Using Teams for Chat

What tools can I use to connect with my colleagues while working remotely?

In our day-to-day office settings it’s easy to catch-up on an item by stopping by a colleague’s desk or having a hallway conversation. When working remotely, Microsoft Teams is a great tool to help us stay connected and collaborate. Teams can be accessed by using your CWU log-in at microsoft365.com. For users of both PC and Mac, it is recommended to download the Teams App for ease of use and functionality.

Below are some basic steps for functionality within Teams. As always, the best way to learn a tool is by “playing” around with it. We recommend to test out the options below on a chat with a colleague and learn together!

See a colleague’s status in Teams

• In the left-hand menu, select the “Chat” icon
• This will open a panel titled “Chat”, select “Contacts”
• Under “Contacts” it will show a list of colleagues. Next to their Name and Picture is a checkmark which represents their status: If you hover over the picture with your mouse, it will tell you the Teams status of the person
  • Green: available
  • Yellow: be right back or away
  • Red: busy
  • If the colleague you’re looking for is not listed, you can look them up by clicking on the ‘pen on paper’ icon in the purple toolbar and then start typing a name.
    

Chat in Teams

• Click once on a name and a chat panel with that person will open on the right hand side
• You can type a message, attach a document, set message delivery options,  schedule a meeting and more by using the icon bar at the bottom of the chat screen

• Chat interactions are saved and can be viewed under “Recent”
  

Share your computer desktop, start an audio or video call or add additional people to the chat

• If you’re already in a chat, in the upper left-hand corner (or right-hand corner on Mac), there are a series of icons to connect with the person you’re chatting with: video call, audio only call, share desktop, or also add another person to the chat.
  • Please note: it is good practice to check a colleague’s status is “available” before inviting to video or audio chat or sharing your screen.

• These options are helpful for when you want to connect with a colleague but do not need to schedule a future formal meeting invite.