Join a Microsoft Teams Meeting

Whether you organized the event or you're a participant, everyone must join a MS Teams meeting to virtually connect with one another. This guide explains three aspects related to joining a meeting:

Find a join meeting link.
Choose Teams desktop vs your web browser.
Use your UIW account.

Find a Join Meeting Link

There are multiple ways to join MS Teams meetings and where you find a MS Teams join meeting link depends on how the organizer created the meeting. The most common link options used at UIW include:

Calendar Invitation: Either access your Outlook Calendar or Teams Calendar if the organizer invited you to a meeting. These calendars are synced by Microsoft to show your scheduled meetings and include the join link.
Canvas Invitation: If an instructor uses the Microsoft Teams Meetings app on their Canvas course navigation and invites students to scheduled meetings, everyone in the course accesses the join meeting options in the course or through their Outlook and Teams calendars. However, only those invited will see the scheduled events and be able to join.
Copied Meeting Link: Meeting links can be copied and sent in chats, emails, or placed in Canvas courses separate from a scheduled event, which means you won't see these on a calendar. Since there's no calendar item in Outlook, Teams, or Canvas, participants must click the link where it was shared with them.

Teams meeting links look different depending on how they are created, but they all work the same to get you into the virtual space.

Choose Teams Desktop vs Web Browser

If asked to choose Continue with this browser or Join on the Teams app when you click a link to join, select Join on the Teams app. The MS Teams desktop version offers more features than the web browser. The desktop app must be used by meeting organizers who want to use breakout rooms. You are unable to manage breakout rooms in the web app. Contact the UIW Help Desk for assistance installing and updating Teams on your computer or mobile phone.

Teams Desktop vs Web Browser

Use Your UIW Account

For the best experience meeting on MS Teams, sign in with your UIW account to ensure you're recognized as part of the university. Similar to organizers not being able to manage breakout rooms using the web app, people not signed in experience feature limitations. Specifically, users who join with a personal Microsoft account won't be able to participate in breakout rooms or polls.

Employees and students who have personal Microsoft accounts or Microsoft business accounts with other institutions are encouraged to add other Microsoft accounts so you can switch accounts in Microsoft Teams. Know that MS Teams uses the account you used the last time you signed in, so manually switching back to your UIW account is often necessary, even if you access a Teams meeting directly through a Canvas course. After you add additional accounts, switching options are found by clicking your user profile.