Find Teams on the web at To use Teams, you need a Microsoft 365 account with a Business or Enterprise Microsoft 365 license plan. For more information, see How do I get access to Microsoft Teams? For information about supported browsers for Teams on the web, see Web clients for Microsoft Teams. Your calendar in Teams is connected to your Exchange calendar. In other words, when you schedule a meeting in Outlook, it'll show up in Teams, and vice versa. Every meeting scheduled in Teams is automatically made into an online meeting. Instructor-led training for Microsoft Teams Microsoft is excited to host a series of free, live, online training classes designed to get you up and running with Teams. Whether you're a business decision maker, admin, IT pro, or end user, you'll find a class that's right for you. Microsoft Teams Learn how to use Microsoft Teams from these online video tutorials designed to help you communicate with your team, track projects, manage shared files, and more. Microsoft Teams allows for up to 250 people to participate in a single Teams meeting. But, this doesn’t mean you can see all users at the same time. Until recently, Teams only allowed users to view the 4 last active participants in a video call.
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Watch the following session to learn how Teams interacts with Azure Active Directory (AAD), Microsoft 365 Groups, Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive for Business: Foundations of Microsoft Teams
Each team in Microsoft Teams has a team site in SharePoint Online, and each standard channel in a team gets a folder within the default team site document library. Files shared within a conversation are automatically added to the document library, and permissions and file security options set in SharePoint are automatically reflected within Teams. To see the impact of changing a site address in SharePoint, read Change a site address.
Note
This article applies only to standard channels. The architecture for private channels is different from standard channels. Each private channel has its own SharePoint site collection that's separate from the parent team site. To learn more, see Private channels in Microsoft Teams.
Private chat files are stored in the sender's OneDrive for Business folder, and permissions are automatically granted to all participants as part of the file sharing process.
If users aren't assigned and enabled with SharePoint Online licenses, they don't have OneDrive for Business storage in Microsoft 365 or Office 365. File sharing will continue to work in standard channels, but users won't be able to share files in chats without OneDrive for Business storage in Microsoft 365 or Office 365.
By storing the files in the SharePoint Online document library and OneDrive for Business, all compliance rules configured at the tenant level will be followed.
Note
Integration with SharePoint On-premises is not supported for Microsoft Teams at this time.
The following is the example of relationships between team, standard channel, and document library.
For every team, a SharePoint site is created, and the Shared Documents folder is the default folder created for the team. Each standard channel, including the General channel (the default channel for each team) has a folder in Shared Documents.
Note
It's not currently possible to replace the default SharePoint site and document library with another one. We've heard from you that you want it, and we're considering it. Check the Teams Roadmap or Teams UserVoice to stay on top of upcoming features.
Note
Microsoft will be moving from UserVoice to our own customer feedback solution on a product-by-product basis during 2021. Learn more.
Tip
To add a tab to your team that links to an existing SharePoint site page or to your existing SharePoint document library:
- Select the plus sign next to the tabs.
- Select either SharePoint for an existing SharePoint site page or Document Library for an existing document library.
- Select the appropriate page or document library.
For every user, the OneDrive folder Microsoft Teams Chat Files is used to store all files shared within private chats with other users (1:1 or 1:many), with permissions configured automatically to restrict access to the intended user only.
Note that for public teams, the SharePoint team site is provisioned with 'Everyone except external users' access. The public team isn't displayed in Teams for people who aren't members of that team. Free maschine expansions. However, they can access content on the SharePoint team site using the URL of the SharePoint team site.
Channel Files tab
This feature hasn't yet been released. It's been announced, and is coming soon. If you're an admin, you can find out when this feature will be released in the Message Center (in the Microsoft 365 admin center).
The Files tab in Teams closely resembles the SharePoint documents view. On the Files tab, users can:
- See additional options in the New file menu.
- Sync files to their local drive.
- On the All Documents menu, switch from List view to Compact list to Tiles view.
- Identify files that need attention or have malware.
- Immediately see whether a file is read-only or checked out.
- Check out and check in files.
- Pin, unpin, and change the sort order of files.
- Identify which files need metadata
- Choose from many more filter options.
- Group files based on column headings.
- Modify column settings (move left or right, hide) and column width.
