MS Teams - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ...

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General

Where can I find relevant information on changes in MS Teams at KIT?
We publish significant changes made by Microsoft or the SCC on our website "Aktuelle Änderungen & Informationen". Have a look there before you “research” the FAQs.

from Employees

NEW Teams & Outlook Add-In: Teams meeting is not created

Problem description
You have started the new Teams, you are logged in with your KIT account ab1234 does-not-exist.kit edu and you do NOT receive any meeting information (link, code, options, ... are not added) when creating a Teams meeting in Outlook (using the Outlook add-in)!
Another problem could be that meetings already created in Outlook cannot be edited or changed.

Please note the latest information
As we have been informed by Microsoft, the problem with creating/scheduling MS Teams meetings in Outlook in combination with the new Teams (Teams NEW) should now be resolved. The previous workaround of using the classic Teams version instead of the new Teams version should therefore no longer be necessary.

According to Microsoft:
User impact: Users were intermittently unable to create new Microsoft Teams meetings using add-ins in Outlook for Windows.
More info: This issue was limited to a subset of users of Outlook for Windows. Where possible, users may have been able to bypass impact by creating new Microsoft Teams meetings using Outlook on the web. As this issue was intermittent, subsequent attempts to create meetings may have succeeded.
Final status: We've confirmed that deployment of the fix has completed and we've confirmed via telemetry that impact has been remediated.
Scope of impact: Any user creating a new Microsoft Teams meeting using an add-in in Outlook for Windows may have been intermittently impacted.

Prerequisite for this is the installation and use of the latest and new Teams version!
After switching to the MS Teams NEW, exit your Outlook (File -> Exit) and restart Outlook.

Old Solution/workaround
In these cases, please be sure to switch to the classic Teams version and restart Outlook. Using classic Teams, you should be able to create and edit a Teams meeting in Outlook as usual.

If the workaround does not work, it may be necessary to reinstall Teams:

  • Exit Outlook
  • Uninstall Teams completely and delete all remaining Teams remnants under ...
    • %appdata%\Local
    • %appdata%\Roaming
  • Reinstall Teams, start Teams and switch to the classic version 
  • You can then start Outlook and (hopefully) successfully create the Teams meeting
Outlook-Meeting unexpectedly turns into a Teams-meeting
Problem
Unfortunately, the meeting invitation in Outlook was recently changed with an update.
If you click on "Invite participants", the normal meeting invitation automatically becomes a team meeting. Theoretically, you should be able to change this default setting in the options. However, this option is only available in Outlook M365.
 

What can be done instead?

If the problem continues to occur after updating the Outlook Add-in or after updating MS Teams, proceed as follows:

As soon as the appointment has been changed to a Teams meeting, the symbol for the team meeting appears in the header.

If you click on the symbol, the header expands:
By clicking on "Do not host online" the Teams meeting disappears and it is again a normal meeting request.
Inviting an external guest to one's own team
The owner of a team can invite external guests to join it. A description can be found at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-guests-to-a-team-in-microsoft-teams-fccb4fa6-f864-4508-bdde-256e7384a14f.
What do you need to know in advance?
  • You only need the mail address/the MS account of the external person with whom he/she is "travelling" in the M365 environment. 
The article does describe that you should adjust the display name, but this is automatically adjusted again as soon as the guest has accepted the invitation.
To add to a team, select the displayed user name, confirm it with ADD and close the window.
Now the guest account is created in the background, the invitee receives an invitation by mail, via which the invitation must be accepted
Organisational arrangement: At KIT, such an external guest account is deleted without further enquiry as soon as:
  • the guest account is no longer a member of any team, or
  • the last login with the guest account took place more than 180 days ago 
Selecting a team type when creating a team
We recommend the type "Professional Learning Community (PLC)" or "Other".
In these two types, the OneNote notebook is used as the notebook. This can be used with the OneNote versions licensed and available at KIT. 
For more information and distinguishing features of the team types, please refer to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/choose-a-team-type-to-collaborate-in-microsoft-teams-0a971053-d640-4555-9fd7-f785c2b99e67
Can I add students to my team?
Yes, but students are created in a separate client and can only be included as guests in teams on the employee client. Please note guests in teams and "Special features for students".
Please note:
Students must have agreed to the MS Teams privacy policy.
If you want to add student accounts "uxxxx" to teams via the team administration, be sure to enter the abbreviation followed by "@" in the search, i.e. "uxxxx@"! Otherwise the student account "uxxxx does-not-exist.student kit edu" may not be found.
I do not want to accept students individually in the team, what can I do?
You do not want to add your numerous students to a team individually? Then generate a join link via Campus Team Connect and make it available to your students, e.g. in ILIAS, or distribute it to the participants by e-mail. They can easily join the team via this join link (prerequisite for students: acceptance of the privacy policy).
How to create a join link is explained in this short tutorial.
How can I use MS teams for online teaching?
You can find detailed instructions for use in online teaching at the Centre for Media Learning (ZML): https://www.zml.kit.edu/english/Interactive-online-seminars-MS-teams.php
How can I be invited to join an external team?
For this, the external colleague must invite you with the address ab1234∂kit edu ! An invitation with the normal mail address does not work, because this address is unknown in the teams area.
Exception: Your MS Teams/-Azure account was created prior to Spring 2020 and was created using vorname nachname does-not-exist.kit edu. Then the invitation would have to be sent to this address.

