Microsoft to Finally Enable Joining Teams Meeting Without a Link

During the past year, Microsoft Teams has seen what can only be described as explosive growth. The collaboration tool has gone from a new product inside of Microsoft 365 to the center of the suite with more than 115 million people using the application every day.

One of the core pillars of Teams is the ability to host meetings but at this time, the easiest way to join a meeting is to click a link in the meeting invite. But what if you can’t find that link? For now, you are regulated to searching your email for the lost link.

Like many other digital platforms, Microsoft will soon introduce the ability to enter a digital meeting ID instead of being forced to click a link. This is a small step forward to making Teams a bit more accessible and a little bit less frustrating to use.

The way these feature works is that each meeting will be automatically assigned a Meeting ID which is a 13 digit number that you can enter to join a meeting. You can enter this meeting ID in the Teams calendar to instantly join a meeting – no link required.

Microsoft states that “all meetings will have a Meeting ID that is automatically assigned to a Microsoft Teams user and added to the meeting invite under the meeting link. Meeting attendees can join the meeting by entering the Meeting ID. For all meeting attendees, the pre-join, lobby and security will remain the same.”

Where I think this will be most useful is when you are trying to assist another person trying to join your meeting. Instead of having to dig up the full join link, you can send them the 13 digit code and they can use that to join the conversation.

It is important to note that this does not change your security controls and other than making it easier for someone to join your meetings, all other permissions remain the same.

This is the first step that I hope Microsoft is taking towards custom meeting IDs or links. Services like GoTo Meeting allow you to use vanity links with passwords/meeting IDs that can streamline the meeting process with external parties.

This feature will be completely rolled out by the end of May 2021 – as long as Microsoft hits their deadline.