Getting Started with Microsoft Teams

Follow these steps to get rolling with Microsoft Teams.  If you need assistance, please put in a Help Desk ticket.

Related Video:  Microsoft Teams101-A - Getting Teams Installed

Get Teams on your PC

  • If you have never used your Christman Microsoft account, or are having issues logging on please reference this document:
    Using your Microsoft account for the first time
  • You can use Teams in a web browser but the best experience will be using the full client.
    Download the full Microsoft Teams client here.
    • Run the Teams setup file after you download it.
    • Install should only take a minute or two, then you will be prompted for your "Sign-in address".  Plug in your Christman email address.
    • You should get the Christman branded logon screen - supply your password.  This is the same password you use for logging onto your PC.  
    • If you are doing this on a Christman owned PC, then leave the check box checked for "Allow my organization to manage my device" and click OK.
    • That should do it for the installation.  You may get taken through a brief introduction. 
    • If you are a member of any Teams already, they should show up. 

If you just want to use Teams for an audio or video meeting check out this article next --> Conducting and Scheduling a Teams Meeting 101

A Teams quick overview

  • ACTIVITY
    • The Activity Feed will keep you informed of stuff happening in Teams or Chats you are members of.  If there is new activity you will see a red number with the quantity of new items.  Click Activity to see what's new! 
  • CHAT
    • The Chat area is where you can chat-it-up with other employees and/or external guests.  Once you have established a chat, you can also share files for collaboration, and even start an ad-hoc audio or video call.  You can add more people on the fly and even give your Chat a name.  You can think of Chat's as "Mini Teams" that you can administer on your own without the need for IT assistance.  
  • TEAMS
    • Here is where the real work gets done!  This is where you will see all of the Teams you are a member of.  A Team is really just a collection of Channels.  You may interact with a Team using just the standard "general" channel (that all Teams have), or you may interact with a Team that has a multitude of channels for various collaboration functions.  
  • CALENDAR
    • This is your Outlook calendar, integrated into Teams for quick access. You can view you calendar, schedule or change a meeting, and join a meeting from here. 
  • CALLS
    • In the Calls Area you can make audio or video calls to your contacts if it knows how to get a hold of them (if they are connected to Teams.)  Anyone in your contacts that have call icons displayed can be called by clicking (audio or video), or you can click the icons to send an email or start a chat.  You can also use the "Make a Call" function to call anyone within Christman (as long as they are using Teams) included registered guests. 
  • FILES
    • The Recent view of the files area is a quick place to see all of YOUR recent files that you've been working on - not just in Teams, but in your personal OneDrive as well.  
    • The Microsoft Teams view will show you all the new, or recently updated, files within all of the Teams that you are a member of.  And not just files that you are working on, but from ALL TEAM MEMBERS.   This is a quick way to see what's being worked on!  
    • The Downloads view will show you your recently download files. 
    • Under Cloud Storage, you should see your private company OneDrive files.  You can also click the [+ Add cloud storage] button to add other services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. if desired.  
  • APPS
    • The Apps area is a place to find various apps and plug-ins that you can use within your Team Channels.  You should contact IT if you think there is something useful in the App area that you'd like to utilize. Note - many of the Apps require an additional fee or subscription.  
  • HELP
    • Don't disregard the built in help!  Here you can learn more about how to use Teams, find out what's new when a new version of Teams gets installed, view training videos, and even leave feedback to Microsoft and suggest feature requests.  

Check out the Microsoft Teams category for more information.

Microsoft Teams Quick Start Guide

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