Microsoft Teams: Moving files from Outlook into Teams just got a lot easier
Microsoft has rolled out a practical time-saver for its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 users that means one less step when moving attachments between the Outlook email client and the Teams collaboration app.
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Prior to this update, some Outlook and Teams users were complaining that they needed to drag and drop PDF, Word and Excel attachments from the email window to the desktop and then drag them from there to the files tab in Teams.
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It seems like an oversight that Microsoft didn't build this functionality into Teams from the outset, given that Outlook and Teams are from the same stable of Microsoft productivity software. But the capability is available now, according to a post from a Microsoft Teams engineer on the Teams user forum. The idea was first suggested in the forum back in 2016, although it's also worth noting that about 61,000 ideas have been submitted, so the engineers have plenty to work through.
"I'm happy to let you know that drag and drop support for file attachments directly from Outlook to Teams is now available," wrote the Microsoft employee from Teams engineering.
Microsoft is also working on adding the capability to let Teams users on the free version of the collaboration app use the calendar to schedule meetings.
"This [is] currently being tested internally. We will share an update as soon as one is available," said a Microsoft employee.
Microsoft initially didn't offer a free version of Teams chat, but Slack's free offering forced it to offer one and then during the first round of pandemic lockdowns in 2020, Zoom forced Microsoft to beef up its free video call features like live captions. Previously the feature was only available to Office 365 customers. Microsoft also let free Teams users create video meetings.