• Check Microsoft Teams for team work.

• NB! To log in to Teams, enter username@ut.ee, not firstname.surname@ut,ee

• An important trick in an MS Teams chat is to reply to a conversation in the same thread instead of starting a new conversation: 
  • Use the Reply field in the conversation.
  • Do not reply by writing to the field Start a new conversation.

• If you have many teams, it can be quite difficult to keep track of what's happening in all the teams.

• If you want to get the attention of a group, channel, or person, use the @ symbol in your messages.
  

• In this case, the conversation partner will receive an active notification - a red alert will appear in their menu in the "Activity", "Teams" and/or "Text chat" windows.

  

• A person who is not actively using Teams (e.g. an external participant (Guest)) will also receive a notification by email.

• If you have turned on channel notifications, you will receive notifications even if you do not use the @ symbol.

  • By default, notifications for new notifications for groups are turned off in Teams.

  • See Creating a team workspace in Teams (turn on notifications for new group messages).

Check Adding a video background in Teams.

Teams allows moving important channels to Favourites to display them on top of your Teams list. 

• Click the three dots (...) → click Move to → select Favourites. 
  

It is possible to create private channels in Teams.
When creating a new channel, you can choose whether access is available to the entire team or only to a part of it. The default is access to everyone.
To create a private channel:

• Open the Teams tab → click the Join or create team button and select Create team.
  
• When choosing a teamplate, we suggest picking Other. 
  
• To confirm, click Use this template.
  
  
• From the window that opens, select Private.
  
  
• Add a team name and click the Create button.
  
  
• To add members, type a name or email address to the box and click Add.
  
  

Check Screen sharing in Teams.

Check  Creating a team workspace in MS Teams.

• MS Teams allows adding modules to be used within a team. 
• MS Forms and Polly are suitable for voting and polls. 
• Check Organizing a vote in Teams (old). 

• Ask for advice from the e-learning specialists of the university. 
  • See Recommendations for teaching staff to replace classroom teaching with e-learning.
• See Quick Start Guide - Microsoft Teams for Education. 

See Archiving a team in MS Teams.

• It is wise to archive the workspace when the team workspace is no longer needed. 
  • See Archiving a team in MS Teams.
• If a team workspace is deleted, all the content, conversations, etc. created in the team will be lost. 
• A deleted group can be restored by an administrator within 30 days after deletion. 
  • Contact the IT helpdesk to restore a deleted group.

• MS Teams offers simple tools for producing and broadcasting video of a public seminar using its Teams Live Event function.
  • An event can have up to 10,000 viewers.
  • Viewers can watch the video and ask questions. 
• Check Organizing an event with the help of IT helpdesk

Microsoft Planner is a task and work management tool integrated into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem that helps teams organize activities, assign responsibilities, and track progress in one central location. With Planner, users can create plans, assign tasks, set deadlines, add comments and files, and gain clear visibility into project status. Its integration with Microsoft Teams enables seamless collaboration, allowing team members to manage tasks and communicate within the same workspace. 

For more information, see the Microsoft guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/planner/teams/getting-started-with-planner-in-teams

• An external member can be added to an MS Teams team as a guest, using the person’s e-mail address. 
• If the person has not used MS Teams before, he/she must first create a free account of MS Teams and can then join the corresponding workgroup. 
• Open the Team you would like to add the user → click More settings → select Add member.
  
• To add members, type a name or email address to the box and click Add.
  

Starting June 11, 2026, Teams team owners will be notified of members whose employment with the university has ended but whose membership in the Microsoft Teams team or its underlying Microsoft 365 group has been retained.

Upon termination of employment, the user account will be placed in a blocked state. Users in this state may not be visible in the Teams members view as usual, but their membership may still remain. If the same person later returns to the university and their user account is reactivated, they may regain access to the group content.

Therefore, we recommend that Teams team owners regularly check their team membership and remove members who are no longer eligible to be part of the team. If necessary, membership should be managed in Microsoft 365 group management.

• Open the Team you would like to add the user → click More settings → select Copy link.
  

• MS Teams allows configuring the rights of the team members to create and delete elements of the workgroup. 
• The following elements can be managed:
  • Allow members to create and update channels. 
  • Allow members to delete and restore channels. 
  • Allow members to add and remove apps. 
  • Allow members to upload custom apps (by third parties). 
  • Allow members to create, update and remove tabs. 
  • Allow members to create, update and remove connectors. 
  • Give members the option to delete their messages.
  • Give members the option to edit their messages.
  • Allow guests (members outside the university) to create and update channels.
  • Allow guests to delete channels.
• Open the Team you would like to add the user → click More settings → select Manage team.
  
• Click the Settings tab.
  

1. Click the three dots (...) button for More settings → select Settings.
   
2. In the window that opens, select Appearance from left-side tab and click the button next to Theme to select a theme.
   

Set the account status to Do Not Disturb.

When attending a meeting, you can open the shared screen by the presenter. 

1. To do this, click click the Pop outbutton on the menu panel.
   
2. The shared content appears in a separate window that you can conveniently place anywhere on your screen (e.g. move to another screen, change size, etc.)