In a Teams meeting, the slowest thing you do is find the right button. The mute button moves when the window is small, and the share and raise-hand buttons can sit behind other menus. The keyboard does not move.
This list is for the Teams desktop app on Windows. Every shortcut is from Microsoft's page of Teams keyboard shortcuts. In a browser some combinations are taken by the browser itself, so the desktop app is the reliable place to use them.
One rule before the list: these are Teams shortcuts, not system-wide hotkeys. The Teams window, or the meeting window, has to be the active window when you press them.
In a meeting
- Ctrl+Shift+M mutes or unmutes your microphone.
- Ctrl+Shift+O turns your camera on or off.
- Ctrl+Space unmutes you for as long as you hold it, like a push-to-talk button. It has to be turned on first in Teams settings, under Privacy.
- Ctrl+Shift+K raises or lowers your hand.
- Ctrl+Shift+E opens the share content tray, where you choose a screen or a window to share.
- Ctrl+Shift+H ends the call or leaves the meeting.
Windows 11 has one more that works without the Teams window in front: Win+Alt+K mutes and unmutes your microphone in apps that support Windows call mute, and Teams is one of them. It is the closest thing to a global mute key you get without extra software. Use Ctrl+Shift+M when Teams is in front, and Win+Alt+K when you are working in another window during a call, for example while you share a spreadsheet.
Calls
- Ctrl+Shift+S accepts an incoming audio call.
- Ctrl+Shift+A accepts it as a video call.
- Ctrl+Shift+D declines the call.
- Ctrl+Shift+R opens the meeting chat from a meeting notification.
With these, you can answer or decline a call without hunting for the notification in the corner of the screen.
Getting around
- Ctrl+E goes to the search box at the top.
- Ctrl+N starts a new chat.
- Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2 and so on open the apps on the left bar in order, whatever is pinned there: Activity, Chat, Teams, Calendar and the rest.
- Ctrl+L moves the focus to the chat or channel list.
- Ctrl+. shows the full list of keyboard shortcuts inside Teams.
Writing messages
- Shift+Enter starts a new line without sending.
- Ctrl+Shift+X expands the compose box into the full editor, with formatting.
- Alt+Shift+O attaches a file.
Shift+Enter is the one to learn first here: it lets you write a message in several lines and send it once, instead of sending each line as it is written.
When a Teams shortcut does nothing
Most of the time the cause is one of these:
- The wrong window has focus. During a meeting Teams can have a separate meeting window. Click into it once, then press the key.
- The feature is switched off. Push to talk with Ctrl+Space only works after you turn it on in Teams settings, under Privacy.
- Another program took the combination. Screen recorders, chat apps and keyboard utilities sometimes register keys like Ctrl+Shift+M or Ctrl+Shift+O for themselves. If a Teams shortcut works with those programs closed, that is your answer.
- You are in the browser version. Some combinations belong to the browser first. Use the desktop app if you rely on shortcuts.
Ctrl+. is useful here too: it shows the shortcut list for the Teams version you actually have, which is the one to trust.
How to remember them
Almost every meeting shortcut in Teams is Ctrl+Shift plus one letter, and the letters follow the word:
- M is mute.
- O is camera. Think of the round lens.
- K is raise hand. Think of "knock".
- H is hang up.
- E is share. Think of "exhibit".
- S, A, D answer calls: Speak (audio), Accept with video, Decline. They sit next to each other on the keyboard.
Practise them in a test meeting. In Teams you can start a meeting with nobody else in it from the Calendar's Meet now, and press each key once while watching what happens. Five minutes there and you will reach for the keys in a real meeting.
If you learn only two, make them Ctrl+Shift+M and Win+Alt+K.
A Teams ring
The Teams shortcuts are easy to learn and hard to hit under pressure: three keys at once, with the meeting window in front. RadialDeck is the radial menu for Windows that we make, and it offers another way in. When Teams is in front, the hotkey or a side mouse button opens a Teams ring: hold, flick, release.
The gallery has 10 ready-made Teams slices: Mute / unmute, Camera on / off, Raise hand, Leave meeting, Share screen, Search, New chat, Accept call, Decline call and Admit from lobby. The Teams page lists what each one does.
Pick the four you use in every meeting and put them on the four main directions: mute up, camera down, hand left, leave right. After a week the flick is as automatic as the keys, and it works with one hand on the mouse.
Quick reference
- Mic and camera: Ctrl+Shift+M, Ctrl+Shift+O, Ctrl+Space (push to talk), Win+Alt+K (Windows 11)
- Meeting: Ctrl+Shift+K, Ctrl+Shift+E, Ctrl+Shift+H
- Calls: Ctrl+Shift+S, Ctrl+Shift+A, Ctrl+Shift+D
- Navigate: Ctrl+E, Ctrl+N, Ctrl+1, Ctrl+.
- Chat: Shift+Enter, Ctrl+Shift+X, Alt+Shift+O
RadialDeck is free for two rings and has a 14-day trial of Pro, which adds a ring per program such as Teams. It is in the Microsoft Store.
Try it in RadialDeck
Free for two rings, with a 14-day trial of everything in Pro. Windows 10 and 11, from the Microsoft Store.
or download the installer (.exe)