Need Recurring Shifts in Microsoft Teams? Here's a workaround

To keep their operations afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, all capable companies have switched to remote conferencing tools. While Zoom has emerged as a clear frontrunner in the segment, Microsoft Teams, too, has also seen a sharp rise in its userbase over the last couple of months.

The app may not be as eye-catching as Zoom, but the seamless Office 365 integration has certainly allowed them to seize a big chunk of the market — especially more professional-minded, formal organizations.

From meeting scheduling to newly-added virtual backgrounds, there’s much to love about Microsoft Teams. However, like all great tools, Teams, too, has its own set of peculiarities.

Today, we’ll take a look at one of its most prominent shortcomings — not being able to set recurrent Shifts — and hopefully give you a decent workaround.

What is Shifts?

Shifts is a schedule management tool in Microsoft Teams, which allows you to schedule, modify, and manage your team’s schedules. Not only can you create a schedule from scratch, but you can also opt to import a schedule from Microsoft Excel. The days are displayed at the top of the screen while the names of the participants appear on the left.

How to set recurring Shifts?

As mentioned, Microsoft Teams is one of the most sophisticated applications out there. Yet, somehow, the developers haven’t (forgot?) incorporated an option for Recurring Shifts.

This oversight has frustrated many people, and Microsoft is yet to come up with this highly-anticipated feature. Fortunately, there’s a workaround that’d allow you to set recurring shifts, although with a little bit of extra work.

First, create a fresh Shift. If you want the same Shift every day, copy the contents of the shift and paste it to every instance — day. Similarly, if you want the shift to repeat on a weekly basis, simply copy it over to the next day you want it to reoccur.

Microsoft has promised it is working to introduce an automated recurring option, but we don’t have a release date for the same.