MS Teams is a chat-based workspace for collaboration where all conversations, files, and notes within a defined team are accessible by everyone on the team in one place, similar to collaboration tools such as Slack. MS Teams includes Guest access that can be utilized for partners, vendors, suppliers, or consultants. Each Team's available combined storage is 25 terabytes (TB).

How to Request a MS Team

Teams can be requested via a Network Access Form (NAF) and will be created by ITS. Once a MS Team has been created by ITS, the Team members will manage who has access to the MS Team. Here's how to request a MS Team or other team productivity tools such as Planner or a Shared Calendar.

How to Install MS Teams Desktop Application/Software

It is recommended to download the MS Teams desktop application. To install MS Teams desktop software, browse to webmail.heifer.org and follow login prompts to the online Office 365 Outlook portal.

Next, click the Apps selector in the upper left-hand corner and select Teams.

Important Note: The web version of MS Teams will load. You will proceed to download the desktop software (64-bit) for MS Teams. Select the banner in the upper-right hand corner to download the MS Teams desktop version. If the Download banner does not appear, access https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads to download the desktop version and/or mobile versions.

What are Teams and Channels

A team is a collection of people, conversations, files, and tools — all in one place. A channel is a discussion topic in a team. Channels are there to help keep team conversations organized. You can dedicate channels to specific topics, projects, disciplines—whatever of interest. Team Access: Anyone on the team can add/view channels, as well as participate in the conversations in a channel, and view team files.

What Can a Team Owner Do vs a Team Member

From the selected team's More Options >> Manange Team options, a team owner can can add and remove members, edit or delete a team, and change the team picture and manage overall team options/permissions under the Settings tab shown below. A team member can also add channels (conversation categories), but can only view, not add team members.

Manage Team for Team Owner menu options as shown below:

a) Members: Team owners can add and remove users. To remove a member, hover over their team role and click the X.

b) Channels: To add channels.

c) Settings: (as shown above)

Add or edit team picture.
Set team members' permissions for channels, tabs, and connectors.
Control @team mentions that notify everyone on the team. Allow @channel mentions, which notify members who have favorited the channel.
Allow usage of GIFs, stickers, and memes.

Using MS Teams
After your Team is set up by Heifer ITS, you can begin adding team members, chatting/collaborating and/or customizing your Team workspace.

After installing the MS Teams desktop software, browse to your desktop to launch MS Teams from the Programs windows or the taskbar shortcut window:

Click the Teams icon on the left-side menu bar and then open a team add and view to its channels. Note: Team members will needed to be added by a team owner, but anyone on the team can add channels ( conversation categories).
To add channel(s), click More options next to the team's name and select Add channel. Your team will start with one channel named General which will host your team's Shared Calendar if requested along with MS Teams. Use it for whatever you like. Up to 100 channels can be created per team.

Chat/Collaboration
Conversations in channels are organized by date and then threaded. Active conversations appear in bold.

Start a New Conversation
To start a new conversation within a channel: First, select a team and the applicable channel.

Add your message and press Enter or the Send icon.

Reply to a Conversation
The replies in threaded conversations are organized under the initial conversation and are easier to follow. Find the conversation thread you want to reply to. Select Reply, add your message, and press Enter. You can choose other options and Save a message by selecting the highlighted icon as shown below.

Send a Private Chat
To send a private message, select Chat icon on the side bar menu and click the New chat icon next to your search bar to start a new conversation. Type the name of the person or people you want to chat with. Then, compose your message and press Enter.

@mentions
When you want someone to receive a notification for a message you're sending, you can @mention the person. You can @mention a channel, a team, a person, or several people.

In the Reply or New Conversation box, type the @ symbol, then type the first few letters of the person's first name. In the Suggestions box, select the person. Repeat for as many people as you want to @mention. For those who you @mention , the @ symbol shows on their Team icon and in the message in their Channel as shown in the Activity and Notifications example further below.
Help Tip: To message everyone on a team or bring atttention to a channle message, in the General channel, t ype @[channel name] @[team name] to autofill the name of the team to message everyone on a team. Note: a team owner needs to turn on @team and @channel mentions for a team for them to work.

Activity and Notifications
You can easily see when someone @mentions you, likes something you've posted, or replies to a thread you've started. A number appears or increments on the Activity and Chat icons and an @ appears on the Teams icon.

Channel Tabs
After creating Teams, then Channels within those teams, Tabs are a great way to integrate the tools and services your team cares about right into a channel . They're added along the top of the conversation (just like the tabs in a web browser).

The three default tabs for new Channels are Conversations, Files, and Wiki. Conversations taking place will get rolled up into the Conversation tab. The Files tab connects to Sharepoint and allows you to easily share relevant files for the channel. The Wiki, which you can easily delete or rename as preferred tab, allows you to add organized notes.

Team Calendar

If requested, a shared Team Calendar is set up and accessible under the General channel.

To access, select the General channel from the Teams icon.

Select Team Calendar.
In the Search box, search the team's name which will auto-populate as typed, and select the applicable calendar which will then show your personal and the Team's Calendar as shown below:

To remove your calendar from the view if preferred, hover over the calendar and click the X. Then add, modify or remove events as needed.

Extended Functionality with Custom Tabs and Connectors

You can easily add more Channel tabs by clicking on the to give teammates easy access to the files, tools, and sites they use every day by connecting to other Microsoft applications such as Excel, OneNote, and more; add a website of choice via the Website shortcut tab; and connect to favorite third-party apps with Office 365 Connectors. Help Tip: You can add multiple tabs of the same kind (i.e. two YouTube tabs), but the names of the tabs must differ.

To browse/search for all available connectors, select More Options next to a channel name and then select Connectors.

Working with Files

Please Note: Files that you share in a channel are stored in your team's SharePoint folder. Files that you share in a private or group conversation are stored in your OneDrive for Business folder and are shared with the people in that conversation.

To access team files, browse to:

Select Files from the main Teams menu, and select any of the options shown below:

Or to access files by Channel, select the Files tab.

To edit files, select More Options and choose from the editing menu. Available options will be vary by file/user permissions. You can edit Office files by opening them in their respective Office or Office Online apps.

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

Guest Access in MS Teams
Please Note: Only users who have an email address corresponding an Office 365 account can be added as a guest user. Guests may include partners, vendors, suppliers, or consultants.

If you're a team owner , you can now invite guests to your team. From your teams list, just click More options next to the team name, and then click Add members and enter the guest's email address.

If your team has any guests, it will be indicated below the conversation header. Guests are identified by the label Guest . You can also see everyone's roles in the Members tab of a team.

Download Teams Mobile Apps

To download the Teams Mobile Apps, go to https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads. Or download it from the iOS App Store, Windows Store, or Google Play.

Additional Things to Know
Please Note: Office 365 Outlook Groups are not support by Heifer ITS and is not recommended for usage.

Additional Help and Support

If you need assistance with access or have any questions about security and sharing, please contact Tech Support .
Within Teams, you can utilize the T-bot Chat/Help/FAQ portal for additional assistance by b rowsing to Chat >> T-Bot >> Conversation to ask a question or type a keyword or phrase into a chat with T-Bot or selecting the Help, FAQ or Videos tab.

Additional in-depth training options can be found on Microsoft's support site.

Related Articles

Microsoft (MS) Teams User Guide

What is Microsoft Teams