Tips To Manage Your Privacy Settings With Microsoft Teams
When it comes to collaboration platforms, it doesn't get much better than Microsoft Teams. Find out how easy it is to manage your Team's privacy.
These days, there's no shortage of collaboration platforms for you to choose from. While it is possible to be inundated with the variety of available options, one solution stands head and shoulders above the rest: Microsoft Teams. What's more, it's included absolutely free with Microsoft 365.
We could go on and on about all the features that make Microsoft Teams a cut above other collaboration software, but there are enough articles on that already. As a leading managed IT services provider, we've had many business owners approach us for guidance on managing their Microsoft Teams' privacy settings.
Before creating a new Team in Office 365, you need to make a crucial decision on the Team's privacy and security. What are the privacy options on Microsoft Teams?
Enough talk, let's find out! Tom Martinez from tca Synertech in West Michigan shares interesting information on managing your privacy settings with Microsoft Teams.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Briefly put, Microsoft Teams is a communication and collaboration platform that enables teams to work together on real-time projects via video calls, instant text messages, and other useful features.
Microsoft Teams Is Part of Office 365 Group: To understand Microsoft Teams’ privacy settings better, it's crucial to note that Microsoft Teams is part of an Office 365 Group eco-system.
With that in mind, we have had the concept of privacy on Office Groups for quite some time now. Since its inception, it's been possible to create either a private or public Office 365 Group.
What Are the Privacy Settings Options for Microsoft Teams?
When you attempt to create a new Team, you'll have to choose from among not two but three privacy choices:
- Private: You can only join a team if the team owner adds you to it. When you are creating a team, you need to ensure the Team is discoverable. This will enable users to look for it in the Microsoft Teams gallery. On the other hand, you could disable discoverability, meaning people can only find the Team if shared by either you or a team member.
- Public: A public team is visible to everyone form the Teams gallery. You can join even without the team owner's approval.
- Org-Wide: This is one of those features that are unique to Microsoft Teams. Org-wide is a unique type of public group that can only be seen by Office 365 Global Admins meaning most users can't see it. It allows the Team and a related Office 365 Group (created automatically) to add all the internal users in your account automatically. Furthermore, when you remove or add users from your Office 365, it will be immediately reflected in this group. Sadly, however, this option has several limitations as it is mostly suited for smaller organizations.
What About Privacy Settings for Teams Users?
To manage user privacy settings, click on “Manage priority access” and enter the email address or name of anyone you'd like to receive calls or notifications even when your status is set to “Do not disturb.”
If you don't want calls from unidentified users, check the box to block calls with no caller ID. You can click on “Edit blocked callers” to manage any blocked users. Finally, you can enable or disable read receipts and select whether you want to participate in MS Teams surveys.
Comments
Log in or sign up to join the conversation.