Creating and Managing Microsoft Teams

Using these instructions you can create and manage Microsoft Teams.

Creating a Teams Site

  1. Open Microsoft Teams and sign in with your Penn State email address
  2. If prompted, authenticate with two-factor authentication
  3. Depending on what view you are using for Teams, you will find the Join or create a team button in the upper right corner or in the lower left corner (when you have the Teams option selected)
  4. Click the Join or create a team button
  5. Click the Create at team button
  6. For the team type, we recommend you click Other (this will give you the most flexibility in working with your Team site)
  7. Enter your desired Team name and a Description (optional)
  8. Verify that the Privacy option is set to Private - Only team owners can add members (recommended)
  9. Click Next
  10. To add PSU collaborators to your site, search for them by last name and click the Add button
    • To add non-PSU collaborators, enter their email address
  11. When finished adding collaborators, click Close
    • NOTE: you will have the opportunity to add more collaborators later if needed
  12. Your Teams site is now created with the default Channel (general)

Managing Team Members

  1. Open the Teams site you are managing
  2. Click the (...) button beside the Team name
  3. Click the Add member option
  4. To add PSU collaborators to your site, search for them by last name and click the Add button
    • To add non-PSU collaborators, enter their email address
  5. When finished adding collaborators, click Close

Adding Teams Channels

If you want to have additional Teams channels in your team, you can easily create more.

  1. Open the Teams site you are managing
  2. Click the (...) button beside the Team name
  3. Click the Add channel option
  4. Enter your desired Channel name and a Description (optional)
  5. If you want all members of the Team to have access to the new channel, verify that Privacy is set to "Standard"
    • If you want only a subset of the members of your team to have access to the new channel, select "Private" for the Privacy option
  6. Check the box to Automatically show this channel in everyone's channel list
  7. Click OK

Making Teams Files Available in OneDrive

If you would like to use File Explorer on your local computer to access Teams files through OneDrive, you can configure shortcuts. NOTE: There is a alternate method for similarly making Teams files available (using the Sync button), but Ag IT prefers the shortcut method described below. NOTE: You will need to be sure that you have the OneDrive app installed on your computer and you are logged in.

  1. Open the Teams channel that contains the files you want to access from File Explorer/OneDrive
  2. Select the Files tab
  3. Click the Open in SharePoint button on the toolbar (if you do not see this option click the (...) to expand the toolbar)
  4. Click to select the folder you want to make available in File Explorer
  5. Click the Add Shortcut to My Files option from the ribbon (if you do not see this option click the (...) to expand the toolbar)
    • A pop-up window should appear letting you know the shortcut was created
  6. Open File Explorer and you should see a new General folder within OneDrive
    • NOTE: The icon for folders created from shortcuts will look slightly different (will have a small blue link image)
    • NOTE: If you are adding shortcuts to multiple Teams sites, you may want to right-click and choose to rename the folder to a more descriptive name