Applies To:
- Staff and Faculty who have migrated to Teams Calling
Steps:
This article covers several basic features of using Teams Calling with your ESU account. This article sums up our departmental training period during the initial implementation of Teams Calling.
Introducing Teams:
What is Teams:
Microsoft Teams is more than just a chat. The Teams app offers users a way to collaborate with others inside the organization utilizing features from SharePoint while also having chat-like features. In Teams you can chat, call, video call, and host meetings with others inside the organization. This article covers some basic information about Teams and information about using Teams as a replacement for your old desk phone.
Q&A with Teams Calling:
Dialing phone numbers using Teams has gotten easier. You can now:
- Dial using a 4-digit extension
- Dial by name
- Simply Dial using a 10 digit phone number (620.341.5555)
There is a delay when I pick up calls using my Teams phone or using the Teams app:
- Calls from outside the organization must enter the cloud then enter our devices which takes a few seconds. When transferring or answering calls you may notice this delay. The delay is known to last for 2-4 seconds.
Why does it look like a help desk technician transferred this call to me?
The help desk receives phone calls from the main university line. In doing so some users asked to be transferred to different departments or schools while others ask for individuals. When this happens a call may be directly transferred to you instead of to your department. This process is subject to change as directory information changes.
How do I know if Teams is up to date?
If Teams requires an update for your device you can find the update button located near the top right corner of your Teams application next to your profile. This button should be visable from any menu or screen in the Teams desktop app.

Who can call on Teams?
In order to call outside of the organization you must have a phone number assigned to your account. Student Employees, Adjunct faculty and anyone else without a number assigned will only be able to make calls to other users in the Teams app and cannot call outside of the organization.
What does the "(External)" tag mean?
Phone calls from outside of the organization will have this tag associated with the number.

Note: In order for a number to be blocked it must have this tag. Internal phone numbers cannot be blocked.
The Calls App:
Pinning the calls app:
In order to use Teams for calling we need to get the "Calls" app in your Teams.
1. First when we open Teams we need to click on the three dots located on the left side of the screen.

2. After clicking the dots, you can scroll the list of applications or begin typing the name of the app you are looking for. In this case we search for “Calls”.

3. Once you open the application you can pin the app by using the right-click button and pressing “Pin”.
Navigating the Calls app:
- Use the dial pad to dial phone numbers using a 4-digit extension, 10-digit phone number or by name.

1.) Location:
- This location is determined automatically for you while you are on campus. It will populate for you when connecting to Hornet Nation or through a wired connection on your docking station. This location is used for emergency responders if a user dials 9-1-1.
- This location information is private and is not shared with others on Teams.
- When working from home you may see this message as a reminder to fill out your location information for emergency services.

2.) Forwarding Rules:
- Calls can be set to forwarded to Voicemail, delegates, other CQ or AA lines or to external devices/phone numbers.
- Click "More settings" to go to the Calls section in settings to make additional changes.
3.) Device Options
- Any devices that your PC sees connected will appear here.
- Click "Device Settings" to go to the Devices section in settings to make additional changes or test your devices.
4.) Call History & The External Tag:
- Numbers coming from outside of the Teams system will display the “(External)” tag. Users inside the organization and in Teams should have a first and last name displayed.
- From the middle of the screen you can view your call history. It can be sorted using the filters at the top of the page or you can search for specific entries by clicking the three lines at the top to search your call history.
- You can search numbers or search by name.
5.) Speed Dial
- From here you can create speed dial contacts from users in Teams or with numbers from outside of ESU. When creating a speed dial contact with a number outside of the university you will need to create a contact which requires you to enter at least a first name.
Teams Settings:
1.) General
- Some settings in this area can be changed on personal preference.
- You can also schedule an out-of-office response from this tab. (The out of office status will also sync with your Outlook calendar).

