Few people know how to raise your hand in Microsoft Teams to get a presenter’s attention without stopping a meeting completely. Without using raise your hand in Microsoft Teams, all hell can break loose.
By using raise your hand in Microsoft Teams, you can notify the speaker that you have a question or comment without stopping the meeting completely.
During a Microsoft Teams meeting, using the raise your hand feature can prevent people from interrupting others while they are speaking or in the middle of giving a presentation. It’s available on Microsoft Teams on all platforms, find your method in the solutions below.
Raise your hand in the Microsoft Teams desktop app
Using the Microsoft Teams app on your computer, you can raise your hand by using one of these two methods.
On a video call, you should see a floating bar fixed to the top right corner of your Microsoft Teams app. From here, you can either:
1. Use the raise your hand keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Shift + K)
2. Hover your mouse over the chat reaction button and click the hand icon
Once completed you will notice that your screen with be highlighted with a yellow border to indicate that the speaker knows that you raised your hand and have a question or comment. Once you raise your hand, the speaker will be able to see your hand raised along with anyone else who has their hand raised.
Once you are finished asking your question or adding your comment to the conversation, be sure to use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Shift + K) or click the hand icon again to lower your hand to indicate you are finished contributing or to withdraw your question or comment.
Raise your hand in a Microsoft Teams meeting on the web
For meetings on Microsoft Teams on the web, the Teams web interface copies the desktop app interface, so the steps will remain the same on the web. The only difference between the Microsoft Teams app and on the web is that you will not get the same yellow border highlight when you raise your hand.
Instead, you will see the hand just as you selected it in the Microsoft Teams desktop app.
Once you click it, you will have your hand raised and the speaker will be notified. When you want to lower your hand just click it again to lower your hand.
Raise your hand in Microsoft Teams app on iPhone and Android
Available on Android and iPhone (iOS), the mobile interface remains the same to provide an identical Teams experience across all platforms. The Teams’ experience on mobile still needs work as a recent Teams update fixed a worrying bug that blocked 911 calls for Android users.
During a video call meeting on Microsoft Teams on Android and iPhone, select the three-dot menu at the bottom of the screen.
A menu will pop up with several options. Click the raised hand to raise your hand in the meeting.
See who has raised their hand in Microsoft Teams
Alternatively, if you are a large video meeting and you want to see who else has the hand raised, you can view a list of people that have their hands raised to see how long you need to wait for your turn to speak. Here are three quick ways of seeing participants in Microsoft Teams on PC, on the web, and on Android and iPhone.
1. During a video call in the Microsoft Teams desktop app, select the three-dot menu and click “Show participants” item from the menu in the right-hand corner. A column will appear to the right showing a list of meeting participants and you can see whether they have a question or comment via a hand icon appearing next to their name.
2. During a video call in Microsoft Teams on the web, select the three-dot menu and click “Show participants” from the bottom bar. You will see a column to the right showing a list of the meeting participants.
3. During a video call on Android and iPhone (iOS), select the three-dot menu from the bottom bar and select “People” from the pop-out menu to see a list of people that are in the meeting and who have their hands raised.
Once you click People you will see a full screen list of meeting participants to view on your phone. From here, you can see who has their hands raised for questions or comments.
Download Microsoft Teams on any platform
Microsoft is continuously working on refining the Teams experience and creating a uniform experience across PC, web, and on mobile. Be sure to check out all the Microsoft Teams coverage in our dedicated news hub.
If you don’t already have the app, download Microsoft Teams on PC, or use the links below to get Microsoft Teams on Android and iPhone.
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