Default link type setting
SharePoint and OneDrive have an admin setting for specifying the default link type for links that are created for a file. Teams is adopting that same approach by reusing the settings that the admin sets for SharePoint and OneDrive. More details about this approach are described in Change the default link type when users get links for sharing.
More information
For more information about how SharePoint works with Teams, see SharePoint and Teams: better together.
To learn more about the guest experience in Teams, read What the guest experience is like.
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Watch the following session to learn how Teams interacts with Azure Active Directory (AAD), Microsoft 365 Groups, Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive for Business: Foundations of Microsoft Teams
For the full Teams experience, every user should be enabled for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft 365 Group creation.
Users' Exchange mailboxes can be hosted online or on-premises.
Users hosted on Exchange Online or Exchange Dedicated vNext can use all the features of Teams. They can create and join teams and channels, create and view meetings, call and chat, modify user profile pictures (if the Outlook on the web mailbox policy allows them to do so), and add and configure connectors, tabs, and bots. For a more comprehensive list of available features, see the table below.
Users hosted on Exchange Online Dedicated (Legacy) must be synchronized to Azure Active Directory on Microsoft 365 or Office 365. They can create and join teams and channels, add and configure tabs and bots, and make use of the chat and calling features. However, they cannot modify profile pictures, manage meetings, access outlook contacts, or manage connectors.
Important
For integration with on-premises, it's highly recommended that you have an Exchange full Classic Hybrid deployment with Exchange Server 2016 or later. Modern Hybrid support is limited to Free/Busy and will not provide calendar integration from Teams to mailboxes on-premises, for example. For more information about setting up a hybrid deployment, see Exchange Server hybrid deployments.
Users with mailboxes hosted on-premises must be synchronized to Azure Active Directory. They can make use of all the features in the above scenario, but additionally, they can manage meetings if the requirements listed on Requirements for mailboxes hosted on-premises section are met.
The following table provides a helpful quick reference to feature availability based on the Exchange environment.
Actions supported:
| User's mailbox is hosted in: | eDiscovery | Legal Hold | Retention | Team and Channel mgmt | Create and view meetings in Teams | Modify user profile picture | Call History | Manage Contacts | Access Outlook contacts | Voicemail | Add and configure connectors | Add and configure tabs | Add and configure bots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Online | Yes 1 | Yes 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes7 | Yes | Yes | Yes 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange Online Dedicated vNext | Yes 1 | Yes 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes7 | Yes | Yes | Yes 6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange Online Dedicated – Legacy (Sync to Azure AD required) | Yes 1 | Yes 1,2 | Yes 3 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes 4 | Yes 5 | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange On-premises (Sync to Azure AD) | Yes 1,9 | Yes 1 | Yes 3 | Yes | Yes 8 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes 4 | Yes 5 | Yes | Yes |
1 eDiscovery and Legal Hold for compliance on channel messages is supported for all hosting options.
2 Teams private chat messages are not yet supported for Legal Hold for this hosting option.
3 Retention will use a shadow mailbox for the online user to store messages.
4 Teams users with on-premises Exchange mailbox may use voicemail with Teams and receive voicemail messages in Outlook, but voicemail messages will not be available to view or play within the Teams client.
5 If one of the owners of a team can add connectors, everyone else in that team will be able to do so, even if their mailboxes are homed on-premises.
6 Only contacts in default contacts folder. Access to other contacts folders or sub-folders is not supported.
7 Teams honors the Outlook on the web mailbox policy setting that's configured by tenant admins to control whether users can change their profile picture. If the -SetPhotoEnabled setting is turned off in the policy, users cannot add, change, or remove their profile picture, so the porfile picture wont be synced to teams if the admin changes the photo.8 You need to meet the requirements listed in the Requirements to create and view meetings for mailboxes hosted on-premises section.
9 A minimum of an Exchange Online Plan 1 license is also required. For more information, see Search for Teams chat data for on-premises users.
Requirements to get the most out of Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams works with several Microsoft 365 and Office 365 services to provide users with rich experience. To support this experience, you need to enable certain features or services and assign licenses.
Users must be assigned an Exchange Online license.
SharePoint Online is required to share and store files in team conversations. Microsoft Teams doesn't support SharePoint on-premises.