2.) Notifications and Activity
- General:
- Mute all notifications (except for calls and meetings):
- If you are do not want to receive notifications from Teams that you are apart of you can turn this on.
- If you check "Always allow urgent and priority contacts" only contacts in your priority contacts list will be able to notify you. You can modify your contact list by navigating to Privacy < Manage priority access.
- Sound:
- By default, the “Play sounds when I’m busy or in a meeting” is turned on. With this setting on during presentations, phone calls or other activities sounds from Teams will be played during those times. We recommend that users who give presentations turn off this setting to prevent disruptions.

3.) Privacy
- Do not disturb:
- Your priority contact list can be modified by clicking "Manage priority access".
- Blocked Contacts:
- If you have any blocked contacts they will be displayed here. They can be removed from this menu.
4.) Accessibility
- Captions and transcripts:
- Captions:
- By default "Always show captions in my calls and mettings" and "Filter out profane words in live captions" are disabled.
5.) Devices
- Audio
- Speaker and Microphone settings can be changed individually.
- From this window you can also make a test call to see if our selected devices are functioning properly.

- Video:
- From this window you can change what camera Teams will use for video calls and meetings and use the window on the left side to test the device.
- There are other settings related to the camera here such as "Green screen", "Mirror Video", and "Adjust Brightness".

6.) Calls
Note: This sections contains information about Personal lines, Call Queues and Auto Attendants. Some of the information on Call Queues and Auto Attendants only apply to owners of those lines and/or Teams Premium users. In additon many of the settings present may be set by IT to guarantee that the Call Queue or Auto Attendant work as intented. Modifying settings without knowing its affects may cause the Queue to not act as intended. Modify settings with caution.
- Personal Line:
- The settings under your Personal line will only affect your personal line. You may also see any Call Queues that you are a member of at the top of the page.
- Call handling and forwarding:
- From here you can change settings related to your voice mail, out-of-office voice mail, ring tones for phone calls, and other settings related to your personal line.
- By default Teams does not direct your missed calls to a voice mail box.
You will need to change the setting from "Do not redirect calls" to "Redirect to voicemail".
- Manage Voicemail:
- A custom greeting can be recorded using voice, or text to speech.
Custom actions can also be selected when directing a call to voicemail such as when to play the greeting or redirect the call to another line.
- Manage out-of-office voicemail:
- You can select when your out-of-office voicemail plays. It can play all the time or just wnen Outlook automatic replies are on. You can manage "Out of Office" replies under the General Section in Teams Settings. Refer to this section.
A custom greeting can be assigned using text-to-speech.
- Manage call group:
- Call groups:
- You can add users to a call group so they are able to receive calls on your behalf and allow you to transfer to them whenever you need to.
- Under Group members you can adjust the group to ring to "Everyone at once" or "In the order below".
- Manage delegates:
- Delegates can receive and make calls on your behalf.
Permisions can be modified for each user individually and the user will receive a notification through Teams chat when permissions are granted.
A call queue is a feature in Temas that allows multiple callers to be directed to a group of agents who are available to take calls.
Note: If you attended the Teams Workshop for Call Queue Owners and Auto Attendant Owners you may have an additional license know as "Teams Premium". This license grants you access to additional features that you would not be able to access otherwise. If your department would like to request a Call Queue or Auto Attendant for your area complete this form for us.
- Call Queues:
- Take calls from the queue: (Signing out of the Call Queue)
- Here you can Change the "Turn on to start receiving calls" setting. If this setting is off you will not receive calls from this queue.
- Manage users and groups for call answering
- Here you click "Edit" to modify the list of members who are apart of this Call Queue.
You can remove existing members or add new members to the Call Queue by typing their name under the "Add a user or group" section.
If you do not have a Teams Premium License you will not be able to modify the members of the Call Queue without contacting the help desk.
- Call handling and routing
- The "Allow people to opt out of taking calls" would allow you to govern whether Call Queue users could change the "Take calls from the queue setting".
- The "Choose a routing method" will allow you to select different types of routing for the Call Queue.
- You can also hover over the information button for detailed descriptions of each method.
- Greeting and music
- From here you can "Choose a greeting to be played for this call queue" and play an audio file or have a text to speech greeting.
- When adding greeting messages acronyms need to have spaces between each letter to have it pronounced as an acrynom otherwise the greeting with attempt to pronounce the word that you have spelled.
- Exception handling
- The "Choose a call routing and greeting option for when maximum number of calls is reached"
An Auto Attendant is a line that lets people call your department and navigate a menu system to speak with the right department, Call Queue or Operator.
- Auto Attendants:
- Manage business and after hours
- Here you can view your office hours for your Auto Attendant.
You can click "manage hours" to make changes to the active hours for the line.
- Call flow for business hours
- From here you can "Choose a greeting to be played for this call queue" and play an audio file or have a text to speech greeting.
- When adding greeting messages acronyms need to have spaces between each letter to have it pronounced as an acrynom otherwise the greeting with attempt to pronounce the word that you have spelled.
- You can also "Choose a call routing option for business hours" which allows calls to be routed to a Call Queue, person in the organization, or diectly to voicemail.
- Call flow for after hours
- From here you can "Choose a greeting to be played for this call queue" and play an audio file or have a text to speech greeting.
- You can also change the call routing option for after hours in the next box.
- The "Turn on transcription for voicemail greeting" allows transcribed messages to appear in the voicemail message in the email.
- There is also an option to "Skip voicemail system message".
- Manage holidays call flow
- Holidays are set by the organization however the days and times of those holidays can be set by you by clicking on the "🖉" (Pencil) button on the right side of the holiday.
- The settings here are the same as the "Call flow for after hours".
How to answer calls:
- When you are called on Teams, you will receive a notification on the bottom right of your main monitor, accompanied by your ring tone. To accept the call, click the purple phone icon on the left. To decline the call, click the red phone icon on the right.

