Tag: microsoft teams

Accessing MS Teams Log Files

There are two sets of log files that we can use to troubleshoot Microsoft Teams issues.

Debug Logs On Windows, these are accessed by holding CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + 1 … on OSX holding Option + Command + Shift + 1 — both the desktop and web client will download three files. In the web client, you’ve got to tell it to save each file individually. The desktop client automatically stashes the files in your downloads folder (sorry, OSX folks, not a clue where your files are!).

Bootstrap log: Teams desktop also has bootstrap logs at %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams\logs.txt This file is generally useful for launch failures, authentication failures, and issues where the app is restarting. Once Teams is started, only background authentication ‘stuff’ is logged here.

If you’re inclined to read them, the debug client log is JSON formatted text followed by lines with timestamp, message level, and the message. War (Warning), Err (Error), Inf (Informational) messages appear in the log. When my Internet connection goes flaky, I get “War” messages with timeouts. But I’ve also seen really strange errors about the back-end Skype call not being found (AFAIK, Skype and Teams share a back-end calling infrastructure. The Skype back-end was upgraded for the Teams launch, but it’s a shared resource).

I pull the log file into Excel and split it into columns with the timestamp, severity, and log data. You can use

=DATEVALUE(MID(A1,1,10))+TIMEVALUE(MID(A1,12,8))

to convert an ISO8601 timestamp into a value on which Excel can perform calculations. You can also just reformat it by replacing ‘T’ with a space and removing the ‘Z’ https://assets2.jiveon.com/core/2016.3.10.4.179277c/images/emoticons/happy.png

For some activities, you can isolate the end-to-end transaction. This means you can also calculate how long the transaction took. At-mentions are great because they’ve got an obvious start (search text entered … length 0 means just the @ symbol was used. You’ll see different lengths depending on what the user actually types) and an obvious end (dropdown is shown for X search results). There’s also a single remote call (calling atMentionsService.SearchForUserPrifileInChannel) and response (scope.processSearchResults) where you can determine delay introduced outside the local computer.

When performing calculations in Excel with DateTime objects, the result is in unit days. To display the results in seconds, multiply this by 86400 (number of seconds in a day, which anyone who ever administered Bind zone files will be able to tell you off the top of their head … otherwise 24 * 60 * 60)

In the at-mention above, it took a little over half a second to complete and all of that time was the network call.

 

Did you know … there’s a Teams bot to create a quick Forms survey?

Microsoft Forms offers a nice mechanism for collecting survey results, and I often post Forms links to my Teams chats and meetings. But that means I’ve planned for the survey – it takes some time to build the survey, after all! For ad hoc surveys, I’ve been using a third-party Teams app, Polly. Unfortunately, Polly isn’t an approved place for storing company information … so while I’m happy to ask where people want to get lunch or if anyone needs a quick break, I don’t want to ask questions that contain company proprietary information.

Forms has a Teams bot that quickly creates a quick one-question survey. You’ll need to have Forms installed in your Teams space. Click on the “Store” icon, search for Forms, and select Microsoft’s Forms.

Select the name of the Team to which you want to add Forms and click “Install”.

Click “Setup” next to “Bot” to add the forms bot to your Teams space.

Now you can at-mention Forms and create a quick one-question survey. ** This works fine if you are using the Teams desktop client. In the Teams web client, adding the question removes the at-mention link (the @Forms text changes from purple to black). To create quick forms in the web client, I have to type the question/answer bit first, then hit ‘home’ to get to the front of the message and add @Forms **

Help will be displayed to remind you of the question/answer format.

Type your question and answers and send the message.

Forms will create a new post with your survey.

Survey results will be updated in real-time in the thread.

If you want to view detailed results (or export the results to Excel), visit https://forms.office.com The Forms bot creates a “Group form”, so you’ll need to select the “Group forms” tab. Click on the Teams space where you posted the form.

You’ll see the form – they’re readily identifiable because the form name starts with “<at>Forms</at>” followed by the question you posted. Select the form and you can view response details and open the response results in Excel.

One oddity – if you host a meeting in the Teams space, you can at-mention Forms to create a survey in the meeting chat. The response from the Bot – where people vote – does not appear in the meeting chat because the bot response is a new thread.

Team members will find the survey as a new thread in the channel.

This is a little confusing to me, so I just send the message to create the survey in the channel instead of using the meeting chat. Using the meeting chat would, however, associate the survey with the meeting because the message which prompted the form creation will appear in the meeting chat.

