How to Make a Phone Call in Teams

Start calls

There are different ways to make a call in Teams:

• Select Audio call or Video call to start a call from a 1:1 or group chat.

• In a 1:1 chat, select More options (the dropdown arrow) next to Audio call, and choose another number to call if it's available.

• In the search box, type "/call" and who you'd like to reach. Press Enter to start the call.

• Hover over someone's profile photo anywhere in Teams, and select Audio call from their contact card.

Placing a Call Using the Calls Tab

1. You can use the Number Pad to dial by clicking the numbers or typing them directly into the call bar and clicking the Call Icon. 
2. You can also call a contact by navigating to your Contact List (Contacts > A-Z) and selecting the Phone Icon next to your desired contact. 
3. If you don’t see the person you want to call here, click the Add Contact Button to search for them by name, email, or phone number. Click on the contact when they appear and click Add to add them to your contact list. 

Placing a Call from the Command Bar

1. Type a forward slash, which tells Teams you’re giving it a command.
2. Type call, then hit enter to input the command.
3. You will be prompted to type the name, email, or phone number of the person you’d like to call. As soon as you click on the person you want, the call will start going through. 

Placing a Call from the Chat Tab

If you have more than one person in your conversation, this will start a conference call with all of the participants. Of course, all the participants will need to accept the call on their side before you can conference with them. 

1. 1. In any conversation, you’ll have the Call Icon in the top right corner. Click on it to place your call. 

Placing a Call from Anywhere in Teams

You can place a call anywhere you interact with your contacts by using their contact card. This is one of the ways Microsoft aims to make communication easier than ever. 

1. Anywhere you see a contact’s picture, such as in the Teams tab, where they may have just uploaded a document or comment that reminds you to call them, hover over their picture to see their contact card. 
2. Click the Call Icon to place your call. 
3. You can use these contact cards anywhere in teams to start any type of conversation: an audio call, a video call, an email, or an IM. 

What if I Don’t See These Teams Call options? 

Microsoft Teams comes in many different configurations, which means you may not have access to all of the call options we’ve covered in this article. Your access to these features ultimately depends on the type of account you have.  

If you have a free Microsoft Teams account, or an education or business account that does not include Microsoft Phone System and Calling Plan licensing, you won’t be able to dial a phone number from your Teams account. This is a paid-for feature that requires this specific licensing from Microsoft on top of your Office 365 account. 

Without this additional licensing, your calls tab may look a little different. Most notably, you won’t have a numbered dial pad. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t make calls with Microsoft Teams, but it does mean you’re limited to calling other Microsoft Teams users. Search for contacts by name or email address using the instructions on this page to call them from your Teams account.

What if I Can’t Find Other Users?

Your business or education account is controlled by your organization’s IT administrators. They have the option to turn on or off the ability for you to search for users outside your school or business—and for external users to search for and communicate with you.

If you can’t find external users when trying to make a call, you should check with your IT administrators to verify if external federation has been turned on.