In case your group makes use of Workplace, likelihood is you’ve encountered Microsoft Groups, no less than for video conferences. However it’s able to much more, offering an efficient manner for teams of individuals to collaborate on work and advance enterprise aims.
Groups is, at its core, group chat software program with videoconferencing capabilities and a few fascinating options round working with paperwork and spreadsheets, particularly these saved in SharePoint and OneDrive for Enterprise. It’s included with Microsoft 365/Workplace 365 enterprise and enterprise subscriptions, making it engaging to Microsoft clients who don’t wish to pay for added chat or assembly software program.
When you get to understand it, Groups is a genuinely useful software for groups in corporations that use Microsoft 365, because it brings collectively a bunch of suite parts and surfaces them in a single handy place.
Microsoft affords an online interface for Groups, in addition to cell apps for iOS and Android so you may keep linked from anyplace. However the most effective expertise is obtainable by the desktop shopper. Accessible for Home windows 10 and 11, macOS (any of essentially the most three latest variations, according to Apple’s help coverage), and Linux (on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, Fedora 30 Workstation, RHEL 8 Workstation, and CentOS 8), it’s a wealthy, full-featured software that allows you to hold conferences, chats, and notes all collectively in a single place. This story will concentrate on getting you acquainted with the desktop app.
Creating or becoming a member of a crew
Because the title suggests, Groups organizes itself across the idea of groups, which could be small teams you’re working with on particular tasks, your complete division or, in some instances, even the whole firm. While you launch Groups, you’ll be taken to the Groups view. The primary time you launch Microsoft Groups, you’ll seemingly be enrolled in a number of groups.
Jonathan Hassell/IDG
Groups provides teams a spot to talk about tasks, share information, and extra. (Click on picture to enlarge it.)
To create a brand new crew, which you may have to do while you begin a brand new undertaking, as an illustration, choose Be a part of or create a crew on the backside left of the Groups window. (For those who don’t see this selection, be sure to’re in Groups view by clicking the Groups icon within the left navigation bar.) On the display screen that seems, hover over the “Create a crew” space and click on the Create crew button.
You might want to then select whether or not to create a crew from scratch or create a crew primarily based on a Microsoft 365 Group (in the event you select the latter, then it’s worthwhile to specify the group on the subsequent display screen), select whether or not the crew is non-public (solely you and different house owners of the crew can determine which contributors to incorporate) or public (anybody who has entry to Microsoft 365 in your group can be a part of), after which give your crew a reputation and a pleasant description so others could make sense of its objective.
Jonathan Hassell/IDG
You may create a brand new crew from scratch or use an present group. (Click on picture to enlarge it.)
After that, you’ll be prompted so as to add any related individuals, distribution teams, and safety teams which may exist contained in the World Handle Checklist for Microsoft 365 in your group. Right here, consider distribution teams that get memos in your division, any specific staff, and even different e-mail lists which may have members that might discover the content material of your discussions related. It’s also possible to designate them as members or house owners of the crew.
If Microsoft 365 is configured appropriately in your organization, you may even invite company from outdoors your group, comparable to distributors and contractors, just by typing their e-mail addresses into the team-picking display screen. Their “visitor” standing shall be clearly denoted in all of their actions. (For those who don’t have permission out of your administrator to do that, Groups will report again that you’re not approved.)
Jonathan Hassell/IDG
Including members to a brand new crew. (Click on picture to enlarge it.)
While you create a crew, Groups routinely units up sure components of Microsoft 365 to help the crew. Particularly, it creates a SharePoint crew web site and grants entry to the members of the crew you added, a Microsoft 365 Group (consider it as an Trade or Outlook distribution listing on steroids) comprising the crew members, a shared OneNote pocket book hosted within the cloud, and a shared Plan, one thing that’s a part of the Microsoft Planner software in Microsoft 365, which is past the scope of this text.
To handle your crew at any time, click on the three-dot icon subsequent to its title within the navigator bar on the left. You’ll see a pop-up menu the place you may add or take away members, create channels for the crew (extra on that under), change the crew title or description, and extra.
