Another exciting feature is here! — Microsoft Teams Meetings — Live Reactions. Here is a guide for both Admins and Users + my take on this new feature!
Do read to the end for extra notes(hidden in between the steps).
If you have enabled your Public Preview, then these are the following steps:
Step 1: Open your Teams desktop app → Select your display picture → Check for updates.
Important notes:
1. If you have restarted your computer, you will need to re-enable the Public Preview mode on the Teams desktop app.
2. Live reaction is only available to the meeting organizer and (probably internal) participants who have enabled the Public Preview mode.
3. Live reaction may not be available if you have an external meeting with another organization.
4. Live reaction may not available on Teams web app.
Step 2: Once updated, it will prompt you to restart your Teams, right-click the Teams icon on your taskbar (bottom right, next to your clock) → Quit → (Find and) Click your Microsoft Teams to restart.
Important note: Your Microsoft Teams may experience high performance usage if your device has low memory (RAM), causing your laptop to lag or hang. If this happens, you will need to read this: 9 Easy Fix-Hacks to Teams High Performance Usage
Step 3: Create a Teams meeting → Invite your participants → Join meeting.
Step 4: Ta-dah! Now you have live reactions!
Step 5: If you use the (other than Raise hand ✋)reactions, you will notice it appearing here, in a one-to-one call.
Otherwise, you may be able to view it like this:
Final take
It is so cute and I love it!
But it is definitely a work in progress.
Again, if you have not enable it, you REALLY MUST read this to enable Public Preview : Teams Breakout Rooms is here!
The most awaited feature is here! — Microsoft Teams Virtual Breakout Rooms. Here is a guide for both Admins and Users + my take on the virtual breakout rooms.
Do read to the end for extra notes/anecdotes/tips/workarounds/warnings (hidden in between the steps).
Just announced: There’s no need to enable public preview for this feature. It is generally available!
You can begin at Step 5 & skip to Step 11.
For you, who are admins in your Microsoft Office 365 tenants:
Step 3:+Add → Name your new policy → [Optional] Give a description → Toggle On for Show preview features → Apply.
Tip: Why create a new policy?
This is to make sure you can still revert to the original policy [Global (Org-wide default] if anything goes haywire.
If you still wish to configure the original policy, then do it at your own risk.
Step 4: Click the newly created policy → Manage Users → Type in the users who wants to try it (or needs it) → Apply.
Step 5: Wait for ± 2 hours for it to take effect.
For you, users who will be using the Teams breakout rooms:
Step 1: Wait for your IT admin to let you know if it has been enabled.
Step 2: Open your Teams desktop app → Select your display picture → Settings.
Important note: The meeting organizer can start a breakout room on the desktop client only.
Step 3: In the General tab, check (or enable) Turn on new meeting experience (New meetings and calls will open in separate windows. Requires restarting Teams.)
Step 4: To restart Teams, right-click the Teams icon on your taskbar (bottom right, next to your clock) → Quit → (Find and) Click your Microsoft Teams to restart.
Important note: Your Microsoft Teams may experience high performance usage if your device has low memory (RAM), causing your laptop to lag or hang. If this happens, you will need to read this: 9 Easy Fix-Hacks to Teams High Performance Usage
Step 5: Click your display picture → Check for updates.
Step 6: Once updated, it will prompt you to restart your Teams, click Restart/Refresh or do Step 4.
Step 7: Click your display picture → About → [Check if you have] Public Preview.
Anecdote: This is the part where it may get a bit annoying (if you cannot wait like me). You may have to repeat Steps 5 to 7 several times until you get the Public Preview option.
Step 8: When you select Public preview, you will be warned → Switch to public preview.
Warning!: You may start facing glitches once you switch to Public preview. Microsoft may not be able to support you as well since it is excluded from any support. Your IT support may not be able to support you as well.
Warning! Proceed at your own risk!
Step 9: It will prompt you to restart your Teams, click Restart/Refresh or do Step 4; OR it will automatically restart for you.
Step 10: Ta-dah! Now you have breakout rooms!
Step 11: Create a Teams meeting (either Teams Calendar [with External participants] or Teams Channel [for Internal participants] → Invite your participants → Join meeting
Reminder: The meeting organizer can start a breakout room on the desktop client only.
