Interview copilot on Microsoft Teams: joining as a guest, desktop app or browser, Screen or Window sharing, sound and notifications.
Using an interview copilot on Microsoft Teams confuses people for a reason that has little to do with the copilot. Most candidates do not use Teams every day, so the interview link opens a page asking whether to continue in the browser or in the app, and the answer changes how screen sharing, sound and notifications behave for the next hour.
We wrote this for candidates who have received a Teams invitation from an employer and may not have a Teams account of their own. It covers the two ways of joining, what a guest can do without signing in, how Teams shares a screen or a window, the sound toggle, notifications and Do not disturb, and the Verve AI settings that go with each. We make Verve AI, a real-time interview copilot with a desktop app and a browser version, and what we say about Microsoft Teams comes from its own documentation as it stood in October 2026.
What happens when you click a Teams interview link?
A Teams invitation contains a join link, and Microsoft's instructions for joining a meeting without an account describe what follows. You are offered two buttons, one to continue on this browser and one to join on the Teams app, and Microsoft notes that you do not need to install the app to join.
After you choose, you allow the microphone and camera, type the name you want shown and select Join now. If the meeting has a lobby, you wait for someone to admit you, and Microsoft says a guest who is not admitted within 30 minutes is removed. Some organizations also require verification, and then Teams asks for your email address and sends a one-time passcode.
Microsoft adds that people who are signed in have access to more meeting features than those who are not. The first choice is the one that decides your setup, so make it before the day of the interview.
Should you use the Teams desktop app or Teams in a browser?
The Teams desktop app is the better choice when you can install it. Microsoft retired the classic Teams client on July 1, 2025, so the app you download today is the new Teams client for Windows or Mac. Microsoft describes the web version as close to the desktop client in features, and its list of what the web version leaves out includes giving and taking control of a shared screen.
Teams for web runs in Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari on a computer, and it is not supported on mobile browsers. Screen sharing from the web version is narrower than that: Microsoft's page on presenting content in a meeting says you can share your screen using Google Chrome or the latest version of Microsoft Edge. A candidate who expects to share a screen from the browser should therefore use Chrome or Edge.
For an interview copilot on Microsoft Teams, the two routes lead to different rules. With Stealth Mode on, the Verve AI desktop app runs outside the screen-share layer at the operating-system level. It is guaranteed invisible when you share a window or tab on any meeting platform, and when you share your entire screen in the Zoom or Microsoft Teams desktop apps. When the Teams meeting runs inside a web browser, the documented setup is to share the window or tab you want the interviewer to see.
How do you set up Verve AI for a Teams interview?
Install the Verve AI desktop app for Mac or Windows and open it once before the interview so the permissions are granted. On macOS it needs Microphone access and Screen Recording, which is the permission macOS uses for system audio, and Teams will ask for its own screen recording permission the first time you present.
Launching a session takes three steps in the app.
- Choose the interview domain that matches the round, such as General Interview or Software Engineering.
- Select the interview profile that holds your resume, the role and the company.
- Review the settings, switch on Stealth Mode, and click Launch Copilot.
When the copilot opens, click Share Audio so it can hear the interviewer through the computer's audio. The app then shows a "Stealth Mode: Active" indicator, and Stealth Mode is included on every plan, the free plan among them. Our guide on how to test Stealth Mode before an interview explains how to confirm the setup with a practice call.
The browser version of Verve AI runs in Chrome, Edge and Opera and supports Teams when the meeting is also in a browser. It suits a computer where nothing can be installed, and Stealth Mode belongs to the desktop app.
How does screen sharing work in Teams: Screen or Window?
In the Teams desktop app you select Share in the meeting controls and then present either your entire screen or a single window. Sharing the screen shows everything on that display, and sharing a window shows one application and nothing else.
Pick the window when the interviewer wants to watch a single application, and pick the screen in the Teams desktop app when they ask to see the whole desktop.
In Teams for web, the browser provides the picker, and the options are a screen, a window or a tab. This is the case where you share the specific window or tab, as described above. What the organizer can observe apart from the shared picture is covered in whether Zoom, Teams or Google Meet can detect an interview copilot.
