99% of people would choose to work remotely, or at least part-time, for the rest of their careers.

As of April 2021, Microsoft Teams had a daily active user's figure of 145 million. Most of us have had to learn the basic ropes of Teams to overcome the hurdles of staying in touch with co-workers, family, and remote learning in education. But are you really making the most out of your Team's experience? Here are Power 365 Solutions 10 Top Tips to ensure you're utilising Teams to the best of its abilities.

‍

1. Bookmark/ “Save” Important Messages from Teams Chats

Save or bookmark important messages, conversations, and mentions to gain quick access to them when needed. To bookmark a message, simply tap on the bookmark icon in the app - to find it, type in the Search Bar “/saved” and press the Enter key or find it under your profile icon in the top right-hand corner.

‍

‍

‍

2. Create Rich-Text Messages

Sometimes rich-text messages can be useful when structuring information and make it easier for colleagues to view and to understand and key messaging. To create the rich-text message, go to the channel from where you need the message to be sent, tap the ‘A’ button on the bottom left. After tapping you’ll see a text window pop-up, where you can add and format the text.

‍

‍

3. Use the Mobile App for On-The-Go Messaging

Microsoft Teams features mobile apps for Andriod, iOS and Windows Mobile. Customers and clients can now have access to an entire workspace from their pocket and the automation of daily tasks quickly reduces the need to continuously be at a desk. There are also features on the mobile app which cannot be accessed on the desktop app such as a ‘swipe to reply’ to a message.

The app further enhances the possibility to be available at any point, or to give you something to flick through whilst waiting for the bus!

‍

‍

4. Integrate with Microsoft Planner for Simple Task Management

Microsoft Planner has become a great way to track tasks for simple task management ad to track or monitor the performance of employees, as well as a useful to-do list! Microsoft apps can be easily used inside Microsoft Teams. This allows you to reference the tracked tasks via Planner without a need for any third-party task manager. You can also use Teams to ‘’pin’’ the Planner app to any channel for easier accessibility in one click. This will make Planner displayed as a tab at the top of the channel.

‍

‍

5. Use Essential MS Teams Keyboard Shortcuts

Keywords shortcuts are used to quickly find whatever you are looking for in Microsoft Teams. To reply to a chat in the Teams app, simply press the R key on your keyboard. You can quickly attach a file to a message by just pressing Alt-A in Windows or Option-A on a Mac. To view all the keyboard shortcuts possible in Microsoft Teams, simply press Alt and the forward-slash key together (Alt-/) in Windows or Option and the forward-slash (Option-/) on a Mac or visit the website here.  

Some of our favourites include:

Go to Search = Command+E

Open Teams = Command+3

Start a new line = Shift+Return

Reply to a thread = Option+Shift+R

Accept a video call = Command+Shift+A

End Audio Call = Command+Shift+B

Rise or lower your hand = Command+Shift+K

View work week = Command+Option+2

‍

6. Use SharePoint to Store and Share Files

Chat, call, host online meetings, and collaborate in real time, whether you’re working remotely or onsite. Get one integrated solution including Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive cloud storage, and Office apps with advanced security options. Microsoft 365 becomes the single source of truth your business needs to operate effectively and efficiently.

Check out our Microsoft 365 Offering here!

‍

7. Mark messages as unread

Have you ever read a message that you don’t have time to address right away, but forgotten to reply later? Microsoft Teams gives you the ability to mark messages as unread by clicking the three dots next to a message while in a conversation or the Activity feed.

‍

‍

8. Send urgent notifications

To ensure people pay attention to your message, you can mark it as important or urgent.

Need an immediate reply? Click the exclamation point below the message box before you press send to mark a message as important. The recipient will get notifications every two minutes for the next 20 minutes or until it’s read.

‍

‍

‍

9. Survey the group with polls

Instead of typing a question into a channel, why not use a poll to gather feedback more efficiently? Click the Forms icon below the message box to create and send a poll in Teams.

If you don’t see the Forms icon, click Messaging extensions More options button, and then select Forms.

‍

‍

10. Take meeting notes

When you first add a note, a message will be posted on your behalf in the meeting chat. If you haven't taken any notes yet, select Take notes. Taking meeting notes will help keep you and other team members recap important points before, during, and after a Teams meeting. Use the controls at the top of the panel to format the text. To add a new note, select Add a new section here. You can also tag people in notes using the @mentions to draw their attention to a specific note or assign an action item.

‍

‍

Find out what you could achieve with Microsoft Teams today. Get in touch or view our Office 365 Offering here.