Monthly Archives: December 2021

When working on files hosted on a Team, anyone in the organization with access to the Team can make changes to the files. The ability for everyone to access the file, and collaboration of everyone working in the same file, at the same time, is amazing! BUT, if you want to prevent people from editing a file while you finalize it, or use it for a meeting, the Teams “Check Out” file feature is the solution!

1. In Teams (also works if open and viewing as a SharePoint list in a browser tab), click the three dot menu next to the file name to show the Action options
2. Click More then CHECK OUT
   
3. To check out the file, no one can have the file open. In this example, I had a copy of the file open and another member tried to check it out but received an error message:
   
4. Once you check the file out, you can see a quick indicator of what files you have checked out on the file view. A gray arrow icon (1) indicates someone else has the file checked out. A red arrow icon (2) indicates you have the file checked out.
   
5. No one else can make changes to the file including making edits or file properties (renaming or moving the file) while you have the file checked out. Others will be able to view a read only copy of the file on the app or in Teams:
   
   
6. However, they are able to save a COPY of the file to edit or DOWNLOAD a copy of the file to edit and would need to send an updated version to merge edits manually to the checked out file (just so you know what can happen, and the file version control issues that can still come up even with using the Check Out file feature).
   
   

Many thanks to Amber on the TLC Creative team for putting together this example! Moving forward we are going to leave the technical side of Teams and continue this Microsoft Teams series with presenting in Teams!

Troy @ TLC

Sometimes Teams does not display the updated file list right away, which is confusing and frustrating. The files are there, but you can’t see them in the list.

For example, looking at the files list in SharePoint (which always does an automatic refresh and displays the real files view), it shows 4 documents. We added a copy of one of the files in Teams, and SharePoint view displays all 4 files.

SharePoint:

Here is Teams, where the file was added, but it is still displaying only 3 files:

To assure you are seeing an accurate list of files, click the “Reload Tab” or the swirly arrow in the upper right, next to the “Meet” button.

After clicking the Reload Tab button, now all 4 files are displayed in the Teams list!

Microsoft Teams is the newest addition to Microsoft’s offerings and it is evolving quickly (hey, the reload tab button was not in the original release of Teams!). I am hopeful that this blog post becomes outdated and Teams does a better job of refreshing and always displaying an accurate file list. Until then, everyone needs to know about, and use, the Reload Tab button 🙂

Troy @ TLC

The file explorer in Microsoft Teams does not, by default, show the file size – which I really miss.

To show file size, follow these steps (will need to be done for each separate Team environment)

1. Click the three dots next to a file and click “Open in Sharepoint”
   
2. In SharePoint, click “Return to classic SharePoint” in lower left of screen.
   
3. Click “Library” near the top left of screen.
   
4. Click “Modify View”.
   
5. Find “File Size” in the Column Name list, and check the box and click “OK” in upper right to save changes.
   
6. Back in Teams, File Size should now be displayed. You may need to click refresh (Circle Arrow in upper right next to the Meet button) to see changes.
   
7. Please note, file size only displays for individual files, not for folders.
   

Troy @ TLC

The TLC Creative Services team has over the past 2 years gone from using Microsoft Teams as a novelty, to a more forced use when Microsoft killed off Skype for Business, and now it has become integrated into our daily workflow (and we like it). Like anyone that uses an app a lot, you cringe when you see others not using that app to its fullest. So, here are 10 Microsoft Teams tips to make your use of it hopefully better 🙂

Troy @ TLC