Get Started

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

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.

Teams Use Cases page

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:

Event 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 Interactive Demo

Teams support site

Teams support offered by Microsoft:

Teams help and support

Basic Guide

You may also want to read Microsoft's guidance on the basics of Teams:

Microsoft Teams basics

Our Teams webpages

Our Teams webpages also contain guidance, including various links to Microsoft's step-by-step guidance on various features of Teams:

 Click below to view Microsoft guidance on the chat, teams, channels and apps features of Teams:

Chat, Teams, Channels and Apps

Alternatively, click below for Microsoft guidance on various features within Teams meetings and Live Events:

Teams meetings 

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 regularly update your browser. 

The following guidance shows the web browsers which support Teams, as well as what features may be missing from certain browsers/versions:

Features available on different web browsers (Microsoft site) 

To access Teams on the web, first, click the link below:

Access Teams on the web

1. If prompted, log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password)
2. If you 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).

Accessing Teams on a mobile device

Microsoft does not support Teams mobile on iOS 13 and below. To check your iOS version:

1. Go to the Settings app.
2. Click 'General'.
3. Click 'About'.
4. Your current iOS version will appear below your device's name. 

If it is below 13, please consider updating your iOS, using a different device, or opting for the web version instead. If your iOS is sufficiently updated, you can:

1. Access your phone's app store (Apple App store for iOS, Google Play store for Android, Windows store for Windows).
2. Search for 'Microsoft Teams'.
3. Download the app.
4. If prompted, log-in using your University log-in details (UUN@ed.ac.uk and your password).

You can use either, or both, as they 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 Town Halls (large-scale 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
• Host Town Halls 

A full list of the differences between the platforms is available below:

Microsoft's Teams features by platform.

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Teams has a simple navigation system based on key features across all versions of the programme (desktop, browser, and mobile app).

Where is the Navigation bar?

Browser and Desktop

The navigation bar is found along the left side of the Teams window, with each icon on the navigation bar representing a different feature of Teams. 

Mobile App

The navigation bar is found along the bottom of your phone screen, with each icon on the navigation bar referring to a different feature of Teams. 

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Teams can be navigated easily via the navigation bar pictured above. Simply select the icon that you want to use. The functions of each icon is explained below to help you.

What do the icons on the navigation bar mean?

Activity

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The activity feature of Teams is accessed through the bell icon. Clicking this shows your most recent activity in Teams.​​

Chat

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The Chat feature of Teams is accessed through the speech bubble 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

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The Teams feature 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

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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. You can also use it to create new meetings. 

Calls

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The Calls feature of Teams is accessed through the telephone icon and allows you to:

• make audio or video calls to your colleagues
• add speed dials
• add contacts

Files

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The Files feature of Teams is accessed through the paper 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.

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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 organisation's tenant, you can switch to that tenant here)
• Sign out of Teams

Settings and More

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To the left of your profile picture you should see the "Settings and more" icon (represented by 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 is also shown by three dots (...) and is found on the navigation bar, as opposed to the "Settings" icon described above which is found next to your profile picture. This function 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 these 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:

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• 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

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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 availability 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 - do not be tempted to create too many channels from the outset!