In short: use search and keyboard shortcuts, pin what matters, tame notifications per channel, keep meetings tidy, and share short meeting links instead of the long Teams URL.
Microsoft Teams is where many of us chat, meet and share files all day long, yet most people use only a fraction of it. These ten habits work in the new Teams on Windows, Mac and the web, and each one takes less than a minute to adopt.
1. Search instead of scrolling
Press Ctrl + E (Cmd + E on Mac) to jump to the search box, then filter the results by Messages, People or Files. It is much faster than scrolling back through a long chat.
2. Pin the chats and channels you use every day
Open the More options menu (…) of a chat or channel and choose Pin. Pinned items stay at the top of the list, whatever the activity elsewhere.
3. Learn four keyboard shortcuts
- Ctrl + . (period): show every shortcut
- Ctrl + N: start a new chat
- Ctrl + Shift + M: mute or unmute in a meeting
- Ctrl + Shift + O: turn your camera on or off
4. Mark a message as unread
No time to answer now? Open the message’s More options menu and choose Mark as unread: it stays bold until you come back to it.
5. Use mentions sparingly
@name notifies one person, @channel or @team notifies everyone. Keep the broad mentions for what really concerns the whole group, or people will start ignoring them.
6. Look professional in meetings
Before joining, open the Effects and avatars panel to blur your background or pick an image. It hides a busy room without changing anything else.
7. Save messages you will need again
Choose Save this message in the message’s More options menu. Saved messages are gathered in one list, so you no longer have to search for that link or that decision.
8. Start a meeting right away
In a channel, the Meet button starts a meeting immediately, without scheduling it. Everyone in the channel sees it and can join in one click.
9. Set notifications per channel
Rather than muting everything, open a channel’s More options menu, then Channel notifications, and keep alerts only for the channels that need your attention.
10. Turn channels into a work hub
Use the + button at the top of a channel to add tabs: files, notes, a planner or a website. The whole team finds the right tools in the same place.
Microsoft Teams cheat sheet: keyboard shortcuts
These shortcuts are for Teams on Windows. On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl. In Teams, press Ctrl + . (period) to see the full list.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Go to search | Ctrl + E |
| Start a new chat | Ctrl + N |
| Open Calendar (default app bar) | Ctrl + 3 |
| Mute or unmute | Ctrl + Shift + M |
| Turn your camera on or off | Ctrl + Shift + O |
| Raise or lower your hand | Ctrl + Shift + K |
| Open the share tray | Ctrl + Shift + E |
| Accept a video call | Ctrl + Shift + A |
| Accept an audio call | Ctrl + Shift + S |
| Decline a call | Ctrl + Shift + D |
One more hack: Teams turns you Away after a few minutes of inactivity. See how to keep your Teams status green.
Bonus: share meeting links that fit
A Teams meeting link runs from about 70 to more than 200 characters and is hard to share in SMS or chat apps. Paste it into the MSTeams.link shortener to get a short link such as msteams.link/AB12 and a QR code, or install the Chrome extension to do it in one click.
These tips work in the new Microsoft Teams on desktop and on the web. Menu names may vary slightly with your organization’s settings.