Getting to know Microsoft Teams (free)

Microsoft Teams (free) allows you to keep in touch with your contacts, as well as join communities, create meetings, keep track of files, and more.

Mobile Desktop

Along the bottom of your mobile screen, Microsoft Teams (free) is organized into tabs. The following is a breakdown of what features you'll find within each tab. House Chat Calendar Bell Teams free tabs

Home

Teams free communities mobile screen

The Home Teams home tab tab is where you can view and access your communities. Learn more about Communities in Teams.

Profile picture- To update your profile, go to your Profile picture and choose Edit name Learn more about how to update your profile.
Search - Find communities, chats, messages, and more. Learn how to use search.
Add Channel - Add a topic to your community. Learn how to add a channel.
Create a Community - Create a new community to bring people together. Learn more about Communities in Teams.

Under Do more in Teams at the bottom of the screen, you can:

Schedule - Select to schedule personal and community events. Learn more about how to view and schedule events in Calendar.
Meet - Select to create a meeting, share a meeting invite, copy a meeting link, and explore meeting options. Learn more about how to create a meeting with Meet.
Start chat – You can start a new one-on-one chat and group chats. To add recipients, you can search by name, phone number, or e-mail.  Learn how to send and receive messages.

Chat

Teams free mobile chat screen

The Chat Teams Community event chat tab is where you can view and access your group and one-to-one chats. Learn how to send and receive messages.

Search - Find communities, chats, messages, and more.
Meet - Select to create a meeting, share a meeting invite, copy a meeting link, and explore meeting options.
Filter - Search by Unread, Meeting, or Muted.
New chat - You can start a new one-on-one or group chat. To add recipients, you can search by name, phone number, or e-mail.

Calendar

Teams free mobile calendar screen

The Calendar New meeting button tab is where you can schedule personal and community events. Learn more about how to view events in Calendar.

If you have meeting scheduled, you'll be able to see and join your events in the Calendar tab.

If you have no meetings scheduled, you'll see these options:

New meeting - You can create a new meeting.
Community event- Select to schedule a meeting for your community.
Meet now - Select to create a meeting, share a meeting invite, copy a meeting link, and explore meeting options. Learn more about how to create a meeting with Meet.

Activity

Teams free mobile Activity screen

The Activity Teams activity tab tab is where you get the latest notifications for your chats and communities. Learn more about your Activity feed.

Activity- Keep up to date with your notifications.  Learn more about your Activity feed.
Search - Find communities, chats, messages, and more. Learn how to use search.
Mark as read - To update your messages, go to and tap Mark all as read .

Settings

You can review and manage your settings in Microsoft Teams (free). Learn more about Settings.

Select your profile picture. There you can access your profile settings, adjust your status message, and more.
Choose Settings .
Under Settings , you'll find:

Appearance - Choose your Teams theme.

Notifications - Choose how Teams will notify you about your activity and meetings.

Data and storage - Update your storage, clear app data, reduce data usage, and search settings.

Profile - Add or edit your profile image and update your name.

Messaging - Choose if you want to receive Read receipts, edit pinned chats, and other related messaging settings.

Calling - Set your noise suppression settings.

People - Sync your device contacts and manage blocked contacts.

Teams Insider - Find out how to sign up for the Teams Insider where you can check out the latest features coming to Microsoft Teams (free)

School Connection - Enable School Connection to stay on top of your child’s assignments, grades, and learning insights every month.

Help & Feedback - View our support questions, suggest a feature, and send feedback.

What’s new - This will direct you to What’s new in Microsoft Teams (free).

About - Learn about the latest version and license information, terms of use, and community standards.

Privacy - Manage how people can search for you, how your profile will appear to other users, and export your data.

Sign out - Where you can sign out of Teams.

Delete account - Where you can delete your Teams account.

Bell Camcorder 3 people Chat bubble Calendar icons

Along the left side of the screen, Microsoft Teams (free) is organized into tabs. The following is a quick highlight of each tab.

Activity

The Activity Teams activity tab tab is where you get the latest notifications for your chats and communities. Learn more about your Activity feed.

