How to Add Members to a Microsoft Teams Channel in Four Easy Steps

Learn how to quickly bulk-load add members into a Microsoft Teams channel with these four steps.

Microsoft Teams developed a very popular way to create the large remote workforces that have become commonplace nowadays. The appeal of this has been especially strong for workplaces that already are in Office 365 environments.

Of course, it’s not as easy as simply turning Teams on and letting people loose on it. In fact, many of my colleagues have written helpful posts about how to deploy Microsoft Teams quickly, how to turn “office-only” tasks into Teams tasks, how to have fun with remote work, and much more.

But what if you are suddenly tasked with creating a team within Microsoft Teams of 2,000, 5,000, or even 10,000 users? You obviously can’t sit down and type them all in, and even programs like PowerShell scripts can be challenging for such large batches, especially in the heat of battle. Is there a better way?

Adding Members to a Microsoft Team

There is a better way, and it’s easier than you might think. This solution is designed for owners of a Microsoft team who can start with a preestablished Office 365 Group, distribution list, or security group that already contains most of the users they want to add.

Microsoft Teams was limited to 5,000 users until May 2020, when Microsoft began rolling out an increase to 10,000 members. So, if you need to set up a large team, this process will save you a lot of time.

Here it is, in four easy steps:

1. Look for the “Add Member” Option

In Microsoft Teams, click on the ellipses — three horizontal dots — located by the name of the team. When the drop-down menu appears, select “Add member.”

2. Identify Your Groups

In the new window that appears, you have the power to add members individually or add them in bulk if most of the users you would like to add are already in a distribution list or O365 group. Your IT department should be able to help you get the proper name of the list if you don’t already know it. Please reach out to them before frustrating yourself — and risk grabbing the wrong group — by playing the guessing game.

3. Let Microsoft Teams Work Its Magic

As you start typing the name of your group, Teams will automatically begin populating options for you to choose from. Once you locate your group, select it. The “Add” button will become active. Click on the add button, and you’ve done it — you added multiple people, in bulk, to your team in Microsoft Teams. Pretty simple, right?

4. Fine-Tune

Now, you can review the new members and either weed out those who you do not want on the team or add others who were not part of the initial group you chose. Click on the ellipses by the team name again, but this time select “Manage team.” The first tab on the left is a list of members. Scroll through this list to remove anyone you deem not part of the team.

To add members who are not part of the team listing, click on the “Add member” button in the top right of the “Manage team” area, or you can click the ellipses next to the team name again and use the same method you used to add your group. This time, however, you will type the names of individual members.

Who Can Add Members to an MS Team?

Microsoft has a hierarchical structure of permissions that designate people for one of three basic roles – owner, member, and guest – and those roles possess varying levels of access to the Teams platform. In addition to expanding teams, there are multi-step but user-friendly processes to follow for assigning these roles to new and existing team members.

Owners have the highest level of permission, which – as we already know – allows them to add and remove members, and it even lets them add guests and delete a team. Here are a list of options that an owner can set for members.

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Positions that might be appropriate for owner status, depending upon circumstances, could include executives, sales and human resources personnel, customer service reps, and IT professionals. A Microsoft 365 admin also can add guests.

Neither members nor guests have permission to add members. Members can request access, notifying the owners. The owners can then approve or reject the request.

There is another way to add people from outside the organization, too. When adding an external person to a Team, use their email address. With external access, you can locate, call and chat with people who are in other domains and use Teams. This is enabled by default.

How Do I Manage Access in My Teams Channel?

When members are enrolled into a Teams Channel, and guests are invited into it, each role is allotted specific kinds of access. For members, that usually involves being able to send and delete messages, create and delete channels, and look at and edit files.

However, there also is an option for them to manage access to Team files and folders. Guests ordinarily can communicate back and forth with team members, look at and edit files, and take part in conversations and meetings. Their restricted access doesn’t allow them to manage teams.

Wrapping Up

Microsoft Teams is built for ease of use, and couldn’t we all use a little of that these days? Luckily, this simple, no-code solution can help you rapidly add users in bulk and get your team off the ground even more quickly with Teams.