 

Did you know … you can use emojis in Teams channel names?

Beyond being fun, emojis are great for quickly finding something – instead of reading all of the channel names, I can quickly scan to find the video icon or little balloon.

To add a new channel, click the ellipsis next to the Team name and select “Add channel”

In the channel name field, hold the Windows key on your keyboard and type a full stop (period, dot, “.”). Now you’ll have an emoji keyboard.

Select an emoji and type some text.

Alphabetically, an emoji is first – so “🎞Training” will sort before “A Channel”. You can still at-mention channels with emojis in the name. For this to work well, make sure you have spaces around the emoji character. When I have a channel named “🎈Party Planning”, I cannot use @party as the at mention – Teams tells me it doesn’t find any matches.

I can use @planning to find my channel.

If I rename the channel to “🎈Party Planning” with a space between the balloon and ‘Party’, I can at-mention @party and find my channel.

And, yes, you can rename existing channels (except for the “General” channel which cannot be renamed) to include emojis – click on the ellipses next to the channel and select “Edit this channel”.

Hold the windows key and press . to bring up the emoji keyboard. Select an emoji and save the changes to your channel.

Did you know … you can use emojis in Teams channel names?

Beyond being fun, emojis are great for quickly finding something – instead of reading all of the channel names, I can quickly scan to find the video icon or little balloon.

To add a new channel, click the ellipsis next to the Team name and select “Add channel”

In the channel name field, hold the Windows key on your keyboard and type a full stop (period, dot, “.”). Now you’ll have an emoji keyboard.

Select an emoji and type some text.

Alphabetically, an emoji is first – so “🎞Training” will sort before “A Channel”. You can still at-mention channels with emojis in the name. For this to work well, make sure you have spaces around the emoji character. When I have a channel named “🎈Party Planning”, I cannot use @party as the at mention – Teams tells me it doesn’t find any matches.

I can use @planning to find my channel.

If I rename the channel to “🎈Party Planning” with a space between the balloon and ‘Party’, I can at-mention @party and find my channel.

And, yes, you can rename existing channels (except for the “General” channel which cannot be renamed) to include emojis – click on the ellipses next to the channel and select “Edit this channel”.

Hold the windows key and press . to bring up the emoji keyboard. Select an emoji and save the changes to your channel.

Did you know … you can restore a deleted Teams file?

Oh no! I’ve accidentally deleted a document from my Teams files! Can someone restore it for me?!?

Yes! I can restore it for me – I can even restore documents others have deleted from our shared Teams file spaces. From the “Files” tab, click “Open in SharePoint”

You’ll see the documents that weren’t deleted … that doesn’t help! But click on “Recycle bin” on the left-hand navigation bar.

There it is! Click to select the file.

Then click “Restore”

In the upper right-hand corner of the web site, you will see a status message indicating that the document is being restored.

When the restore completes, click away from the “Files” tab and return to it. Voila! The document is back 😊

 

Do you know … where you saved that Office 365 document?

Being able to save documents directly to Teams, to sync documents and work on them locally, and to just store documents locally provides a lot of options when you’re saving a document. For me, though, a lot of options also means I’m not always sure which option I chose 😊 In which Teams space is this document saved? Did I stash it locally because I’m not ready for other people to peruse it?

Luckily where the document is saved can quickly be displayed in the Office 365 applications. Click “File” on the ribbon bar.

The “Info” section contains the path to the document – a document that is stored in a SharePoint document library (be that a Teams Channel file space or some other SharePoint document library) will include the SharePoint site name (the Team name in the case of Teams Channel files). Clicking “Open file location” will open a browser tab to the SharePoint document library which contains the file.

A document on a local or network drive will have a path starting with the drive letter. Clicking “Open file location” will open a File Explorer window to the folder containing the document.

And a document that hasn’t been saved won’t have any file information listed.

 

Did you know … you can sync Teams files to your desktop using OneDrive for Business?

An advantage of using the cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 platform is that you can work just about anywhere you have an Internet connection. This provides a lot of flexibility for mobile workers, but there are still situations where bandwidth is expensive or Internet connectivity is just unavailable. Situations where you want to be able to continue working offline.

Files stored within Teams channels are document libraries in SharePoint Online. Anything you can do in SharePoint Online works with the Teams files. SharePoint Online document libraries can be synchronized to your local drive through OneDrive for Business – which means you can work on Teams documents offline.

To set up the synchronization, you’ll need to open the Teams files in SharePoint. Select the channel and click on “Files”. Then click on the “Open in SharePoint” link.

