Tag: Teams

Copilot in Teams meetings

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People keep telling me Copilot in Teams “writes notes for them”.

That’s not what it does. That’s what an action item list does.

What Copilot does is let you ask a meeting questions. Live, while it’s happening. Or three days later when someone CCs you in and asks for an opinion.

Most SMBs I work with have it switched on and have no idea. Staff have a Copilot license, the meeting has a transcript ticking along, and the Copilot pane sits there unused while everyone scrambles to take their own notes.

Notice what’s missing? The bit where someone actually uses it.

What is Copilot in Teams meetings, really?

It’s a question box that knows what was just said.

You open the Copilot pane during a call, type a question — what have we decided?, what did Sarah commit to?, am I even needed on this one? — and it answers from the live transcript.

After the meeting, that same pane becomes the intelligent recap: chapters, AI-generated notes, suggested follow-ups, and timestamps that jump you straight to the moment someone said the thing that matters.

That’s the whole product. Live Q&A on the meeting, plus a navigable recap after. There’s a broader catalogue of AI features in Teams, but this is the one that earns the license on day one.

Step-by-Step: Turning it on properly

Two things have to be true for any of this to work: a Copilot license on the user, and transcription enabled for the meeting. Without a transcript, the Copilot pane has nothing to read.

Here’s the order I run it.

Enable transcription in the meeting policy

In the Teams admin centre, go to Meetings → Meeting policies, open the policy that applies to your Copilot users, and switch Allow transcription to On. The default global policy is off in some tenants. Check.

Turn Copilot on in the same policy

Same screen, scroll down. Set Copilot to On with or without transcription for genuine flexibility, or On only with transcription if you want a paper trail every time. My recommendation? The second one, especially for any regulated client.

Set the room expectation

Drop one line into the meeting invite: This meeting uses Microsoft Copilot. A transcript will be generated. Teams shows attendees a banner anyway when transcription starts, but writing it once removes the awkward moment.

Show people the pane

Open a meeting. Click the Copilot icon in the toolbar. Ask it something live. Then do it again from the recap tab after the meeting ends. Two clicks. That’s the training.

Why this actually changes behaviour

The win isn’t the summary. The win is what people stop doing.

Here’s the real one. They stop typing notes mid-meeting. They stop joining meetings they didn’t need to be in, because the recap takes two minutes afterwards. They stop emailing what did we agree? — they ask Copilot, and it answers with a timestamp.

Can I just ask what I missed? Yes. That’s the whole point.

Copilot doesn’t replace the meeting. It replaces the scramble around the meeting.

For regulated clients, the privacy notes for intelligent recap are worth ten minutes — they’re the answer when a client asks “but is this safe?”

Copilot in Teams meetings isn’t there to take notes for you. It’s there to make notes optional.

If you’re not showing your SMB clients this in their next review, someone else will.

Your 15‑Minute Daily M365 Power Routine

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“Transform your day in 15 minutes.”

Most people don’t have a productivity problem.
They have a starting problem.

The day kicks off reactively. Emails, Teams pings, half‑finished tasks from yesterday, and suddenly it’s 11am and you’re already behind. Not because you’re lazy or disorganised, but because you never took control of the day before it took control of you.

That’s where this comes in.

This is a simple, repeatable 15‑minute Microsoft 365 power routine you can run every morning. No new tools. No fancy systems. Just using what you already have – properly.

Do this consistently and you’ll stop feeling busy and start feeling deliberate.

The Rule

Before you touch email properly.
Before you open your tenth Teams chat.
Before you let someone else’s urgency define your priorities.

You run the routine.

Every. Single. Morning.

Minute 1–3: Outlook “My Day” – Reality Check

Open Outlook and bring up My Day.

This is where most people already go wrong. They either ignore their calendar completely or treat it as a suggestion rather than a commitment.

Look at:

  • Today’s meetings

  • Gaps between meetings

  • The real amount of time you actually have available

This isn’t about optimism. It’s about honesty.

