Microsoft Teams – collaboration and online teaching

Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform that enables communication, content sharing and teamwork. It allows users to create workgroups, manage conversations, organize online meetings and share documents.

Within the Scuola Normale Superiore, Teams is used both for administrative activities and distance learning. Faculty, researchers, students and administrative staff can access the platform using their institutional account.

For teaching, the platform provides virtual classrooms linked to courses, which can be used for lectures, office hours and online exams.

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Features

Creation of work teams with internal and external users.
Management of chats and conversations.
Secure sharing and collaborative editing of documents.
Scheduling of meetings and lectures with integrated calendar.
Virtual classrooms for teaching activities.
Recording of lectures and availability for students.

Requirements

Active institutional account.
Membership in the SNS community (students, faculty, staff).
Internet connection.

Designed for

Faculty members, Students, Technical and administrative staff

Get started

Log in to Microsoft Teams using institutional credentials.
Select or create a team or virtual classroom.
Access team channels to view content or start conversations.
Use chat to communicate with other users.
Check the calendar to view or schedule meetings and lectures.
Join meetings or classes using available links.
Upload or access shared materials in channels.
Access lecture recordings if available.

FAQ

This is a known issue: an external user added as a guest may appear among members and be associated with an @sns.it address instead of the one originally provided, preventing access. Intervention by the Help Desk is required to correct a value in the user records. Please report the username and the email address used for the invitation.

No, registrations have a default expiration of 60 days after creation.

Yes, if the external user has been added as a guest and no restrictions have been set in the meeting options (especially in the presenter settings), they can share presentations or windows. In any case, the organizer can promote a participant to the presenter role to allow them to share materials.

At the moment, this is not possible. A new role to manage the transfer is expected to be introduced.

For now, it is recommended to add colleagues as required participants when creating the meeting and then, in the meeting options, set “Specific people” as presenters (selecting those colleagues). This allows them to manage access to the meeting and control participant roles (e.g., promote to presenter, mute participants, etc.).

Yes, it is possible to access Teams with the same account on two devices at the same time, for example using the iPad as a digital whiteboard and the laptop to manage chat and participants’ video.

However, only one sharing stream can be active at a time.

Uploading the presentation to Microsoft Teams is the recommended option, as it makes access easier for students.

If you choose to share the presentation via a window, you need to change the PowerPoint settings by selecting “Browsed by an individual (window)”. This way, the presentation runs inside a window, allowing you to keep the Teams interface visible with students and chat, while participants see the presentation in full screen.

Yes, in classes and meetings managed with Microsoft Teams, you can invite external users as guests with limited functionality.

Students, teachers, researchers, and staff can access the service using their University account.

The participants list can only be downloaded by the meeting organizer. The download link is available exclusively to the organizer.

The presentation audio sharing feature is not always available on macOS. It was initially introduced on Windows (where it can be enabled from the sharing panel) and later made available on Mac. If the option is not visible, it can be enabled through Public Preview features (user icon in the app → About → Public preview).

It is not possible to directly upload a PDF file in Teams (either from OneDrive or from your computer) because it is not a native Microsoft format. To present it, you need to use screen sharing and select the window where the PDF is open, even if it is not in the foreground.

When presenting a PowerPoint in Microsoft Teams, Presenter View may be enabled, showing a different layout than the standard slide view.

This can make the presentation harder to follow for students in the classroom. To display the slides correctly for in-person attendees as well, disable Presenter View by selecting “More actions” → “Hide presenter view”. This will show the standard slide view, which is more suitable for projection in the room.

Alternatively, you can share the presentation via a window. In this case, set PowerPoint to “Browsed by an individual (window)” mode. The presentation will run in a window, allowing you to keep Teams visible and ensuring proper viewing for all participants. This method can also be used to share PDF files.

The issue is related to screen recording permissions, a common problem on macOS Catalina and later versions. To resolve it, go to System Preferences → Privacy → Screen Recording and verify that Microsoft Teams is correctly selected. To enable this option, you need to unlock the settings using the padlock. After completing the operation, restart Teams.

he issue is related to microphone access permissions on macOS (particularly from Catalina onwards).

Even if the audio settings appear correct, you need to check in System Preferences → Privacy → Microphone that Microsoft Teams is selected. To change this setting, you must unlock the padlock.

After enabling the permission, restart the Teams application.

Last modification: 08/05/2026