Introduction
Microsoft Teams (aka Teams or MS Teams) is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, screen sharing, file storage (including real-time collaboration), and team organization. Only information with a classification rating of low confidentiality may be be stored in MS Teams. Microsoft hosts a series of ed to get you up and running with Microsoft Teams. To get the most out of Teams Meetings, be sure to check out our General Meeting Guidance.
Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint, and Teams Comparison Chart
| Microsoft Outlook | Microsoft SharePoint | Microsoft Teams |
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| Speed | Slow Difficult to know if your email has been read or when you will hear back | Average Content is updated less frequently | Fast Suitable for instant communication |
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| Audience | Varies Can be used for audiences of any size | Varies Sites should be used to broadcast a message, share content for viewing but not editing, or to showcase services | Varies Designed for smaller teams or groups with a focused and defined purpose |
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| Tone | Formal Professional setting | Formal Content is more permanent with the organization in mind | Informal Suitable for team members who work together closely and understand the information presented; can be conversational but should remain suitable for a professional work environment |
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| Information Sharing | Not Easily Shared Forwarding attachments back and forth makes traceability difficult and inhibits versioning control | Easily Shared With either the entire organization (on the Intranet) or external partners (on External SharePoint sites) | Easily Shared Information is shareable in various formats and methods and includes collaboration with others who have access to the Team Channel |
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| Knowledge Transfer | Not Recommended Any knowledge artifacts within a mailbox are only available to the mailbox owner and may be lost after a user's account is deactivated | Recommended Particularly for external audiences; Ensures a consistent user experience and effective organizational management of information | Recommended Changes in Channel membership have no impact on content availability; Newly added members have access to all historical data/conversations as long as these settings were selected when adding the new member. |
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| Confidentiality | Average Only the sender and recipient have access to the email and its contents but can be accidentally forwarded/sent to the wrong parties | High Provides the most control over permissions, sharing and security controls | Average Only members to the Channel have access to the shared information and data, however, confidential information may be exposed if permissions settings are not properly managed and maintained |
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| Version Control | None Documents sent via Outlook must be downloaded before edits can be made; each recipient will have their own file with no ability to collaborate within the document itself | High Version history on all documents are maintained by SharePoint by default | High Must access the Channel's File tab, then select Open in SharePoint; When viewed in SharePoint, version history is readily available |
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Microsoft Teams Limitations
| Function | Description and Limitations |
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| Adding New Members to an Established Chat | When a current member of a Chat invites a new member, the invitee has the option to include all historical chat records, but not all shared files. The new member will not be able to see any files shared as part of the chat prior to when they were added as a member. When a file is shared in a Chat it is stored in the OneDrive account of the chat member who shared it and Teams will automatically provide access to all current members of the chat to the shared file(s). However, new chat members will still be able to see the previously shared files and can request access to them. |
| Mobile vs. Desktop features and functions | The web and and smartphone cloud apps are slimmed down versions of the desktop app. You may notice some missing functionality, such as the inability to edit wiki pages in the IOS and Android Apps, or the inability to share your screen during a chat in the web browser. |
| Email sent to a Team Channel | The ability to Email a Channel has been permanently disabled. The team is associated with a Microsoft Group which does have an associated inbox. Individuals outside the team or external to the ITS tenant can email the group inbox in order to get information to Team member, however the email and content will not be present in the Team. |
| Sharing your Screen in a Chat | You will need to use the Teams Desktop app to share your screen within a chat or if using the desktop app is not an option you can schedule a meeting with the person and share your screen while in the meeting. |
| File Storage | Files larger than 10GB cannot be uploaded into Teams. Additionally, because file storage in Teams runs off the same architecture SharePoint is built on, certain characters in the file name may cause problems during upload. If a file or folder you’re trying to upload to SharePoint contains any of the characters listed below, it may prevent files and folders from syncing. Rename the file or folder to remove these characters before you upload it. | Quotation Marks | Asterisks | Colons | Carrots | Question Marks | Back and Forward Slashes | Vertical Bars | Leading/Trailing Spaces |
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| " | * | : | < > | ? | / \ | | |
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| Connections to SharePoint | An externally-facing NYSERDA SharePoint site cannot be connected directly to a Team or Channel, though an Intranet SharePoint site can. |
| Browser Support | - Chrome: General support for the latest version plus the two previous versions. Meetings are supported on Chrome 59 or later. Support for Calls is coming soon.
- FireFox: General support for the latest version plus the two previous versions. Calls and Meetings aren't supported. Users who try to join a meeting on Firefox will be directed to download the Teams desktop client.
- Internet Explorer: Calls and Meetings are not supported. Users who try to join a meeting on Internet Explorer 11 will be directed to download the Teams desktop client.
- Microsoft Edge: Calls and Meetings supported on Edge RS2 or later.
- Safari: Not supported. Users who try to open Teams on Safari will be directed to download the Teams desktop client.
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