Teams Meetings

Meetings in Teams have audio and video capabilities, and allow for face-to-face meetings at any time with up to 300 attendees. You can share your screen, files, meeting notes, and chat with participants during the meeting. 

What if I need a larger meeting?

If you want to host a webinar-style event, you should schedule a Teams Webinar. Webinars allow up to 1000 interactive attendees and 10,000 view-only attendees. For further information on Webinars, please see below:

Teams Webinar page

If you need to host a larger event, you should use Teams Town Halls. Town Halls allow the University up to 15 concurrent broadcast events with audience sizes of up to 10,000 people. For further information, please see below:

Teams Town Halls

Can I get more help with meetings? 

For detailed training videos on Teams meetings, have a look at the 'meetings' section of the LinkedIn Learning course on Teams (this requires you to sign in with your University log-in details):

LinkedIn Learning Teams Meetings training

Microsoft also have a help section on Teams meetings:

Microsoft Teams Meetings help

Creating your meeting

You can schedule a Teams meeting through Teams or through Outlook. 

Schedule a meeting through Teams

Teams Tip: You need to schedule the meeting within Teams if you want a meeting to be in a Channel.

Scheduling your meeting through Teams is quick and easy, and means you do not have to leave Teams to create your meetings.

For help scheduling your meeting through Teams, see the following guidance from Microsoft:

Microsoft help with scheduling your meeting through Teams

Schedule a meeting through Outlook

Scheduling meetings in Outlook may be most helpful if you are scheduling a meeting to be sent to a mailing list. 

For help scheduling your meeting through Outlook, see the following guidance from Microsoft:

Microsoft help with scheduling your meeting through Outlook

Note that the way you schedule a meeting through Outlook for desktop will differ depending on the device and version of Outlook that you are using. 

Further help creating your meeting

If you want more help with scheduling Teams meetings, have a look at the LinkedIn Learning video on this:

Schedule a meeting and invite attendees

Adding attendees

Attendees to Teams meetings can be internal (University of Edinburgh users) and external. 

Internal attendees

Teams is linked to the University of Edinburgh address book, meaning you can search for any University of Edinburgh user by their name, UUN, or email address in the 'add attendees' box.

External attendees

External attendees can be added to Teams meetings without adding the user as a guest to a Team. To add the external user to the meeting, type their full email address in the add attendees box.

Changing Meeting options

When you have scheduled your meeting, you can change various settings in the meeting options, including changing who has to wait in the lobby, disabling attendee cameras and mics, and setting participants as presenters. See the "Meeting Options" section below for further information. 

You can add up to 10 co-organisers to help manage your meeting. They're displayed as additional organisers in the meeting participant list and have most of the capabilities of the meeting organiser. 

Guidance on this is available on the following link, while capabilities and limitations are outlined below: 

Add co-organisers to a meeting in Teams

Co-organisers are granted many of the capabilities of the organiser, including being able to:

• Access and modify the meeting options for the meeting
• Admit users from the lobby
• Lock the meeting

Co-organisers will not be able to do the following:

• Create and manage breakout rooms (if you want another user to be able to do this, you need to set them as a 'breakout room manager' following the steps given on our Breakout Rooms webpage)
• View and download attendance reports
• Manage the meeting recording
• Edit the meeting invitation

Schedule a Webinar

Teams Webinars allow for up to 1000 interactive attendees and 10,000 view-only attendees. Attendees must also register for these events, and will by default have their cameras and mics disabled. 

You can find out more about Teams Webinars on our Teams Webinar page:

Teams Webinar

How to use the Meet Now feature

For impromptu (instant) meetings, you can use the " Meet Now" feature of Teams. 

Microsoft provide guidance on how to use the meet now feature:

Start an instant meeting in Teams

For further guidance, see the LinkedIn Learning video about on demand meetings (requires you to sign in with your University log-in details):

Initiate a meeting on demand

Teams Tip: If you are using a windows device and have both the Teams and Outlook desktop apps installed, you will have a 'meet now' button in the ribbon of the calendar in Outlook. You can use this button to start an ad-hoc meeting in Teams.

Getting a join link for your 'meet now' meeting

​​​​You can also now get a quick link to your meet now meeting to share with users that you want to join your meeting. 

To get this link:

1. In the Teams calendar, click the 'Meet now' button in the upper right of the window
2. Click 'Get a link to share' and your link will be copied to share with others
3. Click 'Start meeting'

How to join a meeting

You can join Teams meetings through:

• The meeting invite sent to you through Outlook - This invite will include a link which you can click to join the meeting
• Your Teams calendar - All meetings you are invited to will appear in your Teams Calendar. Double-click the meeting in the calendar, and click the join button to join the meeting.
• The Teams Channel - This option is only available for meetings which have been added to a Channel. You can go to the meeting post in the channel and select join.
• The meeting chat - If the meeting has begun, you will see the meeting chat appear in your recent chat list. You can join the meeting from here.  

Step by step information on how to join Teams meetings is available from Microsoft:

Join a meeting help

Teams Tip: When you join your meeting in the desktop version of Teams, the meeting will open in a new window. This allows you to continue working on other things in Teams, and allows you to easily share your Teams window if you need to. 

The pre-join screen

When you click the join button to join your meeting, you will see a pre-join screen. This screen will be different in the desktop and browser versions of Teams.

Desktop

• You can select the "camera" toggle (icon of camera) below your video feed to switch your camera on or off.
• You can select "background filters" below your video feed to add a background to your video, or to blur your background.
• The option to mute your mic before joining is under the "Computer audio" section to the right of your video feed or profile picture.
• You can also select to use phone, room or no audio in the meeting in the section to the right of your video feed or profile picture.
• You can select the "Device settings" button (icon of a cog) below your video feed, to change your device settings (changing your speaker, mic, noise suppression, etc).
• The "Join now" button is to the bottom right of the pre-join menu.

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Browser

• You can select the "camera" toggle (icon of camera) below your video feed to switch your camera on or off.
• You can select the "mic" toggle (icon of a microphone) below your video feed to switch your mic on or off.
• Select the built in settings button (icon of a cog) to change your device settings (changing your speaker, microphone, etc).

