'Hard Mute' is here for Microsoft Teams, allowing you to keep colleagues quiet

What you need to know

• Microsoft Teams now has a 'Hard Mute' feature.
• The feature allows you to block people from unmuting their microphones within a meeting.
• The feature is made with webinars and education in mind.

Microsoft Teams now has a 'Hard Mute' feature that allows you to block people from unmuting their microphones while in a meeting. The feature was spotted by Randy Chapman, a UC architect who focuses on Microsoft Teams.

With the 'Hard Mute' feature, organizers can toggle a setting to give attendees the option to unmute themselves. If you opt to have this ability off, the mute/unmute icon will appear greyed out within Microsoft Teams for attendees.

Webinars and classrooms can have a large number of people, and at times people within meetings might need to remain muted, even if they might say otherwise. With the 'Hard Mute' feature, organizers have more control over their meetings, classrooms, or webinars.