Introduction to Microsoft Teams

ℹ️ Microsoft Teams is the company's tool for chat, calls, video meetings, and file sharing — all in one app. It is preinstalled on every company workstation that uses Office 365. This article walks you through what Teams does and how to do the things you'll actually need to do day-to-day.

💡 Give yourself 10 minutes. Teams looks busy at first, but the basics are simple and almost everything is one click away from somewhere obvious.

What Teams Is For

Think of Teams as four tools rolled into one app:

You can use any one of these on its own. Most staff end up using all four within a week of starting.

Signing In

You don't need to install anything on a company workstation — Teams is already there. Look for the purple Teams icon on your taskbar or in your Start menu.

When you open it for the first time:

1. Sign in with your company email address and password (the same one you use for the workstation and Outlook).
2. You may be prompted for MFA — approve the sign-in using Microsoft Authenticator on your phone.
3. After sign-in, Teams may take a minute to load up your chats, teams, and calendar.

After the first sign-in, Teams stays signed in — you won't have to do this again unless you change your password.

The Five Areas You'll Use

When Teams is open, you'll see a sidebar down the left edge of the window. These are the five places you'll spend almost all your time:

💬 Chat

One-on-one and group conversations. Think of it as the company's internal text messaging. You can:

• Send a quick message
• Start a voice or video call from inside any chat
• Share files, photos, or screenshots
• See whether the other person is online, busy, or away

👥 Teams

Group spaces organized around a department, property, or project. Each team has channels inside it (you'll usually see a "General" channel by default). Channels keep conversation organized by topic rather than dumping everything into one big chat.

Examples of how Argus uses teams: a Front Office team for each property, a Maintenance team, a Sales & Catering team, etc.

📅 Calendar

Your Outlook calendar, inside Teams. You can:

• See your day at a glance
• Click any meeting to join it
• Schedule a new meeting and invite people (it goes into their Outlook calendar automatically)

📞 Calls

Voice calls to other Argus staff. Same as picking up the phone — but free, and works from anywhere you have internet.

📁 Files

Every file you've shared in chat or in a team. Useful when you remember someone sent you a document last week but can't find which chat it was in.

How To Do Common Things

Send someone a quick message

1. Click Chat in the sidebar.
2. Click the pencil icon at the top (new chat).
3. Type the person's name. Their name will appear as you type — select it.
4. Type your message at the bottom and press Enter.

You can do this with one person or many. To start a group chat, just keep adding names before you start typing.

Start a voice or video call with someone

You have two ways:

From inside a chat:

1. Open the chat with that person.
2. Click the phone icon (audio call) or video icon (video call) at the top-right of the chat.

Without a chat:

1. Click Calls in the sidebar.
2. Type the person's name in the dial pad area.
3. Click the call button.

Join a meeting someone scheduled

If someone has invited you to a meeting, you'll see it on your Calendar in Teams (and in Outlook).

1. Click Calendar in the sidebar.
2. Find the meeting on your calendar.
3. Click Join — the button appears 15 minutes before the start time.
4. Check your camera and microphone settings on the preview screen, then click Join now.

You can also click the Join Microsoft Teams Meeting link in any meeting invite email — it opens the meeting directly.

Schedule a meeting

1. Click Calendar in the sidebar.
2. Click + New meeting at the top-right.
3. Fill in the title, attendees (type their names), date and time.
4. If you want it to recur (daily huddle, weekly check-in), set that under the date.
5. Click Send.

The invite goes to everyone's Outlook calendar automatically. You don't need to send a separate email with a meeting link — the link is in the invite.

Share your screen in a meeting or call

1. During the call or meeting, click the Share icon (it looks like a small monitor with an arrow) on the meeting toolbar.
2. Choose Screen (everything you see) or Window (just one app).
3. Click the screen or window you want to share.
4. To stop sharing, click Stop sharing at the top of your screen.

⚠️ Before you share your screen, close anything personal or confidential — email windows showing other emails, payroll spreadsheets, customer credit card details, etc. Whatever's on your screen is what everyone in the meeting sees.

Share a file with a person or group

In a chat:

1. Open the chat.
2. Click the paperclip icon at the bottom of the message box.
3. Choose where the file is (OneDrive, your computer, or a recent file).
4. Send.