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External users can join your Teams meetings, and you can join the external meetings of other organisations. 

External users joining your meeting

You should invite the external user to your meeting, by adding their email address in the attendees/invitees box. The external user will then receive a link to join the meeting through an email. The user can click this join link to join the meeting. 

When the external user clicks the join link, they will see options to join on the browser, or on the desktop app. It is up to the external user which way they would prefer to join. 

Joining external meetings

You can join external Teams meetings. The external meeting organiser should invite you to the meeting, and you should receive an email or join link to join the meeting. 

Troubleshooting

If you experience issues joining an external meeting, or an external user experiences issues joining your meeting, try the following:

1. Log out of your existing Teams account.
2. Click the "Join Microsoft Teams meeting" link from your meeting invite email on your mobile.
3. This may open the Teams desktop app automatically, or you may be taken to a browser window asking if you want to join on the browser or through the Teams desktop app. Select which you would prefer.
4. Next, click "Join as a guest".
5. Then, type your name in the "Name" box.
6. Click "Join Meeting".

Further help with external users and meetings

Microsoft have guidance on how to join Microsoft Teams meetings as an anonymous user:

Join a meeting without a Teams account 

Dial-in by phone to a Teams meeting:

IMPORTANT: There will be additional costs to use this service option.  ​​​​

Any meeting with the option for invitees to dial-in from a landline phone will be charged by the landline telephone provider if it is used.  Therefore, attendees should carefully consider if this is the best option to join the meeting.

The option simply allows an 020 toll number which is automatically added to our meeting invitations allowing invitees to dial-in from a landline telephone, so always check with the bill payer or landline supplier about charges to this number. Unfortunately, these can vary and it is not possible for us to chart these rates for you.  Some other points worth considering about this dial-in option:  

• We can facilitate the purchase of toll-free numbers by means of an audio conference license and this can be requested via Unidesk to IS Helpline. This might be useful if you expect attendees to dial-in to your meeting but you wish to cover the cost for this option, instead of the attendee.
• Most users will likely have a smartphone, tablet or laptop and WIFI connection that lets them use the Teams app which gives the best meeting experience. In this case, they do not need to use the dial-in option.
• Guidance is available for users about how to access a Teams meeting using the Teams app:
  • How to access the Teams app
  • How to join a meeting using Teams

​​​​​Cases where a dial-in option might be more convenient for some people:

• Where internet connectivity is poor, home kit devices become inoperable, or are unavailable with no alternative
• For audio-only meetings, although the Teams app supports audio only
• When hands-free with a Bluetooth device is required

How to dial-in to a meeting 

Attendees:

1. Dial the telephone number (located at the bottom of your meeting invitation)
2. You will be asked if you are the meeting organiser; do not respond.
3. When prompted, enter the conference ID (located at the bottom of your meeting invitation).
4. When prompted, say your name.

The auto-teller will let you know if you need to wait in the lobby until the meeting organiser lets you in or you will be admitted to the meeting immediately.

What does "Find a local number" mean? 

​​​​​This is simply because the number added for dial-in to our Teams meeting is an available Toll Number which is nearest to our Office 365 tenancy (Edinburgh) so in our case, this is a London area coded number and it will be charged by your landline telephone provider accordingly. However, if you are dialing-in to a University of Edinburgh Teams meeting from another country then you might wish to change this to a Toll Number nearer to the country you are in so that the charging is lowered. "Find a local number" allows you to do this.  

Why do I have an option to "Reset Pin"?   

A pin is only required if you are dialing-in to a meeting which you have organised.  

Organiser:

You can follow the attendee steps above to start your meeting from a landline telephone using the dial-in details provided in the meeting in your calendar. You will be asked by the auto-teller if you are the organiser. You will also have to enter your pin which was provided by email telling you that you have audio conferencing with Teams. If you have lost your pin you can "Reset Pin" using the link in the meeting in your calendar and a new pin will be issued.

Known Issues:

By default, any dial-in attendee will join the meeting via the lobby (waiting/holding area) and you will be prompted by the auto-teller to admit them by pressing *21.  However, in testing, we found that you will only be prompted once and so any subsequent dial in user who is late to your meeting may still be kept in the lobby. 

• A workaround, if you're expecting more attendees through dial-in, is to simply press *21 again.
• Another workaround is to remove the lobby for dial-in attendees in the meeting settings in your Teams calendar (edit -> meeting options).

Add apps/tabs to your meeting

You can add different apps (called 'tabs') to your meetings in Teams. 

If your meeting is scheduled in advance, you can do this before your meeting. To find out how to add an app to your meeting, see the following link:

Add an app to your Teams meeting

An example of an app you can add to your meetings is Microsoft Forms. This allows you to add polls to your meetings, and set them before the meeting takes place. Other apps are also available to be added. 

Background features for your video feed

You can add a pre-added or custom background to your video feed in a Teams meetings. You can also blur your background. 

To add a custom background, select a pre-added background or blur your background, see the following instructions from Microsoft.

Change you background on desktop or browser

Change your background on mobile

There are University of Edinburgh branded custom backgrounds available for you to use in your Teams meetings. You can download the images from the link below:

University of Edinburgh branded backgrounds for Teams meetings

Meeting Options

Meeting options are available to meeting organisers before and during a Teams meeting. 

Meeting options can be accessed by double-clicking your meeting in the Teams calendar, then clicking "Meeting options" (this will either be beside the timezone information or you may have to click the ellipsis beside "Copy link"). 

The current options are:

• Who can bypass the lobby?
• Always let callers bypass the lobby
• Announce when callers join or leave
• Who can present?
• Allow mic for attendees?
• Allow camera for attendees?
• Allow meeting chat
• Allow reactions

All these options can be changed. If you make changes, remember to click "Save" at the bottom of the meeting options page when you are finished.

Who can bypass the lobby

This option is auto set to "People in my organisation and guests".

You can change this to:

"Only me" - if you want all your attendees to wait in the lobby. 

"People I invite" - if you only want people directly invited to the meeting to be able to bypass. Note this setting will disallow forwarding of the meeting invite. 

"People in my organisation" - if you only want other University of Edinburgh users to bypass but not external guest users.

We recommend you do not change this setting to allow "Everyone" to bypass the lobby, for security reasons. 

