We publish significant changes made by Microsoft or the SCC on our website "Aktuelle Änderungen & Informationen". Have a look there before you “research” the FAQs.

The owner of a team can invite external guests to join it. A description can be found at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-guests-to-a-team-in-microsoft-teams-fccb4fa6-f864-4508-bdde-256e7384a14f.
What do you need to know in advance?

The article does describe that you should adjust the display name, but this is automatically adjusted again as soon as the guest has accepted the invitation.

To add to a team, select the displayed user name, confirm it with ADD and close the window.
Now the guest account is created in the background, the invitee receives an invitation by mail, via which the invitation must be accepted

Organisational arrangement: At KIT, such an external guest account is deleted without further enquiry as soon as:

• the guest account is no longer a member of any team, or
• the last login with the guest account took place more than 180 days ago 

We recommend the type "Professional Learning Community (PLC)" or "Other".
In these two types, the OneNote notebook is used as the notebook. This can be used with the OneNote versions licensed and available at KIT. 
Information and distinguishing features of the templates can be found at Choose a team type to collaborate in Microsoft Teams 

Yes, if students have already agreed to use the Microsoft Teams cloud in the self-service portal, that is IMPORTANT!!! This means that they have a valid Microsoft account in the parent organization “student.kit.edu” and an associated guest account in the employee client “Karlsruhe Institute of Technology”.

Ask your students to agree to cloud usage once!

Otherwise, when adding individual students, you will be asked whether the guest account should be created for the students. This seems technically possible, but does not work at KIT for tenant changes between student.kit.edu and employee tenant "Karlsruher Institut für Technologie". Students then do not have access to the employee tenant.

You can only add the student guest account in “Karlsruhe Institute of Technology” as a member of the team. Please note the information under "Guests in teams" and “Special features for students”.

Please note!!!
Students must always have agreed to the privacy policy for MS Teams before they are invited to an employee team.

If you want to add student accounts “uxxxx” to a team via the team administration, be sure to enter the abbreviation followed by “@” in the search, i.e. “uxxxx@”! Otherwise the student account “uxxxx ∂does-not-exist.student kit edu” will not be found.

You do not want to add your numerous students to a team individually? Then generate a join link via Campus Team Connect and make it available to your students, e.g. in ILIAS, or distribute it to the participants by e-mail. They can easily join the team via this join link (prerequisite for students: acceptance of the privacy policy).
How to create a join link is explained in this short tutorial.

You can find detailed instructions for use in online teaching at the Centre for Media Learning (ZML): https://www.zml.kit.edu/english/Interactive-online-seminars-MS-teams.php

For this, the external colleague must invite you with the address ab1234∂kit edu ! An invitation with the normal mail address does not work, because this address is unknown in the teams area.

The exception no longer applies!
Previously, there was an exception for KIT members with an MS Teams/Azure account that was created before spring 2020 with firstname.lastname∂kit edu. This exception no longer applies since an adjustment to user accounts on March 18, 2024.

All employees, guests, and partners must be registered in the external organization with the login names “ab1234∂kit edu” or “ab1234∂partner kit edu”

In order for students at KIT to participate in lectures or courses held in Teams, the following requirements must be met and initial steps must have been taken.

• By agreeing to KIT's privacy policy for MS Teams cloud use, a required MS cloud account (based on the KIT account) will be created for students (to be done once).

• Membership in a team for a lecture/course must be set up for students in the employee tenant; membership is granted.

• either by adding “uxxxx∂student kit edu” to a team by the team owner (usually a lecturer/assistant)
• or by joining a team via a provided join link (like “https://connect.studium.kit.edu/teams/join/ABCdefGHI”)
• Teams should be opened as a web app or desktop app and
• Log in with the MS Cloud account “uxxxx∂student kit edu” and authenticate via Shibboleth at KIT.
• When logging in for the first time, you must also agree to the Microsoft privacy policy.

It should then be possible to switch clients as described under Special features for students.

• Please allow sufficient time between the first steps mentioned above, as creating an MS Cloud account can take a while.
• Sometimes logging out and logging back in helps.
  • Log out -> Click on Log out in the top right corner.
  • Always log in with your KIT account uxxxx∂student.kit.edu

• Test changing clients in the web app in a NEW private/incognito browser window.

