Almost every type of organization is now adapting online or virtual meetings in place of face to face meetings. In the midst of the recent global pandemic (COVID19), even schools are shifting to online classes to keep the educational activities going. And to join Microsoft Teams meeting seems daunting to some.
Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular and free products to offer a solution to remote collaboration challenges. Microsoft Teams has been gaining popularity since its release. More so now because of the growing need for a work from home arrangement.
There are several ways that a user can join a Microsoft Teams meeting. In this article, you will learn about the different ways you can join Microsoft Teams meetings where the Teams on the web and the Teams app are used.
Join Microsoft Teams Meeting by using the Email Invite Link
Perhaps the most common way to invite people to join a meeting in Microsoft Teams is by sending an email invite. A meeting organizer can create a Teams Meeting calendar invite from Outlook, and the meeting invitation will be sent to the attendees’ email address.
Below is an example of a Teams meeting invite sent via email.
As you can see from the sample above, all you need to do is to click the link that says Join Microsoft Teams Meeting.
After clicking on the meeting join link, the link will open in the default web browser taking you to the Microsoft Teams website. If the browser detects that you have the Microsoft Teams app installed on the computer, you will be prompted if you want to open the application, as you can see below.
Then, click Open to allow the Microsoft Teams app to launch.
Then, you will be presented with some meeting controls. You must choose whether or not to turn on your computer’s camera and microphone. Once you click on the Join Now button, you will be added to the current attendees of the Microsoft Teams meeting.
Joining a Teams Meeting by using the Meeting Link in the Browser
One other way to utilize the link is by copying it and navigating the meeting URL using your web browser.
When you open the Teams meeting URL link using the web browser, you will be asked to choose an option whether to Download the Windows app or Join on the web instead.
You’d also have the option to open the meeting using the Teams app if the app is already installed.
If you choose to launch the Teams app to join the meeting, you will automatically join the meeting using the Teams account that is currently logged in to your Teams app.
But, if you chose to join using the web browser instead, you will be prompted by your browser to allow the site access to your computer microphone and camera. Click on the Allow button, as shown below. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use your camera and microphone for the Teams meeting.
After you allowed the Teams site access to your camera and microphone, you will be directed to the screen similar to the image shown below.
As you can see from the screenshot above, your name must be entered manually. The name that you specify will be the name that will show up in the list of attendees.
Why did Teams ask to manually enter the attendee’s name? This happens when the attendee is not logged in to Teams on the web, or the attendee does not have a Teams user account. Yes, an attendee can join a Teams meeting even without having a Teams account.
Joining a Teams Meeting from the Calendar Meeting Invite in Outlook
After scheduling a meeting in Teams, the meeting organizer can distribute the Teams meeting link through different channels. The typical way is by sending a calendar invite by email. And, a calendar invite is then saved in the attendee’s calendar.
For example, you received the Teams meeting invite as an email in Outlook, the meeting would show in your Outlook calendar similar to one below.
As you can see from the screenshot above, you can click on the meeting invite from the calendar and then click the Join Teams Meeting button on the toolbar. Doing so will launch the Teams app where you can then join the meeting.
Note: If the Join Teams Meeting button is missing, it could mean that there’s a problem with the Microsoft Teams Meeting Add-in in Outlook. In which case, you may need to troubleshoot the add-in.
Another way is to open the calendar invite, which will open a separate window showing the details of the Teams meeting. Open the invite to select how you want to join the meeting.
As you can see from the screenshot above, the details of the Teams meeting are shown. You can either click on the Join Microsoft Teams Meeting link or click on the Join Teams Meeting button on the toolbar.
Note: Clicking the Join Teams Meeting button on the toolbar automatically launches the Teams app. In contrast, when you select Join Microsoft Teams Meeting link will open the link using the default web browser.
Joining a Teams Meeting from the Calendar Meeting Invite in Teams
You are probably aware that Microsoft Team also has access to your mailbox calendar in Office 365. This calendar integration means that calendar events in your Outlook are also visible in the Teams App’s calendar view. See the side-by-side comparison of the Teams and Outlook calendar views below.
Click on the meeting event on your Teams app calendar, and the meeting details would be displayed. Then, click on the Join button to join the meeting. See the screenshot below as a reference.
After clicking the Join button, you will be directed to the meeting and asked to choose your audio and video settings before joining.
Joining an Ongoing Teams Meeting in a Channel
There are scheduled meetings, and there are unscheduled meetings. Unscheduled meetings may be started at any time. And most of the time, these meetings target only a specific group of people or team members.
A meeting can be started inside a channel in Teams. And, if you happen to be a member of the team, you will get a notification to join the meeting, as you can see from the example below.
As you can see from the screenshot above, a meeting has been started inside the ITOps team’s General channel. The notification shows the meeting details, like, the title of the meeting, how long the meeting has been in progress, and the organizer/attendees.
To join the ongoing meeting, click on the Join button and you will be directed to the meeting where you will need to select the audio and video settings before joining.
Don’t worry, you will not be able to join a channel meeting in Teams that have already ended by mistake. Once the channel meeting has ended, the notification under the Posts tab will change to <meeting title> ended: <time>. See the screenshot below as an example.
Joining a Teams Meeting from the Chat View
Another place in the Teams app where a user can join a meeting is from the Chat view. If a scheduled meeting where you are one of the invited attendees have already begun, you will that event in the recent chat list.
You can then select the meeting in your recent chat list. Then, you should see the Join button on the upper right corner of the Teams app window.
Click the Join button, as shown in the image above, and you should get directed to the meeting to join.
Conclusion
You’re probably confused as to why this article is entitled “The Easy Way to Join Microsoft Teams Meetings”. So, which way is the easy way? In my opinion, there’s really no one, single easy way to join a Teams meeting.
All the methods to join Microsoft Teams meetings presented in this article are already easy. None of them are complicated, and even new users should be able to follow them.
You’ve learned how to use the Teams app and the Teams on the web to join meetings in Microsoft Teams. You’ve also learned that the Teams meeting invites in your Outlook calendar are also accessible in your Teams app calendar view.
Additionally, you learned in which views of the Teams app, you can find the Join button, which you can use to join scheduled or unscheduled, ongoing meetings.
All the methods to join Teams meetings that were discussed in this article can also apply when using Teams on mobile devices. The visual placement of the buttons may not be exactly the same when compared to the desktop app, for obvious reasons, but the concept and procedure are similar.
