Skip to main content

How to create a new team in Microsoft Teams

Example of Teams chat.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Few communication applications are as versatile as Microsoft Teams. Along with allowing you to send quick messages to teammates or launch a video chat, the software is fully integrated with Office 365 so you can optimize its performance. If you know how to use Microsoft Teams, you'll know that one of its most useful features is the ability to create a new team.

Knowing how to make a new team and how to properly organize teams makes it easy for a company to enhance productivity and streamline communication. When used effectively, Microsoft Teams is useful for both in-office and remote workers, ensuring everyone stays on the same page regardless of location.

Here's how to create a new team in Microsoft Teams, along with additional tips on how to maximize the software.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

1 hour

What You Need

  • Microsoft Teams account with the right permissions

How to create a new team in Microsoft Teams

The web, desktop, and mobile apps for Microsoft Teams are all quite similar, so these steps should work with each, with only minor interface differences.

Step 1: Get the right permissions. Creating teams is typically a manager-level ability, although security restrictions for Teams will vary based on your organization. If necessary, talk to your IT admin about getting the necessary permission to create a new team.

Step 2: Log into Microsoft Teams. In the upper right corner, check that you are in the right group for creating your new team.

Step 3: In the left-side menu, select the Teams icon to view current Teams. In mobile, this menu is on the bottom of the screen.

Microsoft Teams Icon in app.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 4: Select the blue button at the bottom of the Teams list that says Join or create a team.

Create Team in Microsoft Teams.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 5: This will open a new menu with available team “cards” to choose from. Begin by selecting the option to Create team.

Microsoft Create Team option.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 6: You now have a number of options about how to create your team. For example, you could choose to Select from a template, like “Manage a Project” or “Onboard Employees.” This will automatically create a select of labeled channels in the team and connected apps that this template may find useful. It can save time, but you may also end up with unnecessary parts of the team that no one will use. You will be able to customize the channels and integrated apps later, but this will take some extra work.

You could also choose From a group or team. This option works best if you want to create a separate team with a group of people you already work with, copying them over to a new version of the team you can then customize as you want. You will get a checklist of the specific team features like channels and apps that you want to copy over or leave behind.

Or, you can choose From scratch to build a team from the ground up. If this is your first time creating a team, this is probably the best option for now. You can always return and create a different kind of team once you have the basics down.

Templates in Microsoft Teams.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 7: Choose if the team will be Public or Private. Public allows anyone in the organization to freely join a Microsoft Teams meeting without needing permission, while Private means access is restricted to members.

Public and Private options in Microsoft Teams.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 8: Now, you will have several options to customize your team. First, you can choose the name of the team and the description. Choose something clear that indicates the purpose of the team and who it is for.

Then, you will be able to Customize channels in your team. Channels are individual discussions that can relate to specific topics. There’s a default General channel, but other channels can be added too, like Announcements, Planning, Marketing, etc. Rename the channels as you need to give your team the spaces they need for discussion.

Name your team in Microsoft Teams.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 9: Select Create to complete your team.

Step 10: You are the owner of your team, and that gives you a variety of management options. You can invite people to the team yourself and create channels as you see fit to organize the team. If you hover over your team name and select More options, you will see a menu with a wide variety of settings tools, including the ability to change any of the decisions you made above.

Manage Team option in Microsoft Teams.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Additional tips about making a Team in Microsoft Teams

  • You can also change additional privacy settings for the team, such as deciding to make it invisible to searches or view from outside of the team or requiring a code to join the team.
  • Teams meetings can be recorded for review or sharing later, with the correct permissions

  • Options to create a Team may vary depending on how your organization uses Microsoft Teams. For example, if your organization is using an education version of Microsoft 365, you may see different options to select school-oriented team types, like Class, Staff, or Professional Learning Community.

  • If you do want to make your team searchable within a large organization, you should use the options menu to add some tags to it that accurately describe the team and what it’s about.

  • Team owners also have the ability to create private channels within the team that can only be accessed or seen by certain members. You can use this feature to create additional layers of privacy as necessary.

  • Your team options will give you the ability to delete the team when it is no longer needed. You can also delete chats in Microsoft Teams to help keep things tidy.

While you can message and video chat with individuals, creating teams is basically what Microsoft Teams is for.

Tyler Lacoma
If it can be streamed, voice-activated, made better with an app, or beaten by mashing buttons, Tyler's into it. When he's not…
Microsoft just made Teams even more of a hassle to use
A Home screen in Microsoft Teams showing the different Communities to choose from.

In a Microsoft support article, the software giant says that starting in April 2025, Microsoft Teams will no longer support sending or receiving SMS from Android devices. This change pushes users to switch to the Phone Link app for SMS messaging.

If you attempt to send an SMS using Teams, you'll be greeted with an alert notifying you of the change. The SMS feature is one of the lesser-known features, and you may not have even known it existed, but Microsoft will soon remove it from Teams. For now, you can still view SMS messages under Recent and send texts, but this feature will soon be removed. Currently, the "Link your phone" feature lets you manage your text messages without having to switch to another app, thus making you go through fewer steps.

Read more
I tried the free version of Microsoft Office. All I got was ads and anxiety
Running the ad-supported free version of Microsoft PowerPoint on a laptop.

Microsoft is testing a new version of its Office app bundle that is free to use, but you’ll have to watch ads. Usability is rather subjective here, because even the most basic features are locked and greyed out.

These free office apps, of which there are only three, will be available only for a limited span. And that too, in a select few markets. Moreover, Microsoft warns that it can discontinue these free Word, Excel, and PowerPoint desktops at nay day of its choosing.

Read more
Microsoft created a whole new state of matter to make its quantum chip
Microsoft’s Majorana 1 quantum computing chip.

In Marvel’s Iron Man 2, the protagonist, Tony Stark, creates a new element to power the arc reactor in his chest and the mech suit he wears in superhero mode. It remains one of the coolest cinematic scenes for sci-fi fans.  Microsoft has managed to achieve something of the same caliber in 2025 by creating a new state of matter.

Earlier today, the tech giant introduced Majorana 1, the world’s first quantum computing chip, a breakthrough that has set the whole tech world abuzz. The company spent years building the chip, which entailed numerous breakthroughs.

Read more