What is Microsoft Teams?

• Microsoft Teams is a virtual collaborative workspace that allows you to connect to colleagues online. You can use this tool to meet, call, and Chat. A Team in Microsoft Teams is a group of people, content, and tools that work collaboratively to achieve a goal or business outcome.

Can I create my own Team?

• No, to preserve the structure and efficiency of the NWU Teams environment, the creation of Teams will be limited to NWU IT according to the identified NWU structure.  Please log a support ticket to request a new Team.

When can I request a Team?

• Any employee can request a Team, and it will be created once the need for it is established.

What is the difference between Teams and Channels in Microsoft Team?

• A Team in Microsoft Teams is a group of people, content, and tools that work collaboratively to achieve a goal or business outcome. Each Team consists of Channels where most of the work gets done. For example, if you were creating a folder structure, your department would be the Team, and the divisions within that department (i.e., Finance, HR, IT, etc.) would be the various Channels.

   

  This video provides best practices for creating channels.

What is the reason for the MS Team migration?

• The migration is to move away from staff365.msfed.nwu.ac.za domain to the nwu.ac.za domain. This will combine all Microsoft platforms into one login domain (nwu.ac.za). For information, see the guide.

How do I rename my Team with the new naming convention?

TAKE NOTE: We are currently migrating the existing Team sites with their channels.  The proposed naming convention structure is for the new Microsoft Teams Environment. 

How can I manage my Team effectively?

•   As a Team owner you can manage members, Channels and settings. View these detailed steps to add and remove members, edit Channels and settings.

Can I change my Team's icon?

•   Yes, you can upload an image as your Team icon.

Are all Teams public?

• At the NWU, IT will create all Teams, which means all Teams are private for security and privacy reasons.

How do I leave a Team?

• Go to the Team you would like to leave and click More options ··· > Leave the Team. 

Can I add tabs to a Team?

• You can add additional tabs by clicking the + next to the default Posts and Files tabs.

My New Teams Meeting icon doesn’t display.  How can I fix this?

When I want to schedule a Teams meeting in Outlook, my New Teams Meeting icon doesn’t display.  How can I fix this?

Turn on the Teams Meeting add-in:

•    In Outlook select File > Options > Add-ins > Manage, select “Disabled items”, and then Go.
•    If you see Teams listed under Disabled Items select it, and then select Enable.
•    Restart Outlook and confirm if the add-in is working.

Don’t want every meeting to be an online meeting, how do I fix this?

When scheduling a meeting in Outlook a Teams link is automatically added to my meeting invite.  I don’t want every meeting to be an online meeting, how do I fix this?
 

• In Outlook select File > Options > Calendar > Calendar Options

• Select Add Meeting Provider

• Untick Add online meeting to all meetings

Schedule meetings in the new environment

• Meetings can be scheduled from either MS Outlook and Teams (after the signing in procedure has been completed).

What happen to my existing meetings in the new environment?

• Meetings that were scheduled from Team in the old MSFed environment have to be rescheduled. The meeting link won’t be available any longer.

When do I create Channel?

• Decide whether you need a Public or Private Channel by revering to the description below:

   

  When do I create a Public Channel?

  When you create a Channel in a Team that is open to everyone in that Team, then it is a public Channel and all members in the Team can see whatever is in that Channel.

  When do I create a Private Channel?

  If you want a focused place to discuss sensitive information such as budgets, resourcing, strategic positioning, or want a space where only certain individuals (members) are to have access to that information, create a Private Channel for your Team.                       

Can I reorder Channels listed in my Team?

•   You can reorder your list of Channels by clicking More options ··· Pin. Reorder by dragging the Teams to your preferred layout.

How do I use a Channel to communicate?

• You can start a new conversation, respond to incoming Chats and even edit a file all in a team channel. You can also use a pin to highlight important information by hovering over the message and clicking ··· More options > Pin. All pinned items are visible in the Channel info pane located at the top right of the Channel.   Pinned posts appear below the names of those who recently interacted with the Channel.

How do I notify the whole group and make an announcement?

•   When you need to alert a Team or Channel about something you are posting, use @name. You can also make an announcement using the Teams compose toolbar. Remember, you can use a pin to highlight important information by hovering over the message and clicking ··· More options > Pin. All pinned items are visible in the Channel info pane located at the top right of the Channel.  Pinned posts appear below the names of those who recently interacted with the Channel.

Can I restore a deleted Channel?

• Click More ··· next to the Team where the Channel was created in > Manage Teams. Click the Channels tab and under the Deleted list, click the Restore button next to the applicable Channel. Confirm you would like to Restore the Channel. The Channel will appear 24 hours later.

Can guests be added to Private Channels?

• A Private Channel can be created within a Team. Only the Team owners and members of that Private Channel can view its content. A guest can be added to a Private Channel as long as they are already a member of the Team in which the Channel resides.

How do I search for content in Channels?

• Go to the channel where you would like to search for content and press CTRL F on your keyboard. /find <your channel name> will appear in the Search box at the top the Teams window. Enter search criteria and press Enter. Search results will appear in the left column of the window.

• You can also search directly in the Teams Search box. Enter /find, the name of a Channel or Chat as well as the search criteria. Press Enter. Please note that this search option does not allow you to search Chat messages/posts in a General channel.

• Alternatively, use a pin to highlight important information by hovering over the message and clicking ··· More options > Pin. All pinned items are visible in the Channel info pane located at the top right of the Channel. Pinned posts appear below the names of those who recently interacted with the Channel.

How do I move or copy multiple files between Channels without having to upload this individually?

• Select the files you want to copy by clicking the radio buttons when you hover your mouse to the left of the file name.
• The top toolbar allows you to Download, Delete, Move or Copy. Select the appropriate one.
• A window with the current file structure appears. Click the arrow to view all the Channels in the current Team. Click the arrow again to move content to a different Team.
• Select the applicable Channel and click Move.

When do I create Chat?

• When you want to Chat one-on-one (private chat) or with the whole Team or Channel (public chat).