Always let callers bypass the lobby

This option is auto set to "No". We recommend you leave this setting as it is, for security reasons. 

Announce when callers join or leave

This option is auto set to "Yes". We recommend you leave this setting as it is, for security reasons. 

Who can present?

This option is auto set to "Everyone". For most meetings, we recommend that you change this to either "Specific people" (if you need certain people to be able to present) or "Only me".

Changing this setting as recommended, will add all other users as "attendees" to the meeting. This prevents them from being able to share content, record the meeting, mute, or remove other users. Changing this setting as recommended, also allows you to prevent attendees from unmuting, only allowing them to unmute when requested (note you need to apply this setting, it is not automatic). 

Allow mic for attendees?

This option is auto set to "Yes". 

Changing this setting to "No", prevents all attendees from unmuting their microphone during the meeting. This setting will only apply if you change the "Who can present?" setting above to "Specific people" or "Only me".

The Meeting organiser can then access the participant list during the meeting, click the ellipsis beside an attendees name and "Allow mic", if that user wants to speak. This may be most useful in a webinar, presentation, or Q&A type of meeting. 

Allow camera for attendees?

This option is auto set to "Yes". 

Changing this setting to "No", prevents all attendees from turning on their video feed during the meeting. This setting will only apply if you change the "Who can present?" setting above to "Specific people" or "Only me".

The Meeting organiser can then access the participant list during the meeting, click the ellipsis beside an attendees name and click "Allow camera".

Record automatically

This option is auto set to "No". 

Changing this setting to "Yes", will mean that your meeting will start recording automatically, as soon as the first person joins the meeting. 

Note - You must still inform all meeting participants that they will be recorded from the moment the meeting starts. You must do this before the participants join the meeting, so that they are able to consent to being recorded. 

Allow meeting chat

This option is auto set to "Enabled". If you do not want the meeting chat to be available, you can set this to "Disabled". However, note participants will not be able to posts any questions, files, or comments during the meeting.

Allow reactions

This option is auto set to "Yes". This means that participants can select to have a thumbs up, a heart, applause or a laughing face show as a reaction to what is being said during the meeting. This will either show over the person who selected it or float over shared content.

If you do not want this setting to be available, change the option to "No". 

Audio and Video Feeds

Audio

Turn on/off your microphone at any time during your meeting by clicking the microphone button. 

You can also change your speaker and microphone during your meeting, by clicking "More actions" (icon of 3 dots) and "Device settings".

Video

Turn on/off your video at any time during your meeting by clicking the camera button.

Hide your video for yourself

Sometimes it can be distracting to see your own video feed. Microsoft have added a feature that allows you to hide your video feed from yourself, but keep it visible to everyone else.

You can hide this by:

1. Hovering over your video feed and clicking "More options" (icon of 3 dots) that will show up over your video feed
2. Then, select "Hide for me"

Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms in Teams are separate, virtual rooms within a meeting that groups of meeting participants can move to during the meeting. These groups can then rejoin the larger meeting later. Meeting organisers can also move freely between these rooms and give them titles to specify what the rooms are for.

Breakout rooms may be particularly useful for people running workshops or other sessions that require separate group discussion. 

Further information on breakout rooms, including how to set them up, is available below:

Breakout rooms webpage.

Captions and Transcription 

For information on captions and transcription in your Teams meetings and Teams meeting recordings, please see the "Captions and Transcription" drop down below.

Large Gallery and Together Mode

Large Gallery Mode

You can now turn on large gallery mode during Teams meeting to allow up to 49 participant videos to appear at once. This feature is available on the Teams desktop app and on the Chrome and Edge browsers. On the desktop version of Teams, you will see an option to move between two pages of participant videos, allowing you to view up to 98 participant videos.

Prerequisites to enable large gallery:

• At least 10 participants must have their video turned on
• You must have "Turn on new meeting experience" checked in your settings

How to turn on large gallery mode in your meeting

Together Mode

Together mode has now fully rolled out to all users at the University and is no longer in preview mode. This feature is available on the Teams desktop app and on the Chrome and Edge browsers.

This feature can be turned on during your Teams meetings by clicking the "more actions" ellipsis on the meeting bar and selecting "Together mode".

Together mode places all meeting participants who have their video feeds on in front of a single shared background (such as a auditorium). This makes it appear as though everyone is together in one room. 

At least 5 participants must have their video feeds on to use this feature.

More information on Together mode

Lock your meeting

If you are a meeting organiser, you now have the ability to lock your Teams meeting during the meeting. When you lock your Teams meeting, no further participants will be able to join the meeting and will instead see a message telling them the meeting is locked. You can also unlock the meeting at any time during the meeting.

An example of a use for this feature is that you could choose to do this after all invited members have joined to ensure the meeting is as private as possible. 

Lock your meeting

1. While in your meeting, click the "Show participants" button (icon of 2 people) in the meeting bar
2. Then, click the "More actions" button (icon of an ellipsis) to the right of the "Participants" heading
3. Then, select "Lock the meeting"
4. A warning message will appear, click "Lock"

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Unlock your meeting

1. Click the "Show participants" button (icon of 2 people) in the meeting bar
2. Then, click the "More actions" button (icon of an ellipsis) to the right of the "Participants" heading
3. Then, select "Unlock the meeting"
4. A warning message will appear, click "Unlock"

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Meeting chat

During your Teams meetings you can use the meeting chat to chat with the other participants in the meeting. All messages added to this chat will be accessible after the meeting.

To access meeting chat during the meeting, click the chat button on the meeting bar.

Chat Bubbles

Chat bubbles show on screen during a Teams meeting, when a chat message is posted. These chat bubbles will appear for a brief time at the top of the meeting window before disappearing. The chat message will still be available to view in the meeting chat. 

If you do not want chat bubbles to show, you can turn them off by clicking "More actions" and selecting "Don't show chat bubbles". 

Disable Chat

To disable chat for your meeting open Meeting Options and change "Allow meeting chat" to disabled.

Chat membership permissions for non-channel meetings

Meeting chat membership permissions have changed for non-channel meetings. A user's meeting chat membership permission is now based on how they are added to/have accessed the meeting. 

