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Department of Genetics

 

Overview

Microsoft Teams is the software that UIS have arranged for near real-time collaboration across the University. There is more documentation available from UIS.

The screenshot below shows Microsoft Teams in the "Teams" tool with the Genetics team open. If you are a member of Genetics you should get to this window by clicking here.

Microsoft Teams

At the top is a search/command window. To search just type what you are searching for, commands start with / and if you type this you should see some suggestions.

The first column (on the far left hand side) should have a list of tools which apply to the application. This doesn't always work, I am awaiting a response from UIS.

In the "Teams" tool the next column either shows all the teams you are in, or if you have selected a team, the channels in that team.

The final column shows the contents currently selected channel. At the bottom is a chat window where you can type to create new messages in a channel. Messages can include various formatting options and attachments, indicated by the icons below.

Channels

Messages can be sent to channels where they will be shown in chronological order. At present all channels are public.

The "General" channel is for announcements and also shows people joining/leaving the departmental "team."

There are also channels for general chat for wet & dry labs, these should be visible for all.

Beyond that I have created channels for each research group. This has to be done by hand so please forgive any omissions. You can see all channels by clicking "hidden channels." Right-clicking a channel should give you the option to keep it in the main list.

Audio/Video Meetings

The easiest way to run a meeting I have found so far is to click the video camera icon below the chat box. This should create a link in the current channel that people can click to join the meeting. As this is made by Microsoft you probably have to be running their software (or Chrome apparently) for this to work correctly.

Files

Files can be dragged and dropped onto the chat window to make them attachments. These should be considered as public as the channel they are uploaded to.

Tags

Typing an @ in most text fields should let you refer to a person or group. This should then notify them specifically about the message. Use this sparingly lest you annoy people. I don't know how to ban people yet, and I don't want to find out!

Notifications

There are lots of ways this software can let you know that events have occurred. I haven't played with these settings, so I can only direct you to UIS's documentation.