In a team / channel:

1. Click the team and channel where the file belongs.
2. Click the Files tab at the top of the channel.
3. Click + Upload or drag and drop the file.

Files shared in a team channel live with that team — everyone in the team can see and edit them.

Invite someone outside the company to a meeting

1. Schedule the meeting normally.
2. In the attendees field, just type their full email address (not their Argus name).
3. Send.

They'll receive an email with the meeting link. They can join from a browser even if they don't have Teams installed.

📱 Teams on Your Phone

If you have a company-issued phone, Teams may already be installed. Look for the purple Teams icon.

If you need to install it (or you're using a personal phone):

1. Open the App Store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android).
2. Search Microsoft Teams.
3. Install (it's free), then sign in with your company email and password.

On the phone, the same five areas (Chat, Teams, Calendar, Calls, Files) are along the bottom of the screen instead of down the side. Everything else works the same way.

💡 The mobile app is genuinely useful for hospitality staff — you can answer a quick message from anywhere on the property, take a video call from a back office, or join a meeting from your car if you're running late.

💡 Tips & Etiquette

• Set your status. Click your profile picture (top right) → set yourself to Available, Busy, Do not disturb, or Be right back. People will see this and not interrupt you during heads-down work.
• Use @mentions to get someone's attention. Type @ and their name in a chat or channel. They'll get a notification. Without the @, busy people may miss your message.
• Mute yourself when you're not talking in a video meeting. Background noise — keyboards, kitchen equipment, kids — is loud to everyone else.
• Blur your background or use a virtual background if your work area isn't suitable for the camera. Click the camera options before joining a meeting, or click the three dots during a meeting.
• Don't use Chat for things that need to be in writing officially — disciplinary records, contract changes, HR matters. Use email for anything that needs a permanent record.
• Quick question? Use Chat. Discussion that needs more than 2-3 messages? Start a call. It's almost always faster.

Who Can Create New Teams?

Only a limited number of people at Argus can create new Teams. This is on purpose — it keeps the company from ending up with dozens of half-used teams that nobody manages.

If you need a new team created (for a project, department, or property), submit a ticket explaining:

• What the team is for
• Who should be in it
• Whether it should be Private (only invited members) or Public (anyone at Argus can join)

We'll set it up and add the members for you.

🛠️ Common Problems

"I can't hear anyone in a meeting" / "Nobody can hear me"

• Click the three dots in the meeting toolbar → Device settings.
• Confirm the right speaker and microphone are selected. If you're using a headset, it should appear as an option.
• Check your computer isn't muted (the speaker icon in the Windows tray, bottom-right).

"Teams won't sign in" or keeps asking for the password

• Make sure your password hasn't expired. See Password Policies for Argus Hospitality (KB# 10005).
• It can take up to 30 minutes for a new password to sync — see the password article for details.
• If your password is current and Teams still won't sign in, see Outlook Keeps Prompting for Password — First Steps (KB-130008) — the same fixes usually work for Teams.

"I'm not seeing a team I should be in"

• Click Teams in the sidebar, then Join or create a team at the bottom.
• If the team is Private, ask the team owner to add you.
• If you used to be in the team and got removed, that may have been on purpose — check with the team owner before submitting a ticket.

"Video / camera not working"

• Close any other app that might be using the camera (Zoom, Skype, browser tabs with camera access).
• Check the camera privacy switch on the laptop if there is one.
• Try a different USB camera if the built-in one isn't working.

"Meeting link won't open"

• Make sure you're signed in to Teams first, then click the link again.
• If the link is from someone outside Argus, you may need to click Join on the web in the browser instead of opening the desktop app.

🆘 When to Submit a Ticket

Submit a ticket if:

• Teams won't sign in after you've confirmed your password is current.
• You need a new team created.
• You need to be added to a team you can't join yourself.
• You're having persistent meeting quality problems (echo, dropping calls, video freezing) and the common fixes above don't help.

Related Articles

• Password Policies for Argus Hospitality (KB# 10005)
• Add Company Email to Your Phone (KB-130005)
• Setting Up Microsoft Authenticator on a New Phone (KB-190001)
• The Basics to Try When You Have a Problem (KB# 10001)

ArgusIT KB# 100001 | Original: March 19, 2020 (Vincent Kruggel) | Rebuilt: May 25, 2026