For single occurrence meetings

Users invited to the meeting - have access to the chat before, during, and after the meeting.

Users forwarded the meeting invitation - have access to the chat before, during, and after the meeting.

Users added via the Invite someone field on the Participants pane - will have access to the chat from the time they join to the time the meeting ends. They will not be able to see chat that takes place before joining, nor after the meeting ends.

Users who are provided with a meeting link - will have access to the chat from the time they join to the time the meeting ends. They will not be able to see chat that takes place after the meeting ends.

For recurring meetings

Users who are invited to the full series - have access to the chat before, during, and after the meeting (up to the 1000-person limit).

Users who are added via the Invite someone field on the Participants pane during the meeting - have access to the chat from the time they join to the time that meeting instance ends. They will not be able to see chat that takes place after the meeting ends.

Users who are sent a meeting link to one occurrence - have access to the chat from the time they join to the time that meeting instance ends. They will not be able to see chat that takes place after the meeting ends.

How to give users access to the meeting chat after the meeting

You can give the user access to the meeting chat if they need this.

To do this:

1. Open the meeting chat in your recent chat list
2. Click "View and add participants" (icon of two people and a plus icon) in the upper right of the teams window
3. Then, click "add people"
4. Then, in the add box, type the name or email of the user who needs access.
5. Then, select "Include all chat history" and click "Add"
6. Finally, type a new message into the chat so that the user will see that chat

Noise Suppression

Sometimes you may want to be able to suppress background noise in your Teams meetings. This feature is available within Teams itself, on the desktop client version of Teams. If you are on a Mac, you may have to update your Teams desktop client to see this feature.

You can turn on background noise suppression through your device settings in the Teams desktop client.

There are different options of noise suppression that you can choose from:

• Auto (default) - The Teams app decides on the best level of noise suppression based on local noise
• High - Suppresses all background sound that isn't speech. This option may be useful if, for example, you have a window open and there is a lot of noise outside. There are some prerequisites to using this option:
  • The High option is not available where the meeting is being recorded or live captions is on
  • High requires that your computer's processor must support Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (AVX2).
  • The high option is currently not available for Mac devices using an M1 ARM processor.
  • High also uses more of your computer's resources
• Low - Suppresses low levels of persistent background noise
• Off - Noise suppression is disabled

Note - some users may experience issues in their Teams meetings when noise suppression is turned on. If you are experiencing an issue, such as other participant's voices sounding robotic, try turning off noise suppression. 

Further information on how to turn on noise suppression in Teams

Participant list

You can access a participants list within your Teams meeting. 

To access this, click the "Show participants" button (icon of people) on the meeting bar. 

From here you will see a list of participants and you will see anyone who has raised their hand to speak at the top of the list. You can also search for a specific participant by typing their name in the search box.

You can take actions on specific participants from this list, including muting them. 

Polling in your meeting

Microsoft have now added a feature allowing you to add polls before and during Teams meetings using the Forms app. 

For help with how to add the Forms app to your meeting and how to create polls before and during your meeting, see the following from Microsoft:

How to add and use the Forms app in your Teams meeting

Q&A 

You can now add the Q&A app to your meetings. This app allows you to run Q&As (similar to those available with Teams Town Halls). Your attendees can type questions into the Q&A and this can then be moderated by the meeting organiser and the presenters.

For further information on this see the following:

Add Q&A to a Teams meeting

Raise Hand and Live React

Raise hand

The raise hand option in Teams meetings is useful as it allows you to signal to the host or to other participants that you want to say something without interrupting. 

Everyone in the meeting will be able to see that you have your hand raised. 

To do this:

• Hover over the icon of a smiley face and a hand on the meeting bar
• Click "Raise hand" (icon of a hand)

You can then lower your hand by clicking on the hand icon again. 

If you are a meeting organiser or a presenter, you can lower all raised hands in your meeting by:

1. Clicking "Show participants" from the meeting bar
2. Then, clicking "More actions" (ellipsis icon) to the right of the "Participants" heading
3. Then, clicking "Lower all hands"

Live reactions

You can react during a meeting by selecting one of the available reaction emojis. When you select one of these reactions, all meeting participants will see your reaction. 

To use reactions hover over the icon of a smiley face and a raised hand along the meeting bar, and select the reaction you want. 

The available reactions are:

• Like (thumbs up emoji)
• Heart (love heart emoji)
• Applause (clapping hands emoji)
• Laugh (laughing face emoji)

Meeting organisers can turn off the ability for participants to use reactions in meeting options. 

Recording

Important Information

• A new retention policy has been added to Teams meeting recordings. This means that your Teams recordings will only be held for 2 years, after which they will be deleted. You can still download your recording within this time and upload it elsewhere if necessary.
• Teams meetings recordings are not on by default and must be turned on by someone in the meeting.

Before recording a Teams meeting

Before starting a recording you are legally required to let everyone in the meeting know that you will be recording the meeting.

Teams will also show a notification banner (shown below) across all meeting attendee's screens to tell them they are being recorded.

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We strongly recommend that you read our "Guiding principles - recording of Online and Digital Events on the Online and Digital Events pages. This will give you information on what to consider when recording meetings:

Guiding Principles - Recording of online and digital events

You should also read through our Privacy Notices for recording online and digital events, and have your attendees read them. These give information on what you should do before recording, including letting attendees know how long you will retain the recording:

Recording Privacy Statement (External Collaborators)

Recording Privacy Statement (Internal Staff and Students)

How to record your Teams meeting

Microsoft provide up to date guidance on how to record your Teams meetings:

How to record Teams meetings

​​​​​​Where is the recording saved?

Where your recording is saved depends on the type of meeting.

• If your meeting was in a channel - The recording will be saved to the team SharePoint site. It will be saved in Documents in a recordings folder with the channel name.
• If your meeting was not in a channel - The recording will be saved to the OneDrive of the person who clicked the record button. It will be saved in a folder called "Recordings"

Where can I access the recording after my meeting?

Through the Teams Calendar

You can access the recording after the meeting has ended by double-clicking the meeting in the Teams calendar. 

The recording will show under the "Details" tab. It will show as a button below the date and time of the meeting, labelled "Recording". 

