INCBA (Microsoft Teams) — Guest Quick Guide

Participating with INCBA in our Teams workspace requires that you be invited as a guest into our Microsoft tenant. Once you have accepted the guest invitation, you will have access... and there are some important things you should know to help you effectively collaborate with INCBA. Below is a skimmable one‑pager that explains what a tenant is, how to switch to INCBA’s tenant, and exactly how to turn on email notifications so you don’t miss anything.

1) First, what’s a “tenant” — and why this matters

• A Microsoft 365 tenant is simply an organization’s “workspace.” Your firm has one tenant; INCBA has another.
• When we invite you as a Guest, you’ll have access to INCBA’s tenant in addition to your firm’s tenant.
• Important: Microsoft Teams keeps notifications separate per tenant.
  • You cannot receive INCBA notifications inside your firm’s tenant.
  • To get INCBA alerts (including emails), you must switch into INCBA’s tenant and set notifications there.

2) How to switch to INCBA’s tenant (Teams desktop or web)

1. Click your profile picture (top‑right in Teams).
2. Choose Settings & more (… ) → Accounts & orgs (or Switch organizations).
3. Select INCBA
4. Wait a few seconds for Teams to reload into the INCBA workspace.

Tip for multiple accounts: Open https://teams.microsoft.com in a Private/Incognito browser window to avoid conflicts with your firm login.

3) Turn on notifications in the INCBA tenant (so you see what matters)

Do these steps after you’ve switched into INCBA:

A) Global notification settings

1. Click profile picture → Settings → Notifications.
2. Set these to Banner and email (or at least Banner if your firm blocks email alerts):
   • Chat messages / Direct messages
   • Mentions (personal @mentions)
   • Replies (to your posts)
   • Channel mentions (@channel)
   • Team mentions (@team)
3. Under Missed activity emails → choose As soon as possible.
4. Turn on Email when away from Teams (if visible).

Why email? Attorneys live in their inbox. Email alerts persist and won’t disappear like toast pop‑ups.

B) Channel‑specific alerts (critical for committees)

For each channel where you shouldn’t miss updates (Committee Channels, CLI2026 Production, etc.):

1. Open the channel.
2. Click the … (More) next to the channel name → Channel notifications.
3. Choose All activity, or Custom → set New posts and Replies to Banner and email.

Recommendation:

• Committee channels you serve on → All activity
• General Networking Spaces → Mentions & replies (to reduce noise)

4) Quick habits to avoid missed updates

• Pin the key channels (right‑click channel → Pin).
• Check the Activity bell (left rail) when you switch into INCBA.
• Use email as your backstop (make sure Missed activity emails is on).
• Keep an INCBA Teams Web tab open in a separate browser window during busy periods.

5) Troubleshooting (30‑second checks)

• No emails at all? Your firm may block Teams email notifications. Use Banner alerts and keep INCBA Teams open in a separate window.
• Not seeing INCBA channels? Confirm you actually switched to INCBA (profile picture → Accounts & orgs).
• Multiple Microsoft accounts? Use Private/Incognito window and sign in with the email INCBA invited.

6) Two-minute setup checklist (do this once)

• Switch to INCBA tenant.
• In Settings → Notifications: set Banner and email for Mentions, Replies, Direct messages, Channel mentions, Team mentions; enable Missed activity emails = As soon as possible.
• For each committee and/or critical channel you’re on → Channel notifications = All activity.
• Pin important channels.
• (Optional) Open Teams Web in Private/Incognito to keep INCBA separate from your firm account.

Need help?

If something still isn’t working, reply to your INCBA invite email or contact support@incba.org. We can hop on a quick screen‑share and tune your settings in under 5 minutes.