Meeting Options and Features (Teams)

To access the full Teams Training for Business Use Manual, please visit Inside.Sierra. 

Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool for virtual collaboration, making meetings, appointments, and teamwork seamless. This guide provides clear, step-by-step instructions for using key Teams features, including meeting notes, virtual appointments, transcription, recaps, attendance tracking, recording, digital whiteboards, and Together mode.

This article pertains to the Teams desktop application, not the mobile app.

Scheduled meetings

There are several different ways to get to Meeting options for a scheduled meeting:

  • In Teams, go to Calendar, select a meeting, and then Meeting options.
  • In a meeting invitation, select Meeting options.
  • During a meeting, select More actions at the top of the meeting window, and then Meeting options. A panel will open on the right, and you can change your options right from there.     
  • Another way to get there during a meeting is to select Show participants in the meeting controls. Then, above the list of participants, choose Manage permissions.

 

Change participant settings

There are several different participant settings a meeting organizer can change. 

 

Choose who can bypass the lobby

As the meeting organizer, you get to decide who gets into your meetings directly, and who should wait for someone to let them in.

If you choose to have people wait, you (and anyone else allowed to admit people) will see a list of people in the lobby. From there you can choose whether to admit or deny them.

Who can bypass the lobby? 

What happens

Recommended when...

Only you

As the meeting organizer, only you can get into your meeting directly. Everyone else will wait in the lobby.

You want everyone else to wait in the lobby until you're ready to admit them.

People I invite*

Anyone who receives the invitation, including those to whom it's forwarded, will join the meeting directly. This doesn't include distribution lists—people must be invited individually. If you don't want people to forward the invite to others, turn off Allow Forwarding in the invitation.

You want a specific, limited group of people to join the meeting directly, and everyone else to wait in the lobby.

People in my organization

Only people within your org can get into your meeting directly. Everyone else will wait in the lobby.

You want all guests and external people to wait in the lobby so you can approve them one by one.

People in my organization and guests

People in your org and guests (including those who have different email domains than yours) can get into your meetings directly.

You want all external people (anyone outside your org, except guests) to wait in the lobby so you can approve them one by one.

People in my organization and trusted organizations, and guests

People in your Teams org, external participants from trusted organizations, and guests can get into your meetings directly.

You want some external people to wait in the lobby so you can approve them one by one.

Everyone

Anyone who has access to the meeting link gets into the meeting directly, including people who call in.

You don’t want anyone to wait in the lobby. You want everyone to be able to join your meetings without specific approval.

* Unavailable in channel meetings 

 

Get notified when callers join or leave

You may want to receive an alert when someone calling in by phone joins or leaves your meeting. (Your admin might have enabled these alerts by default.)

To change this setting, select the toggle next to Announce when callers join or leave? 

 

Prevent attendees from unmuting themselves and sharing video

To avoid distractions in large meetings, you may want to decide when attendees can unmute and share their video.

  • To prevent attendees from unmuting, turn off the toggle next to Allow mic for attendees?
  • To prevent attendees from sharing video, turn off the toggle next to Allow camera for attendees?

 

Record automatically

If you turn on this option, recording will begin as soon as the meeting starts. 

 

Allow meeting chat

In general, people who are on the meeting invite can participate in a meeting chat before, during, and after the meeting.

  • If you select Disabled for this option, there will be no meeting chat at any time.
  • If you select In-meeting only, meeting chat will be unavailable before and after the meeting.

 

Allow reactions

You can choose whether or not people are able to use live reactions in a meeting. If you choose not to allow it, they will still be able to raise their hand. 

 

Meeting Notes

Teams lets you create, access, and share meeting notes for better collaboration and follow-up.

Create Meeting Notes:

  1. During a meeting, click the More actions (three dots) menu
  2. Select Meeting notes
  3. Add your notes in the panel that opens

To Access Previous Notes:

  1. Go to the meeting chat or calendar event after the meeting
  2. Click Meeting notes to view or continue editing

To Share Notes:

  1. Notes are automatically shared with all meeting participants
  2. You can copy notes into an email or document if needed

"Bookings" Appointments

Teams supports virtual appointments with features for booking, confirmations, and notifications.

To Create a Booking Page:

  1. Go to the Bookings app in Teams.
  2. Set up services, staff, and availability.
  3. Publish your booking page and share the link with clients or colleagues.

Email Confirmations:

  • When someone books an appointment, Teams sends an automatic confirmation email with meeting details and the link.

Meeting Transcription and Recap

Teams can transcribe meetings in real-time and provide a recap for easy reference.

To Enable Transcription:

  1. Start a meeting and click More actions
  2. Select Start transcription
  3. All spoken content will be transcribed and visible to participants

To Access Meeting Recap:

  1. After the meeting, go to the calendar event or chat
  2. Click Recap to view the transcript, recording, notes, and attendance

Attendance Tracking for Organizers

Meeting organizers can track attendance to see who joined and when.

During the Meeting:

  1. Click Participants in the meeting controls.
  2. Select Download attendance list to get a report in Excel format.

After the Meeting:

  1. Go to the meeting chat or calendar event
  2. Find the attendance report under the Recap tab

Recording Meetings

Recording meetings is useful for sharing with those who couldn’t attend or for future reference.

To Start a Recording:

  1. In a meeting, click More actions
  2. Select Start recording
  3. All participants are notified that recording has started.

To Stop and Access Recording:

  1. Click More actions and select Stop recording to end
  2. The recording is saved to OneDrive or SharePoint and a link is shared in the meeting chat.

Digital Whiteboards

Use Teams’ digital whiteboard for real-time collaboration and brainstorming.

To Access the Whiteboard:

  • In a meeting, click Share and select Microsoft Whiteboard

Collaborate:

  • All participants can draw, write, and add sticky notes in real time.

Save and Share:

  • The whiteboard is saved with the meeting and can be accessed later via the meeting chat or Whiteboard app.

Together Mode

Together mode places all meeting participants in a shared virtual environment, making meetings feel more engaging.

Enable Together Mode:

  1. During a meeting, click View in the meeting controls

  2. Select Together mode

Customize the Scene:

  • Choose from different backgrounds for your Together mode experience

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