How to Use Microsoft Teams' Meeting Notes
Microsoft Teams users rejoice! Taking notes in your weekly business meetings can be streamlined using a feature called meeting notes. With the beefier updates that rolled out in late 2020, this note-taking feature offers the convenience of having a collaborative note synced with your meeting. While OneNote has its merits, meeting notes offers an integrated way to keep your team organized and on the same page.
Meeting notes can be created and edited before, during, and after your meeting. This tutorial will give you a quick guide to making the most of this handy feature.
Before the Meeting
- Click on the scheduled meeting from your Calendar.
- From the popup window, click Chat with participants.
- From the Chat, click Meeting Notes.
- From here you can take notes, create new sections and @ people to create action points.
- As you begin note taking, a toolbox at the top of the page appears that gives you text edit options. Your meeting notes will be waiting ready to keep your team on-track!
During the Meeting
Once your meeting has begun, click More Actions, then Meeting notes. If there are no notes yet, select Take notes. The participant that starts the notes will be the notes creator and a notification will be sent to the other meeting attendees on that person's behalf. If notes have already been created, you can begin typing.
Accessing the Meeting Notes
- If your meeting took place from within a channel: find the meeting from within the channel and then click Show notes in fullscreen.
- If your meeting took place in a private meeting: find the meeting from your Calendar, click the meeting, and select the notes.
Troubleshooting
If you are unable to use this note-taking feature, the meeting organizer can check to ensure the Allow Shared Notes setting in their Teams meeting policy is enable. Ensure your meeting is not taking place from a shared channel.
Pros
- Streamlined integration for convenience.
- Can assign action points and @ people.
- Content available for eDiscovery.
Cons
- Not accessible to those added to the meeting after it was created. These users will receive a notification that they must have permissions enabled when they try to access them.
- Not printer friendly.
- Not available for meetings over 100 people.
- Not accessible to those outside your organization.
- Not available in shared channels.
Overall, meeting notes are an integrated, easy-to-use tool for simple note-taking within smaller groups. If you are looking for a bulkier set of editing options or to accommodate larger groups, OneNote may be a better fit.
