Microsoft Teams Add-in for Outlook: How to Download and Install

If you want to combine Microsoft Teams with your Outlook email client, you can do that easily with the dedicated Microsoft Teams add-in. But a lot of users are unaware of this tool and have no idea how to use it. In this guide, we will provide a detailed step-by-step guide to download and install it onto your Windows laptop or PC as well as tell you everything you need to know about it.

With more people than ever before working from home and homeschooling at the moment, the popularity of online videoconferencing and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams has never been greater.

Teams has added an estimated 12 million users in the last three weeks alone and despite launching only last year, it is already a key tool for tens of millions of people around the world.

As one of Microsoft’s flagship programs, Teams has been built to be interoperable with many of their other key software tools. This includes their Office 365 suite of programs and a number of different email clients. The most notable of these is Outlook, Microsoft’s premier email and webmail tool.

As part of this integration, Microsoft has developed an add-in specifically for use with Outlook. It is a really useful feature but one that many Microsoft Teams users are unaware of.

In this guide, we will explain the benefits of the Teams add-in for Outlook and also provide detailed instructions about how to download and install this really useful tool.

What is the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook

The Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook is a really useful integration tool for users of both programs. Its primary purpose is to allow users to schedule a Team Meeting directly from Outlook rather than having to open both programs at the same time.

The add-in is available for Windows, Mac, web, and mobile users but in this guide, we will be focusing on Windows users.

Once you have installed the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook, a new icon will appear in the ribbon at the top of the Outlook page. It will show the Microsoft Teams logo and will be titled New Teams Meeting.

Clicking on the icon will open up a page which allows you to do everything needed to set up a new Microsoft Teams meeting with colleagues. You can then share information about this through Outlook.

How to get the add-in for Teams in Outlook?

Before you attempt to download and the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook, please be aware that only the more recent versions of Office 365 and Exchange allow the installation of add-ins. To use this add-in, you will need to be running one of the following versions:

• Office 2013
• Office 2016
• Exchange 2013
• Exchange 2016

If you are running the new Windows 11 or Windows 10, you should have no issues.  The basic process for downloading the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook is a very simple one. All you have to do is follow these few simple steps:

1. In Outlook, click on the Home
2. Click on the Get Add-ins
3. This will open a window that allows you to search for add-ins. Click on the All tab and then enter Microsoft Teams into the Search box.
4. Toggle the switch to the right of the listing for the Microsoft Teams add-in to On.

Once you have done this, you will need to check that the add-in has been downloaded successfully. To do this, simply:

1. Click on File
2. Select Manage add-ins (listed as Manage Apps in some version of the software).

Teams add-in for Outlook is missing?

If the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook is not listed or you have any other problems downloading it, there are a number of possible solutions you can try to resolve the issue.

1. Check to ensure that you have Administrator permissions on your Windows laptop or PC before you try to install Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook.
2. If you already have these, try using Outlook as a normal user, not as an Administrator to see if this helps.
3. Close down the Microsoft Teams app and then restart it again. This will help to ensure that any issues with Teams is not preventing you from downloading the Outlook add-in.
4. Sign out of Microsoft Teams and sign in again to make sure that your account is open and enabled properly.
5. Check that you are running the latest version of Outlook. If you aren’t up to date with the newest version and make sure all updates are downloaded and installed.
6. Close down the Outlook desktop client or app and restart it again. This makes sure no issues with Outlook is stopping you from downloading the Microsoft Teams add-in.
7. Check your Outlook user account name for any spaces. According to Microsoft, this is a known issue and can prevent add-in downloads. They hope to fix it soon but at the time of writing, it has still not been resolved.
8. Ensure that you are definitely running Office 2013 or Office 2016. If you aren’t, you won’t be able to install the Microsoft Teams add-in. If you are not sure, you can check which version of Office you are running by opening any of its applications and then clicking on File followed by Account. This will list all the product information on the right including the version of Office you are running. If you are not running one of the above-listed products, you will need to upgrade before you can use the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook.

Authentication Requirements

To use the Teams Meeting add-in for Outlook, you will need to sign in to Teams using Modern Authentication. This is the term Microsoft prefers to use for what most other programs call multi-factor authentication.

Modern authentication methods can vary depending on which version of Office you are using. Typically, you will be required to acknowledge a text, call, or app notification in addition to entering your password.

If you haven’t used this method to sign in, you will still be able to use Microsoft Teams but will be unable to schedule Teams online meetings through the Outlook add-in.

To enable the Microsoft Teams Meeting add-in for Outlook, you will need to either:

• Configure modern authentication; or
• Sign out of your account and sign in again using multi-factor authentication.

Enable private meetings settings

As well as enabling modern authentication, you will also need to have changed the Microsoft Teams settings to allow you to schedule private meetings.

You will need to visit the Microsoft Teams admin center for the add-in to do this. It is a simple process:

1. Go to Meetings
2. Click on Meeting Policies
3. In the General section, toggle Allow scheduling private meetings button to On.

Save these settings and then you should be able to use the Teams add-in for Outlook to schedule private meetings.

Some considerations

While the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook is a really useful feature for many users, it is important to bear in mind that there are some limitations to its usage.

Firstly, Microsoft Teams is a young program and the Outlook add-in is even more recent. As a result, it is still building functionality and is not perfect just yet.

Users should also be aware that the Teams add-in for Outlook allows users to schedule private meetings. It is not able to schedule meetings in a channel. Channel meetings have to be scheduled within the Teams app itself.

You also cannot use the add-in to schedule live events. These also have to be scheduled within the Teams app at the moment.

Microsoft also cautions that the Outlook add-in will not work if an Authentication Proxy is in the network path of the user’s PC and Teams Services.

Summary

The popularity of Microsoft Teams is growing rapidly and one of its big attractions is the way it can be integrated into other popular Microsoft software programs.

The dedicated Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook allows you to schedule private Teams meetings directly through the Outlook app. It is a really useful feature but it does require you to download an extra bit of software.

In this guide, we have explained how to download and install the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook and offered you some tips on how to fix the download if you encounter any problems.

We have also told you a bit more about the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook, what it can do, and the hurdles you have to get over to use it.

Have you downloaded the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook? Did you encounter any problems? If so, how did you resolve them? Do you have any tips or advice for our readers that we haven’t covered in this guide?

If you have, we’d love to hear from you, so please do leave your thoughts and tips in the comment box below.

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David Spencer

David is a freelance PR consultant and writer currently based in Taiwan. He has worked with a number of high profile tech companies and has been writing about information security, privacy, and VPNs for several years. When not delving into the tech world, David enjoys trying to learn mandarin, hikin

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