For those who’d like to hitch an present crew somewhat than create a brand new one, choose Be a part of or create a crew on the backside left of the Groups window. On the display screen that seems, you’ll see a listing of obtainable groups. Hover over any public crew and click on its Be a part of crew button to hitch immediately. If the crew is non-public, you’ll have to request approval from its administrator.
Channels
As soon as a crew is created, you’ll discover just a few issues within the Groups window.
Jonathan Hassell/IDG
A brand new crew is born. (Click on picture to enlarge it.)
For one, a Basic channel has been created for the crew. Channels are the place you converse and collaborate. The Basic channel is supposed to be a catch-all place the place you go to begin conversations while you first start utilizing the Groups product; normally extra particular topic-related channels will spring from there.
You may create a number of channels for any given crew — the Widget Launch crew may wish to have gross sales, manufacturing, and advertising and marketing channels, for instance. So as to add a channel, click on the Create extra channels button. On the display screen that seems, kind in a reputation and an outline for the channel, choose a privateness choice if you wish to restrict the individuals who can entry the channel, and click on the Add button. All of the channels for a crew seem beneath the title of the crew within the left pane.
Every channel has tabs that present up within the higher portion of the primary space of the Groups display screen, together with tabs for posts (like conversations) and information. When somebody does one thing new in a channel, comparable to including a file or beginning or persevering with a dialog, that channel’s title will turn into daring within the left pane.
Posts
The Posts tab sort of works like Fb or LinkedIn in you could remark to your teammates in an ongoing dialog. Composing messages is simple: Simply click on the Begin a brand new dialog textual content field, or click on Reply under an present dialog and begin typing.
You may name teammates’ consideration to sure components of the dialog by tagging them with an @ signal when typing, like this: @Adele Are you able to share the most recent workback grid? Customers who’ve been tagged will see, in their very own copies of the Groups shoppers, these tagged components of the dialog highlighted in vivid purple to allow them to simply see and reply to messages. You should use emoticons, emojis, and GIFs as properly — that’s what I imply by considering of this space like Fb.
Jonathan Hassell/IDG
Conversing and tagging in a channel in Groups by way of the Posts tab. (Click on picture to enlarge it.)
Different actions comparable to shared calls or shared information seem in a timeline trend within the Posts tab. These could be accessed elsewhere, however they’re populated and referenced within the Posts space as properly, very similar to a information feed on a social web site works. And anybody who’s presently out there on Groups could have a inexperienced circle with a white checkmark on their profile image within the Posts space.
Information
You’re in all probability starting to get the concept that Groups is in some ways an overlay to Microsoft 365 companies. That is very clear within the Information tab, which populates a listing of information on the shared SharePoint crew web site proper in your window, saving you the difficulty of loading it up in your browser and clicking round. You may add, open, edit, copy, transfer, obtain, and delete information, or get hyperlinks to these paperwork to share with others.
Jonathan Hassell/IDG
Use the Information tab to entry your crew’s shared information. (Click on picture to enlarge it.)
For those who click on on a file title, the net model of Phrase, Excel, and so forth will open proper within the Groups window, permitting you to carry out light-weight edits or create easy paperwork from scratch with out leaving the Groups shopper.
Including extra tabs (and apps)
The tab space is mainly the place the entire thrilling integration motion occurs with Groups. Performance from different Microsoft 365 companies in addition to third events surfaces as new tabs.
For instance, you may add Excel spreadsheets, Phrase paperwork, OneNote notebooks, Energy BI dashboards, Planner plans, and extra straight as tabs within the Groups shopper. Simply click on the plus button (+) on the far proper of the tabs structure so as to add a brand new tab. There are additionally out there integrations with third-party cloud companies like GitHub, Cisco Webex, Smartsheet, and so forth.
Jonathan Hassell/IDG
Add new tabs inside Groups to increase performance to different functions, information, and companies. (Click on picture to enlarge it.)