How to Use the Updates App in Microsoft Teams to Manage Structured Check-Ins and Project Reports

Modern hybrid teams frequently struggle with communication overload, where daily status meetings, ad-hoc chat check-ins, and lengthy email threads consume valuable working hours without providing clear tracking data. To address this friction, Microsoft introduced the native Updates app within Microsoft Teams. The Updates app serves as a centralized, structured reporting hub that enables team managers to request, schedule, and review standardized status reports, daily standups, incident logs, and shift handovers directly within collaborative channels and 1-on-1 chats.

Unlike open-ended conversational messaging, the Updates app captures submissions as discrete, structured records equipped with required fields, multi-choice selectors, file attachments, and automated recurring schedules. This guide outlines how to deploy the Updates app, create custom report templates, assign recurring submission cadences, and review aggregated team data.

Key Features and Capabilities of the Updates App

The Updates app provides several administrative and operational benefits across enterprise environments:

• Pre-Built Template Library: Features ready-to-deploy templates tailored for common corporate scenarios, including Daily standup, Weekly update, Incident report, Shift handover, and Store inspection.
• Custom Form Designer: Allows creators to build proprietary questionnaires using text fields, date pickers, number inputs, ratings, and attachment uploads.
• Flexible Delivery Modes: Requests can be targeted to specific named individuals or published openly to entire Teams channels where any member can contribute.
• Automated Reminder Schedules: Sets automated deadlines and notification prompts (such as every Friday at 16:00) to keep submission compliance high without manual follow-up.
• Exportable Data Records: Consolidates submissions into tabular overviews that can be exported directly into Microsoft Excel for secondary analysis and compliance archiving.

How to Add and Launch the Updates App in Microsoft Teams

The Updates app is available by default across Microsoft 365 commercial and enterprise tenants:

1. Open the Microsoft Teams desktop client or access Teams via your web browser.
2. In the left-hand application bar, click the View more apps icon (indicated by three horizontal dots).
3. In the search field, type Updates.
4. Click the Updates app icon, then click Add to integrate it into your personal navigation sidebar.
5. Right-click the newly added Updates icon in the sidebar and select Pin to ensure persistent, quick access.

How to Create and Schedule an Update Request

Managers and team leads can establish a new recurring or one-time update request in minutes:

1. Within the Updates app, click the Manage requests tab at the top of the screen.
2. Click + New request in the upper-right corner.
3. Choose a starting framework:
   • Select an existing pre-built template from the gallery (such as Weekly update).
   • Or click Start from blank to build an entirely bespoke form from scratch.
4. In the form designer, customise your questions. Add mandatory fields for achievements, upcoming blockers, task status dropdowns, and file upload zones for sprint burndown charts or documentation.
5. Click Next to proceed to the distribution and scheduling configuration.

Configuring Submitter Groups, Viewers, and Recurrence Cadences

The distribution settings control who submits the update and who possesses permission to review the submissions:

• Request Name: Assign a concise, professional title (for example, Engineering Sprint Weekly Check-In).
• Assign Submitters: Enter the names of specific team members who must provide submissions, or designate an entire Teams channel.
• Designate Viewers: Select who can review submitted entries. By default, the request creator is the primary viewer, but you can add project managers, department leads, or make responses visible to all channel participants for team transparency.
• Set Due Dates and Recurrence: Choose whether the request is a One-time report or Recurring. For recurring updates, specify the repetition frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly), select the exact submission day (such as every Monday morning), and set the cut-off time.
• Enable Automated Reminders: Check the reminder box to prompt submitters via Teams activity notifications two hours before the deadline expires.
• Click Publish to activate the update schedule.

How Team Members Complete and Submit Updates

When an update is requested, submitters receive an actionable card directly within their Teams activity feed and channel chat:

1. Click the Review and submit notification banner inside Microsoft Teams.
2. The formatted questionnaire will load in a focused modal dialogue without forcing the user to open external browser tabs or separate software.
3. Fill in the required responses, attach any relevant project files or images, and click Submit.
4. Team members can review their historical submissions at any time under the Submissions tab inside their personal Updates app interface.

Reviewing, Filtering, and Exporting Update Data

Project managers can monitor compliance and aggregate team progress through the central dashboard:

1. Open the Updates app and navigate to the Review updates tab.
2. Select the specific update title to load its submission history.
3. Use the top filters to sort submissions by date, submitter name, or status (e.g., submitted on time vs. overdue).
4. Click on any individual row to expand the complete report, review blockers, and post threaded feedback or recognition.
5. Click the Open in Excel button in the upper-right corner to instantly download the full dataset as an operational spreadsheet for cross-departmental executive briefings.

Utilising the Updates app inside Microsoft Teams eliminates disjointed status tracking, giving teams a clean, asynchronous mechanism to maintain alignment and document operational milestones without scheduling unnecessary meetings.