  • Use a compatible web browser (Chrome, Edge)
  • URL for Teams on the web: https://teams.microsoft.com
  • See details under Questions “About logging in & getting started”
• If you encounter problems with the desktop app (i.e., switching clients works in the browser)
  • Clear Teams cache
  • Windows: Check login information management and delete entries if necessary
  • MacOS: Check keyring and delete entries if necessary
  • Reinstall desktop app
• Click here: Call up teams directly in the KIT employee tenant -> This will give you another opportunity to agree to the Microsoft Privacy Statement if necessary.
• If none of this helps, please contact teams-support∂scc.kit.edu, and send us the following information
  • KIT account, operating system, and browser used,
  • The steps you have already taken and the error messages with screenshots respectively

To do this, the external person must invite you with the address uxxxx∂student kit edu or add you as a member to a team! An invitation or entry with a different email address (forwarding address, alias, etc.) will not work, as only uxxxx∂student kit edu is recognized in the KIT Teams area.
(see the same question under “KIT employees.”)

Unfortunately, students do not find the employee accounts in the teams area of KIT and therefore cannot start a chat with the supervisor from their side.
However, if the supervisor starts a chat with the student, her contact will appear in the student's contact list and the communication can be maintained at any time.

Lecturers can apply for one or more guest accounts for their guest students (GH) via the ticket system for the use of MS Teams at KIT.
Once the GH account has been created, it must be assigned to the appropriate team (lecture) by the lecturer, unless it was specified when applying.

For the assignment of multiple Gashthörer accounts, use the Excel file "Template_MSTeams_GasthoererInnenAmKIT.xlsx" (explanations included) and attach it to the assignment ticket.

First check whether the client change or the change to the guest account of another institution works via a new private browser window 

1. Checking the WebApp in private browser

Please test the MS Teams access as follows:

• Open an incognito/private new browser window (Google Chrome/Edge)
• Enter https://teams.microsoft.com as the address
• MS login with uxxxx ∂does-not-exist.student kit edu / ab1234@kit.edu / xy1234@partner.kit.edu (business and school account), then you will be redirected to...
• the company page of the KIT (Shibboleth),
• authenticate there with user/account uxxxx /ab1234 / xy1234 and corresponding password
• MS Teams should start and you should see your teams in your home organization
• Test organization/client change if this is the problem
  • Click on the profile picture at the top right
  • Select the displayed guest account of the other organization

2. WebApp works - Desktop app does not work

If the switch or the login in the WebApp works, everything is OK with the accounts so far. Now you need to reset the saved logins on your computer and clear the cache.

Windows: Clear cache & delete saved logins

• Remove the following checkmarks in the Teams settings:
  • Start Teams automatically
  • Open application in the background
  • Continue to run application when closing
• Close Teams (Logout & Exit)
• Empty the cache (Windows)
  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/troubleshoot/teams-administration/clear-teams-cache
• Clear the following directories:
  %LocalAppData%\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe
  %LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy
  %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\OneAuth 
  %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\TokenBroker
  %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\IdentityCache
• Restart teams

MacOS: Clear cache & delete saved logins

• Remove the following checkmarks in the Teams settings:
  • Start Teams automatically
  • Open application in the background
  • Continue to run application when closing
• Close Teams
• Clear the Cache (MacOS)
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/troubleshoot/teams-administration/clear-teams-cache
• Delete the saved logins in the MacOS keychain
• Restart teams

3. WebApp - Client change does not work

There may be something wrong with the link to your guest account in another institution

• Have you been incorrectly registered at the institution with firstname.surname(@student.kit.edu, @kit.edu, @partner.kit.edu) instead of uxxxx ∂does-not-exist.student kit edu / ab1234@kit.edu / xy1234@partner.kit.edu? This incorrect account must be completely deleted by the other institution and recreated with uxxxx@student.kit.edu / ab1234@kit.edu / xy1234@partner.kit.edu.
• If the entry in a team of the external institution is missing, access to this institution is not possible
• Some third-party institutions require MFA (multi-factor authentication) for guests, set this up for your KIT account at my.scc.kit.edu (Token administration => Options => select Microsoft M365).

Please agree to the privacy policy. If this does not help: please send an email with your account to it-support∂scc kit edu.

No way!

In the Microsoft login window, simply enter your login name.

• Employees: ab1234∂kit edu
• Guests & Partners (GuP): xynnnn∂partner kit edu
• Students: uxxxx∂student kit edu

This is forwarded to our own Shibboleth Identity Provider (IDP) for account verification. Here, authentication takes place, and the account (in the form ab1234 or uxxxx) with the corresponding password is requested and verified.

