![UCLA Anderson]()
Installing, Configuring, and Using Chat in Microsoft Teams (Windows)
Sections
- Installing Teams
- Launching and Logging into Teams
- Configuring Teams
- Teams Chat Usage
Section 1 - Installing Teams
We must first acquire the Teams installer and then launch it:
- Launch a browser and point it to the Microsoft Teams site.
- In the Install Microsoft Teams window that appears, select Save the file.
- Open the install file after the download has completed.
Section 2 - Launching and Logging into Teams
- Launch Teams.
- Sign in to Teams with your UCLA Logon ID followed by @ucla.edu (e.g. jbruin19@ucla.edu).
Section 3 - Configuring Teams
The primary focus of this document is on Teams' Chat functionality, but here’s a quick overview of the various icons that you see before you.
Along the left-hand side of the Teams window is a column of icons that control the context of Teams:
![]()
Activity - A list of everything relevant to you that has happened recently in Teams, organized from most to least recent.
Chat - Access the chat functionality provided by Teams.
Teams - A list of teams (aka groups of users) organized by topic and containing one or more channels (sub-topics).
Assignments - Disregard - This is for Teams' “Classroom” functionality which we are not using.
Meetings - Displays scheduled events from your Outlook calendar.
Files - A list of files you’ve accessed.
… (Other installed applications) - Disregard - Provides access to additional installed applications.
Apps - Disregard - A list of 240+ applications that can be installed into Teams.
Help - Assistance with Teams if you need it.
In terms of application configuration, setting your Presence Status, Notification preferences, and General settings are all done through your Profile:
Access your Profile by clicking on the circle with either your picture or initials in the upper right-hand corner of the Teams window.
You can change your Presence Status by clicking > and selecting one of the following choices from the menu that appears:
- Available
- Busy
- Do not disturb
- Be right back
- Appear away
Click the Gear icon to bring up the Settings window where you can alter application preferences.
We’re going to be focusing on the Notification setting because it has the most impact on Chat functionality; but here’s a quick overview of the various configuration categories you see before you:
- General - Allows you to customize your Theme (try “Dark” to give your eyes a much-needed break!), as well as other application properties such as auto-start and persistent execution when all application windows have been closed.
- Privacy - Allows you to specify priority access for defined users to “punch through” Do Not Disturb.
- Notifications - See below.
- Devices - Allows you to specify audio, microphone, and camera options.
- Permissions - Allows you to specify various permissions for externally installed applications.
Configuring Notifications
Click Notifications on the left-side of the Settings window.
Teams offers very granular settings in terms of notifications. You have the ability to alter notification behavior for the following:
- Mentions - When somebody prefixes @ in front of your name, a Channel name, or a Team name.
- Messages - When Chats are initiated, when someone likes one of your chats, replies to a conversation that you started or to which you replied, when a channel is followed, or if a post is trending.
- Other - When team memberships or roles change, whether or not to play audible sounds with notifications, and how frequently you want missed chats to be emailed to you.
- Meetings - When a scheduled meeting has begun.
In terms of the various notification types which are available, you can opt for the following:
- Banner - A small notification window is temporarily displayed in the top right corner of your screen.
- Banner and Email - A banner is followed by an email - useful when you are away from your computer.
- Only show in feed - Your Teams feed contains notifications you’ve missed.
- Off - No notifications of any type whatsoever.
NOTE: Everyone has differing tolerances for interruption - some people find notifications to be enormously disruptive, while others need to know everything that is happening as it happens. Teams' default notification configuration works very well for most people, and should be used as your baseline configuration. That said, if the default notification behavior isn’t working for you then simply adjust the specific notification settings until they are well-tailored to your needs.
Section 4 - Teams Chat Usage
Select the Chat icon along the left-hand side of the Teams window and let’s get to chatting!
Teams' Chat workflow is extremely simple:
- Select the Chat icon.
-
Near the top of the Teams window, click on any of the following:
- The New Chat icon (#3), and enter a name in the “To:” field, or
- Any person with whom you have chatted under Recent (#6), or
- Any person listed under Contacts (#7)
- Type your message in the Composition Box (#17)
- Either hit return or click Send (“Paper Airplane” icon) to send your message.
NOTE: It is helpful to re-think what “chat” means in the context of Teams. Historically, chats have usually been very short in messaging applications like Skype - often just a few words; however, in Teams, chats can be either short, like a traditional chat, or longer and more substantive, like posting a notification. Use your best judgment and choose the right length message for the job.
TIP: If you have a longer, multi-line chat, you can insert a blank line between sentences for some vertical spacing by striking Shift-Return.
Another way that Chat in Teams differs from Skype is that Skype required both/all participants to be logged in simultaneously in order to chat. Teams makes no such demands, relying instead upon an asynchronous, “running conversation”, approach to chat: a conversation can occur with one (or more) participant(s) offline! Offline participants receive an email stating “your teammates are trying to reach you”, along with the first sentence of the chat, and a Teams reply link.
Teams Chat Interface Elements
Microsoft Teams Chat Window (Windows 10)
![TeamsChatWindow]()
The Teams Chat window packs a lot of information and user interface elements into a compact space. Please find below a brief overview of the various icons and elements in the Teams screenshot below:
- Back Arrow - Return to your last activity.
