Creating and Managing Teams and Groups
Teams, Groups, and SharePoint Sites: What Is What?
Microsoft 365 can be confusing because creating a Team in Microsoft Teams also creates a Microsoft 365 Group and a SharePoint site behind the scenes. They are all connected.
In simple terms: a Microsoft 365 Group is the membership list, a Team is the chat and collaboration space in Microsoft Teams, and the SharePoint site is where the files live. When you create a Team, you get all three automatically.
For most small businesses, you just need to think about creating Teams and let Microsoft handle the rest.
When to Create a New Team
- A new department or project needs its own space for chat and files.
- You want to separate conversations so they are easy to find (e.g. a ‘Finance’ team and a ‘Sales’ team).
- You are collaborating with a specific group of people on a shared goal.
- You want a place to store shared files that everyone in the group can access.
How to Create a Team
Step 1: Open Microsoft Teams
- Open the Teams app (desktop or web at teams.microsoft.com).
Step 2: Create the Team
- Click Teams in the left sidebar.
- Click Join or create a team (or the + icon at the top).
- Click Create team.
- Choose From scratch (or From a template if one fits).
- Choose Private (only invited members can see it) or Public (anyone in your organisation can join).
- Give the Team a clear, descriptive name (e.g. ‘Finance Team’ or ‘Website Redesign Project’).
- Add a description so people know what it is for.
Step 3: Add members
- Search for and add the people who need to be in this Team.
- You can add people as Members (can post and access files) or Owners (can manage settings and membership).
- It is good practice to have at least two Owners in case one is unavailable.
Step 4: Set up channels
Every Team starts with a General channel.
You can add more channels to organise conversations by topic. For example, a Finance Team might have channels for Invoicing, Payroll, and Budget Planning.
Click the three dots next to the Team name and select Add channel.
Managing a Team After Creation
To add or remove members later, click the three dots next to the Team name and select Manage team. You can also change the Team settings, manage channels, and control permissions from this screen.
Files shared in a Team are stored on the connected SharePoint site. You can access them through the Files tab in any channel, or directly through SharePoint.