By now most are using a conferencing tool on a regular basis. We use Microsoft Teams, commonly referred to as ‘Teams’, since it’s part of our O365 subscription. Outside of the conference call component, we use its Instant Messenger or chat feature on a daily basis to communicate quickly between employees and departments.
Like most Microsoft products there’s more to it than meets the eye. So, this week’s tip focuses on one of those; “oh that’s cool!” features of Teams that one of our engineers, Nick Giunta discovered.
Before I get to the tip, a little set-up for those that aren’t as versed in Teams yet or don’t use it. Within Teams chat, there are Channels. Channels are simply sections to keep conversations organized by things such as departments, topics, etc. Think of it as a group text dedicated to a specific subject. We have channels dedicated to things like; Support Desk, Network Operations and Sales Operations. Employees are assigned to their respective channels so that as chats take place, everyone that needs to has visibility and can participate.
Teams purpose (at least in our opinion) is to more efficiently and quickly collaborate and communicate on things. Yet, most of us, me included, still spend most of our time communicating via email. So, here was the ‘A-Ha” moment that Nick had.
Teams has the ability to easily email into a channel, it will post the subject, body and any attachments of the email so that all employees on the channel can see it. That beats forwarding an email to 10 people, getting a laundry list of replies back and then having to manage that thread in your already full Inbox.
To find the email address of the Teams channel you want to post too, click on the three dots at the top right of the channel and click ‘Get email address’.
A window pops up that displays the email address for that channel. Simply copy that into the ‘To:’ section of the email you are forwarding and click send.
