Get your team into SoWork smoothly — whether you’re the Admin (who created the office) or a new Teammate stepping in for the first time. This article walks both roles through what to expect, what to do, and how to set your team up for success.
👑 Champion Onboarding: Set Your Team Up for Success
🔑 Key Takeaways
👥The tl;dr
There’s a few crucial things you’ll want to do (and we’ll guide you in-app).
- Invite your Team, and assign your Teammates their very own Desks. (5 minutes)
- Set a ‘Team Overlap Block’. This is a period of time, usually every day, where you set an expectation for your team to be together ‘in the office’ for a few hours. 2-3 hours to start usually works best. (2 minutes)
- Integrate your Calendar, and migrate your recurring events and meetings to happen in your shiny new SoWork office. These could be team meetings, daily stand-ups, 1:1s, or big Town Halls. (2 minutes)
- Download the Mobile App for either iOS (Apple App Store), or Android (Google Play Store) - just search ‘SoWork’! It’ll mean you never miss an important meeting, chat message, or notification. (2 minutes)
- Get the Desktop app here, which will mean better performance, longer battery life, and system notifications so your team never misses a beat. (2 minutes)
Once you do these five things (takes around 10-12 minutes total), you’ll be able to come in to a buzzing office everyday and feel closer and more productive with your team than ever before.
Now let’s explore how to do each below!
1. Inviting Teammates
Once your Office is set up (desks and work areas arranged, meeting rooms and collaboration zones prepared, etc.), it's time to invite your teammates in. In SoWork, we have various ways to do it:
- One way is to use the Link Invites from the What’s Happening panel. They will receive an email invite to join the Office.
- Another option is to assign teammates to specific Workspots in the Office for a more personalized experience. With this approach, they will receive an email invite detailing their assigned space. (This is our suggested method)
Onboard Your Team
We recommend creating a To-Do list with essential steps to onboard your team, guide them through the process, and ensure long-term success. Here’s a suggested list of steps:
🔑 Key Takeaways
SoWork Guide for new Teammates:
- ☑️ Join our new office using the invitation in your email or link.
- ☑️ Complete SoWork’s "First User Steps" tutorial. (Walks you through how to move, how to have a meeting, and more)
- ☑️ Complete the Checklist to learn all the basics.
- ☑️ Fill in your profile: Name, Bio, Working Hours, Birthday.
- ☑️ Customize your desk area, just like in The Sims.
- ☑️ ‘Just walk up’ to a Teammate and try out a spatial meeting connection, and to test out screensharing, AI summaries, recordings, and more.
2. Set a ‘Team Overlap Block’
Team Overlap Blocks ensure that everyone is in the office together every day. You can also check on who is there and who isn’t, for easy pinging!
Team Overlap Blocks (TOBs) help your team to work together during specific times. This consistent routine has been shown to boost collaboration and productivity. It’s just like being in the real physical office!
Here's how to set one up:
1. Open the ‘What’s Happening’ side panel (Shortcut: Shift + H).
2. Find the Team Overlap Block section and click the Edit icon.
3. Name your Team Overlap Block to match your team's focus.
4. Choose the days it will run (e.g., Monday to Friday).
5. Set the start and end times for each selected day.
6. Select the time zone that works for your team.
7. Click Save to finalize your setup.
Once saved, your teammates will get reminders just before the Team Overlap Block begins! (Reminders can be disabled in Main Menu —> Settings —> Notifications).
3. Set Up Your Calendar
If your calendar wasn’t set up during the onboarding tutorial, follow these steps to link it:
1. Open the Main Menu by clicking your avatar icon (Shortcut: Ctrl + S).
2. Go to Settings.
3. Select the Integrations tab.
4. Choose the calendar you want to connect (Google or Microsoft).
5. Grant the necessary permissions to allow access to your calendar.
6. Migrate over any recurring meetings - this helps a LOT with a smooth transition.
7. Once linked, any existing scheduled meetings will appear in your What’s Happening panel.
Now your calendar is fully synced with the app!
4. Download the Mobile App
Follow these steps to get SoWork on your mobile device:
- Open the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android) on your device.
- Search for SoWork, and download it.
- Once downloaded, log in using the same account credentials you use for the web or desktop version.
Enjoy staying connected and productive with SoWork on the go!
🔑 Key Takeaways
💡TIP: If you originally signed up in the web browser with ‘Log in with…’ Google or Microsoft, ensure you use that same method in the mobile app. Same goes for if you signed up using an email/password combo!
