[NFBCS] making an audio call in Microsoft Teams and other Teams tasks

Sun Mar 29 12:05:36 UTC 2026

Hi all, the reason the assignment of the CTRL+number keys has changed for many people of late is that Microsoft recently rolled out a new "Combined" view that merges Chats and Teams into a single hub. Because this changes the order and number of "apps" in your sidebar, the Ctrl + number shortcuts (which navigate to items in the sidebar sequentially) no longer land where you expect them to.
Microsoft tells me that this new view is better, but if you want the old behavior back, you can press CTRL+Comma to go to Settings, Select Chats and Channels if you are running a relatively recent version of Teams, and change the radio button from combined view to separate. The number keys will then revert to their previous assignments.
Brian Hartgen is almost complete with a revamp of his course called "Winning Teams", and this is the most thorough Teams audio tutorial I have come across.
At CENA, we also did a webinar last year which included a look at hosting meetings using Teams, but it is not a full Teams tutorial.

Jonathan Mosen
Executive Director for Accessibility Excellence
National Federation of the Blind
410-659-9314 ex 2233
jmosen at nfb.org<mailto:jmosen at nfb.org>

Reminder: Attend National Convention<https://nfb.org/convention>, July 3-8, 2026, in Austin, Texas.
"It's the time of year where blind people are the majority."
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From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Christopher Chaltain via NFBCS
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2026 7:30 AM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Christopher Chaltain <chaltain at outlook.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] making an audio call in Microsoft Teams and other Teams tasks

I'll forward this to my work account and take a look at these steps when I'm in teams, but I do have a few tips below. Also, what tasks are you interested in performing in Teams?

The hot key to take you to different channels in Teams is control+number-key. The number represents its position in the channels you have open, similar to the task bar in Windows or the tabs in Outlook. If the shortcut key for your calendar changed from control+4 to control+3 then that means a channel was removed before the calendar channel. At the office, control+4 takes me to the calendar channel since my employer added the learning channel as the first channel in the list of channels. Note you can configure this order yourself. Note this is just informational and doesn't change any of your steps below.

When joining a meeting from the calendar channel, instead of "To join a meeting press enter on a meeting," I hit the applications key when on a meeting and and then select join the meeting. I think this is the default when you bring up the context menu, so you just need to hit enter after hitting the applications key. Note that in the context menu, the next item is to chat with the participants in the meeting. This will open up a chat without joining the meeting. I use this quite a bit. For example, if I'm going to be late to a meeting, I'll use this to let everyone know I'm running behind.

Like I said, I'll take a look at these the next time I log into my office computer to double check these steps. Freedom Scientific also has some webinars on using Teams, so I'd suggest checking these out. Finally, respond with any other questions you have or ations you want to know about in Teams. Teams has surpassed Outlook as the application I spend the most time in while at the office.

--

Christopher (AKA CJ) =>÷

Chaltain at Outlook, USA

________________________________
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org<mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org>> on behalf of John Miller via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org<mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org>>
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2026 6:29 PM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org<mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org>>
Cc: John Miller <johnmillerphd at hotmail.com<mailto:johnmillerphd at hotmail.com>>
Subject: [NFBCS] making an audio call in Microsoft Teams and other Teams tasks

Hello,
I know quite a number of individuals on the NFB lists are quite proficient with Microsoft Teams including Teams chat.
I am more of a so-so individual in terms of my technical proficiency.
I would be interested in your feedback on the steps I provide below.
I would also like to hear about how you do activities in Microsoft Teams.
I have had some limited success using Microsoft Teams Windows desktop application for meetings, audio calls, and chats.
Here is a brief write-up of several activities I do in Teams and the keystrokes to get the job done.
For quite some time I have struggled with how to initiate an audio call in teams with a colleague.
Using JAWS I asked Vispero Companion at fscompanion.ai this question and got a quite useful response.

If a meeting is on my calendar, I have no trouble connecting with the meeting.  This can be done from within the meeting reminder in Outlook or directly in Teams in the calendar view.
Vispero provides training about how to join a Teams meeting from the meeting reminder.
To get to the calendar view in Teams, just press control-3 in Teams.
In 2025 this hotkey changed.  It used to be control-4 and then one day it was control-3.
It may change again so be alert.

Once in the calendar view just up arrow or down arrow through the times.  JAWS announces the time and the presence of a meeting at a particular timeslot.
You can also press tab or shift-tab to move between meetings in this view.
To join a meeting press enter on a meeting, tab quite a bit, press enter on join meeting, tab through audio and video choices while selecting or unselecting the checkboxes for things like microphone, and then press enter on join.
I believe the final join button indicates whether the microphone and camera are on or not.
After joining the meeting, mute and unmute with control-shift-m.
Exit the meeting with control-shift-h.
During the meeting you can tab around and find a list of participants currently on the call.

To make an audio call to someone begin a chat with that individual.
You could for example press control-2 to go to a list of chats.  Arrow through the chats and press enter on the chat of interest.
You could instead begin a new chat with control-n and type in the individual's name.
As you type Microsoft provides a list that shrinks as you type more and more characters of the individual's name.
You can arrow down through the choices provided by Teams and select one with enter.

Microsoft calls the field where you type your message the compose box. Microsoft calls who is in the chat the participants list.
The hotkey control-r returns to the compose box from many fields that are near the chat.

Once you are in the compose box Just press alt-shift-a to bring up an audio call to the individual in the chat.
For me this is the fewest number of steps to start an audio call I have found.

Before I send a message in chat that I am ready to send I like to first verify who it is going to.  To do so I leave the compose box with shift-tab.  After several shift-tabs I land on the participant list.
After I verify the participant list I can return to the compose box with control-r.
When inside the compose box pressing enter sends the chat message.
Very best,
John Miller

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