Updated June 2023
In order to truly rival competitors such as Slack, Microsoft has been stepping up its game in terms of Office integrations. In 2020 they created a new ‘add-in’ for MS Outlook which allows you to schedule MS Teams meetings directly from MS Outlook. This simple, yet handy, MS Outlook ‘add-in’ can be an excellent time-saver!
At Orchestry, we understand that with the plethora of features and functions available from Microsoft 365 Office Suite, it can often be tricky to discern what to use within each application. All Microsoft products have their own unique capabilities but sometimes there is a vague cross-over. We are here to help ensure there is no confusion and aim to make work simple, getting you to the right tool at the right time, for the right purpose.
In this how-to guide, we will talk you through how this new ‘add-in’ for MS Outlook works, so you can make the most of this new feature and work more efficiently in MS Teams.
Conveniently, this particular ‘add-in’ is automatically installed for users who have Microsoft Teams and either Office 2010, Office 2013 or Office 2016 on their computer.
Image: MS Teams Meeting ‘add-in’ in MS Outlook, under Calendar
Navigate to the new Teams Meeting ‘add-in’ by going to your MS Outlook. You will find this easy-to-use feature within the Calendar ribbon. By clicking on this icon you can create new MS Teams meetings directly from MS Outlook. It also allows people to view, accept, or join meetings in either app.
Note: At present, you can schedule Teams meetings from within Outlook, but you cannot choose which MS Teams channel to host them in.
Let’s break it down:
You’ve just scheduled your MS Teams meeting via MS Outlook – it’s as easy as that!
This MS Teams add-on also allows you to invite people from outside your organization from within MS Outlook. All you need to do is make sure that you’ve added them as a guest before the meeting starts, otherwise, they’ll join the meeting anonymously.
The integration between Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Teams is set to continue. As well as scheduling meetings, according to Microsoft, the connection between the new applications also enables users to:
As this integration is relatively new, it is still building in functionality. Here are some things to be mindful of:
This seems to be an exciting time for Microsoft, in terms of application integrations. The list of new features and updates appears to be going strong in the Office 365 message center. You may have thought that MS Outlook is the past and MS Teams is the future but as the innovations of both platforms are showing no signs of slowing down, soon organizations will be embracing both tools interchangeably as part of the digital workspace.
Most organizations are not using Microsoft 365 to its full potential.
Orchestry makes Microsoft 365 simple for all users.
Orchestry takes the uncertainty out of M365, delighting even the most non-technical members of your team with preconfigured Teams templates, an informative Workspace Directory, and more!
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