Enter your password ONLY on this Shibboleth website of KIT!

If you are asked to enter a password beforehand, either do NOT log in with a KIT account at kit.edu/student.kit.edu/partner.kit.edu, or you are on a site that is not secure.

Some apps, including Microsoft Teams, report via a Windows Defender Firewall dialog that some features are blocked by the firewall. This message can be ignored with the "Cancel" button.

For MS Teams to work in the browser, third-party cookies must not be blocked. In Chrome the error can be corrected by calling the page chrome://settings/content/cookies. There, turn off the option "Block third-party cookies".

Accounts created within the last few minutes may not have been assigned a license for team use. If the problem persists even after a long wait or with an existing account, please contact teams-support ∂does-not-exist.scc kit edu

Error message when trying to log in: AADSTS51004

Sometimes during the login process you are asked to indicate whether you want to stay logged in to your apps and/or whether you allow your device to be managed by your organization.
You may receive such a popup window:

Here you need to uncheck "Allow my device to be managed by my organization" and then click "No, only log in to this app" (or similar). After that, the login process continues as usual.

The data is stored on Microsoft servers, so you should think carefully about how you store your data in Teams. No sensitive data should be uploaded or discussed.

Therefore, it is essential that you follow the recommendations and information provided by the information security officer at KIT:

KIT - Infothek - Handlungsempfehlungen - Online-Kommunikationsdienste - Werkzeuge bzw. Tools und KIT - Infothek - Handlungsempfehlungen - Online-Kommunikationsdienste - Risiko- bzw. Schutzbedarfsfeststellung

When creating a team, you must decide whether you want to create a public or private team.

The most important differences:
In a private team, the owner invites or registers the members. The shared data is only available to the team members.

• Visibility: Only members can see the team. It does not appear in the general search.
• Joining: Only by invitation or approval by a team administrator.
• Use: Suitable for confidential projects, sensitive information, or smaller groups with restricted access.

In a public team, anyone who knows the link to this team can become a member of the team. This means that all accounts in the organization (KIT) can read the team's data.

• Visibility: Everyone in the organization can see and find the team.
• Joining: Members can join the team without an invitation.
• Use: Ideal for open discussions, cross-functional collaboration, or general information that is relevant to many people.

In the three-dot menu next to the team name, you will find the "Manage team" command as the owner, click on it.

• Then go to the "Settings" tab.
• Here, click on "Edit" under the team details below the name
• In the following options window, you can select the desired variant in the lower area under "Data protection".
• Then confirm with "Done".

• Microsoft:  Three tiers of protection overview
• Microsoft: Make a public team private in Microsoft Teams

It is up to each employee to decide whether or not to switch on the camera on his or her terminal. It is not permitted to force the use of the camera. 

In general, members and guests can unsubscribe from a team themselves via the “Leave team” option (3-dot menu).

After authenticating with your KIT account, Campus Team Connect provides you with an overview of all teams belonging to the client “Karlsruher Institut für Technologie” in which you are registered.
In the table, teams can be left again by clicking on "Leave team". It may take some time until the change is synchronized in all systems and is also displayed in the Teams client.

Information about Microsoft cloud accounts is displayed for you in the Microsoft portal myaccount.microsoft.com. Changes to the account are restricted, as the essential settings at KIT are regulated via the identity management system (IDM).

• ATTENTION!
  It CANNOT be changed here via myaccount.microsoft.com.
  Explanation: The MS Teams account is linked to the KIT account. The KIT account is synchronized with the Microsoft Cloud via a process from the KIT identity management system (IDM) or from the KIT Active Directory.
  Therefore, password changes must always be made via the IDM, that means:
  Password changes must always be made via the SCC self-service portal my.scc.kit.edu!!!

• Organizations displays the home organization (where the KIT account is located) and all other organizations (guest accounts with reference to the KIT account) with which you are registered.

• The Last Activity/My Logins section provides an overview of successful and unsuccessful logins in the past.

• Under Settings and Privacy, you will find settings for histories, privacy statements, terms of use, etc.

For calls in normal 1:1 chats, the call is not encrypted by default.
The use of end-to-end encryption for MS Teams is possible at KIT.

• Instructions for stetting up end-to-end encryption once

Unfortunately, the "Schedule Out of Office" function, as offered in MS Teams under "Set status message", cannot be used at KIT.
You will receive an error message when you save this absence.