If your calendar says you’ve got back‑to‑back meetings until 3pm, pretending you’ll “get some deep work done” before lunch is a lie you’ve told yourself too many times.

My Day shows you the truth. Accept it.

Minute 4–7: Microsoft To Do – Decide What Actually Matters

Now jump into Microsoft To Do.

Not your entire backlog.
Not your wish list.
Just today.

Ask one simple question:

“If I only got three things done today, what would move the needle?”

Flag or prioritise no more than three tasks. If everything is important, nothing is.

This is where most people sabotage themselves. They create a list that’s really just a guilt inventory. Don’t do that. Your job isn’t to remember everything. Your job is to progress the right things.

Everything else can wait.

Minute 8–10: Teams Check‑In – Reduce Noise Before It Starts

Send a short Teams check‑in.

This can be to:

  • Your team channel

  • A project chat

  • A key stakeholder

Something as simple as:

“Top priority today is X. I’ll be focused until lunch – ping me if urgent.”

This does two things:

  1. It sets expectations (which reduces interruptions)

  2. It forces clarity on your priorities

Most interruptions aren’t malicious. They’re caused by silence. A 60‑second message now can save you 20 distractions later.

Minute 11–15: Viva Insights – Protect Focus Time

Finally, open Viva Insights and block focus time.

Not “when I get a chance”.
Not “if the day allows”.

You schedule focus like you schedule meetings, because that’s what it is – an appointment with your most valuable asset: attention.

Even one 60–90 minute focus block changes the shape of the day. Without it, your time fragments. With it, work actually finishes.

If you don’t defend this time, nobody else will.

The Checklist (Save This)

Every morning:

  1. Review Outlook My Day

  2. Pick 3 priorities in To Do

  3. Send a Teams check‑in

  4. Block focus time with Viva Insights

That’s it.

No hacks. No dopamine tricks. Just discipline and consistency.

The Challenge

Follow this routine every morning for a week.

Not when you remember.
Not when it feels convenient.
Every morning.

Then ask yourself:

  • Did I feel more in control?

  • Did less work spill into the evening?

  • Did I stop reacting and start deciding?

If the answer is yes, you’ve just built a habit that scales better than any productivity app ever will.

If the answer is no, at least you’re now honest about how you’re starting your day.

Either way, you win.

The Ultimate Teams Channel Guide for SMBs

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Is your Teams a mess? Fix it with these channel strategies.

Let’s be honest.
Most Microsoft Teams environments don’t fail because Teams is bad. They fail because no one ever decided how it should be used.

What starts as “we’ll just spin up a Team” quickly turns into channel sprawl, random tabs, duplicated files, and conversations scattered everywhere. Before long, people stop trusting Teams and fall back to email, private chats, or worse – asking, “Where’s that document again?”

The good news? You don’t need to rebuild everything. You just need a clear channel strategy.

This guide shows you how to structure channels, tabs, naming conventions, and integrated Planner/OneNote so Teams actually supports work instead of slowing it down.

First principle: Channels are for workstreams, not people

If your channels are named after people (“Bob”, “Accounts – Jane”) or vague concepts (“General 2”, “Random”, “Stuff”), you’ve already lost.

Channels should represent ongoing workstreams that have a shared outcome.

Good channel examples:

  • Sales Pipeline

  • Invoicing & Finance

  • Projects – Client A

  • Operations

  • Marketing Campaigns

Bad channel examples:

  • Bob

  • Misc

  • Old Stuff

  • Testing 123

A simple rule:
If the work would still exist if someone left the business, it deserves a channel.

Keep General boring (that’s a feature)

The General channel should not be a dumping ground.

Use it for:

  • Announcements

  • High-level updates

  • Links to key resources

  • Onboarding info

Do not use it for day-to-day work.
When everything happens in General, nothing stands out.

Naming conventions reduce friction (and arguments)

Consistency matters more than creativity.

