Microsoft Teams is a collaboration and video conferencing platform included in most Microsoft 365 Business subscriptions. It is also available as a free version for personal Microsoft accounts, though this free edition offers limited functionality compared to the business version.
You can learn more about Microsoft Teams functionality in our Beginner’s Guide to Microsoft Teams available on our help centre.
Overview
Microsoft Teams provides several ways to hold online meetings, including scheduled meetings and instant meetings. This guide focuses on the Meet Now feature, which allows you to start a meeting immediately without prior scheduling
The Meet Now option is ideal in situations where you need to move from a conversation to an online meeting quickly. For example:
- You are on a phone call with a client and need to share your screen or documents.
- A project discussion requires immediate input from multiple team members.
- You need to resolve an urgent issue and bring colleagues together instantly.
By the end of this guide, you will understand how to:
- Rejoin an ongoing or past meeting when needed
- Start a quick meeting using Meet Now in Microsoft Teams
- Invite internal and external participants to join
- Access shared content, chats, and recordings after the meeting
Starting a Quick Meeting
This is a great option if you need to create a meeting on the go, a good example is when you are on the phone to a client and just need to switch to an online meeting to show documents etc.
- Open Microsoft Teams.
- In the left-hand menu, select Calendar.
- In the top-right corner, click Meet now.
- Before the meeting starts, you can:
- Set a title for the meeting
- Enable or disable video (share your webcam live).
- Choose your preferred audio source (computer, phone, or headset)
- Click Join now to start the meeting.
Congratulations! Your meeting is now up and running, you just need people to join you.
Inviting People to Join
For Internal Staff
- In the People box (top-right corner), start typing the name or phone number of the person you want to invite.
- Select their name from the list and they will receive a Teams call immediately.
For External Users
- Click Copy join info.
- Paste the link into an email, Teams chat, or any messaging app.
- They can join instantly by selecting the link.
After the Meeting
- Just like with scheduled meetings, attendees can still access:
- The meeting chat
- Any files shared during the meeting
- Meeting notes
- Recordings (if enabled)
- To rejoin the same meeting anytime, find the meeting chat in your chat list and select Join.