You are now viewing the SharePoint document library. Click the “Sync” button to set up synchronization to your local computer.

Select “Sync now”

You may be asked to confirm you want to use OneDrive to open the link. You do! Click “Open link” (you can check the box to ‘Remember my choice for grvopen links’ to skip this step in the future)

If you have not yet configured OneDrive, you’ll be asked to sign in. Confirm that your logon ID is displayed and click “Sign in”

You can change the location where OneDrive stores synced files, if you wish. Click “Next” to continue.

Once OneDrive setup is completed, click “Open my OneDrive folder”.

v

You will see a confirmation that the Teams document library is being synchronized.

When you view your OneDrive folder, you will see the Teams channel(s) with document libraries syncing to your local computer.

When you save a new file to the OneDrive location, or update a file, you will see a circle indicating that the file is being synchronized. You will see a green check-mark when the file is successfully synchronized to SharePoint Online.

And the changes will be visible immediately in Teams

If you no longer wish to synchronize the Teams files with your local computer, right-click on OneDrive for Business in your system tray and select “Settings”.

Click “Stop sync” on the location(s) you no longer wish to synchronize.

Files stored on your computer will not be deleted; changes locally will not be updated in SharePoint/Teams, and changes in Teams will not be updated to your computer. The icon in the status column will be removed to indicate the folder is no longer being synchronized. You can safely delete the local folder.

 

Did you know … Teams can notify you when someone comes online?

If you send a chat message to someone who is offline, the message will be waiting for them when they sign in. But sometimes you want to know when someone becomes available. And Teams can do that for you!

In the “Chat” app, click on the “Contacts” tab. Click on the ellipses on the individual that you want to know when comes online and select “Notify when available”.

When the person is online, Teams will notify you.

You can turn the notification off the same way you turned it on.

You can view all of the accounts for which you receive availability notifications. Click on your avatar and select “Settings”.

Select “Notifications”.

Scroll down to the bottom of the notification settings and click on “Manage notifications”.

There’s the list – you can add new notifications here and remove no longer needed notifications.

 

Do you know … how Teams and Skype interact?

How Teams and Skype interact can be confusing – where will messages be delivered and what should you expect to work between the two systems?

Channel conversations don’t exist in Skype, so you’ll need to use the Teams desktop, mobile, or web client to participate in channel discussions and to access files and tabs within channels.

Meetings are straight-forward too. You’ll need to use the Skype desktop, mobile, or web client to join Skype for Business meetings; you’ll need to use the Teams desktop, mobile, or web client to join Teams meetings.

Calls and Chat – this is where interoperability gets nuanced and potentially confusing! And you may need to know whether the person with whom you want to communicate is using Teams or Skype.

Island Mode

We are currently operating in what Microsoft calls “Island” mode – both Teams and Skype are an island, and communication stays on that island. Your presence in Teams comes from your Teams client, and your presence in Skype comes from your Skype client. If you send a message from Teams, it is delivered to the recipient in Teams. If you send a message from Skype, it is delivered to the recipient in Skype.

Teams and Skype Interoperability Within Windstream

Employees and contractors with @windstream.com accounts

This doesn’t work – calls and chats sent from Teams will be delivered to Teams.
Messages and calls originated in Teams are delivered to Teams.
Messages and calls originated in Skype are delivered to Skype.
This doesn’t work – calls and chats sent from Skype will be delivered to Skype.

Working In Island Mode

Because messages are only delivered within their island, you may get messages in either your Teams or Skype client – so should leave both running. If you forget to open your Teams client, you will get e-mail notices for missed chat messages (and any channel messages where you are at-mentioned) whenever you are inactive in Teams. You can customize your notification options if you want to get messages more or less frequently, or want to be notified of activity in any channels you follow.

** You will begin receiving e-mail notifications for missed Teams activity after you log into Teams for the first time. If you haven’t checked Teams out yet, visit https://teams.microsoft.com to try it out.

Teams Only

If you only use Skype to receive messages from colleagues who haven’t yet transitioned to Teams, you may elect to set your account to Teams Only mode. When you’ve switched to Teams Only, you’ll see some differences in your chat and calling communication – messages sent from Skype will arrive in your Teams client, and your presence in both Teams and Skype will reflect your Teams presence. As a Teams Only user, you’ll be able to seamlessly transition between the mobile and desktop client, find messages from Skype users when searching Teams, and you can often shut down your Skype client. Don’t uninstall Skype just yet! You may still use your Skype client to join meetings – you can join Skype meetings through a web client, but you won’t be an authenticated user and may need to wait in the “lobby” to be admitted to your meeting. But you can disable the auto-launch and open Skype only when it is needed.