→ Click Breakout rooms → A prompt: Create Breakout Rooms (Preview) will appear → Choose the number of rooms you need → Select how you want to assign participants:
Automatically: Participants will be randomly assigned to different rooms (depending on the number of rooms you have selected).
Manually: You can select which participant to go into which room (if you need more control on the assignment).
→ Create Rooms
Tip: You can create up to 50 breakout rooms.
Opinion: It is going to be difficult to control them.
Anecdote: Having more control is the best to avoid any complications later.
Step 12: You will need to wait a while for it to appear → Click More options (…) → Rooms settings.
Step 13: Check (or enable) Let people go back to the main meeting.
Tip/Opinion: If you do not check this, you will have a hard time getting people back to the main meeting room.
Step 14: Since you have chosen the number of rooms earlier, it will appear at the bottom → Choose which participants you want to go to which room → Assign → Pick the room.
Step 15: Click Start rooms when you are ready to begin the breakout session
Note/Anecdote: It was initially closed so participants or attendees are not accidentally pushed into the rooms. When you Start rooms, it may take a while for your rooms to Open.
Step 16: [Participant’s POV] They will receive a prompt that they will be moved to the breakout room in 10 seconds and the Join room will appear for them to manually go to the rooms themselves.
Step 17: When it is time to wrap up, click the More options (…) → Make an announcement → Type your announcement → Send.
Note: All rooms will receive the announcement.
Step 18:[Participant’s POV] & [Organizer’s POV if you join the breakout room] Click Return.
Note: They will be pushed back to the main meeting.
Anecdotes:
1. If you do not do Step 13, your participants may not be able to see this. They will have to end the call and rejoin the main meeting through the Teams’ calendar or through the original meeting link.
2. If you have your meeting lobby set up, then the meeting lobby rules apply when your participants rejoin the main meeting.
Step 19: If you want to make sure all participants leave their breakout rooms, click Close rooms. Participants will be prompted to Join main room.
Note/Anecdote: Again, it will take a while for the rooms to close and for participants to rejoin the main room.
Step 20: According to Microsoft, “Any files from the breakout rooms can be shared in the main meeting once everyone is back together and will be available afterwards in the meeting chat.”
Note: I could not test this out as I was using accounts from different tenants and as guests. Perhaps files shared via OneDrive link may work better compared to attachments. Or maybe this only applies to meetings done via Teams channel. Again, I could not test this out properly.
Final notes (& my take) of Teams Virtual Breakout Rooms (Preview):
It is a cool and exciting feature! No doubt!
Good for quick brainstorming sessions.
For participants, you can enjoy this breakout room feature on your phones.
If you can wait for this to be Generally available, there may be lesser glitches and more updates (But I cannot confirm when exactly will be the release date in Asia).
It is going to be glitchy — Reminder: This is still a preview feature. Any glitch may not be supported by Microsoft or your IT support.
I noticed that if you wish to reuse the same meeting link (which you actually can), and conduct another breakout session, your participants may not be automatically assigned to the breakout rooms (although you have closed and deleted the rooms, and created new rooms with the same name).
Workarounds: 1. Perhaps you can create new rooms with different names. 2. Just create a new meeting instead.
Let me know what you think! If you find this article useful, clap and reshare!
Before expressing your great dissatisfaction towards Microsoft Teams and its performance (causing your computer to hang or lag), please check whether your hardware meet the requirements for Teams, see Hardware requirements for Microsoft Teams.
If your hardware meets the Teams requirements, proceed with either of the following hacks (and its foreseen IMPACTS to your Microsoft Teams):
Fix-Hack #1: Update your Microsoft Teams desktop app
In Teams, click your display picture in Teams (top right).
Click Check for updates.
A prompt will appear for you to restart Teams to apply the new updates.
To check your app version:
Click your display picture in Teams (top right) again.
Click About.
Click Version.
(As of 7th December 2020) You should have Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.30866 (or later).
IMPACT: None. Yay! You get to enjoy the new features!
Fix-Hack #2: Configure the Teams settings
(Follow the image below)
In Teams, click your display picture in Teams (top right).
