How to use apps in Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams allows you to integrate various apps and platforms into your team's channels
and collaborations.
Apps can either be tools like planners and schedulers,
or they can be connectors which feed notifications and alerts into your team's channel.
There are a few ways you can use apps in your teams, depending on what they do
and how you use them.
The first is as a tab in your team's channel.
By clicking "+" in the top menu of your channel, you can add tabs to connect to a specific app.
When you click "+", you're presented with a list of apps that can be used.
In the top section, you'll see apps that are within the Microsoft family.
Some of these are already being used in Microsoft Teams like OneNote.
Below this section are other external apps.
There are a lot of options to choose from,
so you can always use the Search bar at the top to find the app you want.
Once you find the app you're interested in, you can select it.
Microsoft Teams will then provide you with a brief summary about the app,
and its uses if you want to learn more.
Once you're ready to add the app as a tab, select "Add".
The app may require you to create and sign in with your account in order to use it.
You can also select to "Post to the channel about this tab" so others are aware it has been added.
The app then appears as a tab at the top of your channel for quick access and easier collaboration.
The next way to use apps is through messages on your channel.
If an app works with messages, you can attach the app's content directly into a message.
To do this, begin drafting a message.
Below the message field, you may see the app's icon listed with the other icons.
If you don't, select the "More Options" icon.
It may be listed here, or you can use the Search field to find another app.
Once you've found the app, select it, and then click "Add".
You can then use the app to add additional content to your messages.
The third and final way to use an app is as a connector.
These are apps that feed notifications and information from an external platform into
your channel's posts.
To set up a connector app for your channel,
select the "Apps" icon in the bottom left corner of the Microsoft Teams menu.
This "Apps" tab displays all of the apps that can be used in Microsoft Teams.
What's super helpful about this tab is that the apps are filtered by their type and use,
including if it works as a Personal App, a Bot, a Tab, a Connector, or for Messaging.
You can then search for the app you would like to add in the Search bar,
or if you only want to view apps that are compatible as connectors, select "Connectors".
Then select the app you would like to add, and click "Add To A Team".
Here you can search for the team or channel name you would like to apply the app to.
Once you have a team or channel entered, select "Set Up A Connector".
The app will now post alerts and information into the channel's post feed.
If you ever need to view the activity for your app across all of your teams and channels,
select the "More Options" tab in Microsoft Teams' main menu on the left hand side.
You can then choose the app that you would like to view,
and all the information associated with the app from across all of your teams will be
featured on this page.
You can sort the information by Personal, Recent, Teams, and About.
And that is how to use apps in Microsoft Teams!