Note and tip
You can find out which address you actually have to use to be invited by an external institution or to be registered there as a guest at https://myaccount.microsoft.com/.
After successful authentication, the mail address/user account is displayed below your name.

To do this, perform the following steps

  •     open a new private/incognito browser window (Chrome/Edge),
  •     enter the URL https://myaccount.microsoft.com/,
  •     enter your user account ab1234 does-not-exist.kit edu or ab1234 does-not-exist.partner kit edu to log in to MS Teams,
  •     you should get to the KIT shibboleth page,
  •     there you enter your abbreviation and password for authentication at KIT
  •     and you will get to the MS MyAccount page, where your account with the mail address/account for MS Teams at KIT will appear under the overview (below your profile picture and name).
  •     Please pass on this address to the external institution.

Explanation: Unfortunately not every account was created with ab1234 does-not-exist.kit edu or ab1234 does-not-exist.partner kit edu, accounts created before March 2020 got a MS Teams/-Azure account with vorname nachname does-not-exist.kit edu created (this was the regulation at that time, which is still valid for this group of people).

 

from Students & Guest Students

I cannot change the client and I do not see my courses/teams. What can I do?
Necessary steps

In order for you (the students) to be offered courses in teams, the following steps must be taken:

  1. Consent to the privacy policy, https://my.scc.kit.edu/shib/azurefreigabe.php
  2. The invitation to join a team must be accepted (join team). The invitation is sent out by the lecturer, or you can join a team in Ilias.
  3. Teams must be started (web application or app) and
  4. agree to a second Microsoft privacy policy. Then it should be possible to change clients as described on the page https://www.scc.kit.edu/dienste/ms-teams-studierende.php.

Solution for problems

Please allow yourself a lot (!) of time between the individual steps. If it still doesn't work after 24 hours, please contact teams-support∂scc.kit.edu with your uxxxx∂student.kit.edu account.

Cause

The cause of the problem is most likely due to an error at Microsoft and the sometimes very long synchronization times of individual components.

Further notes/possibilities

Start chat between supervisor and student
Unfortunately, students do not find the employee accounts in the teams area of KIT and therefore cannot start a chat with the supervisor from their side.
However, if the supervisor starts a chat with the student, her contact will appear in the student's contact list and the communication can be maintained at any time.
Guest Auditor Account...

Lecturers can apply for one or more guest accounts for their guest students (GH) via the ticket system for the use of MS Teams at KIT.
Once the GH account has been created, it must be assigned to the appropriate team (lecture) by the lecturer, unless it was specified when applying.

For the assignment of multiple Gashthörer accounts, use the Excel file "Template_MSTeams_GasthoererInnenAmKIT.xlsx" (explanations included) and attach it to the assignment ticket.

to Log In & Starting

I end up in an endless loop when I log in to the self service portal my.scc.kit.edu
Please agree to the privacy policy. If this does not help: please send an email with your account to teams-support∂scc kit edu.
Does the password already have to be provided to Microsoft when signing up for Teams?
No!
When registering for teams, the account verification is forwarded to our own Shibboleth provider. Here the account (in the form ab1234 or uxxxx) is requested again.
The password is requested at this point and only at this point.
If you have to enter a password beforehand, you are either not logging in with an account within kit.edu/student.kit.edu/partner.kit.edu or you have landed on a page that poses a security risk.
Bottom line: only provide the password on our own site!
After starting the app, you will receive a message from the firewall
Some apps, including Microsoft Teams, report via a Windows Defender Firewall dialog that some features are blocked by the firewall. This message can be ignored with the "Cancel" button.
When starting MS Teams in the browser, you get an error message "Allow third-party cookies".
For MS Teams to work in the browser, third-party cookies must not be blocked. In Chrome the error can be corrected by calling the page chrome://settings/content/cookies. There, turn off the option "Block third-party cookies".
I get an error message "Do not stay behind" when I try to log in
Accounts created within the last few minutes may not have been assigned a license for team use. If the problem persists even after a long wait or with an existing account, please contact teams-support does-not-exist.scc kit edu

