Microsoft Teams had a banner year in 2019. Shifts and permissions management both garnered a significant amount of buzz, but it was private channels that clearly stole the show this year.

For the best content we have to offer on all of the above, read on for our Top 5 Microsoft Teams posts!

5. Getting Ready for Private Channels in Microsoft Teams: Part 1 by John Peluso

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It comes as no surprise that Private Channels are the #1 requested feature in the Microsoft Teams UserVoice requests (where everyone can vote for what they want to see Microsoft add to Teams).

This is especially expected given the fact that the scenarios described above are ridiculously common in most organizations and that the workarounds we’ve been using have not really been up to the task.

In fact, Private Channels has more than double the votes of the next most requested feature, so they’re impossible to ignore! Users want them and they want them now!

Read the rest here! 

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4. The Ultimate Guide to Microsoft Teams Permissions by Hunter Willis

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The Teams Admin Center: Controlling Access to Services and Users

Microsoft Teams administrators can manage just about every aspect of each individual Team in an organization as well as set all available tenant-wide settings for calls, meetings, and chat collaboration features offered by Microsoft Teams. This includes the ability to allow or restrict external sharing as well as the connectors/applications available via Team channel tabs.

There are three additional levels of Microsoft Teams Administrators that have different portioned levels of organization-wide administrative access to assist in federating the management of Teams:

• Teams Communications Administrators can manage calling and meeting features for Microsoft Teams.
• Teams Communications Support Engineers have access to call quality, reliability information, and the tools to troubleshoot the technical aspects of Microsoft Teams.
• Teams Communications Support Specialists can view user information and call quality analytics to assist in troubleshooting call quality.

Read the rest here! 

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3. 5 Must-Know Microsoft Teams Tips and Best Practices by Spenser Bullock

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A bookmark lets you save a message or attachment for later reading and  helps you find frequently used information.  No more time wasted looking around when you need to surface important messages!

Being on the marketing team means there’s a constant stream of projects going on at once, and keeping track of everything can be quite cumbersome. Luckily, Teams providing the bookmark feature helps me save the most prevalent messages and content so I always know what tasks need to be handled!

Read the rest here! 

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2. Empowering Your Employees: Everything You Need to Know About Shifts in Microsoft Teams by Loryan Strant

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Early out of the 2019 gate Microsoft announced that the Shifts feature was coming to Microsoft Teams—a new functionality targeted at firstline/frontline workers (ie. not productivity workers).

What is Shifts? Well, if you were familiar with the StaffHub app & service that is available as part of Office 365, it’s effectively the same thing. The StaffHub service will no longer be available by the end of 2019 as Microsoft continues its drive to converge and consolidate services and experiences…

Read the rest here! 

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1. Private Channels in Microsoft Teams: Fact vs. Fiction by Brent Middleton

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Why People Don’t Want It

Microsoft Teams is all about open collaboration. It was designed to make working with others as seamless as possible. Once you’re in a Team you have access to everything in there. By implementing more controls and requiring the team owner to manage permissions for every private team that gets created, it can quickly become antithetical to the purpose of the platform.

Pushing for private channels can also be seen as unnecessary. You can arguably just create a new team if you want privacy. And if you want a private chat between two or more managers/executives, why not create a regular group chat? These are all workable (though not necessarily as convenient) options. However, people still very much want them because…

Read the rest here! 

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