Click Settings
In Settings, in General tab, do either:
Uncheck (or disable) Turn on new meeting experience (New meetings and calls will open in separate windows. Requires restarting Teams.); or
Check (or enable) Disable GPU hardware acceleration; or
Check (or enable) Turn off animations (requires restarting Teams).
4. Right-click your Teams in your taskbar → Click Quit → Restart Teams
Note: Your Teams runs in the background. You must close it from your system tray (near the clock, bottom-right).
IMPACTS:Turn off the new Teams meeting experience (while you still can. Microsoft will eventually make it a permanent feature soon): You will not get to experience the new Teams meeting experience (Biggest thing you will probably notice is that any calls and meetings will pop out into their own window, separate from the main Teams window).
Disable GPU Hardware acceleration: You may notice that lines and shapes are not as crisp. Also, other user interface (look and feel) in Microsoft Teams will not be nice to look at).
Disable animations: You will notice animated emojis and GIFs will not move. Teams will not be as fun as it should.
Fix-Hack #3: Disable read receipts
In Teams, click your display picture in Teams (top right).
Click Settings.
In Settings, in Privacy tab, uncheck (or disable) Read receipts.
Right-click your Teams in your taskbar → Click Quit. [Follow Fix-Hack #2 — Step 4]
Restart Teams.
IMPACT: You will not be able to view who has read or seen your message.
IMPORTANT: This will only work for some people. No harm in trying!
Extra Note: If you cannot find this in your Teams Settings, your IT admin has disabled the ability for you to turn it off.
Fix-Hack #4: Clear Teams cache
[for Windows users only]
Quit your Microsoft Teams. [Follow Fix-Hack #2 — Step 4]
Cut and paste the following location into File Explorer: %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams
Then delete the following files:
In Application Cache → Cache folder, delete all files in it.
In Blob_storage folder, delete all files.
In Cache folder, delete all files.
In databases folder, delete all files.
In GPUCache folder, delete all files.
In IndexedDB folder, delete the .db file.
In Local Storage folder, delete all files.
In tmp folder, delete all files.
IMPACT: You may experience data loss. Better to backup or move the files to another place first.
Fix-Hack #5: Disable all Teams add-ins in Outlook
[Not recommended! Do at your OWN RISK!]
In your Outlook, click File → Options.
In the Outlook Options window, click Add-ins.
Next to Manage: COM Add-ins, click Go… (At the bottom).
Uncheck (or disable) Microsoft Teams Meeting Add-in for Microsoft Office.
Click OK.
Restart your Outlook.
IMPACT: You will not be able to create Teams Meeting through your Outlook.
Fix-Hack #7: Close all other (unnecessary) apps running in the background
For your information, opening a lot of tabs in your browser (For example: 10 tabs and 2 YouTube videos [not playing]) will also consume about 1000+MB of memory.
IMPACT: You cannot work on too many things at once if your laptop has low memory (i.e., 4GB and below).
Fix-Hack #8: Upgrade your laptop memory (RAM) to more than 8GB
12GB works fine for me.
IMPACT: Cost to upgrade.
Hack #9: Uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Teams
Do like what you do for uninstalling applications.
IMPACT: None. Unlikely to have any effect on decreasing the high CPU and memory resources but will help with any other glitches that you are experiencing with Microsoft Teams.
There is no one 100%-surefire solution that will fix this.
It seems Microsoft has acknowledged this matter and is working on it based on the Microsoft Teams User Voice (Click here to vote).
If we learn more, we will update this article accordingly.
If you are still using Windows 7, it is high time for you to upgrade to Windows 10 (or tell your IT department or IT service provider to upgrade). As of 14th January 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide the following:
Technical support for any issues
Software updates
Security updates or fixes
This means you have a greater risk for viruses and malware.
You will not have a great experience with Microsoft Teams and Office/Microsoft 365.
Any support for Microsoft Teams and Office/Microsoft 365 (while you are still using Windows 7) will most likely be of best effort (if your IT service provider is still willing to support you).
If you upgrade on your own, any managed service provider might not be able to support you (unless you have purchased a contract with them).
Do what you need to do: Contact your IT department/service provider and Upgrade to Windows 10!