[German]Microsoft Teams client is programmed a "bit strangely", as I already mentioned here in the blog. German blog reader Tom B. just emailed me about some observations on how the Microsoft Teams client handles his saved files. Perhaps this is common knowledge – I am posting the case/observations here on the blog.
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It is well known from Microsoft Teams (whether personal or business) that the software keeps its files in the user profile. Furthermore, I remembered that Microsoft is moving the Teams client from the Electron framework to a new platform. There can be snags in some places – but essential functions like sharing documents between chat partners should actually work. This is the context in which blog reader Tom B. came across curiosities.
First hints from the user
These are some mails that blog reader Tom sent me the days. The background was that Tom had the problem that the Teams Private client on his Windows system did not work properly anymore. Files he wants to share in Teams Private with other participants in the chat did not work properly. In a first mail he wrote about this:
Hello Günter,
I noticed that especially with files that you want to share in the chat, it doesn't work in Teams Private.
Opposite otherwise, they are stored and shared in Teams Cache, but meanwhile, they are stored in your own OneDrive in a specific Teams folder on the OneDrive. But not properly shared for the Teams members in the Teams chat, but marked as private and thus not accessible for the chat participants.
There is probably still some work to do for MS and probably missed something in the test….
Kind regards,
Tom
In the context of the change of the Microsoft Teams client a change has been introduced, that the files are stored on OneDrive. However, this function has probably not been implemented cleanly.
Further feedback from the user
Subsequently, Tom emailed me with further observations on this matter. Because there were the problems outlined above, he decided to clean up the user profile regarding the data stored there. In doing so, he made the following discovery, which he described in another mail like this:
Hello Günter,
something strange I just noticed.
Something with my Teams wasn't working properly anymore, so I uninstalled it under my user. Cleaned up the user profile around Teams as well as the roaming profile. In order not to get the garbage back from other computers I log on to – from time to time, I am there via:
\\ComputerFQDN\c$\Users\Benutzer\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft
also went into my user profile to delete the Teams folder. While someone else is logged on to the computer. In doing so, I just realized the folder has a current timestamp and contains over 1GB of data. The last time I was logged on to the computer was months ago.
Both the size of the folder and the fact that it appears to be synced by the client via OneDrive is not exactly sizzling. In a second addendum, Tom then wrote:
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… if you want to share files in MS Teams Private, they will be uploaded to your own OneDrive. But the sharing is private. So you have to share this folder so that those who click on these files in the Teams client can also receive or see them. In doing so, they are directed to that folder in a brower window on their own OneDrive.
Looks to me like this is not yet so mature from Microsoft … but if you know how to do it, it works with the new MS Team Private.
The outlined observations show me two things. Firstly, Microsoft seems to have a lot going on in development. The client is quickly rebuilt and it may take until all functions of the old client are implemented again. Since conceptual changes are often also made, this then goes wrong during implementation and the function is not usable. On the other hand, Microsoft hardly seems to test anymore, because a function like sharing files in chat with other people is actually something essential that should work. The question remains whether the Microsoft people use their own stuff as well – at least for Teams Private this doesn't seem to apply.
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