Microsoft Teams Phone Information

For those of you who have your own phone but are sharing an office or are otherwise in an area that is easily accessible, you may be concerned that your call history and even your calendar are easily accessible by anyone who has physical access to your phone. There is a way to mitigate this! 

Please only do the following steps if you are not sharing a phone with anyone else - if you are using a shared desk or shared phone, please do not lock it on other people who may need to use it.

1. To screen lock your phone, click your profile on your phone screen (the round circle in the upper left.)

2. Hit settings.

3. Scroll to the bottom and hit "device settings.":

4. Choose "security."

5. Click "screen lock" on the right hand side.

6. I would suggest you use a PIN for your screen lock, but you can use the others. You need to pick a 6 digit number for a PIN, and enter it twice to confirm it. 

7. Once you've done that, you'll see a gear icon next to "screen lock" on the security screen. Click that and it'll let you set the screen timeout until it locks. This timer will go into effect after the phone screen dims, then it will look however many minutes you set it for after that time. You can also lock it manually by clicking your profile and choosing "lock."

Answering calls seems to work just like normal - pick up the handset, or click the "answer" button on your desktop or mobile device.

To transfer a call, press the "transfer" button on your phone (it looks like two phone handsets), or the "transfer" button on the screen. Then type in the name you want to transfer to and select it from the list. Your recipient will see who is transferring the call to them.

If you normally pick up phonecalls for someone else (you are an admin assistant or secretary), or are a supervisor of someone who picks up your calls, delegates will need to be set up. This is done by whoever is the supervisor. You can do this from your phone, but I would suggest doing it from the Teams web interface.

To set a delegate from your phone, click on your account (the circle in the upper left) on your phone touch screen. Choose "settings." Choose "manage delegates."  Type in the name of whoever you want to add, then choose them from the list and set their permissions. I would suggest at the least,  "receive calls." If you want them to be able to make calls as you, choose "make calls." If you want them to be able to join your in-progress calls as a conference call, choose "join active calls."

For setting up a delegate in the Teams app (web, desktop, or mobile) look here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/share-a-phone-line-with-a-delegate-in-microsoft-teams-16307929-a51f-43fc-8323-3b1bf115e5a8

If you want your phone and your delegates' phone to ring at the same time, you can set up simultaneous ring. 

To do this on your phone, click your profile (the circle at the upper left of the touchpad) and choose "settings." Then choose "Calling." 

You'll see an option that says "also ring." Click that and choose "my delegates." This setting will ring both your phone and your delegates' phone when someone calls. By default, if neither of you pick up, it will then go to voicemail.

To set this up on your Teams app, click the "..." menu in the upper right, then choose "Calls." The same options will be available. You will also be able to set the duration of ringing before your delegates' phone is rung, or how long it will ring before going to voicemail.

If you are away from the office, you can also completely forward your calls to your delegates, to someone else, or have it go straight to voicemail. To set up forwarding on your phone, click your profile (the circle in the upper left of the touchscreen) and choose "Settings." Then choose "calling." Click the slider for "Call Forwarding" to turn it on, then choose where you want the call to forward to. Your phone will no longer ring at all with forwarding turned on, instead immediately directing callers to wherever you sent them.

Please be aware that after you turn off forwarding when you return, you will need to reset any other options, such as "also ring."

To set this up on your Teams app, click the "..." menu in the upper right, then choose "Calls." The same options will be available.

To decide what happens when someone calls you and you are already in a call, click the profile option on your phone (the circle in the upper left of the touchscreen) and choose "Settings." Then choose "calling." You'll see a new option for "When in another call." You can choose what happens to the new call from here - "redirect as if unanswered" will either go to your delegates or go to voice mail. 

If the "do not disturb" status is set on Teams, you may not receive notifications for calls. However, you can set priority callers who will always ring your phone no matter your status. You can only do this in the Teams app (web, desktop, or mobile.)

To do this, click the "..." in the  upper right of Teams, and choose "Privacy." Under the "Do not disturb" section, you can click "Manage Priority Access" and add anyone you want to be able to contact you through the "do not disturb" status.

During a call, you will see some extra options on your phone screen. If you choose "..." or "more" you have the option to turn on live captioning. This will attempt to transcribe what the caller is saying in a small font on your phone screen.

You can also do this if you've picked up the call on your Teams app. Maximize the call window and click "..." or "More." Choose "Language and Speech" and then "Live Captions." 

This will take a moment to turn on, and may not be perfect, keep that in mind!

If you have multiple people who either should be rung simultaneously on one line, or should be rung consecutively, you can set up a call group. A call group is similar to a delegate, but doesn't have as many permissions - it can only receive calls on the behalf of the person who sets up the group. Call groups can only be set up on the Teams app.

IT may have already set up a similar option called a "Call Queue" for currently shared lines, such as those in Admissions, Financial Aid, or anywhere that gets a lot of calls and has a lot of possible people to pick up. If you already have a call queue set up and are having trouble with it, or need one set up, please contact IT.

A call group should be set up by the person who "owns" the line that would be called first.

For smaller offices, you can set up a Call Group from the Teams App. Click the "..." in the upper right, and then choose "Calls." Scroll down until you see "Manage Call Group." Choose "add a call group" and then add anyone you want to be in the group. Once you have multiple people in the group, you'll see an option above their names to the right to choose how you want the phones to ring. You can choose "all at once" or "in the order below."

A cool feature of Teams voicemail is that any voicemails you get will be transcribed to your email, and will be visible transcribed on your phone and in the app. You will have a default voicemail message, but you can set up your voicemail message both on the app and on your phone. The app will have more options! On your phone, you can only record your greeting.

To set your voicemail greeting on your phone, click your profile (the circle in the upper left of the touchscreen), then choose "settings." Choose "calling" and look for "change voicemail greetings."

In the app, click the "..." in the upper right and choose "settings", then "Calls." Scroll dopwn until you see "manage voicemail." Here you can set your greeting and many other options, including your "out of office" voicemail. For "out of office" voicemail ,you can set a specific text-to-speech message for when you have your Outlook "automatic replies" on.