From the meeting chat or channel

• If you added a Channel to your meeting - The recording will appear below the post showing the meeting information in the channel.
• If you did not add a channel to your meeting - The recording will appear in the meeting chat. This can be accessed by clicking "Chat", then clicking the chat with the same name as the meeting. 

From your OneDrive or the Team Sharepoint 

• If you added a Channel to your meeting - You can access the recording by going to the Team SharePoint site, selecting the "Documents" tab, then the folder with the channel name, and the
• If you did not add a channel to your meeting - You can access the recording by going to your OneDrive (if you were the person who recorded the meeting) and accessing the "Recordings" folder.

Share content in your meeting

Sharing your screen / window

You can share your screen during a meeting by clicking the "Share" icon (an icon with a rectangle and an arrow) located on the meeting bar. 

There are various options for what you can share, including your whole screen, a different screen if you use multiple screens or a specific window that you have open (i.e., your web browser).

For further information on sharing your screen during a Teams meeting, see the LinkedIn Learning video on screen sharing in Teams (requires you to sign in with your University log-in details):

Share your screen during a call, meeting or chat

​​​​Sharing a PowerPoint Live presentation

Note - this method of sharing is only available for .ppt files. If you have another type of presentation file, you can either change this to a .ppt file or you must share the presentation as part of your screen. 

Sharing presentations in Teams meetings have changed slightly. You can now share "PowerPoint Live" presentations. These will allow for more interactivity when presenting a PowerPoint in a Teams meeting. 

PowerPoint Live presentations are now available on both the Teams desktop app and in the browser. 

Sharing the PowerPoint

You can share a PowerPoint Live presentation during your meeting by:

• Clicking the "Share" icon (an icon with a rectangle and an arrow) located on the meeting bar.
• You will then see a list of your recently used PowerPoint files under the "PowerPoint Live" header. You can either select the PowerPoint you want to share from here. Alternatively you can find your PowerPoint by browsing onedrive or your computer, these options will appear at the bottom of the list of PowerPoint files.
• When finished presenting, click the "Stop presenting" button 

You can also share a PowerPoint from PowerPoint for the web, by clicking the Present to Teams button under the Slide Show tab. Note that before the present to teams button will work, you must have the Teams desktop app installed, the PowerPoint must be stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, and you must join the meeting.

Options when the PowerPoint is shared

When you share your PowerPoint Live, you as the presenter will see the slide you are currently presenting to the attendees in its own box, as well as all your slides in a row beneath the current slide. All other participants will only see the presented slide.

You can move through your slides by:

• Clicking the box showing the currently presented slide, moving you onto the next slide 

  OR

• Clicking the slides in the row beneath the presented box. With this method you can jump to later slides in your presentation (for example, you can jump from slide 2 to slide 5, by clicking slide 5 in the row).

You will also be able to see any notes you have added to your PowerPoint to the right of the slide you are currently presenting. All other meeting participants will not be able to see your notes, so you can add anything in your PowerPoint notes that you want to have in front of you but don't want to be visible in your slides.

Annotations and virtual pointer

Rolling out now to PowerPoint Live in Teams meetings is the ability to annotate and use a virtual pointer while sharing your PowerPoint Live. 

You can now:

• Use a virtual pointer - This allows you to point at and briefly highlight specific content in your slide, as if you were using a pointer during a live presentation
• Annotate your slides - This allows you to annotate your slides with a virtual red pen
• Highlight your slides - This allows you to highlight parts of your slides and keep them highlighted throughout the presentation

Slide Translation 

This new slide translation feature allows all meeting attendees to translate the PowerPoint Live presentation into a language of their choice. 

This will convert the slide show content into one of nineteen languages that the attendee selects. For example, the attendee can choose French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Hindi, Irish, Korean, etc. This will not change the language of the slides for anyone else in the meeting, only that attendee. For more, see below:

Microsoft guidance on live translation

Presenter Modes when sharing

When sharing a screen or window in a Teams meeting, you can turn on one of the presenter modes to change the way your content and video feed appear to attendees. 

There are 4 presenter modes:

• Content only - the default mode which shares only content
• Standout mode - this mode overlays the presenter's video feed on top of the shared content
• Side-by-side mode - this mode displays the presenters video feed beside the shared content
• Reporter mode - this mode displays the presenter's video feed in front and to the side of the shared content. It also enlarges the presenter's video feed, like in a news report. 

You can see examples of the 3 new modes below:

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When you select the share content button in Teams, you will 4 buttons below the "Presenter mode" heading, at the top of the share content window. 

• "Content only" will be selected by default
• Select Standout if you want to enable standout mode (2nd button)
• Select Side-by-side if you want to enable side-by-side mode (3rd button)
• Select Reporter if you want to enable reporter mode (4th button)
• Select the "Customise" button, to change the background in side-by-side and reporter modes

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Note

• Presenter modes are only available to turn on in the desktop version of Teams
• Attendees will only be able to see the presenter mode if they are using the desktop version of Teams
• You can only share a screen or window with presenter modes, as these modes are not currently available with PowerPoint Live. If you want to use a presenter mode with a PowerPoint presentation, open the presentation on your device and select it as a window. 

For further information on presenter modes in Teams, see the following guidance from Microsoft:

Presenter modes in Teams meetings

Include device sound when sharing

Desktop / browser

By default, when you share content in a meeting, device sound will not be shared. There is an option in Teams which allows you to turn this on, if you wanted to share a video for example.

To do this click the "Include computer sound" toggle within the "Share content" button before selecting what you are going to share.

This is available for both Windows and Mac users. 

Note - When Mac users click the "include computer sound" toggle for the first time, they will be prompted to install a driver to allow this to work. 

Mobile app

You can now include device sound when sharing your screen on the Teams mobile app. 

To do this, click the "Audio" toggle beside share screen.

Share content from camera

You can now share content directly from physical artefacts such as whiteboards and documents by sharing content from camera.

