Microsoft Teams

Overview 

Microsoft Teams is part of UW Office 365 and is a FERPA- and HIPPA-compatible productivity, collaboration, and communication platform. Key features of Microsoft Teams include team file and data sharing, direct messaging, group chat functionality, and video and voice calling capabilities. The information on this page will help you get started with using Microsoft Teams here at the UW.

Getting Started

Microsoft Teams has plenty of in-depth professional learning resources to help you learn how to use the platform – we’ve collected that information below and will continue adding and updating the list for easy access. The rest of this page contains key information that UW-IT has found useful to the UW’s usage of Microsoft Teams. 

Learning Resources

• Microsoft Learn page(s)
  • Microsoft Teams Video Training
  • Microsoft Teams help & learning portal
• LinkedIn Learning page(s)
  • LinkedIn Learning: Microsoft Teams courses

Microsoft Teams (the platform) vs a Microsoft team (an instance)

When we’re talking about Microsoft Teams, there is a difference between Microsoft Teams (the platform) and a Microsoft team (an instance). Everyone at UW can use Microsoft Teams whether we are part of a specific Microsoft team or not. 

• Microsoft Teams:
  • The application (desktop, browser, mobile) that you launch to chat, make video calls, attend meetings, etc. 
  • A platform to access integrated applications (apps) such as Calendar, Planner, Shifts, etc. 
  • The container application used to access a Microsoft team (or multiple Microsoft teams). 

• A Microsoft team:
  • A designated team space that contains discussion channels (public, private, shared) and used for collaboration. 
  • Requires an individual or group to join first before accessing. 
  • Includes document libraries and file storage.

The “Bones” of Microsoft Teams

In technical terms, we’re talking about the underlying infrastructure of Microsoft Teams. Every new Microsoft team creates a connected SharePoint site that is used for file storage and collaboration. A Microsoft 365 group is also created for every Microsoft team which is where permissions and memberships are maintained. For more information about the Microsoft Teams and SharePoint integration, please see the Microsoft Learn page: Overview of Teams and SharePoint integration.

When you create a team, here’s what gets created*:


• A new Microsoft 365 group
• A SharePoint site and document library to store team files
• An Exchange Online shared mailbox and calendar
• A OneNote notebook
• Ties into other Microsoft 365 apps such as Planner and Power BI

^{*Source: Microsoft Teams – Teams architecture}

Private and Shared channels

Both Private and Shared are unique in that they create their own separate SharePoint site that is nested within the main SharePoint site for the Microsoft team. While confusing at first, the reason for this design is so that you can collaborate on and store files within a shared space that is dedicated to the respective private or shared channels while keeping that information separate from the main team file and storage location. For more information on how this works, please see the Microsoft Learn page: Overview of Teams and SharePoint integration.

For a visual explanation, see the Example of a team with multiple channel types section of the Microsoft Learn page: Overview of Teams and SharePoint integration.

Tips & Tricks