Free communication app for Microsoft Office
Microsoft Teams is a free communication software that allows you to easily chat and call with colleagues. Developed by Microsoft, this video-conferencing app is a unified collaboration platform that offers workplace chat, video meetings, and file storage, among others. Microsoft Teams was designed to be integrated with Office 365 and its features. It is direct competitors with Slack and is the upgraded version of Skype for Business. This program is available on both PC and mobile devices to accommodate your lifestyle and work routine.
Upgraded Skype
Similar to other communication apps, Microsoft Teams allows various groups to join together through a specific link or invitation sent by a team administrator or owner. Thus, you can easily find every member in one channel. The program can be used either for your business or school—Teams allowing school admins and teachers to set up specific teams for classes, professional learning communities, and staff members. Its main features are chat messaging and video calls. The left side-ribbon menu displays Activity, Chat, Teams, Meetings, Files, and your Profile.
Activity displays any notifications from your team or chatrooms. Meanwhile, Chat shows your recent conversations with your contacts or groups and any that are requesting your attention. You can do the usual messaging functions here, such as live chatting, sending emojis, stickers, and GIFs, and attaching images and files. You can do both private messaging with one person or a group chat for collaboration. The Teams section includes all channels related to your organization and can be used to organize different departments and such.
For the calls, you have Voice over IP (VoIP) and video-conferencing, as well as calling telephone numbers. You can choose audio-only and screen-share if you want to demonstrate something. Meetings can be scheduled ahead of time and there’s even a plugin for Outlook for that. The Files tab, on the other hand, lets everyone access and work on files in real-time. Microsoft Teams integrates with apps other than the Office suite so you can take advantage of third-party services and custom apps with this software.