To do this:

1. Click the Share button (icon of an arrow in a box)
2. Select the "Content from camera" option below "Microsoft Whiteboard"
3. There are two key projection options:
   • Whiteboard mode - You can point your laptop webcam to your whiteboard to project it to their audience.
   • Document mode - You can attach an external USB camera, such as a document camera, mounted over a document

Further help with sharing content

For further help with sharing content during your meetings, including sharing a whiteboard and giving/requesting control of presenting, see the following:

Guidance on sharing content in a Teams meeting

Using Microsoft Whiteboard during your meetings

Spotlight participants

You can spotlight yourself or other participants in your meeting to keep them on screen for all participants. This can be useful when a participant, or multiple participants are presenting something and you want to keep their video feeds on screen. 

You can spotlight up to seven participants at once.

Microsoft provides information on how to spotlight participant videos below:

How to spotlight participants

Attendance report

You can access this report by double clicking the meeting in the Teams calendar and clicking the "Attendance" button under the "Details" tab. 

This report will be downloaded as a .csv file and will show the names of the attendees, their join and leave times, the duration they attended the meeting, their email address, and their role in the meeting. 

Recording

Information on recording during your meeting is available under the "features during your meeting" drop-down above. 

Accessing your recording after the meeting

Through the Teams Calendar

You can access the recording after the meeting has ended by double-clicking the meeting in the Teams calendar. 

The recording will show under the "Details" tab. It will show as a button below the date and time of the meeting, labelled "Recording". 

From the meeting chat or channel

• If you added a Channel to your meeting - The recording will appear below the post showing the meeting information in the channel.
• If you did not add a channel to your meeting - The recording will appear in the meeting chat. This can be accessed by clicking "Chat", then clicking the chat with the same name as the meeting. 

From your OneDrive or the Team SharePoint 

• If you added a Channel to your meeting - You can access the recording by going to the Team SharePoint site, selecting the "Documents" tab, then the folder with the channel name.
• If you did not add a channel to your meeting - You can access the recording by going to your OneDrive (if you were the person who recorded the meeting) and accessing the "Recordings" folder.

Downloading your recording

There are various ways you can download your Teams meeting recording. You can download the recording by accessing it in Teams, or by going directly to OneDrive or SharePoint. Through Teams, download recordings as follows:

1. Double-click your meeting in the Teams calendar
2. Then, the details tab will open automatically
3. Click the "Recording" box below the date and time of the meeting and your recording will open in OneDrive or SharePoint
4. Click the "Download" button on the top bar above the recording and your meeting will be downloaded to your device

Can I delete my recordings?

If you are the meeting organiser, you can delete your Teams recordings. It is recommended that you set a retention period before recording your meeting and delete the recording when you no longer need it. 

Deleting recordings saved to OneDrive 

If your recording is saved to OneDrive, your recording can be deleted in the same way you delete other files in OneDrive.

For further help see below:

Microsoft's guidance on deleting files in OneDrive

Deleting recordings saved to SharePoint

If your recording is saved to SharePoint, your recording can be deleted in the same way you delete other files in SharePoint.

For further help see below:

 Microsoft's guidance on deleting files in Sharepoint

Transcription

Transcription is now available in all types of Teams meetings.

Please note, transcription is auto-generated and there is a possibility that there will be inaccuracies in what is transcribed. There is no way to edit this transcript live in the meeting.

Transcription during your meeting

Pre-requisites

• You must be using the desktop version of Teams.​​​​​​
• Turning on live transcription will transcribe everything that is said in the meeting and who said it, so it is important that you inform all participants that you will be transcribing the meeting so that they may consent to this beforehand.

How to turn on live transcription in your meeting

To turn on/off live transcription, click "More options" on the meeting bar, then "Start Live transcription".

For further help see the following from Microsoft:

Using live transcription in your Teams meeting

When you turn on transcription all participants in the meeting will see a banner informing them that the meeting is being transcribed (as shown below). 

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Transcription after your meeting

You can download a transcript of your Teams meeting after the meeting is finished.

Pre-requisites

• You must have either selected "start live transcription", or "start recording", during the meeting.

How to download the transcript

You can download your transcription from the "Recordings and transcription" tab in the meeting entry in the Teams Calendar.

For further help see the following from Microsoft:

Using live transcription in your Teams meeting​

Captions

Captions during your meeting

Captions are available in all meetings types in Teams.

Currently, live captions are auto-generated and therefore may be inaccurate. 

Pre-requisites

Each individual who wants live captions must turn them on for themselves. One person cannot turn them on for everyone.

How to turn on captions in your meeting

To turn on captions click "More options" on the meeting bar, then click "turn on live captions". 

To find out how to turn on and off captions in Teams, see the following from Microsoft:

Use captions in Teams meetings

Captions in your meeting recording

Captions will be autogenerated for all Teams meeting recordings. 

Please note, as in live meetings, captions are auto-generated and there is a possibility that there will be inaccuracies. To edit your captions after the meeting, see "Editing captions in your recording" below. 

How to turn on captions in your meeting recording

1. Open your recording (for help finding your recording see "Features after your meeting" above)
2. Click the "Closed captions" button (CC icon) to the bottom right of the window

Editing captions in your recording

There are various different captioning services available that allow you to edit your captions. 

Currently we support 2 options:

• Media Hopper Create
• Microsoft Stream

You can use either of these options, but if your recording relates to teaching these should be uploaded and stored in Media Hopper. 

Editing captions in Media Hopper Create

How to edit your captions in Media Hopper Create

Editing captions in Microsoft Stream

 You can edit captions by following the steps in the video below:

Or, you can follow the written steps below:

1. Download your Teams meeting recording
2. Go to the link below:
3. web.microsoftstream.com 
4. If prompted, sign in with your University log-in details
5. Click "Create" from the top navigation bar of Stream
6. Then, click "Upload video" from the drop-down
7. Either drag your downloaded recording into the box, or click browse and select the recording
8. Click the "Options" drop-down, and below the "Captions" heading, make sure "Autogenerate captions" is ticked (this should be ticked automatically, but if it is not then tick it)
9. Click "Publish"
10. Wait some time for the captions to be created (Microsoft state this can take 1-2x times the length of the recording)
11. Along the top banner of the Stream window, click "My content" and select "videos" from the list
12. To the right of your video, you should see the Transcript (if this does not appear, you may need to wait longer for this to be generated)
13. Click "Edit transcript" (icon of a ben beside the search box) and select what needs to be edited
14. When you have made your changes, click "Save"
15. Once you have edited and saved your edits, the updated captions will be automatically available with your recording on Stream. To share this updated recording see the steps below under "sharing the recording with updated captions".