What does "Include sound" do, and should you turn it on?
The Include sound toggle sits in the Share menu, and it streams audio from your computer to the other participants. Microsoft's own warning is the reason to be careful: when it is on, all audio from your computer, including notifications, will be heard by people in the meeting.
An interview rarely calls for it, and it is unrelated to how the copilot listens. Verve AI hears the interviewer through its own Share Audio button, so the Teams toggle can stay off unless the interviewer asks you to play something.
What about notifications and Do not disturb?
A full-screen share shows whatever appears on that screen, and Microsoft's guidance describes a screen share as showing your entire screen, including notifications and other activity.
Teams deals with its own notifications by default. Microsoft's article on changing your status says Do not disturb is turned on automatically while you present, and the switch is under Settings, then Privacy, labelled "Set my status to Do not disturb when I'm sharing my screen". A second setting, under Notifications and activity, lets you clear "Show notifications during calls and meetings" for the whole call.
Those two settings only govern notifications from Teams itself. Other applications send their banners through the operating system, so turn on the system's own do not disturb before you join, which in Windows 11 is the bell icon in the notification center.
How does Verve AI help once the Teams interview starts?
Verve AI gives you three ways to get help that share one conversation context. It answers automatically from the live audio, it has a built-in chatbot for typed questions, and a hotkey captures part of the screen. Because the context of the whole conversation is kept, a follow-up question is answered in light of the earlier questions and your own answers.
You also choose how often the copilot responds. Auto answers each question as it is transcribed, Manual waits for your shortcut, and Smart Listening waits until the interviewer has finished and skips small talk. Panel interviews tend to suit Smart Listening, since several people talk and not every remark is a question. What appears on screen should be treated as prompts for answers given in your own words.
The Microsoft Teams interview copilot page shows the product in a Teams call. Read the employer's instructions too, since some companies say which tools are permitted in their interviews.
How should you rehearse before the real call?
Rehearse the join as well as the answers. Start a Teams meeting of your own or ask a friend to send you a link, choose the same button you plan to use on the day, and share your screen once.
For the answers, Verve AI's mock interviews run as a spoken interview with an AI interviewer, using a job description, a question bank or your own questions, and they end with a report. Five mock interviews, three live sessions of fifteen minutes and Stealth Mode are included at no cost, so you can start on Verve AI's free plan and run the whole Teams setup before the interview that matters.
If a later round moves to another platform, we have matching guides for setting up an interview copilot on Zoom and an interview copilot on Google Meet.
FAQ
Can you join a Teams interview without a Microsoft account?
You can join a Teams interview without a Microsoft account by opening the link in the invitation. Microsoft says you can continue in the browser or in the Teams app, type your name and select Join now. Some organizations require you to verify an email address with a one-time passcode first.
Does an interview copilot on Microsoft Teams work in the browser version?
An interview copilot on Microsoft Teams works with the browser version of Teams as well as the desktop app. Verve AI's desktop app runs alongside the browser, and its browser version supports browser-based Teams calls in Chrome, Edge and Opera. For a Teams meeting inside a browser, the documented Stealth Mode setup is to share the window or tab you want the interviewer to see.
Should "Include sound" be on during a Teams interview?
The Include sound toggle in Teams should normally stay off during an interview. Microsoft states that it sends all audio from your computer, including notifications, to everyone in the meeting. The copilot does not rely on it, because Verve AI listens through its own Share Audio button.
Is Verve AI hidden when you share your entire screen in Teams?
Verve AI's Stealth Mode is guaranteed invisible when you share your entire screen in the Microsoft Teams desktop app. It is also guaranteed when you share a window or tab on any meeting platform. Stealth Mode is part of the Verve AI desktop app and is included on every plan.
Do Teams notifications show up when you share your screen?
Teams sets your status to Do not disturb by default while you share your screen, which holds back its own notifications. Notifications from other applications are controlled by the operating system, so Microsoft's do not disturb setting in Windows is worth switching on as well.
Verve AI Team
AI Interview Copilot