Filter - Search by name or choose from options that include Unread, Chat, Meetings, or Mutes.
Search - Find communities, chats, messages, and more. Learn how to use search.
Settings - An easy way to set up your settings in Teams. Learn more about Settings.

Meet

The Meet Video call button tab is where you can create, schedule, share, and join meetings all in one place. Learn more about how to view and schedule meetings in Meet.

Create a meeting link - Add a meeting title, then create a copy of the link to share.
Schedule a meeting - Set up a meeting where you can add details, such as the title, date and time, invite participants, and add meeting notes.
Join with a meeting ID - Use a meeting ID and passcode to join.
Meeting links- Copy the link to your community to share.

Communities

Select the Communities Teams add group name tab to view a list of your communities or create a new one to stay in touch through meetings and updates. Learn more about how you can get the most out of Communities.

Create a community - Choose a template and other customizable options to start your community. Learn how to add a community or channel.
Add channel - Channels are a great way to add specific topics to encourage discussion.
Add community banner - Edit or upload a banner for your community.
Events - Schedule events and view upcoming events.
Invite members - For community owners only where they can invite new members to your community.
Share join link - Owners and members can copy the link to your community to your clipboard so you can easily share it with anyone.
Manage community - For community owners only where they can manage members, member requests, blocked members, and additional settings.

Chat

Select the Chat Teams Community event chat tab to view and access your group and one-to-one chats. Learn how to send and receive messages.

Filter - Search by name or choose from options that include Unread, Chat, Meetings, or Mutes.
Meet now - Add a meeting title, then create a copy of the link to share.
New chat - To start a new chat, add participants and share your first message.
Files and Photos- In your chat window, you can select the Files and Photos tabs for easy searchability.
Start a group chat - Add more people to your conversation.
Video call - Choose to start a video call.
Audio call - Choose to start a audio only call.
Screen sharing - To share your screen with participants in your chat.

Chat options menu

Under More chat options Teams settings and more button , you'll find:

Open chat in a new window - Use if you want to have a separate chat window.
Mark as unread - To keep a message unread if you want to read it later.
Pin - Save a message at the top of your chat.
Block - Block a contact. This is only available in one-on-one chats.
Mute - To mute your message notifications.
Delete - To delete your chat.

If you're in a group chat, you might also see:

Get link to chat - Used to share your chat. Available in group chats only.
Leave - When you want to leave a group chat.

Calendar

Select the Calendar New meeting button tab to display your calendar and all your meetings. Learn more about meetings in Teams.

Join with an ID - Use a meeting ID and passcode to join.
Meet now - Add a meeting title, then create a copy of the link to share.
New meeting - Set up a meeting where you can add details, such as the title, date and time, invite participants, and add meeting notes.

Profile and Settings

Profile photo with hand pointing to pencil for options

Profile picture- To update your profile, go to your Profile picture to choose Edit name. Teams edit button Learn more about how to update your profile.

List of setting options with icons and names

You can review and manage your settings in Microsoft Teams (free). Learn more about Settings.

Select your More There you can access your profile settings, adjust your status message, and more.
Choose Settings .
Under Settings , you'll find:
1. General - System settings, such as suggested replies in chat and spell check
2. Appearance and Accessibility - Choose your Teams theme, emoji skin tone, app language, sign language view, and more.
3. Mobile device - Link or reconnect your phone to Teams.
4. Notifications and activity - Choose notification and activity settings.
5. Accounts and orgs - View all your connected accounts in the Teams app.
6. Privacy - Manage how people can find you, how your profile will appear to other users, view your optional connected experiences, and set your read receipts settings.
7. Devices - Audio and video settings that include choosing your speaker and microphone, as well as adjusting your mic sensitivity, camera controls, video brightness, and soft focus.
8. People - You can sync contacts and block users.
9. Files and links - Choose which browser you want links to open in.
10. Plans and upgrades - View what benefits you get from Microsoft Teams (free) and what Premium offers can offer you.
11. Teams Insider - Find out how to sign up for the Teams Insider where you can check out the latest features coming to Microsoft Teams (free)