Personal vs. Shared Quicklinks
Quicklinks can be added to Microsoft Teams in three different places, depending on what kind of links you want to store:
- Personal, private links - to store these, install Quicklinks as a personal app inside Microsoft Teams.
- Shared links inside a Team Channel - to store these kinds of links, add Quicklinks as a Tab into the Channel.
- Shared links inside a Chat - to store these kinds of links, add Quicklinks as a Tab into the Chat.
- Organization-wide links - also available via the personal app, organization-wide links are ones that are accessible at any time to any licensed users in your organization.
Please note that Organization-wide Quicklinks requires an Enterprise subscription.
Personal Scope
When installed as a personal app, Quicklinks becomes available in the left menu inside Microsoft Teams and in this mode all links that you create are personal and private links that only you will have access to. An example is shown in the screenshot below.
In this mode, clicking on the Quicklinks app in the left menu immediately shows your personal Quicklinks. Note that this view also provides this Help documentation as a tab on the top menu.
Installing Quicklinks - Personal Scope
To install Quicklinks as a personal app, go to the "3 dots" menu inside of Microsoft Teams and enter "Quicklinks" into the find an app search box, as shown below.
Selecting Quicklinks from this search result will immediately open the app profile screen from where you can install Quicklinks as a personal app simply by clicking the Add button. Within a moment, the Quicklinks app is installed and you are immediately taken to a 'welcome' page, as shown below.
You can get started straight away by adding your first Quicklink.
Note that if you have a number of apps in your sidebar in Teams, Quicklinks might not be immediately visible. In this case, it might be hidden behind the "3 dots" menu. Simply click on the "3 dots" to open the menu and all of the remaining applications you have installed will be available as shown below.
If Quicklinks is hidden for you behind the "3 dots" menu and you want to make it more prominently available you can choose to "pin" it to the main left rail. To do this, right-click on the Quicklinks icon and select pin, as shown below.
Channel Scope
Quicklinks can be installed directly into a Channel inside Microsoft Teams, enabling you to easily share links with your teammates. In this mode, all members of the channel can access these links and, depending on your settings, members can create, modify or delete Quicklinks as well. An example is shown in the screenshot below.
Chat Scope
Quicklinks can be installed directly into a Chat inside Microsoft Teams, enabling you to easily share links with your fellow chat members. In this mode, all members of the chat can access these links and, depending on your settings. An example is shown in the screenshot below.
Channel & Chat Scope
Installing Quicklinks
To install Quicklinks as a tab inside a Chat or Channel, click the + button in the top tab area in your Chat or Channel and then select Quicklinks from the list of available apps. When you do this, a setup screen will appear, as shown below, but Quicklinks does not require any additional setup steps so you can simply click the Save button to add it to the Chat or Channel.
Quicklinks is available in the global Microsoft Teams store, but it is possible for an IT administrator to remove Quicklinks and any other application from the standard list. If Quicklinks does not appear for you, please contact your IT administrator to add it back to the list.
Accessing Quicklinks
To access your Chat or Channel Quicklinks, select the title of the Quicklinks tab inside the Chat or Channel.
By default, your Quicklinks tab will be named 'Quicklinks', but it is possible that it might have been renamed by one of your teammates. In the example below, for example, it has been renamed to Handy Links.
Your Quicklinks tab can get a unique name! To do this, first go into the Quicklinks tab itself. Then, select the down arrow next to the title and choose the Rename option. On the popup, choose a new name for your Quicklinks tab, as shown below.
Quicklinks Settings
When installed into a Channel or Chat, Quicklinks has a several settings that can be configured, depending on your subscription license level. Each of these is described below.
Note that when Quicklinks is used inside a Channel the settings options described below are only available to the Owners of the Team.
'My Quicklinks' Shortcut
From the top menu in your Chat or Channel Quicklinks a link appears enabling you to immediately access your personal Quicklinks, as shown below.
Note that Quicklinks also includes the ability to link to your organization-wide Quicklinks. If both link options are enabled in your channel, then the My Quicklinks option will be available within the Other Quicklinks menu, as shown below.
However, it is possible to hide the My Quicklinks link so that it is not shown to team members in this Quicklinks area. To do so, click on the settings cog on the top right of the Quicklinks tab. The following settings popup will appear:
To show or hide the My Quicklinks shortcut, turn on or off the Show link to 'My Quicklinks' toggle.
'Org Quicklinks' Shortcut
From the top menu in your Chat or Channel Quicklinks a link appears enabling you to immediately access your organization-wide Quicklinks, as shown below.
Note that Quicklinks also includes the ability to link to your personal Quicklinks. If both link options are enabled in your channel, then the Org Quicklinks option will be available within the Other Quicklinks menu, as shown below.
However, it is possible to hide the Org Quicklinks link so that it is not shown to team members in this Quicklinks area. To do so, click on the settings cog on the top right of the Quicklinks tab. The following settings popup will appear:
To show or hide the Org Quicklinks shortcut, turn on or off the Show link to 'Org Quicklinks' toggle.
Org Quicklinks - Enterprise LicensePlease note that hiding the Org Quicklinks shortcut requires an Enterprise subscription.
Read-Only Mode
For certain situations, you may want only the Owners of the team to be able to modify the Quicklinks collections, such that Quicklinks becomes read-only for all other users. To enable or disable this, click on the settings cog on the top right of the Quicklinks tab. The following settings popup will appear:
To enable or disable Read-Only (or 'Lock') mode, turn on or off the Anyone Can Make Changes toggle.
A Chat in Teams does not have the concept of an Owner like a Channel does. As a result, the modification of settings is not limited to Owners and so any user in the Chat can change the settings. However, Read Only Mode is still available to visually 'lock' the Quicklinks screen so that other chat members can at least be discouraged from making changes and can also be blocked from making accidental changes.
Please note that Read Only Mode requires an Enterprise subscription.
The current lock status of the Quicklinks screen can be seen at any time by looking at the lock indicator at the top of the application. When Quicklinks is in read-only mode it will appear as follows:
When Quicklinks is in unlock/open mode it will appear as follows:
Note that when Read-Only Mode is on, then the Channel Owner (when used in a Channel) has the ability to preview what a regular user will see by turning on the Simulate Read-only Mode toggle, as shown below.
Organization-Wide Quicklinks
Aside from personal and Chat- and Channel-specific Quicklinks, it is also possible to create and share organization-wide Quicklinks (also called "Global Quicklinks") that anyone across the entire organization can access. In order to access this functionality, the Quicklinks app must be installed at a Microsoft Teams level, rather than into a specific Chat or Channel and this is done in the same manner as installing the Personal Quicklinks.
From within the Quicklinks app, click on the Global Quicklinks tab at the top of the app to access the organization-wide Quicklinks.
Please note that Organization-wide Quicklinks requires an Enterprise subscription.
Quicklinks Settings - Organization-Wide Quicklinks
When Quicklinks is used for sharing links organization-wide, there are situations where it is not desirable to allow all users to make changes to these shared links. As a result, it is possible to enable or disable a read-only mode for the organization-wide Quicklinks. To learn more about this, see the Read-Only Mode section above.