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Forget Zoom backgrounds. Microsoft Teams can put you in the same virtual space as your coworkers

Here's how to use Microsoft Teams Together Mode to improve your video meetings.

Alison DeNisco Rayome Managing Editor
Managing Editor Alison DeNisco Rayome joined CNET in 2019, and is a member of the Home team. She is a co-lead of the CNET Tips and We Do the Math series, and manages the Home Tips series, testing out new hacks for cooking, cleaning and tinkering with all of the gadgets and appliances in your house. Alison was previously an editor at TechRepublic.
Expertise Home Tips, including cooking, cleaning and appliances hacks Credentials
  • National Silver Azbee Award for Impact/Investigative Journalism; National Gold Azbee Award for Online Single Topic Coverage by a Team; National Bronze Azbee Award for Web Feature Series
Alison DeNisco Rayome
2 min read
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Together Mode in Teams puts you in the same virtual space as your coworkers. 

Microsoft

There's one Microsoft Teams feature that may give the video chat service an edge over your zany Zoom backgrounds. With Together Mode, Teams uses AI to digitally place you in a shared background with up to 49 of your coworkers -- so it looks and feels more like you're sitting in the same room with them while meeting remotely, similar to a VR experience. 

Together Mode helps you focus on people's faces and body language, making it easier to pick up on nonverbal cues that often get lost during video conferences. You'll be able to choose from different views, like sitting in an auditorium or at a conference table. It will also help cut down on video meeting fatigue by making video meetings feel more like in-person ones, Microsoft said in a July blog post announcing the feature.

Read more: Microsoft's Together mode in Teams puts your video chat in a shared virtual space

Together Mode with auditorium view is now generally available. More views will be coming in the future. 

Here's how to use Together Mode, according to a Microsoft demo video: 

  • Make sure you're running the most updated version of Teams.
  • Start a call in Teams.
  • Click the three dots on the toolbar at the top left of the screen.
  • Click Together Mode.

The app will then digitally transport you and your coworkers into a digital auditorium together. 

Read more: 10 free Zoom alternative apps for video chats

With many people still working and socializing from home during the pandemic, video chat services like Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, FaceTime and Facebook Messenger Rooms have seen massive increases in users. While Zoom took an early lead, adding millions of daily meeting participants, security issues led some people to move to other platforms. 

Along with Together Mode, Teams rolled out a number of other updates, including a hand-raising and emoji-creating tool, whiteboard support, Cortana integration and transcriptions of meetings. 

For more, check out how Teams compares to Zoom, and how to customize your Teams background

Watch this: Microsoft's AI can filter out background noise from your conference call