Pick a naming pattern and stick to it:

  • Projects – Client Name

  • Projects – Internal

  • Admin – Finance

  • Admin – HR

This helps users instantly understand:

  • What type of work lives here

  • Whether the channel is operational, administrative, or project-based

You shouldn’t need training to find the right channel.

Tabs turn channels into workspaces

Most Teams are underpowered because channels are treated like chat rooms instead of workspaces.

Every active channel should have, at minimum:

  • Files – where the work lives

  • Planner – what needs to be done

  • OneNote – how things are done
Planner: make work visible

Add a Planner tab for:

  • Tasks

  • Ownership

  • Due dates

If it’s not in Planner, it’s not real work – it’s just a conversation.

OneNote: stop answering the same questions

Use OneNote tabs for:

  • Meeting notes

  • Process documentation

  • Decision logs

  • “How we do this” guides

This is how you reduce repeat questions and tribal knowledge.

Fewer channels, better behaviour

More channels do not mean better organisation.

As a rule of thumb:

  • 5–12 channels per Team is usually plenty

  • Archive or delete channels that are no longer active

  • Spin up a new Team when work becomes unrelated, not just “big”

If users are confused about where to post, you have too many options.

Guide + Checklist: fix one Team this week

Don’t boil the ocean. Start small.

Checklist:

  • Rename unclear channels

  • Move active work out of General

  • Add Planner and OneNote tabs to key channels

  • Remove unused tabs and channels

  • Agree on a simple naming convention

You’ll be surprised how quickly behaviour improves once structure exists.

Final challenge

Reorganise one Team this week and share a before/after screenshot.

Not for vanity.
For clarity.

Because Teams doesn’t need more features.
It needs better decisions.

If you want Teams to work, design it like a workspace – not a chat app.

Teams vs Email: Which to Use When

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Still emailing files back and forth? There’s a better way.

Email has been around forever, which is both its strength and its biggest problem. It’s familiar, universal, and dangerously easy to misuse. Most workplaces aren’t struggling because they lack tools — they’re struggling because they’re using the wrong tool for the job.

The real productivity gain doesn’t come from “moving everything to Teams”. It comes from knowing when to use Outlook, when to use Teams chat, and when a Teams channel is the right answer.

Let’s make that decision easier.

The core problem isn’t email — it’s overload

Email works brilliantly for external communication, formal messages, and one‑to‑one correspondence. Where it falls apart is collaboration.

Long reply‑all threads. Multiple versions of the same attachment. “See my comments in the attached doc v7 FINAL‑FINAL.docx”. Sound familiar?

Every time a conversation becomes ongoing, shared, or file‑centric, email starts to create friction. Teams exists to remove that friction — but only if it’s used properly.

A simple decision framework

Before you send that next message, ask one question:

Is this a conversation, a collaboration, or a communication?

Your answer determines the tool.

Use Outlook email when…

Email is still the right choice when:

  • You’re communicating externally (customers, suppliers, partners)

  • The message is formal, contractual, or needs an audit trail

  • It’s a one‑to‑one message with no expectation of ongoing discussion

  • You’re sending a summary or decision, not working something out

Email is a delivery mechanism, not a workspace. Treat it like the envelope, not the filing cabinet.

Use Teams chat when…

Teams chat is ideal for quick, informal, time‑sensitive conversations:

  • Clarifying a question

  • Getting a fast answer

  • Coordinating in the moment (“Are you free now?”)

  • Lightweight internal discussions that don’t need long‑term visibility

Chat is fast — and that’s both good and bad.

The mistake people make is using chat for work that actually matters later. Chats are hard to search, easy to lose, and tied to individuals rather than outcomes. If the conversation needs to live beyond today, chat probably isn’t the right place.

Use Teams channels when…

This is where the real shift happens.

Teams channels are for shared work, ongoing conversations, and files that matter.

Use a channel when:

  • Multiple people need visibility

  • Files will be edited collaboratively

  • The conversation will continue over days or weeks

  • The context matters more than the individual participants

  • You want one source of truth, not ten inboxes

A Teams channel replaces the entire email thread — conversation, files, history, and decisions — in one place.

