Particularly after the COVID-19 outbreak began, Microsoft Teams has grown in popularity as a tool for remote work and communication. Although it has a lot of helpful functions, one of its more bothersome behaviors is to insert itself into Outlook’s calendar appointments. Users who don’t want Teams to be involved in every element of their job may become confused and frustrated by this. Fortunately, Outlook can be set up in a few different ways to prevent this from happening.
The Issue with Microsoft Teams Interfering with Calendar Events
Microsoft Teams will be added to the list of attendees when you establish a new meeting in Outlook. If you’re doing the meeting through Teams, this can be useful, but if not, it’s not necessary. If you invite someone who doesn’t use Teams, they might not know what it is or how to utilize it, which can cause confusion. Additionally, you might not want Teams to be involved at all if you already use another video conferencing software.
Another issue is that when you receive a meeting invitation that includes Microsoft Teams, it can clutter up your calendar and make it harder to see what’s actually on your schedule. You may also receive notifications from Teams about the meeting, even if you don’t plan to use it. This can be distracting and disruptive to your workflow.
How to Configure Outlook to Stop Microsoft Teams from Injecting Itself into Calendar Appointments
Thankfully, there are ways to stop Teams from being added to every Outlook meeting. This is how:
- Outlook’s “Add online meeting” option should be disabled.
Outlook gives you the option to include an online meeting when you set up a new meeting. By default, Microsoft Teams will be included as a meeting platform. You can turn off the “Add online meeting” option to avoid this. This is how:
- Open Outlook and click on the “File” tab.
- Click on “Options” and then “Calendar”.
- Under the “Calendar options” section, uncheck the “Automatically add invitations to my calendar” and “Automatically add events from email to my calendar” options.
- Scroll down to the “Online meeting” section and uncheck the “Add online meeting to all meetings I create” option.
- Click “OK” to save your changes.
- Remove Microsoft Teams from your Outlook add-ins
If you’ve already installed the Microsoft Teams add-in for Outlook, it will automatically be added to every new meeting you create. To remove it, follow these steps:
- Open Outlook and click on the “File” tab.
- Click on “Options” and then “Add-ins”.
- Look for the Microsoft Teams add-in and click on “Remove”.
- Click “OK” to save your changes.
- Disable Microsoft Teams notifications for calendar events
If you’re still receiving notifications from Microsoft Teams about calendar events, you can disable them by following these steps:
- Open Microsoft Teams and click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
- Click on “Settings” and then “Notifications”.
- Under the “Meetings” section, uncheck the “Upcoming meetings” and “Joining meetings” options.
- Click “Save” to apply your changes.
Conclusion
While Microsoft Teams can be a useful platform for remote work and collaboration, it can be frustrating when it injects itself into every aspect of your workday. By following the steps above, you can configure Outlook to prevent Teams from being added to every meeting and reduce clutter on your calendar. This will help you stay focused on your work and prevent unnecessary distractions from disrupting your workflow.
