Microsoft Teams is a relatively new platform (from 2017) and is perhaps the most used video conferencing program in the professional field. Microsoft Teams aims to allow office work even remotely by offering the ability to hold remote meetings, share messages, documents, show presentations and so on. If you are wondering how Microsoft Teams works then continue reading this article because I will explain, without going into too much detail and complicating your ideas, the basic principles of this platform.
Index
- How Microsoft Teams works
- How to use Teams
- Teams workgroups
How Microsoft Teams works
How to use Teams
Let’s start seeing how Microsoft Teams works and see how we can use it. You can join meetings with Microsoft Teams in several ways:
- Through the free program available for Windows and Mac in downloadable from this address
- Directly from the Teams program within Office 365.
- From smartphone via free app available for iOS and Android
- from any computer via the web from via a browser
The perfect use of Teams is through the Microsoft 365 suite because it integrates perfectly with other business tools; for example, you can schedule meetings directly from Outlook.
Regardless of the version of Teams you want to use (web or from smartphone or PC) you will need to register on the Microsoft website from this page, then you can use the credentials on all available platforms and the features present will be more or less the same.
Initial installation and setup of Teams on Windows computers is a breeze and takes no more than ten minutes following this guide. On a smartphone, simply download the app for iOS or Android and follow the on-screen instructions.
Now to understand how Microsoft Teams works it is important that you know that there is a free and a paid version; the main differences between the two versions are:
- the number of participants in a video conference (maximum 300 participants for the free version and unlimited for the paid version)
- In the free version, online meetings, video calls and integrated voice calls for individuals and groups have a maximum duration of 60 minutes per meeting or call
- file storage space (2GB for the free version per user and 1TB per user for the paid version); in the free version the shared space is 10GB
- Meeting recording (video conference recordings) available for paid version only
- additional administration tools available only for the paid version
So as you have surely understood, you can join meetings and schedule new ones too with the free version which works well and only requires a simple registration. The paid version then has different tariff plans to adapt to the needs of each organization.
Find all the plans in detail and more information directly on this page.
Teams workgroups
Now to understand how Microsoft Teams works it is important to see the main components of this platform that you will have to use in some way.
Microsoft Teams is used mostly (in a rather improper way) exclusively for video conferencing video calls but this is only one of its functions; Microsoft Teams is a platform to manage the work of the group and to do this:
- allows you to exchange information and messages between the various members of the work group ( Microsoft Teams chats)
- allows sharing of files between the workgroup
- allows group meetings ( Teams video conferences)
Microsoft Teams has been designed for teamwork for small and large companies and for this reason it can be configured to have an organization with work groups (Teams) and channels within it.
One or more people can be assigned to each work group simply by inviting them. Microsoft Teams is invited by e-mail so to add a person you will have to enter their email address.
The person invited to the team will just have to click on the link in the invitation email to join the Teams.
Now you know roughly how Microsoft Teams works and how useful it is for businesses and smartworking in general; Regardless of its functionality, you can still use Microsoft Teams even just to make video conferences and video calls.
To add participants to a videoconference with Microsoft Teams, you can send the videoconference url (a web address) or simply send an invitation. The videoconferencing service is integrated with chats where images can be sent in addition to messages.