Users must be assigned a SharePoint Online license if they want to share files in Chats. If users aren't assigned and enabled with SharePoint Online licenses, they don't have OneDrive for Business storage in Microsoft 365 or Office 365. File sharing will continue to work in Channels, but users are unable to share files in Chats without OneDrive for Business storage in Microsoft 365 or Office 365.
Users must be enabled for Microsoft 365 group creation to create teams in Microsoft Teams.
Important
If you uninstall the Skype for Business client after you move a user to Teams Only mode, presence may stop working in Outlook and other Office apps. Presence works fine in Teams. To resolve this issue, select your profile picture in the top right-hand corner of Microsoft Teams and then select Settings. On the General tab under Application, select Register Teams as the chat app for Office (requires restarting Office applications). After you select this option, close and re-open all Office apps, including Outlook. After you open Outlook, presence information will be available.
Requirements to create and view meetings for mailboxes hosted on-premises
If mailboxes are hosted on-premises, to create and view meetings, the following requirements must be met:
The required Teams license needs to be assigned for the Azure Active Directory synced user.
Users must be synchronized to Azure Active Directory. For information about how to use Azure AD Connect to synchronize with Azure Active Directory, see Hybrid identity documentation.
Mailboxes are hosted in Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 3 or later.
Autodiscover and Exchange Web Services is published externally.
OAuth authentication is configured preferably via the Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard running a full hybrid configuration (Classic or Modern). If you are not able to use the Hybrid Configuration Wizard, configure OAuth as described in Configure OAuth authentication between Exchange and Exchange Online organizations.
Note
Exchange trusts OAuth Token from Teams service which is known as EvoSTS. Step 1 should be enough, but just the EvoSTS; ACS is used for Free/Busy lookup in the calendar.
The checkbox for the Exchange Hybrid Deployment feature in Azure AD Connect is set.
For calendar app support and Teams Outlook Add-In for Mac, Exchange Web Service URLs must be configured as SPNs in Tenant Azure AD for the Exchange Service Principal. This step is done with Hybrid Configuration Wizard or following manual steps for Hybrid Modern Authentication.
To enable calendar delegation for these users:
You must also complete steps as described in Configure Integration and OAuth between Skype for Business Online and Exchange Server; these steps will provide the Teams scheduling application the required permissions to confirm delegate permissions.
Note
Step 2 includes role assignment for ArchiveApplication, which is not required for delegation.
The Teams Scheduling add-in for Outlook requires Exchange 2013 CU19 or later when scheduling a meeting on behalf of someone else. This is to support the unauthenticated discovery of the mailbox by our service to check delegate permissions against the delegator mailbox. The delegate and delegator location could be Exchange 2013 or later, or Exchange online, but Autodiscover must resolve to Exchange 2013 CU19 or later.
Online Ms Teams
Additional considerations
Here are some extra things to think about as you implement Microsoft Teams in your organization.
In Microsoft Teams, security and compliance features like eDiscovery, Content Search, archiving, and legal hold work best in Exchange Online and SharePoint Online environments. For channel conversations, messages are journaled to the group mailbox in Exchange Online, where they're available for eDiscovery. If SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business (using work or school account) are enabled across the organization and for users, these compliance features are available for all files within Teams as well.
Control and protect the configuration of compliance policies in Teams and Exchange using Conditional Access. For more information see How do Conditional Access policies work for Teams?
If your organization has compliance requirements to ensure all meeting discussions are discoverable, you should disable private meetings if the organizer has an Exchange on-premises mailbox. For more information, see Allow scheduling private meetings.
In an Exchange hybrid deployment, content from chat messages is searchable regardless of whether chat participants have a cloud-based mailbox or an on-premises mailbox. To learn more, read Searching cloud-based mailboxes for on-premises users. To learn about searching for content in Teams, read Content Search in the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center.
For presence status, Microsoft Teams must check whether the mailbox is hosted on Exchange Online or on-premises. The service then decides where to access the mailbox. To enable the Teams service to check the mailbox location through the REST API call to the Exchange Online service, you have to deploy an Exchange hybrid environment by running the Exchange Hybrid Configuration wizard, as described in Create a hybrid deployment with the Hybrid Configuration wizard.
Online Meeting Ms Teams
Troubleshooting
For a full troubleshooting guide on the topic, make sure to check out Troubleshoot Microsoft Teams and Exchange Server interaction issues.