Error message when trying to log in: AADSTS51004

AADSTS51004: The user account xxxxx@[student,partner].kit.edu does not exist in the [216844dc-9c90-4949-8e4b-58ea2d2c3dbe, 4f5eec75-46fd-43f8-8d24-62bebd9771e5] directory. To sign into this application, the account must be added to the directory.
Please still agree to the privacy policy in the self-service portal my.scc.kit.edu.
Only then your account will be synced into the MS Teams area. This may take about 30 min. After that, try to log in again.
Question: Allow management of the device?
Sometimes during the login process you are asked to indicate whether you want to stay logged in to your apps and/or whether you allow your device to be managed by your organization.
You may receive such a popup window:

Here you need to uncheck "Allow my device to be managed by my organization" and then click "No, only log in to this app" (or similar). After that, the login process continues as usual.
The MS Teams DesktopApp suddenly does not start anymore
If the MS Teams DesktopApp suddenly does not start anymore, MS Teams was probably updated in the background. Sometimes it helps then to set the compatibility mode to "Windows 8".
Proceed as follows:
  • Close MS Teams DesktopApp
  • If it is at the bottom of the bar: Shift + right mouse over the Teams icon.
  • A context menu should pop up
  • Select "Open file path" there
  • Now the explorer should open with the Teams directory
  • Right click on the file "Update.exe" and select properties
  • Tab "Compatibility
  • Set compatibility mode to "Windows 8" (confirm everything)
  • Restart MS Teams DesktopApp

to Privacy & Security

Voicemail usage disabled
For data protection reasons, the VoiceMails function including the transcription option is switched off.
Public or private team?

When creating a team, you have to decide whether you want to create a public or a private team.

The most important differences:
In a private team, the owner invites or registers the members. The shared data is only available to the team members.
Anyone who wants to can become a member of a public team, but the owner is not involved. The team data can be read by all accounts in the organization.

 

How can I check whether my team is public or private?
(New teams...)

In the three-dot menu next to the team name, you will find the "Manage team" command as the owner, click on it.

  • Then go to the "Settings" tab.
  • Here, click on "Edit" under the team details below the name
  • In the following options window, you can select the desired variant in the lower area under "Data protection".
  •  
  • Then confirm with "Done".

 

Information from Microsoft
at https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/microsoft-365/solutions/configure-teams-three-tiers-protection?view=o365-worldwide#three-tiers-at-a-glance 
https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/office/machen-sie-ein-%C3%B6ffentliches-team-in-microsoft-teams-privat-6f324fbc-6599-4612-8daa-ff5d35a746bf

How secure is the data?
The data is stored on Microsoft servers and therefore you should handle your data with care. No sensitive data should be uploaded or talked about. Therefore there is only a toleration of data protection during the crisis.
I do not want to talk with video image, what can I do?
It is up to each employee to decide whether or not to switch on the camera on his or her terminal. It is not permitted to force the use of the camera. Recording of the video conference does not work. This function is currently not available.
How can I leave a team with my guest account?
Via https://connect.studium.kit.edu an overview of the existing teams can be displayed.
In the table, teams can be left again by clicking on "Leave team". It may take some time until the change is synchronized in all systems and is also displayed in the Teams client.
Where can I find information about my account?
At myaccount.microsoft.com collected information about the own teams account can be found.

Here you can find, for example, the e-mail address with which you can be invited externally. Under the heading "Organizations" you can see all the organizations you work with. Here you can also leave external organizations.

Please note: The password to your own account cannot be changed here!
The Teams account is linked to the KIT account at KIT. And the rule is: password change only via identity management (IDM), this means Password change only via my.scc.kit.edu .

to Application & Functionality

"Schedule Out of Office" under "Set status message" does not work
Unfortunately, the "Schedule Out of Office" function, as offered in MS Teams under "Set status message", cannot be used at KIT.
You will receive an error message when you save this absence.
Screenshot des Fehlers bei der Planung einer Abwesenheit.
A prerequisite for this function is that the KIT mailboxes are located in the Microsoft Cloud, which is currently not the case. The KIT mailboxes are still located on the Exchange servers operated by the SCC locally at the KIT.
There is only the option of setting a status message and scheduling it:
Screenshot der Abwesenheitnachricht
You must configure out-of-office notifications for the KIT mailbox under Outlook.
Use of Copilot

On Thursday, 14.03.24, after a committee run, Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) was activated for employees and students.

