How to schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams
Meetings are both planned and unplanned. For unplanned meetings, all you can do is hope everyone is available and start it. For meetings that are planned, an invite with a proper agenda and a list of invitees.
Online meetings are no different. Some online meetings happen spontaneously while others are planned. For planned online meetings, you can send out an invite or you can schedule them.
Schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams
A scheduled meeting in Microsoft Teams can be set up by anyone from both the desktop and web, and mobile apps. Users with a free Microsoft Teams will not be able to see their scheduled meetings in the Calendar tab but users with a business license for Microsoft Teams will be able to see them in there.
Schedule a meeting – Microsoft Teams desktop/web
Follow these steps to schedule a Microsoft Teams meeting.
- Open Microsoft Teams.
- Go to the Calendar or Meetings tab (the icon looks like a calendar).
- Click the Schedule a meeting.
- Enter a name for the meeting.
- Select a date and time.
- Click Schedule.
- If you’re on a free Microsoft Teams plan, copy and save the link to the meeting.
- Share the link with everyone you want to invite.
Schedule a meeting – Microsoft Teams mobile apps
With the Microsoft Teams mobile apps, you can view upcoming/scheduled meetings in the app regardless if you have a business or free license.
- Open the Microsoft Teams app on your phone.
- Go to the Meetings tab.
- Tab the new meeting button at the top right.
- Enter a name for the meeting.
- Select a date and time.
- Tap Save.
- The Meetings tab will show you the upcoming meeting with a Join button (you can join before it starts).
Limitations
Microsoft Teams doesn’t allow users to select which channel the meeting will be in, or to select participants for it from inside the app. If you’d like to send a meeting invite when you schedule a meeting, you should use Outlook. There is a Microsoft Teams plugin for Outlook that will let you send an invite to everyone.
Conclusion
Microsoft Teams’ meeting scheduling is great but it’s half-baked. Being able to create a meeting invite without turning to an email app/service makes sending the invite organization-wide easier. Not being able to add participants and automatically share the invite on a channel limits the feature. For free users, scheduled meetings are hidden until they’re about to start so there is even less utility there.