- Forward Arrow - Return to your current activity.
- New Chat - Start a new Chat session. Specify a single person for a one-to-one chat, or a number of different people for a group chat!
- Search Bar - Amazingly useful! Find any string from any chat, set/change Presence status, and more! Enter “/” in the Search Bar for a list of available commands.
- Profile - Set a picture or quote, set your Presence status, change your notification preferences, and more.
- Recent - A list of your recent chats, organized from most to least recent.
- Contacts - A list of contacts, ordered alphabetically. Feel free to create your own groupings of contacts by clicking “Create a new contact group” at the bottom of the Contacts pane. Don’t see a contact you need? Find them in the Search Bar - it’s connected to the UCLA Enterprise Directory!
- User - The person with whom you are/will be chatting.
- Video Call - Start a video call.
- Audio Call - Start an audio call.
- Share Screen - Start a screen-sharing session. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a screen-share is worth a million…
- Add People - You can always add more people to a chat, video call, audio call, or screen-share.
- Conversation - A running history of the chats with the User.
- Files - File(s) that were shared during chats with the User.
- Activity - Recent activity by the User in various Teams where you are both members.
- Organization - Displays the Organization view for the User. Disregard.
- Compose Box - This is where you actually type your Chat message.
-
Format - Expands the Compose Box and provides you with a Rich Text editor, allowing you to apply numerous formatting attributes to your text, as shown below:
Microsoft Teams Chat Compose Box
![TeamsChatWindow]()
- Bold
- Italics
- Underlining
- Text Highlighting - 10 different colors.
- Font Color - 10 different colors.
- Font Size - Not specified in points but rather as “Large”, “Medium”, and “Small”.
- Bulleted List
- Numbered List
- Quote - Text is indented and set against a stylized background in light grey.
- Insert Link - Allows you to specify both “Text to display” and “Address” (URL).
- Code Snippet - Your code is monospaced, line numbered, indented, and set against a stylized background in light grey.
- Rich Style - Allows you to apply 5 different types of styling to your selected text: Heading 1 (Large bold), Heading 2 (Medium bold), Heading 3 (Small bold), Paragraph and Monospaced.
- Insert Table - Allows you to insert a table of up to 6x by 5y cells.
- Mark as Important - Toggles the chat message as either Important or normal.
- Delete - Will discard the draft rich text message.
- Attach - Allows you to include an attachment from either your computer or OneDrive.
- Emoji - Allows you to insert an Emoji. Hover over an Emoji for a description and its text shortcut.
- Giphy - Allows you to insert a Giphy.
- Sticker - Allows you to insert a Sticker - over 30 different categories!
- Schedule a Meeting
- … (Messaging Extensions) - Disregard - Over 30 different messaging extensions.
- Send (“Paper Airplane” icon) - Sends your message. Synonymous with striking the “Return” key.
Section 3 - Configuring Teams
The primary focus of this document is on Teams' Chat functionality, but here’s a quick overview of the various icons that you see before you.
Along the left-hand side of the Teams window is a column of icons that control the context of Teams:
Activity - A list of everything relevant to you that has happened recently in Teams, organized from most to least recent.
Chat - Access the chat functionality provided by Teams.
Teams - A list of teams (aka groups of users) organized by topic and containing one or more channels (sub-topics).
Assignments - Disregard - This is for Teams' “Classroom” functionality which we are not using.
Meetings - Displays scheduled events from your Outlook calendar.
Files - A list of files you’ve accessed.
… (Other installed applications) - Disregard - Provides access to additional installed applications.
Apps - Disregard - A list of 240+ applications that can be installed into Teams.
Help - Assistance with Teams if you need it.
In terms of application configuration, setting your Presence Status, Notification preferences, and General settings are all done through your Profile:
Access your Profile by clicking on the circle with either your picture or initials in the upper right-hand corner of the Teams window.
You can change your Presence Status by clicking > and selecting one of the following choices from the menu that appears:
- Available
- Busy
- Do not disturb
- Be right back
- Appear away
Click the Gear icon to bring up the Settings window where you can alter application preferences.
We’re going to be focusing on the Notification setting because it has the most impact on Chat functionality; but here’s a quick overview of the various configuration categories you see before you:
- General - Allows you to customize your Theme (try “Dark” to give your eyes a much-needed break!), as well as other application properties such as auto-start and persistent execution when all application windows have been closed.
- Privacy - Allows you to specify priority access for defined users to “punch through” Do Not Disturb.
- Notifications - See below.
- Devices - Allows you to specify audio, microphone, and camera options.
- Permissions - Allows you to specify various permissions for externally installed applications.
Configuring Notifications
Click Notifications on the left-side of the Settings window.
Teams offers very granular settings in terms of notifications. You have the ability to alter notification behavior for the following:
- Mentions - When somebody prefixes @ in front of your name, a Channel name, or a Team name.
- Messages - When Chats are initiated, when someone likes one of your chats, replies to a conversation that you started or to which you replied, when a channel is followed, or if a post is trending.