Note: If you are receiving Phone calls during your meetings/presentations be sure your Outlook event has you marked as Busy and that you have the "Play sounds when I'm busy or in a metting" disabled. You can find this setting under the Notifications and Activity Section in Teams.

How to transfer phone calls:
- After clicking the transfer button at the top, you will be presented with two different options; “Transfer”, or “Consult then transfer”. (Pictured below)

- Once either the “Transfer” or “Consult then transfer” buttons are selected, the end user will be put on hold until the transfer is completed. If the “Transfer” option is selected, you will be prompted by a pop-up (Pictured below) that says, “Invite someone or dial a number”. You can either type in the user name of the user you would like to transfer them to, or type in the extension.

If “Consult then transfer” is selected the process will be the same, up until you click the “Transfer” button at the bottom. Instead of the caller being sent to the requested number automatically, you will still be on the line, and will be able to talk to the person who you are transferring to before sending the caller through.
How to block a phone number in Teams:
- To block a phone number inside of Teams, first you need to open the “Calls” section and either right click on the number you would like to block or click the three horizontal dots on the right side of the number

- To manage blocked phone numbers, you need to click the three horizontal dots in the top right of Teams

- From the options presented, select "Privacy"

- On the screen that opens after clicking “Privacy”, click the “Edit blocked contacts” button

- On the next screen, you can see all numbers you have blocked, and unblock them if needed

Signing in/out of Call Queues:
- If you are part of a call queue, you can sign in and out by clicking the three horizontal dots in the top right of Teams then select "Calls".


- Your Call Queue’s (CQ’s) will then show up on the top of the screen next to your personal account.

- After clicking the desired Call Queue, you will be presented with a toggle button.

- When enabled (Circle on the right), you will receive calls that hit the CQ. When disabled (Circle on the left), you will not receive calls that hit the CQ.
Finding your audio and sound settings:
- Before you can use Teams to make and receive calls, ensure that your audio and sound settings are properly set.
- Start by pressing the three dots in the top right corner of the Teams application.

- The settings menu will display on the left side of the application. Click Devices.

- Under Audio Settings you can change the speaker output device or the microphone input device. After making any changes you can test those changes by clicking Make a test call. The test call will allow you to hear through your speaker device as well as anything you say into your microphone.
