Microsoft Teams Backgrounds, Tips and Tricks, and How to use Microsoft Teams Effectively
Do you know all the Microsoft Teams tricks and tips available to upgrade your collaboration experience? You’d be surprised how much you can accomplish when you go beyond the basics with your enterprise chat tool.
Even if you’ve been using for Teams for some time, you could be missing out on hidden capabilities that can easily boost your productivity levels.
Equipped with AI, video conferencing, and instant messaging, here are some handy tricks to get the most out of Teams.
Microsoft Teams virtual backgrounds
Video conferencing is a great way to bring teams together, regardless of where your users are.
However, people may be reluctant to join a video meeting if their environment is messy or distracting.
The good news? Microsoft Teams changes all that.
You can blur everything behind you in a video, for absolute privacy.
To do this, simply:
- Click on your audio and video settings screen when you join a meeting
- Choose the ellipses “…” for more options
- Tap on Blur my background
You can also add custom backgrounds like an office environment or company logo, rather than blurring out the background.
Microsoft Teams Custom Backgrounds
If you’re looking for something a little more exciting than a blur, you can customize your video with virtual backgrounds.
Microsoft introduced virtual backgrounds for Microsoft Teams in April 2020. Microsoft said it designed custom backgrounds to let you replace your real meeting background with a “fresh and bright home office.”
To find virtual backgrounds, launch a video chat and tap the … menu:
Click Show background effects.
This will bring up a sidebar with some alternative background options.
You can only use stock photos from Microsoft for now but watch this space.
For something more advanced, and to stand out in front of your boss, colleagues, or clients, you can opt for a third-party background.
To download a selection of premium Microsoft Teams backgrounds, you can choose from 300 high-quality images here.
Bridge location gaps with Microsoft Teams features
You work in a large company. It likely has multiple offices. Some could be in different countries. In the age of the freelance economy and remote working, it’s much easier to find the talent you need if you’re willing to search outside of your own country.
Whilst you benefit from an extended talent pool, it also means that you’ll need to make sure that conversations don’t get lost in translation between people speaking different languages.
Inline message translation keeps everyone on the same page and communicating in their preferred language. Just click on the ellipses next to a message to translate it.
Chat with external guests in different platforms (without leaving Teams)
Do you communicate with people outside your organization?
Do they use apps other than Microsoft Teams?
If the answer is yes to both of these questions, according to research, they’ll likely be using Slack or Cisco Webex Teams.
When this is the case, it becomes extremely unproductive moving out of Teams, into your external contact’s choice of app, and starting the conversation again.
Or even worse, end up resorting to email like it’s the 90s. (Okay, email has a purpose but you get the point).
That’s why Mio has created universal channels for Microsoft Teams with Slack or Webex Teams…
You can stay in Teams and send messages to your contractors, suppliers, or clients that use Slack or Webex.
They stay in their platform too and Mio translates the messages across platform.
And it’s not just messages that are supported…
GIFs, emojis, and message edits/deletes are all supported.
If this sounds like something you need, install your first universal channel here.
Enhance Microsoft Teams video with real-time captions
You know how to translate your Microsoft Teams messages. But what if you’re in a video call and you don’t speak the other person’s language?
Using the “Translate to” menu, users broadcasting content can choose to add captions in a specific language to suit their target audience. You can select up to 6 languages at once, which is excellent for event administrators who want to reach people from various backgrounds.
You’ll also be able to download your meetings transcript after the conversation has finished. Click on Meetings then Live Event Resources to find your transcript.
Attendees can turn on live captions by clicking Subtitles On in the lower right-hand corner of their screen.
Find Teams users instantly with @mentions
When you have questions that only a specific expert can answer, you don’t want to have to waste time searching for that individual by scrolling through hundreds of contacts.
@Mention filtration in the search bar is an excellent feature for companies with a lot of employees to cater to. All you need to do is enter the username of the person you want to reach after the @ symbol in the search bar.
Microsoft Teams will show you the user you’re looking for, as well as any group chats you’re already part of with that person.
Want to send a message? No problem. Click on the user you find and start chatting without leaving your current project or window.
Follow Teams channels to reduce information overload
Information overload is a big problem.
Not only do you have emails and phone calls to keep on top of, but you might be managing various collaboration tools, workforce optimization packages, and people too.
Following channels that matter most will help to reduce the amount of unnecessary information coming your way. To follow a channel:
- Click on the ellipses next to a channel
- Click on the Follow option
Have some fun with GIFs
When it comes to finding useful tricks, a lot of companies focus heavily on solutions for productivity and efficiency.
This means that they forget how important it is to build a unique company culture through your communication tools.
GIFs and custom reactions in your messages can help to strengthen bonds between users at a time when remote working is making face-to-face interactions less likely.
All you need to do is click on the GIF button underneath your “Type a new message” box and enter a keyword to find dozens of fun video clips.
Learn quick keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Teams
There’s nothing worse than spending twenty minutes trying to find the function you need when you’re in the middle of a meeting or working on a project. That’s why it’s always a good idea to learn the keyboard shortcuts available for collaboration apps like Microsoft Teams.
- Go to Search (move straight to the search bar): Ctrl + E
- Turn your camera off Ctrl+Shift+O
- Mute yourself: Ctrl+Shift+M
- Background blur: Ctrl+Shift+P
- Zoom: Ctrl+= to zoom in or Ctrl+- to zoom out
- Go to your files: Ctrl+6
Here are a few of the basics you need to know:
To get a complete list of all your keyboard shortcuts, enter /Keys into the search menu at the top of Microsoft Teams.
Sync Microsoft Teams with Slack or Cisco Webex Teams
If you’re using other collaborations apps like Slack or Cisco Webex Teams, you should be asking how to use them in tandem with Microsoft Teams.
Mio translates Teams messages into content that users can view on Cisco Webex Teams and Slack — and vice versa.
- Maintain threaded messages across platforms
- Route direct messages between Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex Teams, and Slack
- Support file uploads and sharing across platforms
- Manage rich text formatting across platforms
- Link public spaces and channels on Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex Teams, and Slack
Get peace of mind with Data Loss Prevention
Data Loss Prevention in Microsoft Teams appeared as part of the Enterprise Connect update in 2019. DLP is available for Office 365 users with E5 licensing, and users with the Advanced Compliance add-on.
Data loss prevention features are already available in Teams through OneDrive for Business and SharePoint. However, the latest feature is particularly useful for helping to detect sensitive information in chat messages. This is excellent for people worried about things like GDPR compliance.
To get started, visit the Data Loss Prevention section of the Office 365 security and compliance center, and click on Policy. Clicking on Create a Policy will allow you to start building your DLP strategy.
Upgrade Microsoft Teams meetings with intelligent capture
Finally, one of the best Microsoft Teams tricks we’re looking forward to is coming out later this year (2019).
To celebrate Microsoft Teams 2nd birthday, Microsoft has announced a range of new features — including intelligent capture within meetings.
If you’re writing content on analog whiteboards, and need to enhance brainstorming sessions, Microsoft Teams offers intelligent capture and “content cameras.”
Using USB cameras, Microsoft Teams Rooms service will be able to capture, focus, enhance, and resize your whiteboard images. This means that even if you’re standing in front of a whiteboard, Microsoft will still be able to show off whatever’s written behind you.
There you have it. Plenty of amazing Microsoft Teams tricks that you can use to transform your collaboration sessions!
What are your favorite tips and tricks for collaboration today? Leave a comment if there’s something we missed…
Originally published at https://dispatch.m.io on June 25, 2019.