- Other - When team memberships or roles change, whether or not to play audible sounds with notifications, and how frequently you want missed chats to be emailed to you.
- Meetings - When a scheduled meeting has begun.
In terms of the various notification types which are available, you can opt for the following:
- Banner - A small notification window is temporarily displayed in the top right corner of your screen.
- Banner and Email - A banner is followed by an email - useful when you are away from your computer.
- Only show in feed - Your Teams feed contains notifications you’ve missed.
- Off - No notifications of any type whatsoever.
NOTE: Everyone has differing tolerances for interruption - some people find notifications to be enormously disruptive, while others need to know everything that is happening as it happens. Teams' default notification configuration works very well for most people, and should be used as your baseline configuration. That said, if the default notification behavior isn’t working for you then simply adjust the specific notification settings until they are well-tailored to your needs.
Section 4 - Teams Chat Usage
Select the Chat icon along the left-hand side of the Teams window and let’s get to chatting!
Teams' Chat workflow is extremely simple:
- Select the Chat icon.
-
Near the top of the Teams window, click on any of the following:
- The New Chat icon (#3), and enter a name in the “To:” field, or
- Any person with whom you have chatted under Recent (#6), or
- Any person listed under Contacts (#7)
- Type your message in the Composition Box (#17)
- Either hit return or click Send (“Paper Airplane” icon) to send your message.
NOTE: It is helpful to re-think what “chat” means in the context of Teams. Historically, chats have usually been very short in messaging applications like Skype - often just a few words; however, in Teams, chats can be either short, like a traditional chat, or longer and more substantive, like posting a notification. Use your best judgment and choose the right length message for the job.
TIP: If you have a longer, multi-line chat, you can insert a blank line between sentences for some vertical spacing by striking Shift-Return.
Another way that Chat in Teams differs from Skype is that Skype required both/all participants to be logged in simultaneously in order to chat. Teams makes no such demands, relying instead upon an asynchronous, “running conversation”, approach to chat: a conversation can occur with one (or more) participant(s) offline! Offline participants receive an email stating “your teammates are trying to reach you”, along with the first sentence of the chat, and a Teams reply link.
Teams Chat Interface Elements
Microsoft Teams Chat Window (macOS)
The Teams Chat window packs a lot of information and user interface elements into a compact space. Please find below a brief overview of the various icons and elements in the Teams screenshot below:
- Back Arrow - Return to your last activity.
- Forward Arrow - Return to your current activity.
- New Chat - Start a new Chat session. Specify a single person for a one-to-one chat, or a number of different people for a group chat!
- Search Bar - Amazingly useful! Find any string from any chat, set/change Presence status, and more! Enter “/” in the Search Bar for a list of available commands.
- Profile - Set a picture or quote, set your Presence status, change your notification preferences, and more.
- Recent - A list of your recent chats, organized from most to least recent.
- Contacts - A list of contacts, ordered alphabetically. Feel free to create your own groupings of contacts by clicking “Create a new contact group” at the bottom of the Contacts pane. Don’t see a contact you need? Find them in the Search Bar - it’s connected to the UCLA Enterprise Directory!
- User - The person with whom you are/will be chatting.
- Video Call - Start a video call.
- Audio Call - Start an audio call.
- Share Screen - Start a screen-sharing session. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a screen-share is worth a million…
- Add People - You can always add more people to a chat, video call, audio call, or screen-share.
- Conversation - A running history of the chats with the User.
- Files - File(s) that were shared during chats with the User.
- Activity - Recent activity by the User in various Teams where you are both members.
- Organization - Displays the Organization view for the User. Disregard.
- Compose Box - This is where you actually type your Chat message.
-
Format - Expands the Compose Box and provides you with a Rich Text editor, allowing you to apply numerous formatting attributes to your text, as shown below:
Microsoft Teams Chat Compose Box
- Bold
- Italics
- Underlining
- Text Highlighting - 10 different colors.
- Font Color - 10 different colors.
- Font Size - Not specified in points but rather as “Large”, “Medium”, and “Small”.
- Bulleted List
- Numbered List
- Quote - Text is indented and set against a stylized background in light grey.
- Insert Link - Allows you to specify both “Text to display” and “Address” (URL).
- Code Snippet - Your code is monospaced, line numbered, indented, and set against a stylized background in light grey.
- Rich Style - Allows you to apply 5 different types of styling to your selected text: Heading 1 (Large bold), Heading 2 (Medium bold), Heading 3 (Small bold), Paragraph and Monospaced.
- Insert Table - Allows you to insert a table of up to 6x by 5y cells.
- Mark as Important - Toggles the chat message as either Important or normal.
- Delete - Will discard the draft rich text message.
- Attach - Allows you to include an attachment from either your computer or OneDrive.
- Emoji - Allows you to insert an Emoji. Hover over an Emoji for a description and its text shortcut.
- Giphy - Allows you to insert a Giphy.
- Sticker - Allows you to insert a Sticker - over 30 different categories!
- Schedule a Meeting
- … (Messaging Extensions) - Disregard - Over 30 different messaging extensions.
- Send (“Paper Airplane” icon) - Sends your message. Synonymous with striking the “Return” key.