Microsoft Adds New (or Existing) Feature to Teams

The newly announced display name change is a new functionality that Microsoft Team users believed to be present. However, there is a catch: Teams users can now change their display names while in meetings.

Despite being one of the most widely used collaboration applications, Microsoft Teams frequently has reliability problems and missing functionality, according to users. Although we haven’t heard of Microsoft taking any significant action to stabilize Teams in a while, the firm continues to introduce new capabilities to Teams to increase user appeal.

However, Microsoft’s most recent Team’s addition isn’t really innovative. It is a really basic platform that is currently accessible on competing platforms like Zoom; people were taken aback that Teams users could not use it. That is no longer the case, though, as Teams meetings now allow you to modify the display name.

As of this writing, 1,463 people had upvoted the request for Microsoft to add the ability to “edit their display name or an option to assign themselves a nickname” on the company’s feedback portal, expressing dissatisfaction over its lack. Additionally, over 87,000 people had searched the Microsoft Community website for a solution on how to change their display name in Teams meetings, indicating that many Teams users have been waiting for it to come.

Although Team users may now modify their display names while in a meeting, their profile card will remain unaffected and the change is only effective for the length of the meeting. This functionality has to be enabled in the meeting settings by the meeting organizer. 

Participants’ original names on their People card will not be affected by name changes, which will only be in effect for the period of the conference. Some meeting features, such as calendar invitations, meeting invite lists, group chat rosters, and so forth, will show the original names from the People cards.

The ability to change your display name in Teams meetings has now been made public by Microsoft, so the wait is over. There are several situations in which you can benefit from this. For instance, you can use your initials rather than your full name to shield your identification in public or at big gatherings. To make it easier for everyone in the meeting to recognize you, you might also include your department or function in your name. To help folks avoid mispronouncing your name, you may also include pronunciation. In summary, the recently added ability to modify your name guarantees that participants will recognize you right away.

The participant’s People card and other areas of Teams will not reflect the modified display name; it is only displayed during the meeting.

The meeting organizer must activate the function that allows participants to change their display names in the meeting settings. By default, this feature is hidden.

However, not everyone can currently access it. You must be a member of the Teams Public Preview or Microsoft 365 Targeted release and utilize the latest Teams client on Windows, Mac, or the web in order to use this. The administrator of your company must enable the functionality for certain or all tenants in the Teams admin centre. If you are an IT administrator, you must select Show preview features in your update policy in order to notice the change, since this function is disabled by default.

Here is a guide on how to change the name titles of displays in Teams meetings

It’s crucial to remember that name changes will stay in effect for the duration of the conference. Both your profile card and your original name will remain unchanged. Here’s how you change your name in Teams meetings if that’s what you’ve been waiting for:

• Choose who will be in charge of your meeting.

• In the Participants pane, hover your cursor over your name, choose More options, and then click Edit display name.

• After entering the display name, click Save.

It is unclear if Teams clients on other platforms, such as iOS and Android, would also be able to use it. If you’re using it on a Mac or PC, though, you may provide feedback about the feature by selecting Settings and more > Feedback from the Teams app’s upper right corner.