If you’re looking for an app to use to meet friends or colleagues online—especially if you’re using some variant of the Microsoft 365 app suite—you might want to try Microsoft’s Teams app, an alternative to Slack. You can use Teams for tasks like instant messaging, collaborating on files, and holding video meetings.
Although Teams was originally designed for work teams, everyone is a free home account. Currently, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft is allowing up to 300 participants in each of its free online meetings, with a maximum of 60 minutes per meeting. (These permissions will expire on June 30, 2021.) Like the paid versions, the free version offers screen sharing, customized backgrounds, and scheduled meetings; but you need a paid version (which starts at $5 a month If you want to record your meeting, as part of Microsoft 365 Business Basic).
Before you start, either Sign in with your Microsoft account or create one and then sign in. (You can create an account with any email address; it doesn’t have to be an Outlook address.) If you want, download desktop or mobile apps.
Here’s how to set up a meeting via the desktop application; The process is similar to starting a meeting via your browser.
- Click on the “Meetings” option on the left side of the screen. You are given the option to schedule a future meeting or start a meeting right away.
- If you choose “Meet now”, you’ll find yourself in a staging screen with the option to name your meeting, turn your audio and video on or off, and add a background (or blur your actual background). Click “Join now” when you’re ready.
- If you select “Schedule a meeting”, you’ll see a pop-up window that lets you give your meeting a name and choose the date and time.
- Click “Schedule” and you are invited to copy the invitation or share it via Outlook or Google Calendar.
- When you start your meeting, you will see a series of buttons at the bottom of the screen. From left to right, these let you turn your camera on or off, turn your microphone on or off, share your screen, access more options, see the conversation, view the participants (in a column on the right side of the screen), or turn it off. Click on the three dots in the middle to access additional options such as entering full screen, enabling live captions, raising a hand, or turning off the video for participants in the call.
- To add participants, click on the “Show participants” button on the right side of the button row. Then, in the sidebar on the right, type the name of the person you want to invite (if in your contact list) or click the “Share” button to copy the meeting link or email an invitation.
- New attendees using your link to join the meeting will first wait in a virtual lobby and be told “Someone in the meeting should let you in soon”. If you’re hosting the meeting, when their name appears in the “People” sidebar, click the checkmark next to their name to add them to the search. If you haven’t enabled the sidebar, you’ll see a small popup above the “Show attendees” button at the bottom of the screen to let you know they’re waiting for you; Click “Accept” to add them to the search.
And that’s it! Since your meeting link is unique, you can log in at any time.
Update Jan 5, 2021 at 11:19 pm ET: This article was originally published on June 20, 2020 and has been modified to include updates to the software.