This is the part most organisations get wrong. They create Teams, but still default to email “because that’s what we’ve always done”. The result is duplication, confusion, and frustration.

The practical rule most teams need

Here’s the rule I give clients:

If you’re about to reply‑all for the third time, stop and move it to a Teams channel.

One long email thread replaced with one Teams conversation per week is enough to change how people work. You don’t need a big transformation program — just one deliberate habit change.

Post the update in the channel. Upload the file once. Tag the people who need to see it. Let the conversation sit next to the work.

This is about behaviour, not technology

Teams doesn’t magically fix collaboration. It exposes it.

If your team lacks clarity, ownership, or structure, Teams will surface that quickly. Used well, though, it reduces noise, improves visibility, and stops work disappearing into inboxes.

Email isn’t going away. Nor should it. But if your internal collaboration still lives there, you’re paying a productivity tax you don’t need to.

So this week, pick one email thread and replace it with a Teams conversation.

You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

Mastering Teams Meetings with Copilot

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Make meetings shorter and more effective using AI.

Let’s be honest. Most meetings don’t fail because people don’t care. They fail because they’re bloated, unfocused, and forgettable.

We talk. We nod. We promise to “circle back”. Then everyone leaves and gets on with their real work… often without a clear idea of what was actually decided.

This is exactly where Copilot in Microsoft Teams earns its keep.

Copilot doesn’t magically fix bad meetings. But it does remove the friction that turns good discussions into wasted time. It captures what matters, summarises it clearly, and turns conversation into action—without you having to play the role of note‑taker, timekeeper, or meeting historian.

What Copilot Actually Does in Teams Meetings

During a Teams meeting, Copilot works alongside the live transcript. It’s not guessing. It’s listening to what’s being said and structuring it for you in real time or after the meeting ends.

That means Copilot can:

  • Generate clean summaries of long discussions

  • Identify key decisions (not just who talked the loudest)

  • Extract action items and who owns them

  • Answer questions like “What did I miss?” or “What was decided about X?”

The real benefit? You no longer need to stay in every meeting from start to finish just to stay informed.

Meetings Get Shorter (Because They Can)

Once people realise they don’t have to manually capture notes, meetings naturally change.

Instead of:

  • Repeating context “for the minutes”

  • Talking in circles to make sure something is written down

  • Staying late “just in case something important comes up”

Teams can focus on decisions and outcomes, knowing Copilot will handle the admin.

That alone can shave 10–15 minutes off most meetings, which adds up frighteningly fast over a week.

A Simple How‑To: Using Copilot in Your Next Meeting

You don’t need to redesign your meeting culture to start. Just do this:

  1. Start a Teams meeting as normal
    Make sure transcription is enabled (most organisations have this on by default).

  2. Open Copilot during the meeting
    Use it to ask things like:

    • “Summarise what’s been discussed so far”
    • “What decisions have been made?”

  3. After the meeting, ask for a summary
    Copilot can generate:

    • A short executive summary

    • A list of action items

    • Open questions or follow‑ups

  4. Share the summary with attendees
    Drop it straight into Teams chat or email. No rework required.

That’s it. No templates. No extra tools. No admin overhead.

The Real Power Move: Share the Impact

Here’s where most people stop—but you shouldn’t.

After your meeting, share what Copilot produced and call it out explicitly:

“This summary was generated by Copilot—no manual notes.”

Why? Because this is how adoption spreads.

When others see:

  • Clear summaries

  • Accurate action items

  • No missed details

They start asking how you did it. And suddenly, better meetings become contagious.

Copilot Doesn’t Replace You—It Backs You Up

Copilot isn’t there to run meetings for you. It’s there to remove the boring, error‑prone parts so you can focus on thinking, deciding, and moving work forward.

If your meetings matter, Copilot helps ensure they actually lead somewhere.