Microsoft Copilot is a Microsoft product based on AI models such as GPT-4. It enables interaction in natural language and can process and interpret both text and images.

Microsoft Copilot offers commercial data protection. This means that the chat data is not stored, Microsoft has no access to it and the data is not used to train models.

It can now be used in the following way:

  • Launch browser
  • Sign in with your Microsoft account
  • Start search with bing.com
  • Ask Copilot
Extended functionalities
Many people would like to see one or two extensions in Teams - be it an app, a connector, whatever.
Unfortunately, we are currently not allowed to activate anything.
ASDuR has set up a working group to define rules according to which we - the administrators - can then release apps etc..
We'll just have to wait until these rules are finalized.
What is the difference between transcription and live subtitles for team meetings?
Transcription - NOT approved at KIT
When transcribing, the spoken words are also logged as text.
This word log is then saved in the team or in the chat and can be read subsequently.
Live subtitles - Released at KIT
Anyone taking part in a meeting can have the spoken words displayed live during the meeting. 
After the meeting has ended, however, the subtitle texts are no longer available or comprehensible.
  • Live subtitles will be activated on 15.11.23 at KIT to increase accessibility in MS Teams.
  • Here you will find a short guide to subtitles in meetings at KIT

Ongoing meeting is not visible in the team

Unfortunately, many people are currently experiencing the error that an ongoing meeting is not visible in a team. It is therefore not possible to join the meeting.
Workaround:
After starting a meeting in the team, the person starting the meeting immediately goes to the meeting options.
These can be found as follows: Go to the 3 dots (More) - Settings - Meeting options.
These are then displayed on the right-hand side of the window.
Change any setting here, click on Save (at the bottom), change the setting back if necessary and save again.
The other participants can now see the meeting in the team and join it. (The date may be completely wrong)
Start New_Teams with pinned icon
If you started the previous Teams with a pinned icon in the taskbar, you have to change the icon after switching to the new Teams.
To do this, start the new Teams, pin it to the taskbar again. A new icon with "NEW" will appear on the taskbar.
Please detach the previous icon from the taskbar.
Voicemail usage disabled
For data protection reasons, the VoiceMails function including the transcription option is switched off.

Standard chat responses

Mobile Teams clients have recently added the ability to use standard replies in chat.

Example
To the question: "Shall we have dinner together?" the answers "Can we" - "Yes" - "Yes, absolutely" are offered as a small additional menu.

This option is only offered for chats in your own client (in our case, in the tenant "Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)").

You can turn this off in the following way:
On the mobile device, open Teams. Go to settings via the round icon next to "chat".
Then select Messages. In the following window, this functionality can be switched off.

Linux Teams client discontinued - Progressive Web App (PWA) for Linux available since end of 2022
The previous Linux client for Microsoft Teams was discontinued by Microsoft at the end of 2022. Microsoft now relies on the Progressive Web App (PWA), which is available for both Edge and Chrome browsers on Linux.
Microsoft Teams for Linux users will therefore run in the browser in the future - as a Progressive Web App (PWA). It can be installed in a similar way to an app and offers a few more functions than the previous Linux Teams client.
Info MS TechCommunity: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/microsoft-teams-progressive-web-app-now-available-on-linux/ba-p/3669846
Linux Teams Client or Linux WebApp (PWA ) - Workaround for problems
Apparently there are always problems or function restrictions when using the Linux Teams Client or the Progressive WebApp (PWA) for Linux under some Linux distributions.
Missing function: window splitting and background in meetings
In the Linux Teams client from Microsoft, window splitting is not possible. Microsoft itself writes that this feature does not exist:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/share-content-in-a-meeting-in-teams-fcc2bf59-aecd-4481-8f99-ce55dd836ce8?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us - "Window sharing isn't available for Linux users."
Likewise, with the MS Linux Teams client, the background in a meeting cannot be blurred.
Possible workaround for problems: Teams for Linux (unofficial client via Electron)
Unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux using Electron. It uses the Web App and wraps it as a standalone application using Electron.
At SCC, some Linux users have had the client in use, and apparently it ran stably. However, the SCC does not give any guarantee for the use of the tool!
Why can't some people be found by searching?
There are several options.
  • You can only find people who have agreed to use Microsoft Teams. No record is created in the address book without consent.
  • Shorter searches than 6 characters are not possible.
  • Students can only be found in the employee client if they have been invited.
  • Students can only be searched by first name and surname if they have agreed to the transfer. Otherwise students are only listed under pseudonym.
  • One account can have multiple email addresses associated with it, but only one of them is transferred to the Microsoft cloud. Therefore, finding an email address is often difficult.
  • Newly created accounts are not immediately available in the directories.
  • Your team client may have cached old search results.
Bypass solution Alternatively, if you cannot find a colleague to add to a team, the colleague can search for the team and request to join. We are not aware of any problems this way.
Why do I not see a calendar or other tools in MS Teams?