A prerequisite for this function is that the KIT mailboxes are located in the Microsoft Cloud, which is currently not the case. The KIT mailboxes are still located on the Exchange servers operated by the SCC locally at the KIT.
There is only the option of setting a status message and scheduling it:

You must configure out-of-office notifications for the KIT mailbox under Outlook.

Microsoft Copilot Chat ...

Many people would like to see one or two extensions in Teams - be it an app, a connector, whatever.
Unfortunately, we are currently not allowed to activate anything.
ASDuR has set up a working group to define rules according to which we - the administrators - can then release apps etc..
We'll just have to wait until these rules are finalized.

Transcription - NOT approved at KIT
When transcribing, the spoken words are also logged as text.
This word log is then saved in the team or in the chat and can be read subsequently.

Live subtitles - Released at KIT
Anyone taking part in a meeting can have the spoken words displayed live during the meeting. 
After the meeting has ended, however, the subtitle texts are no longer available or comprehensible.

The previous Linux client for Microsoft Teams was discontinued by Microsoft at the end of 2022. Microsoft now relies on the Progressive Web App (PWA), which is available for both Edge and Chrome browsers on Linux.
Microsoft Teams for Linux users will therefore run in the browser in the future - as a Progressive Web App (PWA). It can be installed in a similar way to an app and offers a few more functions than the previous Linux Teams client.
Info MS TechCommunity: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/microsoft-teams-progressive-web-app-now-available-on-linux/ba-p/3669846

Apparently there are always problems or function restrictions when using the Linux Teams Client or the Progressive WebApp (PWA) for Linux under some Linux distributions.

Missing function: window splitting and background in meetings
In the Linux Teams client from Microsoft, window splitting is not possible. Microsoft itself writes that this feature does not exist:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/share-content-in-a-meeting-in-teams-fcc2bf59-aecd-4481-8f99-ce55dd836ce8?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us - "Window sharing isn't available for Linux users."
Likewise, with the MS Linux Teams client, the background in a meeting cannot be blurred.

Possible workaround for problems: Teams for Linux (unofficial client via Electron)
Unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux using Electron. It uses the Web App and wraps it as a standalone application using Electron.

There are several options.

• You can only find people who have agreed to use Microsoft Teams. No record is created in the address book without consent.
• Shorter searches than 6 characters are not possible.
• Students can only be found in the employee client if they have been invited.
• Students can only be searched by first name and surname if they have agreed to the transfer. Otherwise students are only listed under pseudonym.
• One account can have multiple email addresses associated with it, but only one of them is transferred to the Microsoft cloud. Therefore, finding an email address is often difficult.
• Newly created accounts are not immediately available in the directories.
• Your team client may have cached old search results.

Bypass solution Alternatively, if you cannot find a colleague to add to a team, the colleague can search for the team and request to join. We are not aware of any problems this way.

At KIT, the legal requirements for recording of participants with approved video conferencing systems at KIT generally apply.

General instructions for recording a Teams meeting can be found at Microsoft Support at https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/record-a-meeting-in-teams-34dfbe7f-b07d-4a27-b4c6-de62f1348c24.

Note that recording is only possible in a meeting that was started in a team. Also, only owners and members of a team have permission to start or stop recording a meeting. Guests and people from other organizations are not authorized to do so.

After the end of the recording, the video file (*.mp4) can be found on the SharePoint page of the team.

Currently, a retention period of 60 days after the end of recording applies.

Here you can find detailed instructions and hints: Instruction Teams Records

YES. Since the end of March 2025, it has been possible for an authorized person to create Teams meetings for another person in their Outlook calendar.

However, if you receive the message “Unfortunately, it is not possible to connect to the server at the moment. Please try again later.”, you should restart Outlook and Teams or restart the computer.

If you receive the message “You do not appear to have permission to schedule meetings for this account. Contact the owner to get permission and try again”, you have not been entered as an authorized person in the other person's calendar. Contact this person directly so that you can be assigned the authorization.

Previous workaround (before configuration change end 03/2025)

• The person to be represented creates a meeting ONCE in their own Outlook calendar WITHOUT specifying participants.
• The created link of this teams meeting can then be copied by the substitutes in a "normal" meeting appointment of the person to be substituted and distributed to the participants.
• Please note that the creator of the team meeting is always the organizer of this meeting.

see Service description of Microsoft Teams