Instructions

1. Open the Microsoft Teams desktop application.

2. Locate the three-dot menu (More options) to the left of your profile picture (upper-right corner).

3. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.

Note: Some pages in settings require you to scroll down to view more options.

Outcome

The Settings window displays with a list of categories in tabs along the left-hand navigation menu. See below for more information about each category.

Settings Categories in New Teams

View all Teams Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows and MacOS  

Jump to a section: 

• General Settings: Customize app behavior, chat windows, language, and startup options.
• Appearance: Adjust themes, layout, chat density, and emoji skin tone.
• Notifications & Activity: Manage alerts for messages, meetings, mentions, and app activity.
• Accounts & Organizations: Switch accounts and manage tenant invitations.
• Privacy: Control data sharing, Do Not Disturb, surveys, and Copilot history.
• Accessibility: Enable captions, TTY, and sign language view.
• Devices: Configure audio, video, and connected device preferences.
• Files & Links: Set download location and file/link opening preferences.
• App Permissions: Control what data apps can access in Teams.
• Recognition: Set up voice and face profiles for identification.
• About Teams: View Teams version, legal info, and toggle public preview.
• M365 Profile Settings: Manage profile, record name recognition, availability, chat status message, and account access.
   

General 

• System
  • Auto start
  • Open app in background
• Opening Teams content in Windows
  • Choose main window, or new window
• Starting Chats
  • Create new chats in main window, or new window
• Copilot in Chat (if enabled)
  • Toggle on or off
• Channel Recent Activity
  • Choose to show at the top or bottom
• Language
  • Follow OS settings or choose a Teams app language
• Translation
  • Settings to translate messages or manage how messages are translated
• Out of office
  • Schedule out of office and automatic replies (if not managed via Outlook)
• Spellcheck –
  • Windows: Toggle on/off
  • MacOS: Customize language, spelling options

macOS Specific General Settings

• Keep App Bar Visible – when reducing Teams window size
• Keyboard Shortcut settings
  • Use Teams shortcuts, or combine them with those of other apps
• Menu Bar Extension
  • Enable Menu Bar Extension – actions for Teams in macOS top menu bar

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Appearance

• Theme
  • Choose light, dark, high contrast, etc.
• Skin tone preference
  • Reactions and emoji will appear in chosen skin tone
• Chat density
  • Choose the layout of chat, toggle message previews in chat list
• Layout
  • Choose how you want to navigate between Teams – Grid, or List view

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Notifications and Activity

• General:
  • Windows – Mute all notifications except calls and meetings
  • macOS: manage OS notification and focus, toggle notifications, add Teams allowed apps for focus notifications
• Sound
  • Sounds for notifications, priority contacts, calls, meeting start, etc.
• Display
  • Windows – Choose display location for notifications
  • macOS – Toggle to show/hide notifications during calls or meetings
• Missed Activity Emails
  • Various settings to receive activity emails
• Chats and Channels
  • Chat message options
  • @mention settings including channel and Team mentions
  • Tag mentions
  • Everyone mentions
  • Nearby
  • Personal mentions
  • Reply to postings, likes and reactions
  • Posts shown and pinned channels
• Meetings
  • Meeting start notifications
  • Meeting chat notifications
  • Meetings notifications for tentative/no response
  • Meet now notifications
• Presence
  • Keep track of someone’s status and get notified
• Calendar
  • Notifications for new invites, updates and cancellations, or when people forward a meeting you organized
• Apps
  • Viva insights
  • Meeting recap (Teams Premium or Copilot licensed)
  • Power BI, Connections, Q&A

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Accounts and Orgs

• Manage your account
• Accept invitations from other Tenants

Privacy

• Manage your work location
• Do not disturb settings and priority access
• Blocked contacts
• Delete Copilot activity history
• Surveys
  • Participate in surveys from Microsoft about Teams experience
• Turn off camera/mic when screen locks
• View diagnostic data
• Extended diagnostic data
• Optional connected experiences
  • Including Giphy, URL preview
• Enable Keyboard shortcut to Unmute
  • Windows: CTRL + Spacebar
  • macOS: Option + Spacebar  

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Accessibility

• Sign language view
• Teletypewriter (TTY) mode
• Captions and transcripts
  • Identify yourself in live captions and transcripts, toggle captions in calls and meetings

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Devices

• Audio settings
  • Speaker
  • Microphone
  • Mic sensitivity
  • Sync device buttons (depending on Teams enabled device)
  • Noise suppression
  • Voice isolation
  • Spatial audio
  • Secondary ringer
• Video settings
  • Camera selection
  • Green screen
  • Mirror video
  • Adjust brightness
• Connected devices
  • Optimize for devices and room displays
• Calls (note, USNH does not include Teams Telephony licensing)
  • Call handling and forwarding
  • Forward calls to voicemail
  • Call answering options
  • Ringtone setting
  • Incoming call view options
  • Manage voicemail greeting, greeting language, text-to speech greeting
  • Out of office voicemail

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Files and Links

• Download options and location
• File opening
  • Choose which M365 app to default open files
• Link opening preferences and default

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App Permissions

• Control what your apps can access when using Teams (by app)

Recognition

• Voice
  • Create a voice profile to suppress background noise in Teams, or with certain Teams devices identify yourself in transcripts
• Face
  • Create a face profile to automatically recognize and display your name during meetings or add your name to a participant list as you walk into a Teams Room using supported equipment (not available in all rooms)

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About Teams (very bottom of right settings panel)

• Version number, privacy and legal notices
• Early access
  • Toggle public preview on/off

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M365 Profile Settings

Some additional settings are available by clicking on your Teams Profile picture in the top left of the Teams window. These include:

• Sign out – if you want to sign out of Teams
• View your M365 Profile
  • Click your name to view your profile.
  • You can record a Name Pronunciation by clicking the microphone next to your name, or if one is already recorded you can modify it by clicking on the speaker-pencil icon.
• View your M365 Account
  • Click view account to go to the myaccount.microsoft.com page. Here you can change various account settings.
• Change your profile picture
  • Click on your profile picture to change it
• Presence
  • Change your availability status manually. Although typically managed by Outlook availability/calendar, this can be adjusted for a selected period of time.
  • To resync with Outlook availability, click Reset status.
• Set work location
• Set status message
  • Set a status message to display for selected period of time when users message you in Chat

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