This article provides guidance on how to start discussions and calls in Teams. 

Discussions and calls with one or more persons

You can chat and make calls in Teams. To do this you do not need to be a member of any team. Microsoft guidance: Start a chat in Teams.

There are buttons below the message field that you can use to format text, set the importance of the message and add attachments to the message etc. Microsoft guidance: Format a message in Teams. You can find more actions in the top bar of the conversation window. For example, you can make a video call or add people to a conversation.

During a call, you can share your screen, open a video camera, send chat messages, and more. For more information about making calls, see Microsoft Help.

Pin contacts and rename group chats

If you message or call often same persons, you can pin them in the Chat-view so, that those chats are seen on top of the discussion view. Pinning is done by clicking on the three dots following the conversation and selecting “Pin”.

 You can also rename conversations that include more than one person. Open the group chat you would like to rename, click the pen-icon in top-left-corner after the names and rename the chat.

Scheduling messages and video clips

You can schedule your chat messages. This is done by right-clicking on the send-button and selecting the appropriate time in the pop up-window that opens. Next to the send-button is a button for recording a video clip, which allows you to send video messages.

Chats in Teams

When chatting through teams, the message is visible to everyone on that team. Please note that in addition to each team, each subchannel has its own discussion area. The channel name will appear in bold if there is new activity. A useful way for teams is to use “tagging”, i.e., mentioning people by typing the @ sign followed by that person’s name.

Speed dials and contacts

On the Calls view in Teams, you can add people to a speed dial or add contacts. For guidance, visit the Microsoft web site: View or add contacts in Teams.

More guidance

• How to schedule a meeting in Teams (Digipedaohjeet)
• First things to know about group chats in Microsoft Teams (Microsoft)