There’s SO MUCH going on in Microsoft Teams as a product, how do you even start to talk about it?! In this blog series I’m going to attempt to work my way through the letters of the alphabet, talking about as many features as I can think of in turn.

If you’re new to Teams, hopefully this helps you find your way around. If you’re not new to Teams, maybe you’ll still get some new ideas. Here we go…

F is for… Files

Bear with me, on the surface this isn’t the most exciting of subjects…

Let’s cover the basics first; in Teams you can add files to a channel or chat, and then everyone with access to the channel or chat can work on the same document at any time. I’ll say that again in case this is new to you; everyone can work on the same document at any time.

This is great for obvious reasons! No more emailing round different updates of the document appended version 2 _ final _ FINAL (we’ve all seen this, right?!). No more of people making changes in different time zones that then have to be merged into yet another version of the same document. Everyone with access can just open it up and edit away. If document versions are causing you pain, this is your answer!

Side note – on the subject of access… it is possible to get pretty granular with who has which type of access to the document in Teams (ie read-only access or edit access). In my opinion it’s easiest to make sure that you’re sharing a document in the team or chat where your document contributors are, that way you’ll know the right people have access.

Lets look at some other ways you can power-up your files game in Microsoft Teams channels (you don’t get as many options with files shared in chat):

You can create a grid view of your files with customised columns

When you go to files in a teams channel – you’ll have the option to edit in grid view:

From here you can then add additional columns to your grid view, with different types of column on offer like text or person.

This could be useful if you are in HR and have all your policy documents saved in one place – you could add a column for the next review date, and a person column to populate with who is responsible for completing the review. Then you have an at-a-glance view of where you are with your document updates all in teams:

Use the filter to hunt down what you’re looking for

If you’re looking at a teams file list that is longer than you, (I’m a tiny 5ft tall so this is often the case) it can be tricky to find exactly what you need. You can use the filter option to narrow down what you’re searching for. Filter on the modified date, the type of document, or who has modified the document:

As usual there are lots of useful options hiding behind the 3 dots

Hover over a document and you’ll see loads of useful things you can do (I’m not sure why Microsoft insist on hiding all this good stuff):

Preview gives you a read-only view of the document inside the teams pane:

You can then easily open the document if you do want to edit it. This might be good if you’re nervous about making accidental changes to documents!

Make this a tab does what it says on the tin and creates a tab direct to that document in the teams channel. This can be handy if there is a document being frequently updated in the team, it saves people having to go digging through files to find it:

Pin to top lets you pin a document to the top of the documents list in the files tab, again making it easier for people to find key files:

Change how you view files

By clicking on all documents at the top, you can also change your view of the files you see:

Perhaps you’re a tiles person, or maybe you prefer a compact list; either way, Teams has got you covered.

When you open up your files, you’ve got a few cool options too.

See the changes that others have made by pressing catch up:

In the review tab of Word documents, you can also click on the Editor, which will give you tips on your grammar as well as other things that might surprise you, like the style and clarity of your writing or how inclusive it is:

My personal favourite is that it also checks your writing for sensitive geopolitical references:

I guess you never know when those might pop up. (See, this is more exciting than you thought isn’t it!)

A few ways there to make your teams files work harder for you – are there any that I’ve forgotten? Let me know in the comments!

Look out for next week’s letter G, in which I will most definitely be mentioning gifs.

Hope you’re enjoying the A-Z of Teams series. If you missed the earlier letters of the alphabet, you can find them here:

https://lyndsay.blog/2023/03/01/lyndsays-a-z-of-microsoft-teams-a-is-for/

https://lyndsay.blog/2023/03/07/lyndsays-a-z-of-microsoft-teams/

https://lyndsay.blog/2023/03/16/lyndsays-a-z-of-microsoft-teams-b-is-for/

https://lyndsay.blog/2023/03/22/lyndsays-a-z-of-microsoft-teams-c-is-for-part-1/

Lyndsay’s A-Z of Microsoft Teams – C is for… (Part 2) – Lyndsay Ansell’s Blog

Lyndsay’s A-Z of Microsoft Teams – C is for… (Part 3) – Lyndsay Ansell’s Blog

Lyndsay’s A-Z of Microsoft Teams – C is for (part 4!!!) – Lyndsay Ansell’s Blog

Lyndsay’s A-Z of Microsoft Teams – D is for… – Lyndsay Ansell’s Blog

Lyndsay’s A-Z of Microsoft Teams – E is for… – Lyndsay Ansell’s Blog

Happy Teamsing!