Teams: Using Teams and Channels

Video Overview

What are teams and channels?

On the left rail of the Teams application, you have many options. This article focuses on teams and channels, which are displayed when you click the Teams icon. 

Teams

• A team is a group of people gathered to get something big done in your organization. Team membership could be based on department, project team, building location, job duties, or common interests. 
  • Learn more, including how to create or join a team at Working in teams 

At this time, students and employees are in different organizations. Which means students cannot be added to employee teams, but you can still invite them to a meeting when desired

Channels

• Each team is made up of channels, which are the conversations you have with your team mates. Each channel is dedicated to a specific topic, department, or project.
  • Learn more, including hot to create and use channels at Working in channels 

Benefits of using Teams and channels

• Promotes teamwork - Everyone is included and it is easy to catch up new team members who can see the history
   
• Less email- Use a post to have a discussion with team mates and co-edit files in real-time
   
• Increased visibility- Everyone on the team knows what is happening (like the cc: line of an email)
   
• @mentions- Really easy to mention people and get their attention (like the to: line of an email)
   
• Easily searchable- Find old posts by searching Teams and filtering results
   
• File storage- Files are organized by topic (using channels) and stored in a SharePoint site (rather than hidden in personal email accounts)
   
• Tabs/Integrations- Make the team a one-stop shop for your members by adding commonly accessed files, websites and apps to each channel

Need more help? 

Additional resources for this topic can be found here: Microsoft support for Teams and Channels