And if your meetings don’t matter? Well… at least they’ll be shorter.

Five Microsoft Teams features most people still aren’t using (but should be)

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Everyone uses Microsoft Teams.

Very few people use it well.

Most organisations I walk into are using Teams as a glorified chat tool with meetings bolted on the side. That’s fine… but it’s also leaving a huge amount of productivity on the table. The irony is that the features that save the most time are usually the least talked about, because they’re not flashy and they don’t sell licences.

So here are five lesser-known Microsoft Teams tips that actually make a difference in day-to-day work — especially for MSPs and busy IT teams who live in Teams all day.

No fluff. No theory. Just practical wins.

1. Save messages for later, not forever

If you’re using Teams chat as a to‑do list, you’re already behind.

Most people know you can Save a message (hover → three dots → Save), but hardly anyone actually uses it properly. Saved messages are searchable, centralised, and survive the chaos of busy channels.

Here’s the real productivity trick:

  • Save actionable messages immediately

  • Review them once a day

  • Unsave them when done

Think of Saved messages as your temporary inbox, not long-term storage. If it sits there for weeks, it’s noise, not productivity.

Pro tip: Search for saved in the Teams search bar to instantly pull them all up.

2. Turn off channel noise (selectively)

The biggest Teams lie is that everything needs your attention.

It doesn’t.

Most users either mute nothing (and drown) or mute everything (and miss important stuff). The smarter approach is channel‑level notifications.

Right‑click a channel → Channel notifications → Custom.

Set it so you only get notified for:

  • Mentions

  • Replies to threads you’ve participated in

  • Important channels only

This one change alone can claw back hours per week — especially in MSP environments where Teams sprawl is very real.

3. Use message links instead of “scroll up”

“See my message above.”

No. Just… no.

Every Teams message has a direct link. Right‑click → Copy link. Drop that link into chat, a ticket, or a document and suddenly context is preserved without anyone scrolling through 200 messages of noise.

This is gold for:

  • Service desk escalations

  • Internal handovers

  • Project discussions

If your team still says “scroll up”, this is an easy win to coach out.

4. Schedule messages (because you don’t need to interrupt people)

Most Teams messages don’t need to be sent now.

They need to be sent at the right time.

Scheduled messages let you write when it suits you and deliver when it suits the recipient. Right‑click the Send button → Schedule message.

This is brilliant for:

  • End‑of‑day thoughts you don’t want to forget

  • Early‑morning reminders without being “that person”

  • MSPs working across time zones

It’s a small feature, but it’s a big professionalism upgrade.

5. Use Teams search like a database, not a gamble

Teams search is wildly under‑used — mostly because people don’t know how powerful it actually is.

You can filter by:

  • Person

  • Date

  • Channel

  • Has files

  • Has links

Instead of “I think Dave mentioned this last week”, try:

from:Dave has:files

Once you treat Teams as a searchable knowledge base instead of a scrolling timeline, your reliance on “tribal memory” drops fast.

Final thought: Productivity isn’t about more tools

Microsoft keeps adding features. Most people keep ignoring them.

Productivity isn’t about learning everything Teams can do — it’s about mastering a small number of behaviours that remove friction from your day.

If you implement even two of these tips across your team, you’ll feel the difference almost immediately.

And if Teams still feels overwhelming after that?
That’s not a technology problem.

That’s a habits problem.

Unlocking the Power of Microsoft Loop: Overcoming Limitations with External Users

Video URL = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQym9vUc684

Hey everyone! In this video, I dive deep into the world of Microsoft Loop and explore its capabilities within Microsoft Teams. I’ll show you how to seamlessly integrate Loop components into your workflow and highlight some of the challenges faced when working with external Azure B2B users. You’ll learn practical tips on how to navigate these limitations and ensure your team can access and collaborate effectively. Whether you’re a creator or an external user, this video will provide valuable insights to enhance your Microsoft Loop experience. Don’t miss out on these essential strategies to optimize your team’s productivity!