please search for "Getting started with Teams" on Events Booking:
Microsoft Guidance and Demos
Microsoft have created a lot of comprehensive guidance on using Microsoft Teams.
Interactive Demo of Teams
Learn how to use Teams from the basics from the link below:
Teams support site
Teams support offered by Microsoft:
Basic Guide
You may also want to read Microsoft's guidance on the basics of Teams:
Our Teams webpages
Our Teams webpages also contain guidance, including various links to Microsoft's step-by-step guidance on various features of Teams:
Chat, Teams, Channels and Apps - contains links to Microsoft guidance on the chat, teams, channels and apps features of Teams
Teams meetings - contains links to Microsoft guidance on various features within Teams meetings and Live Events
LinkedIn Learning Teams Training
For new users or those who would like to learn more about Teams, we recommend you have a look at the following training collection from LinkedIn Learning. You can move through the training videos at your own pace and stop and start them whenever you want. LinkedIn Learning requires you to sign in with your University log in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and password).
Microsoft Teams Essential Training
PDF Guide
A comprehensive pdf guide has been created by Digital Skills to help you with all aspects of Teams, you can download the pdf here:
Getting Started with Microsoft Teams pdf guide (3.75 MB PDF)
Pre-requisites to using Teams
Whilst core features are shared consistently across platforms or web browsers, not all features will be available to every device operating system.
The following guidance shows the hardware requirements for different operating systems:
Hardware requirements to use Teams (Microsoft site)
Access Teams through a web browser
Microsoft Teams is supported only on the latest browser versions (and most recent previous release), please make sure to update your browser.
The following guidance shows the web browsers which support Teams, as well as what features may be missing from certain browsers / browser versions:
Features available on different web browsers (Microsoft site)
To access Teams on the web:
- Go to teams.microsoft.com
- Then, if prompted, log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password)
- You may see a "Download the Teams desktop app and stay better connected" page, click "Use the web app instead"
Accessing Teams through the desktop client:
Windows:
Download the desktop app (Windows)
If prompted log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password)
Mac:
Download the desktop app (Mac)
If prompted log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password)
Linux DEB:
Download the desktop app (Linux DEB)
If prompted log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password)
Linux RPM:
Download the desktop app (Linux RPM)
If prompted log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password)
Accessing Teams on a mobile device
Note - Microsoft will be ending support for Teams mobile on iOS versions 13 and below from October 2021. If you use Teams mobile on your iOS device, and use iOS version 13 or below, please consider updating your iOS to a newer version.
- Access your phone's app store (Apple App store for iOS, Google Play store for Android, Windows store for Windows)
- Then, search for "Microsoft Teams"
- Next, download the "Microsoft Teams" app
- If prompted log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password)
You can use either, or both, the desktop or web version of Teams, as both share the same core features.
However, there are certain features of the desktop app that are not available on Teams for the web.
These features are mainly related to Teams meetings, webinars and live events. For example, the following features, among others, are not available on Teams for the web:
- Share system audio
- Reduce background noise
- Set up breakout rooms
- Produce live events
A full list of the differences between the platforms is available on Microsoft's Teams features by platform.
Teams has a simple key feature based navigation system across all versions of the programme (desktop, browser and mobile app).
Where is the Navigation bar?
Browser and Desktop
The navigation bar will be along the left side of the Teams window, with each icon on the navigation bar referring for a different feature of Teams.
Mobile App
The navigation bar will be along bottom of your phone screen, with each icon on the navigation bar referring to a different feature of Teams.
Teams can be navigated easily by selecting the icon from this navigation bar, that you want to use (the functions of each of these icons are explained below). The image across shows what the navigation bar looks like.
What do the icons on the navigation bar do?
Activity
The activity feature of Teams is accessed through the activity icon and shows your most recent activity in Teams.
Chat
The Chat feature of Teams is accessed through the chat icon and allows you to:
- chat privately with other users individually or in groups
- continue previous chats
- collaborate on files in your chat
- audio/video call individuals or groups
Teams
The Teams feature of Teams is accessed through the Teams icon and allows you to:
- access the Teams you are a member of
- join and create new Teams
- see notifications in your Teams
- add and contribute to conversations in your Teams
Calendar
The Calendar feature of Teams is accessed through the calendar icon and shows your Outlook calendar.
Any appointments/meetings that you have added to your Outlook calendar will appear here and you can create new Teams meetings here.
Calls
The Calls feature of Teams is accessed through the calls icon and allows you to:
- make audio or video calls to your colleagues
- add speed dials
- add contacts
Files
The Files feature of Teams is accessed through the files icon and allows you to access:
- recently opened files
- files saved to your OneDrive
- files that have been added to your Teams by other Team members.
Your Profile Picture / Initials
Your profile picture (or initials if you don't have a profile picture) is in the top right corner of the Teams window. This has recently been changed by Microsoft.
The menu under your profile picture / initials allows you to:
- Change your profile picture
- Set your availability status indicator and message
- See your saved posts
- Switch between tenants (if you are a guest in another organisations tenant, you can switch to that tenant here)
- Sign out of Teams
Settings and More
To the left of your profile picture you should see the "Settings and more" icon (icon of 3 dots). This menu is a recent addition to Teams, and some features that were previously under the profile picture menu have moved here.
From this menu you can:
- Access your settings
- Change the zoom settings of your Teams window
- Check for updates
More Added Apps
The more added apps icon (...) allows you to access other apps that have been added to your Teams. For example, if you have added tasks by Planner you may see this here.
Apps
The apps icon in the bottom left of your screen (labelled with 4 squares) takes you to apps that can be added to your Teams
Help
"Help" in the bottom left of the Teams window (icon of a question mark) will open a drop down menu:
- Topics - for help from Microsoft
- Training - to learn how to use Teams better
- What's new - new Teams features
- Suggest a feature - suggest something you think should be added to Teams and up vote other suggestions
- Report a Problem - report issues with Teams to Microsoft
- Ask the community - ask other Teams users
Is the mobile app different?
Yes the mobile version of Teams is slightly different.
3 Lines Icon
On the upper left of your screen is an icon with 3 lines (as shown in the image across)
Clicking this brings up further options and allows you to:
- change your avaliability status
- set an out of office message
- change the notification settings of the app
- access your settings (where you can find Teams help and sign out of your account)
Microsoft Team offers different communication spaces. Please first take a look at the differences in the following website.
Information about Teams, Channels, and Chats (Microsoft Site)
Chat Spaces
Generally start with a new chat, rather than a Team or Channel.
- Chat is an instant messaging service and can be used for day-to-day communication with your colleagues
- Chat spaces can be for one-to-one or small groups (20 or less) of colleagues that have a specific focus
- Chat spaces support ad-hoc stakeholders and allow document sharing and collaboration but do not support the multi-channel communication of a Team space
Team Spaces
Teams are for discrete groups of users who work together on an ongoing basis across a range of issues and topics.
- Team spaces allow you to have conversations, collaborate on documents, make announcements and plan tasks
- The key limitation to these spaces is that adding new users gives access to the full scope of the Team (excepting Private Channels) so are not suitable for engagement with ad-hoc stakeholders
- If you decide that you want to create a Team, start simple and do not be tempted to create too many channels from the outset.