Microsoft Teams has become a central part of Office 365 as the software giant slowly rolls out a new feature where Teams can finally be found in the Microsoft Outlook email app. This is a big deal for anyone who uses both Teams and Outlook regularly, especially those in the business community. Now, you might have the new version of Outlook installed on your computer but for some reason, Teams is now showing up at all. Well, first you must ensure Microsoft Teams is installed because if it isn’t, then there is no way the Add-in will show up in Outlook.

If your computer is powered by Windows 11, then Teams should be installed by default. However, for those who are using Windows 10, you will have to visit the official Teams website to get it.

How to add Microsoft Teams to Outlook

As stated above, if all the necessary parameters are met, then the Teams add-in should now be part of Outlook. Still, if you’re not seeing it, then we strongly believe the add-in is disabled, therefore, we will have to enable it. To do so:

1. Open Outlook
2. Navigate to File > Options
3. Select Add-ins from the menu
4. Locate Manage at the bottom and change it from COM Add-ins to Disabled Items
5. Enable Microsoft Teams Meeting Add-in for Microsoft Office.
6. Restart Outlook.

Enable Microsoft Teams Add-in for Outlook

The first thing we want to check on is if the Teams add-in is enabled in Outlook because this is usually the main reason why it fails to show.

• Open Outlook: To get this moving, you are required to open the Outlook app. You can find the shortcut on your Desktop, Taskbar, or from within the apps section via the Start Menu.

• Navigate to Options: After launching Outlook, you must now move ahead and click on File > Options. This will reveal the Outlook Options window with several features to play around with, but we are only here for one thing.

• Click on Disabled Items: The next step to take here is to select Add-ins from the menu, and from there, look for Manage at the bottom and change it from COM Add-ins to Disabled Items. Finally, hit the OK button.
• Enable Microsoft Teams Add-in: Finally, if you see Microsoft Teams Meeting Add-in for Microsoft Office in the list of disabled add-ins, please select it, then click Enable to turn it on. Close all secondary windows, restart Outlook, then check to see if Teams is finally running.

Still cannot get Teams to appear? Here is what to do according to Microsoft

According to the folks at Microsoft, there is an additional way to get Teams up and running in Outlook, so let us take a look at that.

• Sign out and close the Teams app: The first thing you should accomplish here is to sign out of the Teams app. To this by selecting the profile icon, then click on Sign Out. Finally, hit the close button to shut it down.

• Restart Teams: Open the Microsoft Teams app again then be certain to sign in with your Microsoft account when prompted to do so.

• Open Microsoft Outlook: Finally, launch the Outlook 365 app and you should now see the Teams icon from the Ribbons section.

Functions provided by the Teams add-in

There are several things you can do with the Teams add-in for Microsoft Outlook, but don’t go expecting to use it as the full version of Teams.

• Create meetings: If you open the Assignment section in Microsoft Outlook, you should see the Teams Meeting button at the top. Select it to create a new Meeting in Teams.
• Open chats and audio calls: Should you hover over the picture of a contact in your Outlook app that has Teams installed, you can initiate a voice call or a chat right away. This is a feature that could be very useful as more people abandon Skype for Teams.
• View status of contacts: If your contacts have Teams installed, it is possible to view their current Status directly from within Outlook. For example, if you see a red badge next to the contact’s photo, then it means this person is busy or in a meeting. However, if a green badge is seen, then they are available for a chat.

Read: How to create Microsoft Teams meeting links from Teams and Outlook

Is Microsoft Teams better than Zoom?

From what we’ve gathered, Microsoft Teams offers longer group meetings via the free plan. Meeting length here tops out at 60 minutes, while Zoom will end a meeting at the 40 minutes mark. Now, if you decide to pay, Teams will deliver 24 hours to Zooms 30 at every pricing tier. At the end of the day, though, Teams make it very easy to call an entire team or just a single teammate.

Is desktop Outlook free?

Here’s the thing, the Mail App is free, but if you want to use Outlook, then you’ll be asked to pay for Microsoft Office 365, or just use the Outlook app on the web with its limited features.