Microsoft Teams Public Preview members can check out a new way to mute themselves

The Microsoft Teams service lets users make Teams calls with others, among its many different features. Today, the company is letting some Teams users try out a new function that should make it easier to mute themselves in a Teams call.

In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog, the company stated:

We know there are times during a Teams call when you need to switch to a different screen on your device. In the new Teams experience on Windows, thanks to your feedback, you can now check and see if you’re on mute right in the Windows taskbar. You can also easily mute and unmute yourself by clicking the mic icon.

When you are in a Teams call or a Teams meeting, the new microphone icon should appear in the Windows taskbar (it will go away when you are not in a Teams call or meeting). Clicking on it will mute you from the call or meeting, and clicking it again will unmute you.

In addition, there's a new keyboard shortcut for muting and unmuting yourself in a Teams call or meeting, Just press on the Windows logo key, the Alt key, and the K key to handle that chore.

This feature is now available for Teams Public Preview members for Windows, and it's also available for people who access Microsoft 365 Targeted release builds. There's no word on when the new Teams microphone taskbar feature will become generally available.

Those same Teams Public Preview members can also try out another feature that launched earlier this week. It allows people who are sharing their video screen to move the Presenter toolbar anywhere on their display. It also added an Optimize" icon in the toolbar that, when clicked on, will automatically smooth out any video's playback for people who watched the shared content in a Team meeting.