16. You may also want to delete the original meeting recording from the meeting details in Teams. Microsoft provide in-depth guidance on this below: 

    Deleting your meeting recordings

Sharing the recording with updated captions

Media Hopper Create

How to change privacy levels on your Media Hopper Create recordings

Microsoft Stream

To share the recording with updated captions you must give permission to view the recording to specific people, to a Team, or to everyone at the University, depending on who needs to see the recording. Note, to give permissions to a team, you must search for the team under "Groups" not "Channels". 

See the following guidance from Microsoft on giving permissions in Stream:

Giving permissions in Stream

Some useful information about etiquette and good practices in hybrid meeting or events are published on:

Hybrid Meetings Etiquette | The University of Edinburgh

Turn off your video if you don’t need it - If the video and audio quality of your online meeting is poor, then turn your video off.

Maintain good information security practices - Make sure you don't have any sensitive documents or other information in sight of your camera. You can blur your background during Teams meetings by:

• Clicking "More actions" (icon with 3 dots)
• Then, selecting "Blur my background"

If you’re sharing your screen make sure you close any applications which display sensitive information before you share.

Mute your microphone when you join  - Have your microphone muted when you join a meeting and only turn it on when you start talking. 

Mute your microphone during the meeting - Whenever you’re not talking during the meeting, mute your microphone to save the other meeting attendees from hearing any background noise. 

Create an agenda for your meeting - Creating an agenda before a meeting can help prevent meeting attendees from cross-talking.

When asking questions direct them to particular people - If you have a question it may be best to ask a specific meeting attendee, rather than asking generally and having everyone talk over each other. 

Have attendees use the "Raise Hand" icon if they want to ask a question -This can prevent attendees from talking over one another and allows the meeting organiser to keep the meeting structured.

Tell participants if you record your meeting - Recordings are not on by default, it is a choice to turn on meeting recordings. If you want to record a meeting, you legally must tell your participants before you begin recording and let anyone who comes into the meeting later know that they are being recorded. If you are unclear on this, please consider your own local guidance on data collection, or University policy on this. 

Set a retention policy for your meeting recordings before recording - We recommend that you decide how long you will be retaining the meeting recording before you record. This will allow you to tell your participants how long you will be keeping the recording for and will allow you to delete it once this time has passed. Please note, recordings stored in OneDrive or SharePoint will be retained for 2 years before being automatically deleted.

Also the following LinkedIn Learning videos (requires you to sign in with your University log-in details):

Etiquette for video meetings

Running a productive online meeting​​​​​

Please read through the following information to help keep your meetings in Teams private.

Guiding principles of privacy in meetings

Misuse could lead to disciplinary - Listening to a meeting which you are not invited to join could lead to disciplinary action against you. Meeting organisers can identify attendees joining their meetings in Teams and will know if you join. If you accidentally join a meeting to which you were not invited, you should leave immediately and inform the meeting organiser.

Limit who you send a meeting invite to - Meetings in Teams are like any other resource, if you provide people with a link to the resource (in this case a Teams meeting) then they are able to use that resource. Therefore, we recommend that you think about and limit who you send join links to. 

Make your meeting "private" in Outlook - by default, if you include your link in a meeting in your Outlook calendar, then other staff or students can see the link and could join your meeting unexpectedly or accidentally. If you host a meeting which deals with sensitive information, make the meeting private in your Outlook calendar. The meeting will then show in your calendar with a padlock beside it. Guidance on making your meeting private is available from Microsoft:

How to make your meeting private in Outlook

Anonymous users will wait in a lobby - If you have an anonymous user (someone who doesn't have a University of Edinburgh account and is not a guest user), the anonymous user will be sent to wait in a "lobby" from which the meeting organiser can either accept or reject them. Make sure you know who the anonymous user is before accepting them. 

Dial-in users will wait in a lobby - If you are set up as a conference meeting organiser and have someone dialing into your Teams meeting, they will also be sent to the lobby before accessing the meeting. From here the meeting organiser can accept or reject them. Make sure you are expecting someone to dial in before accepting them. 

Meeting organisers should verify attendees during the meeting - We recommend that if you are the meeting organiser, you should verify that everyone attending the meeting is supposed to be there frequently during your meeting. Guidance on how to do this is included below.

Lock your meeting when all participants have joined - We recommend that meeting organisers lock their meeting when all expected participants have joined. This will prevent anyone else from being able to join the meeting. Guidance on this is available under the "Lock your meeting" drop-down above.

Privacy guidance for Meeting organisers

Meeting Options before your Meeting

If you are a meeting organiser then you can access meeting security options after you have set up and sent your meeting invite to your attendees. 

Access your calendar in Teams, locate your meeting, and click on it. Then, click the "Meeting Options" button beside the Time Zone information (this will open a new page in your browser).

The meeting options are:

• "Who can bypass the lobby" - this will be set to "People in my organisation" which means that anyone who does not have a University of Edinburgh or guest account will be sent to a lobby before being accepted to the meeting. Always keep this option set to "People in my organisation" for security reasons (as shown below).​​​​​
• "Always let caller bypass the lobby" - this will be set to "No", this means that people who dial in to your meeting (if you have this feature set up) will always be sent to the lobby and the organiser will have to accept them to the meeting. Always keep this set to "No" for security reasons (as shown below).
• "Announce when callers join or leave" - this will be set to "Yes", this setting means that if someone were to join your meeting you will always know about it. Always keep this set to "Yes" for security reasons (as shown below).
• "Who can present" - this will be set to "Everyone", this setting means that everyone in your meeting has the same permissions as the meeting organiser. All meeting participants will be added as "presenters" by default. We recommend that you change this setting to "Specific people" or "Only me" so that participants will be added as "attendees" with fewer permissions. For further information on the various roles in Teams meetings see this page.