MS-Teams was introduced at KIT during the Corona crisis and is currently tolerated by KIT's data protection department - https://www.dsb.kit.edu . The possible uses are currently being reconsidered. The calendar and other cloud services are not primarily part of MS Teams and are therefore not approved.

The functions or tools for so-called "existing users" (people who already used MS Teams before 03/2020) were not subsequently restricted.

What do I need to do and consider when recording a Teams meeting?

On 23.08.23 the recording function at KIT was activated for MS Teams!

At KIT, the legal requirements for recording of participants with approved video conferencing systems at KIT generally apply.

General instructions for recording a Teams meeting can be found at Microsoft Support at https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/record-a-meeting-in-teams-34dfbe7f-b07d-4a27-b4c6-de62f1348c24.

Note that recording is only possible in a meeting that was started in a team. Also, only owners and members of a team have permission to start or stop recording a meeting. Guests and people from other organizations are not authorized to do so.
After the end of the recording, the video file (*.mp4) can be found on the SharePoint page of the team.
Currently, a retention period of 60 days after the end of recording applies.

Here you can find detailed instructions and hints: Instruction Teams Records
Breakout-Rooms
In a meeting, there is definitely more often a need to retreat into smaller groups for a discussion.

For this purpose, with the client app now gives a new icon: Two nested rectangles.
If you click on them, you can create different rooms and assign people to them.

Without a client app, there are the following two options:

Meeting only with team members in teams

  • create multiple channels
  • assign one channel to each team member
  • start a meeting in all channels in time

For discussion, the team members then use the respective meeting in the selected channel

Meeting with team members and with external participants

  • Create an Outlook appointment for each breakout room with "New Teams Meeting".
  • Name the appointments in a meaningful way. They are all in parallel in terms of time.
  • Now create a web page for yourself on which you embed the meeting links

This way, everyone can access the right spaces for discussion in smaller groups.

Can I schedule a team meeting as a substitute via Outlook in another mailbox?
This is not possible with the current configuration at KIT.
The KIT mailboxes would have to be located at Microsoft in the cloud, but these are located locally on the KIT Exchange servers.

Possible workaround

  • The person to be represented creates a meeting ONCE in their own Outlook calendar WITHOUT specifying participants.
  • The created link of this teams meeting can then be copied by the substitutes in a "normal" meeting appointment of the person to be substituted and distributed to the participants.
  • Please note that the creator of the team meeting is always the organizer of this meeting.

to Installation & Configuration

How do I use MS Teams on Windows RT?
The operating system is not supported by Microsoft with the client application. Possibly the (limited) use in a browser is possible.
How do I change my profile photo?
Unfortunately, the profile picture cannot currently be changed via the desktop or web app. We suspect a faulty synchronisation or a bug in the Teams version.
If you have installed Teams as an app on a smartphone, you can change the picture there.
Nevertheless, the currently set profile picture still does not appear in the desktop app in the "bobble" at the top right. Unfortunately, we do not have a solution for this at the moment.
However, other team members will see your photo in meetings/chats!
Please be patient until the change is displayed correctly for everyone.
Outlook Add-In for MS Teams meeting disappeared after update (Windows)
Subject: DesktopApps MS Teams & Outlook on Windows Clients
Problem: In Outlook calendar, the icon for creating teams meetings is not visible despite the activated add-in.

Possible solutions

(1) New installation of the DesktopApp MS Teams

  •     Exit MS Outlook and MS Teams
  •     Uninstall MS Teams
    • Make sure that no remnants of the Teams installation (including folders) are left on the client
  •     Reinstall MS Teams
  •     Attention: Before you start Outlook again, you should have started MS Teams.

(2) Are you using Windows 10 2016 LTSB with Office 2016?

  • a new installation may be sufficient. But if the add-in cannot be activated under Add-Ins or in Calendar, then....
    replace the %localappdata%\Microsoft\TeamsMeetingAddin\1.0.22209.4\x86 directory with the following x86 replacement directory: ZIP-File