This is a general-use guide. It may not address any problem in specific, but could contextually help point you in the right direction
Visit the Troubleshooting Articles category on the left-hand sidebar to browse entries that may help solve your issue more directly.
Table of Contents
Downloading the app
Open the App Store
At the bottom-right corner, click “🔎 Search”
Search for “Microsoft Teams”
Download the app by Microsoft Corporation with the tagline “Hub for teamwork”
Open the Google Play Store
Use the search bar at the top-center of the screen to type “Microsoft Teams”
Install the app by Microsoft Corporation
Signing In
After the Microsoft Teams mobile app has been installed to your phone, return to the home screen
Launch the Microsoft Teams app, and use your HLW email a credentials b
Typically {first initial}{last name}@hlw.com (no brackets)
If you do not know your Windows password, you can reset it here or follow this guide
You should now have access to the navigation menu.
Navigating The Menus
Menu button
The menu button is visible on all of the tabs and is represented by a “hamburger” menu icon
A “Hamburger” Menu Icon
Contact Card: Click on your name to see your contact card. View your recent activity, see your Org chart, view what details others see about you, and edit your Teams profile picture.
Set Status Message: Configure what you want your status banner to show when people try to message you.
Manage Notification: Schedule quiet hours, choose how you receive your notifications for all channels globally, and toggle different kinds of notification categories. You can also change Meeting reminders and notification sounds.
Settings: Set your theme, manage data storage, configure read receipts, and manage sign-ins.
Search
The search icon is visible on all of the tabs and is represented by a magnifying glass icon
A Magnifying Glass Icon
Use the text field provided to scan your entire Teams history’s chats, calendar appointments, contacts (internal, external with chat history), Channels, and notifications.
Activity Tab
View all recent activity on channels you are in, previous mentions, global announcements, Teams calls, etc.
Filter: Funnel shaped icon at the top-right can be used to add search parameters to limit the results for your search by the type of alert (e.g. Unread messages, Replies).
Mark read/unread: Swipe from right to left on a chat to reveal the “Mark as (un)read” option. If a chat has not been read yet, it will clear the active alert for it. If a message has already been read, it will remove any read status.
Chat Tab
View, Search, and Send messages to other individuals at HLW, external clients, groups, start video or conferencing calls, and navigate the Teams directory.
Voice Assistant (Cortana): Microphone shaped icon to the left of the top-rightmost can be used to enable the Teams voice assistant, which can help you schedule meetings, start calls, send messages and more - hands free.
Compose: Notepad and Pencil icon at the top-rightmost can be used to start composing a new message to specific contacts or a group.
Hide / Mute: Swipe from right to left on a chat to reveal the “…More” menu option. Click it and then select if you would like to either Hide this chat (Send another message to reveal), or Mute notifications from this person or group.
Mark read/unread: Swipe from right to left on a chat to reveal the “Mark as (un)read” option. If a chat has not been read yet, it will clear the active alert for it. If a message has already been read, it will remove any read status.
Teams Tab
The main tab used for navigating to specific channels within different Teams. For example, the channel “General” in the Team “Everyone NY” is the hub for off-topic discussions among the New York office.
At the same time, the “Tech Community” channel inside of the same Team - Everyone NY would be a great resource for questions or interesting updates for HLW’s IT department.
Create/Join Team: Icon of two people and a plus sign to the left of the top-rightmost can be used to either join an existing Team, or to create a new one within the HLW Organization. Anyone can create a Team to invite peers or external clients to.
Manage Teams: Gear icon at the top-rightmost can be used to hide or show different channels
Use the horizontal ellipsis menu buttons next to each channel to modify channel-specific settings
Pin Channel: Swipe from right to left on any channel to reveal the option to Pin it. Pinning a channel will keep it persistently at the top of your Teams tab under a separate drop-down, “Pinned channels”.
Hide: Swipe from right to left on any channel to reveal the option to Hide it.
Calendar Tab
Keep track of your appointments, and schedule new ones from directly within the app. Fulfill RSVPs, remove items from your calendar, view attendees, chat with participants and join meetings directly.
New Event: Calendar icon with a plus at the top-rightmost can be used to open the event creation menu. Fill out your meeting’s details and send the event to others. Includes options to share to channels, set reminder times, and fill out an event description.
Audio and Video Conferencing
Joining a Meeting
Teams meetings are typically shared via a calendar invite that contains a link to the video call. If you have Microsoft Teams installed the link will ask or automatically open in the Teams application. If it is not installed, a web browser will be used or it will take you to the App Store (Apple | Android) page for Microsoft Teams
When joining a meeting, you will initially be shown a screen to configure your audio/video settings.
Camera Toggle: Far left slider, choose to have video enabled or disabled when you join.
Background Blur Toggle: Middle slider, if the Camera is toggled on, configure a background to overlay the area behind you.
Microphone Toggle: Far right slider, toggle the microphone on or off.
Custom Setup: Select which devices to use. Change inputs for Camera and Microphone, and Speakers for output.
Once you have your settings how you like them, click “Join now” to enter the call. Don’t worry, these settings will be saved for you next time you join a meeting.
Meeting Toolbar
Turn Camera On/Off: Far left button, choose to enable or disable your video feed.
Turn Microphone On/Off: Second to the right button, enable or disable your microphone for people hearing your sound.
Speakerphone: Choose where to play sound from on your phone. Earpiece speaker, Loud speaker, or Audio off.
Show conversation: Second icon to the right at the top-rightmost of the call screen. Use it to view the chat room that is specific to the meeting.
Show participants: Top-rightmost icon, View the attendees of the meeting.
More options: Fourth to the right button (horizontal ellipses menu) can be used to view less commonly used settings that aren’t placed directly on the toolbar
Start recording: Save a recording of the meeting to your https://stream.microsoft.com account.
Put me on hold: Pause all of your inputs
Call me: Transfer the Teams meeting to your phone’s native SIM data calling application.
Share: Third to right button, open the options for presenting your screen, a powerpoint, video, or photo to the participants of the meeting.
Raise my hand: Shows the meeting organizers or other participants that you would like to take the next opportunity to speak to the crowd.
Dialpad: Used if a call prompts you to input numbers or press Pound.
Start/Stop video with blur: Toggles the camera and the background overlay setting together.
Turn off incoming video: Disable the camera feed of all users (specific to you).
Cortana: Enable the virtual assistant Cortana to help you schedule meetings, invite attendees, and more with voice activation.
Hang up
Creating a Teams Meeting
To create a Teams meeting on the desktop version of Outlook, follow this guide instead
Open the Teams application and navigate to the Calendar tab
At the top-right, click the New Event icon depicted by a Calendar with a plus overlayed.
Give your meeting a Title
Add the participants
Set a time for the meeting
Give the meeting a description
Click Done