To change participant roles:

1. First, click "Everyone" beside "Who can present" to open a drop down list
2. Then, click "Specific People" or "Only me"
3. Next, if you selected "Specific people" typing the names of the participants that you want to be presenters into "search for participants"
4. Finally, click "save" at the bottom of the window

Verifying attendees during your meeting

If you are a meeting organiser, you should check who is attending your meeting frequently during your meeting. This allows you to verify that everyone attending is supposed to be there, just like in a physical meeting. To do this, click the "Show participants" icon (icon of 2 people) on the meeting bar, and check the meeting attendees listed under "Currently in this meeting". You will see their name, their profile picture, their contact details and department, when you hover over their profile picture or initials.

If there is someone attending your meeting who should not be, you will be able to see them.

Scheduling meetings in a Private Channel

The ability to schedule private meetings is likely coming to Teams in the future. 

Upvote this feature to help Microsoft prioritise its release:

Support to host a meeting  in a Private Channel

Currently there is no timeframe for release of a private meetings feature. However, Microsoft has announced that they're working on it.  You can place a 'watch' on articles relating to this so that you will be alerted by email if the status changes.  Further related articles and a work-around are included below:

Scheduling meetings in Private Channels query

Up to date information on Private Channels

Workaround to schedule meetings in private channels

There is a workaround that allows you to schedule meetings in private channels before the feature is implemented by Microsoft. 

To do this:

1. Access your Team and your Private Channel
2. Then, click the "Meet Now" button (icon of a video camera) on the bar below the "Start a new conversation" box
3. Then, type your Meeting title into the "Want to add a subject?" box that appears click "Meet now"
4. Then, copy the meeting join info by clicking the "Copy join info" button (icon of 2 linked chains) beside the "Invite someone" box on the right of your window
5. Next, hang up the meeting by clicking the "Hang up" button (icon of a red telephone)
6. Then, open your Outlook, change to calendar view and create a new Outlook meeting invite
7. Next, manually add everyone in your private channel to the meeting invite
8. Then, add the rest of your meeting details and paste the join info that you copied earlier into the message
9. Next, send the Outlook meeting invite
10. Then, when the meeting is due to start, click the meeting in your Outlook calendar
11. Finally, click the "Join Teams meeting" button in the message

A video tutorial for this workaround has been posted to YouTube:

Scheduling meeting in Private Channels work around video

Can I use Microsoft Teams for teaching?

At the University of Edinburgh, we recommend that you use Collaborate for any content related to teaching and curriculum. Collaborate is integrated with the learning environment and so gives a much more seamless experience for your students.  

If you need further information and help with using Collaborate for teaching, please see the following pages on the University website: 

Collaborate – Virtual Classroom.  

Generally, Microsoft Teams should be used at the University for non-teaching content. However, if you need to use Microsoft Teams to meet with your students then we have some guidelines and recommendations that you should familiarise yourself with before meeting with your students. These guidelines and recommendations will show you how you should prepare your meetings and what you can do whilst in your meetings to help keep your students safe. 

What are the guidelines and recommendations?

Before your meeting

How can I make sure Teams is secure for my students? 

Keep Teams on your devices updated – if you use the desktop or mobile versions of Teams, make sure you check frequently that you have the most up-to-date version. You should also ask your students to do the same. Keeping Teams updated on all your devices makes sure you have all newly released features of Teams (including security features) and the best protection. Normally, updates to the desktop app will be installed automatically, but you can check manually by following Microsoft’s steps in the link across. For further information please see below:

“Guidance on updating Teams”.  

How can I make sure my meetings with students are kept private?

Meetings in Teams are very secure. However, examples of some steps you can take to keep your meetings private are:

• limiting who the invite is sent to
• making your meeting private in Outlook
• checking your attendees frequently.
• reading the guidance below:
• “Privacy and your meetings”. 

Can I change my Teams meetings settings so that my students have less permissions during our meetings?

Before your meeting we strongly recommend that you change the “Who can present?” meeting option to "only me" or "specific people". This way you can set roles, allowing yourself to be the presenter and your students to be the attendees. This means that only you can record, share content, and mute all attendees. For further information and help with this please see the dedicated section under our “Teams Meetings FAQs”, linked below:

“Who can present at my meetings?”

Can I have my students wait in a lobby before our meetings?

Change who can bypass the lobby in your meetings – If you would prefer to admit your students one by one to your meetings you can change the “Who can bypass the meeting?” meeting option to "only me" before your meeting. This means that all your meeting attendees will wait in a lobby until you admit them. For further information, please see:

“Can I change who has to wait in the lobby in my meetings?” 

During your meeting

Are there guidelines if I want to record my meetings with my students?  

You can record your meetings with your students, and by following the steps above under “Change the roles of your students in your meetings”, only you will be able to record the meeting. Please note that if you intend to record your meetings you will have to get your student’s consent to record their videos or have all your students turn their videos off.  Please familiarise yourself with the following guidance before doing so: 

“Guiding Principles – Recording of online and digital events” 

“Recording your meetings”  

What guidelines should I follow during my meeting? 

Check the list of participants in your meeting frequently to make sure you know who is attending, as explained below: 

“Privacy and your meetings”. 

Ask your students to pin your video. This way they will always see your video no matter who is talking. Information on pinning videos is available below:

Customise your meeting view.  

Mute all your students at the start of your meeting to prevent background noise.

What should I do if I want my students to present something during the meeting? 

If you want your students to be able to present during your meeting you can do this. We recommend that you still change the meeting roles before your meeting so that all students are added as attendees (read “Change the roles of your students in your meetings” above for this). Then, during the meeting you can change the student who needs to present to a presenter and back to an attendee when they are finished presenting.  

Ending your meeting

How should I end my meeting? 

When your meeting is over click “End meeting” instead of “Leave meeting” by clicking the drop-down arrow beside leave meeting. This ends the meeting for your students as well as for you.

Further Help

For in-depth, step-by-step guidance on keeping your students safe while using Teams, please read the following guidance from Microsoft:

Keeping students safe while using meetings in Teams for distance learning

If you are planning a live session you may want to first consider using the University's lecture recording or virtual classroom tools (Collaborate and Zoom), they all integrate with Learn, allowing events to be embedded in the course and easily found by students.   If you do decide to use Teams for live tutorials there are some things you should consider in your planning. Have a look at the Teams for Teaching webpages to find out more:

Teams for Teaching