Microsoft Teams – productivity and collaboration, explained in plain language

Microsoft Teams can transform the way teams work within an organization. Below you’ll find the features that help most in day-to-day work, and what has changed in Teams since we wrote the first version of this article, in 2021.

Microsoft Teams has plenty of built-in features that most people haven’t explored yet. These features give users an edge and make collaboration easier.

Teams brings together various elements of teamwork, such as note-taking and workspace conversations, and combines them with the Microsoft 365 platform.

Microsoft Teams makes real-time collaboration and coordination easier. Your teams can start projects faster and more efficiently by sharing files, attachments, notes and much more. Teams can also be integrated with other applications, so the team’s workspace can evolve over time.

Experienced users are always looking for ways to get the most out of Microsoft Teams. Beginners and experts alike can become true collaboration champions with the help of Teams’ lesser-known features. Here are the most useful ones, so you can make the most of the app.

Name your group chats

Simple as it sounds, most users miss it. Group chats often end up containing several conversations, with different people and topics. To make a chat easy to find and tell apart from the others, give it a name. For example, if you’re talking with someone from the marketing department about a new email campaign, you can name the chat “Start Email Marketing.” Later, when you search, those words will show up in the results right away. To name a group chat, click the pencil at the top, next to the participants’ names, and type the name you want.

Storing and sharing files with SharePoint

When it comes to secure file storage and a reliable collaboration platform, SharePoint has long been a popular choice among companies. Teams uses it directly: files shared in a channel are stored in SharePoint, on the team’s site, while files sent in a chat are stored in the sender’s OneDrive.

Users can open each channel’s Files tab to share files with team members, and files that have already been shared can also be accessed from SharePoint. Team members can work on the same document at the same time, from the Office desktop apps or from the browser.

Productivity and efficiency are essential in any team, and the tips below deliver immediate results.

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Filter your activity using @mentions

The activity feed keeps you up to date with the latest updates and conversations. Because there can be a lot of activity, filtering by @mentions helps you focus on the conversations that matter. Users who collaborate with many colleagues always get plenty of @mentions. The @mentions activity filter makes sure you don’t miss anything and stay on top of everything that needs your attention.

Mark specific content

Because effective collaboration has a direct impact on productivity, markers can make communication easier. You can save important messages and attachments, then find them quickly in your list of saved items when you need them.

When you send a message, you can mark it as important or urgent, so recipients know what takes priority and don’t waste time searching. Keeping track of everything is one of the most overwhelming parts of any business. When you have several projects under way, markers show you what’s important and what you need to do at any given moment.

Skype for Business Online ended on July 31, 2021: moving to Microsoft Teams

Forward emails to a Microsoft Teams channel

Many emails end up in the spam folder, and others in the wrong folders. Startups mostly use chat, but many established companies still depend on email. To avoid missing essential information, you can send emails straight to a Teams channel. Click the three dots next to the channel name and choose “Get email address.” You can copy the generated address, and everything you send to it (messages, Word documents or other files) shows up in the channel. The administrator can turn this option off, so if you can’t find it, ask them.

Combine it with Microsoft Planner for better task management

Microsoft Teams may have arrived after its main competitor, Slack, but its ability to integrate other applications gives it an edge. Although Slack also offers many integrations, Microsoft Teams gives users Microsoft’s applications from day one. Planner is a task management tool for teams and an efficient way to track tasks directly from Teams. The advantage is that you no longer need a separate app for tasks. Planner is also flexible: you can add it as a tab in any channel, so it’s always at hand, and you add new tasks with a click on the “plus” sign.

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Guest access for people outside your organization in Microsoft Teams

You probably didn’t know this: you don’t have to work for the same company to collaborate in the same Teams team. The guest access feature lets companies work with people outside the organization, such as clients, suppliers or consultants.

Guest access is secure, and anyone with an active email address, business or personal (Outlook, Gmail and so on), can be invited. Guests can take part in conversations and meetings and can see the team’s files. The guest account is created in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), and the organization can require two-step verification for it.

The administrator decides, at the organization level, whether guests are allowed, and can use sensitivity labels to restrict their access to certain teams. For collaborating with another company that also uses Teams, there are also shared channels, where partners work from their own Teams, without a guest account.

Although it’s one of the most powerful business chat apps, Microsoft Teams is often underused. Exploring these tips gives users a real advantage in their day-to-day work.

What has changed in Microsoft Teams since 2021?

The biggest changes are in the app itself, the way it’s sold and its artificial intelligence features:

• In 2023, Microsoft launched the new Teams app, faster and lighter, which replaced the classic app.
• Also in 2023, with Windows 11 version 23H2, the Chat feature in Windows became the free Microsoft Teams app.
• Since October 1, 2023 in the European Economic Area, and since April 1, 2024 worldwide, Teams has been sold separately from Microsoft 365 for new business customers. Check what your license includes when you buy or renew.
• In May 2025, Microsoft shut down Skype for home users and moved them to Microsoft Teams (free).
• Microsoft 365 Copilot, the separately licensed AI assistant, can summarize Teams meetings and conversations.

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