How to schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams

There are many things you can do to improve your team's efficiency, and using a collaboration hub like Microsoft Teams is one of them. It's a great communication tool that you can use to chat, share files, and have audio and video meetings with your team.

If you're new to Teams, you might not know how to schedule a meeting. There are several ways to do this, and your options will depend on the version of Microsoft Teams you're using. In this article, we are going to give you all the details you need to know.

Scheduling a meeting in Microsoft Teams

Your Microsoft Teams account is connected to all Microsoft 365 Group products such as SharePoint, Outlook, Yammer, etc. And the calendar you use in Teams is directly connected to Microsoft Exchange Calendar.

Outlook also uses the Exchange calendar. This means that once you schedule a meeting through Outlook, it will automatically appear in Teams and vice versa. Here's how to schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams:

1. In the Teams chat, click the "Schedule a meeting" icon (below the new message box.)
2. Select “Calendar,” which is on the left side panel, then click “New Meeting.”
3. A pop-up window will appear. You can select the meeting time and date.
4. Once the planning is complete, click “Save”. After that, the pop-up window will close and you can send the meeting invitations using Outlook.

Planning Assistant

In the pop-up window, you can also use the "Planning Assistant" function. This feature will help you find the right time for everyone on your team, including you.

When you select this option, you will be able to see when meeting participants are free and when they are busy. Dark blue represents time slots when not available. The light blue ranges are the available hours, and the gray ranges are the participant's non-working hours.

Invite people outside your team

One of the benefits of Microsoft Teams is that you can invite people outside your organization to join the meeting.

They don't even need to have a Microsoft Teams license. All you need is their name and email address, and you can send the invitation. Here's what you need to do:

1. Open the "Add required attendees" option in the New Meeting pop-up form.
2. Click "Optional".
3. Enter the person's email address.
4. Click "Invite". An email invitation will soon arrive in their inbox.

You can also schedule a meeting to take place in a specific Teams channel. In the New Meeting form, select "Add Channel". Once you've set it up and sent the invites, you can't change channels.

If you need to make a change, you will need to create new invitations. Additionally, if a meeting is scheduled to take place on a channel, anyone on that team will be able to join the meeting, even if they haven't received the invite.

Microsoft Teams Free Edition

If you're using a free edition of Teams, you might be wondering where the scheduling option is in your app. Well, unfortunately, in the free version of Microsoft Teams, you cannot schedule a meeting.

But that doesn't mean you can't have a meeting at all. The app has the "Meet Now" option when you need to get the team together quickly.

All you have to do is click on the camera icon next to "Meet Now" and then select all the names of the people who will be attending the meeting. This feature is also available for subscription Teams accounts.

Learn more about Microsoft Teams Meetings

You can have up to 250 people in a single Teams meeting. However, you cannot see all participants at the same time. Before recent updates, you could only see up to four active participants on a call. Now you can have nine participants on screen at once. But the new update brought other interesting innovations.

Participants in Microsoft Teams meetings now enjoy better audio quality and custom backgrounds for meetings. You can also pin a video if a particular participant needs more attention. Other meeting-related features include a virtual lobby, screen sharing, and interactive troubleshooting.

Bring your team(s) closer

There are many ways to make your workplace more efficient using Microsoft Teams. It is primarily a chat and file sharing based application. But it's also a fantastic tool when you need to have a video conference with your team.

Scheduling a meeting with a scheduling assistant makes the logistics of finding the right time much more comfortable. And if someone isn't part of your organization or team, they can still join us. Just send them an email invitation.

Have you ever attended a Microsoft Teams meeting? Or programmed? Let us know in the comments section below.