Working In Teams Only Mode

Teams Only: Teams and Skype Interoperability Within Windstream

Employees and contractors with @windstream.com accounts

If the person has previously contacted you from Skype, the conversation will be marked with a Skype logo. You can reply to chat threads marked with a Skype logo initiate communication with Skype recipients. I pin chats from frequent Skype contacts to ensure I have a previous conversation available. You will not be able to:

Use rich text (typographical emphasis, font colors, etc)

Use emojis or gifs

Share your desktop

Include more than one person in the chat

If there isn’t a previous conversation to continue, or if you need to use one of the unavailable features, you can use Outlook to initiate communication to Skype users (** this requires a fairly old Skype client — old clients will set themselves as the default chat app on launch).

If you use Outlook to start a chat and the recipient replies hours later, the reply will be delivered to you in Teams. You’ll be able to use this conversation to continue delivering messages to the individual in Skype. If you need to use one of the unavailable features, you’ll need to use Outlook to initiate a new chat through your Skype client.

Messages and calls originated in Teams are delivered to Teams.
This doesn’t work – all calls and chats sent to you from Skype will arrive in Teams
All calls and chats sent to you from Skype will arrive in Teams. There are a few restrictions when chatting between Teams and Skype. You will not be able to:

Use rich text (typographical emphasis, font colors, etc)

Use emojis or gifs

Share your desktop

Include more than one person in the chat

Workaround – you can schedule a meeting in Teams or use Outlook to initiate communication through your Skype client.

Identifying Teams and Skype Users

How can you tell if someone is using Teams or Skype? Check their presence. In Teams, use the ‘new chat’ button and start a chat with the individual.

Look at their avatar – in the lower right-hand corner, you’ll see a small circle. This is a status indicator.

If their status is green, red, or yellow, their Teams client is open.

If their status indicator is a gray X, hover your mouse over their avatar or their name – an activity card will be displayed. When you send a Teams message to someone who has used Teams in the past, they’ll get an e-mail notification alerting them to missed activity. If you send a Teams message to someone who has never used Teams … well, they’ll see it when they log into Teams for the first time 😊

Never Used Teams Used Teams But Is Currently Offline
The individual’s status is offline and their last activity date is 31 December 2001. The individual’s status is offline, but their last activity date is recent.

In Skype, someone who is actively using Skype and someone who is a Teams Only user will have an active presence (or be listed as recently offline).

Someone who is using Teams but hasn’t changed to Teams Only mode will be listed as offline for a long period of time. They’ll still get an e-mail notification if you send them a Skype message, but you might get a faster response sending them a message through Teams.

Federation

If you communicate with federated contacts — those who do not have @windstream.com addresses — you may wonder where your messages end up on their side. As of 07 March 2019, there is no direct federation between Teams tenants. All federated communication transits Skype. This means your federated contacts will continue to receive messages sent from your Teams or Skype clients to their Skype client unless their account is configured as Teams Only.

 

The same holds true for you – whether your federated contact is using Skype or Teams, messages and calls they initiate will be delivered to you in Skype if you are using our default “Island” configuration and will be delivered to you in Teams if you have elected to be a “Teams Only” user.

 

Did you know … Microsoft Teams’ like button doesn’t need to imply sentiment?

Teams isn’t like Facebook where you’ve got an array of sentiments from which to select – but the “Like” button can be used for something other than saying “I like the information in this post”. When information is posted that doesn’t really warrant a response beyond “yup, I read this” – use the like button instead of replying “got it” or “yup, I did this”.

Why? When everyone replies to an informational post, you can end up with a LOT of replies. Each new reply moves the post down to the bottom of the channel (and alerts anyone following the channel of new activity). Do twenty people really need to know you’ve read the post? Do you want to see this every time a new person acknowledges the post?

Instead of replying to a post, just click the “Like” button – the little thumbs up in the upper right-hand corner of the post.

Anyone who wants to track who has read the post can hover their mouse over the like button and see who has responded. Anyone who doesn’t … well, clicking ‘like’ doesn’t count as new activity so the thread isn’t considered unread. Activity notification is only generated for the person who wrote the post. They don’t even know anything happened.

And we can all use context clues to differentiate between “Lisa really enjoyed reading my reminder to complete the Security Awareness CBT by Friday” and “Lisa finished that CBT” 😊