5. Download the Desktop App
Follow these steps to download and log into the SoWork desktop app:
- Click on the SoWork Logo in the bottom left toolbar, or visit https://sowork.com/downloads to download the desktop app for Mac or Windows.
- Once downloaded, install the app on your computer, and open it.
- Go through the log in flow. You will be redirected to a web page to complete the login process.
- Once logged in through the web page, you will be prompted to close it, and you’ll be automatically logged into the desktop app.
Enjoy a smoother SoWork experience on your desktop!
🔑 Key Takeaways
💡TIP: If you originally signed up in the web browser with ‘Log in with…’ Google or Microsoft, ensure you use that same method in the mobile app. Same goes for if you signed up using an email/password combo!
You’re all done! Now look at how cool you are:
✅ Everyone on the team has their own desk/Workspot so they feel belonging 👏🏼
✅ You’ve got your team working together every day with a Team Overlap Block 👏🏼
✅ You’ve got your meetings and events happening in your own office 👏🏼
✅ You’re all set up for on-the-go with the Mobile App 👏🏼
✅ You’ll get all the latest features with the Desktop App 👏🏼
Carry on and please reach out to our team if you need anything!
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👥 Teammate Onboarding: Your SoWork Getting Started Guide
New to SoWork? Here's what to do once you receive your invite:
1. Join the Office
You might receive your invite to SoWork in a couple of different ways — either as an email invite or a direct link shared by your admin, manager, or teammate.
Click the link to jump straight into your team’s virtual office — no download needed.
💡 Tip: We highly recommend choosing the Google or Microsoft login option during account creation if you have one of those accounts. It makes logging in across devices faster and easier.
2. Complete the First User Steps Tutorial
When you first join the office, SoWork will guide you through a short interactive tutorial. This quick walkthrough shows you how to move around the office, zoom in and out, pan your view, return to your desk, and even how to invite teammates into the space.
It only takes a couple of minutes — but it gives you a great foundation to explore the office with confidence.
3. Complete Your Onboarding Checklist
After the tutorial, you’ll see a checklist that introduces you to the basics of SoWork — things like meetings, your avatar, the Minimap, and more.
We encourage you to complete these (or as many as you can!) to get a feel for the space and learn how to make the most of the app.
4. Fill In Your Profile
Your profile helps your teammates get to know you and see when you're available.
Click on your avatar, then select “Edit My Profile” to fill it in.
You’ll be able to add your name, a short bio, your working hours, and even your birthday — so your team can celebrate with you! 🎉
It only takes a minute and adds a nice personal touch to your virtual presence.
5. Customize Your Desk Area
Make your space feel like home by decorating your desk area — just like in The Sims.
To get started, open Mapmaker by clicking the chair icon in the bottom right corner of your screen, or press B on your keyboard. Once you're in, you can click on your desk or nearby objects to customize them.
Add a plant, a bookshelf, a funky lamp — whatever feels like you.
🪴 Fun Fact: You can even change your whole desk theme — mix and match for style points!
6. Try a Drop-In Chat
SoWork’s magic is in how natural it feels. Just walk up to someone and say hi — you'll instantly be in a spatial meeting.
Once you're connected with someone, take a moment to try out some of SoWork’s built-in tools:
- Share your screen
- Start a meeting recording
- Use the AI summary tool
- Draw together using the Drawing Tool (available only in the app!
These tools make quick chats even more powerful — whether you're solving something fast or collaborating on ideas in real-time.
🎉 That’s it — You’re All Set (For Now)
These steps should be more than enough to get you started, but there’s so much more to explore in the app. Feel free to walk around, check out meeting rooms, decorate your space, or just say hi to a teammate.
You’re officially part of the office — welcome! 🪑✨
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Improve performance so your computer doesn’t explode:
- Is your computer getting too hot? Are you lagging a bit? Fortunately, we might have some options for you.
- You can change Performance Settings (Main Menu —> Settings —> Performance) to tweak graphical settings, enable or disable noise cancellation, and customize notifications.
- Note that particular features, such as Noise Cancellation, Blurred Backgrounds, and High FPS will use more CPU and RAM, which means that you might notice degraded performance. So turn those off or down if you’re having issues and see if that fixes things! Otherwise reach out to us and let’s chat about other options for you. 🫡
