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Microsoft Teams Meetings feature now available to free users
Microsoft is updating Teams so that free users can now utilize the meeting feature.
Teams users can now create and participate in free online meetings and run the meeting without any duration limits, according to an Office.com blog post.
With meetings in Teams free, you can:
Create an instant meeting with Meet now
Go to Meetings on the left side of Teams, then choose Meet now.
You’ll have a chance to set a few things up before you start your meeting. Give it a title, choose whether you want to use video, and pick your preferred audio source.
When you’re ready, hit Join now. After you join, you will be able to invite other people to your meeting.
Schedule a meeting
Go to Meetings on the left side of Teams, then select Schedule a meeting.
On the next screen, choose a title and select a range of time in the calendar.
Once you’re done filling out the details, select Schedule.
On the next screen, you have a few options. You can share the invite from Outlook or your Google Calendar, or you can copy the meeting invitation and share it by using any messaging app you want.
Share your content during a meeting
To share your screen in a meeting, select Share 
in your meeting controls. Then, choose to present your entire desktop, a window, a PowerPoint file, or a whiteboard.
When you’re done sharing, go to your meeting controls and select Stop sharing.
Notes:
- If you’re using Teams on the web, you’ll only be able to share your screen if you’re using Google Chrome or the latest version of Microsoft Edge.
- If you’re using a Mac, you’ll be prompted to change your privacy settings before you’re able to share your screen. Also, window sharing isn’t available for Linux users.
Chat with meeting participants
During a meeting, go to Show conversation 
in your meeting controls. The meeting chat window will appear. Here, you can type a new message or respond to other messages like you normally would in a chat.
Use live captions
Teams can detect what’s said in a meeting and present real-time captions.
Live captions can make your meeting more inclusive to participants who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, people with different levels of language proficiency, and participants in loud places by giving them another way to follow along.
To use live captions in a meeting, go to your meeting controls and select More options 
> Turn on live captions (preview).
To stop using live captions, go to the meeting controls and select More options > Turn off live captions (preview).
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO reported that Teams usage had grown to more than 75 million daily active users. Nadella also revealed that Teams saw 200 million meeting participants in a single day during the month of April.
Related Reading: Teleconferencing
Microsoft has 258 million paid licenses of Microsoft 365 for which Microsoft is included at no additional cost. Only about 30% of its Microsoft 365 subscribers are using Teams currently, so Microsoft has more work to do in convincing its users to try Teams.
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