Lyndsay’s A-Z of Microsoft Teams – M is for…

Lyndsay’s A-Z of Microsoft Teams – M is for…

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…

M is for… Mention

Between all the activity going on in chats, Group chats, and Channels, it can be difficult to get people’s attention in Microsoft Teams.

A feature that can help is the ability to ‘Mention’ people or groups, but like a lot of other features in Teams, I think it needs some thought to make sure it’s used effectively.

Here’ I’ll show you how, who and explore why you might mention.

Mention a person

You can mention a person in a chat, group chat or channel by typing @ and then starting to type their name. You should see them flash up as a person to mention.

And if you’re doing it right, their name will turn into a blue link:

Note: to mention someone, they need to be already in the group chat or channel that you’re trying to mention them in. Mentioning someone won’t work if they’re not in the group chat or channel that you’re trying to mention them in.

(PS – you can backspace once after you’ve mentioned someone to mention just their first name.)

What happens when you mention someone?

The person that you mention will get a notification in their feed that you have mentioned them.

They might also get a banner if they have that option turned on in their own notification settings. (You can’t change notification settings for someone else).

From the notification – the person can click straight into the post or chat where you have mentioned them, so they don’t have to scroll around to find it, which is handy.

Why mention a person?

I think a good reason to mention someone specifically is if you need them directly to complete an action or answer a question.

As with all written communication the clearer and more concise it can be the better – if you’re going to the trouble of mentioning someone and you’ve got their attention, you don’t want to lose it again with a question or instruction that is too wordy.

Mention a channel

You can also mention a channel in the same way that you can mention a person:

What happens when you mention a channel?

You might think that if you mention a channel, everyone in the channel will get a notification in their activity feed.

BUT – anyone in the channel can choose not to receive notifications of channel mentions at all in their notification settings:

Which means your mention will go unseen!

Why mention a channel?

You might be tempted to use a channel mention to ask a group of people to complete the same action, like complete some annual training or take the employee survey. I’d say this will be effective to some extent, but you’ll need to be prepared that not everyone will take notice.

Possibly in channels with smaller numbers of people who are very engaged with the channel process this option might have more success.

Mention a Team

You can also mention everyone in a Team in the same way as mentioning a specific person:

What happens when you mention a Team?

You have the same problem with Team mentions – people can choose to turn those notifications off, so might not see your mention:

Why use a Team mention?

As with channel mentions, you may be tempted to use a Team mention to request an action of a larger group of people. I’d suggest you should still expect some people to ignore this!

Mention everyone in a group chat

You can also mention everyone within a group chat by typing @everyone:

What happens when you mention everyone in a group chat?

Everyone in the group chat will get the notification in their feed… unless of course they have turned these notifications off too:

So notifications and mentions, especially group ones, might be tricker than you think!

Luckily, as usual Microsoft have hidden the notification options pretty well, so most users probably aren’t taking the time to fiddle around with them and customise them at a very granular level.

But I do think it’s worth bearing in mind that you can’t always control exactly who receives mention notifications when you send them. Knowing that might help you to decide if a mention is the best way to get the attention you need.

If you liked this blog and want to catch up on the rest of the A-Z series so far, you can find posts A-K 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

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

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