Tips on how to Use Microsoft Groups: a Information to Options, Becoming a member of Conferences

• Microsoft Groups is a reside assembly platform and digital collaboration house.
• Microsoft first launched groups as a direct competitor to Slack.
• This is what to learn about Microsoft Groups and easy methods to use numerous options.

If you want to arrange a distant assembly whereby you may conduct video calls, swap notes, share information, align calendars, and far more, the Microsoft Groups simply could be the proper platform to make use of. Part of the Microsoft 365 subscription service that features packages like Phrase, Excel, Outlook, and extra, Groups simply integrates with a lot of the software program and plenty of apps you’re doubtless already utilizing.

Groups was first created as a result of Invoice Gates was in opposition to shopping for Slack, the workflow administration platform. In 2016, Microsoft virtually made an $8 billion bid for Slack, however the firm’s founder and former CEO was against the transfer.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, agreed with Gates, and the supply was by no means made. As a substitute, Microsoft would develop Groups as a competitor to Slack, releasing it the following yr.

Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at Microsoft Groups and what it permits its customers to do.

What’s Microsoft Groups?

Microsoft Groups is a collaboration app that enables customers to speak and work collectively in actual time. It is designed to assist customers keep organized and linked, and can be utilized for a wide range of functions, together with conferences, throughout which individuals can use options like PowerPoint Dwell, Microsoft Whiteboard, and AI-generated assembly notes.

Groups may also be used as a cellphone name platform. Customers could make group calls, ship voicemails, and switch calls to others.

It is also a chat platform, letting customers message people or teams, and entry options like emojis and urged replies.

Groups customers can share information and share apps, and might use this system to assist align and handle their calendars and schedules.

Is Microsoft Groups nonetheless free?

There’s a free model of Microsoft Groups that gives most of the identical features because the paid model, albeit in scaled down type. Known as “Groups for private life,” the free model limits video calls to 60 minutes, but it surely permits chat, file sharing, and as much as 5 gigabytes of cloud file storage. The free model limits members in a single session to 100 customers.

Tips on how to be part of a Groups assembly — even with out an account

You needn’t set up Microsoft Groups be part of a gathering. You possibly can be part of a gathering utilizing your browser, or you may obtain the Home windows app. In your laptop, you want to use Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome as your browser to affix a Groups assembly.

You may as well be part of a Crew’s assembly even when you do not have a Microsoft Groups account, and that is true on a smartphone or pill or on a pc.

To affix with out an account, first discover the assembly invite in your e mail or in your calendar, then choose “Be a part of Microsoft Groups Assembly.” On a pc, select “Be a part of on the net,” whereas on a cellular system, you may be prompted to obtain the Crew app. Enter your title, permit the system to make use of your digital camera and microphone, then hit “Be a part of now.”

The assembly organizer will then be notified that you have joined, and somebody within the assembly can admit you.

Which is healthier: Groups, Zoom, or Google Meet?

Every higher serves completely different customers and use instances, so it isn’t a matter of which platform is healthier, however relatively which is healthier for a given scenario. Google Meet is a stripped-down and easy-to-use platform excellent for extra informal conferences, as amongst buddies or small teams of coworkers. Zoom permits for a excessive variety of members, so it is good for main displays or distant conferences.

And Microsoft Groups presents a strong suite of options, as mentioned right here, making it excellent for ongoing use by teams that have to recurrently collaborate in productive methods.