Microsoft Teams Student Guide

Set up a UBC Microsoft account

To set up a UBC Microsoft account, you need to be a registered, active UBC student and create a UBC email address that uses your UBC CWL (Campus-Wide Login), if you have not already created one. This email—which will look like CWL@student.ubc.ca, (where "CWL" is replaced with your UBC CWL username)—will serve as the email attached to your UBC Microsoft account. Once you have activated the email, you do not need to follow this process again.

1. To create a new UBC email address, log in to the UBC CWL myAccount page with your UBC CWL.
   • If you have privacy concerns about sharing your CWL username as part of an email address, you may anonymize it. To do so, click Rename CWL in the sidebar navigation and follow the steps displayed on that page.
2. Once you are ready, click Activate Student Email in the sidebar navigation.
3. After reading the "Terms of Service", click Accept.
4. It may take up to 48 hours before your email becomes active. Once your email is active, you can access Microsoft Teams (as well as Microsoft OneDrive) with this new email address and your UBC CWL password.

Install the Microsoft Teams application

Sign in to Microsoft Teams

No matter how you access Microsoft Teams, you will sign in with the same UBC credentials.

1. You can access Microsoft Teams from the Microsoft Teams web portal or through the Microsoft Teams desktop or mobile application. We recommend the latter.
2. Enter your CWL@student.ubc.ca email (where "CWL" is replaced with your actual UBC CWL username) when prompted for your work, school, or Microsoft account.
3. Enter your UBC CWL password.
   • You may need to read and accept the terms of use.

Join a team in Microsoft Teams

A team refers to a specific group of people (like a course or club) in Microsoft Teams who want to collaborate together exclusively. Each team gets access to a private space where members communicate and share content with one another.

Your team will primarily use channels for communicating. Channels are spaces for conversations focused on specific topics. You can have video/audio or chat discussions, share files, and more. Channels can be open to everyone (public) or only to invited individuals (private). You will be able to join and view channels once you join the team.

1. Typically, the owner of a team (e.g., your course instructor) will share a code with you to join the team.
2. Open the Microsoft Teams application and sign in, if you haven't already.
3. Click Teams in the sidebar navigation.
4. Click Join or create team and choose Join team.
5. Enter the code that you received from the team owner in the box that says "Enter join code".
6. Click Add team.
7. This action will add the new team under the “Teams” section and give you access to collaborate and communicate in this space with others.
8. To view all channels for a team and choose which channels appear in your sidebar navigation, click the more options icon (the 3 horizontal dots) next to the team name, and choose Manage team.
9. Click the Channels tab to find all the active channels and check off the channels that you would like to see in your sidebar navigation.

Attend Microsoft Teams meetings

Meetings in Microsoft Teams are how anyone can host presentations, office hours, meetings, and more. When someone within your team would like to meet with you, you will receive a meeting invite through the email that your UBC CWL is associated with. You should also be able to access all these meetings through your Microsoft Teams calendar, as detailed below.

1. Open the Microsoft Teams application and sign in, if you haven't already.
2. Click Calendar in the sidebar navigation.
3. Click the meeting, and then click Join.
4. Before joining, you will have the option to set your audio and video settings. When you are ready, click Join now.

Schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams

You can schedule meetings of your own in Microsoft Teams, which can be useful for collaborating on group projects or assignments.

1. Open the Microsoft Teams application and sign in, if you haven't already.
2. Click Calendar in the sidebar navigation.
3. Click + New meeting at the top.
4. Fill in the meeting information, including the title, attendees, date and time, recurrence, or any other applicable fields.
   • To invite people, you can search for them by name or by email. Alternatively, if you are part of a team (e.g., a course or club) you can invite an entire channel, which will allow anyone who is part of the channel to access your meeting.
5. Click Save to schedule your meeting and send your meeting invite.

Chat in Microsoft Teams

You can chat privately with individuals or groups of people. Chat is best used for casual conversation. It is not meant for exchanging confidential or sensitive information. Chat messages exchanged in the "Chats" area of Microsoft Teams are deleted after 90 days, as part of the UBC Records Management Office retention schedule.

1. Open the Microsoft Teams application and sign in, if you haven't already.
2. Click Chat in the sidebar navigation.
3. At the top of the application, click the new chat icon that is to the bottom left of the search bar. Enter a name, email, or group name in the “To” section to invite others to the chat.
   • Alternatively, if you have used chats before, click Recent to view your past conversations with people and select the conversation to continue.
4. Enter your message in the message bar and use any of the additional options for chatting there:
   • Format: Use the additional features of the rich text editor.
   • Set delivery options: Change the status of a message to important or urgent.
   • Attach files: Collaborate on documents together by sharing files.
   • Loop components: Collaborate on smaller elements like lists or tables by adding a component.
   • Emoji: Send emoticons.
   • Stickers: Send stickers.
   • Schedule a meeting: Schedule a meeting with chat participants.
5. Click the send icon in the bottom right corner to send your message to chat participants.

Upload a file to Microsoft Teams

You can upload a file to a channel, and everyone with access to that channel will be able to view and download the file.

1. Open the Microsoft Teams application and sign in, if you haven't already.
2. Click Teams in the sidebar navigation, and select the team.
3. Select the channel that you want to upload the file in, and click Files at the top.
4. Click Upload and choose Files from the drop-down.
5. Select a file to upload and click Open.

Share documents in Microsoft Teams

You can share documents with other students in Microsoft Teams to collaborate in real time. Shared files can be edited by multiple people at once, and each person can view the edits as they are made.

1. Open the Microsoft Teams application and sign in, if you haven't already.
2. Click either Chat (if you want to share documents through a chat) or Teams (if you are part of a team and want to share documents through a team channel) in the sidebar navigation.
3. Select the chat or team channel that you would like to use. Under the message bar, click the paperclip icon to attach a file.
   • If you are sharing a file in a team channel, you will need to click Start a post to open the message bar.
4. Select the location where the file is stored and choose the file to share.
5. Write a message to go along with your file to help collaborators know what you're sharing.
6. Click either the send icon or the Post button to share the file.
7. Once the message has been sent, anyone who can see it (i.e., anyone with access to the chat or team channel) can open the file and start editing.

Request a team in Microsoft Teams

If you are part of a UBC student team or club, you can request a team space to help organize, communicate, and collaborate exclusively within your organization.

1. Open the Microsoft Teams application and sign in, if you haven't already.
2. Click Get Started in the sidebar navigation.
3. Under "Quick Links", click Request a Team.
4. Select Student Team Request Form.
5. Complete the form and click Save to submit.
6. Once submitted, your request will be reviewed within 24 hours. You will receive an email confirmation once it is approved. As an owner of a UBC team, you will be able to manage the team, including who is invited to the team and how the channels are set up.

Manage a team that you own in Microsoft Teams

If you are the owner of a UBC team in Microsoft Teams, you will have the ability to invite people to the team and create channels. Channels are places where team members can communicate with one another and share files.