Chat with others in Microsoft Teams
Note: Some features detailed below are available as part of the public preview program and might undergo further changes before being released publicly. To get access to this and other upcoming features, switch to Teams public preview.
Use Microsoft Teams to chat online with the people you interact with. Start all chats the same way: by selecting New chat
Start a chat with another person
Once you've selected New chat
To open formatting options, select Format
When you're ready, select Send
You can also start a one-on-one chat from someone's profile card. Open it by choosing their picture in a channel or finding their name using the Search box.
Start a chat with yourself
When you first use Teams, you'll see your name pinned to the top of your chat list. Use this space for drafts, to send messages and files to yourself, or to get to know chat features a little better.
If you unpin the chat and want to find it again, select New chat
Start and name a group chat
A group chat includes multiple people in a conversation. Create a group chat the same way you start a one-on-one chat.
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Select New chat
at the top of your chat list. -
Select the down arrow to the far right of the To field and then type a name for the chat in the Group name field.
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Type in the names of the people you’d like to add in the To field.
Type a name for the group chat and add people
This starts a new conversation. Everyone who has access to the group chat can send messages.
You can include up to 250 people in a group chat.
Add people to the conversation
To include more people in a conversation, select Add people
Type the names of the people you'd like to chat with. If it is already a group chat, you can also choose how much of the chat history to include.
Select Add to add them to the conversation.
Note: You can only include chat history when adding someone to an existing group chat, not a one-on-one.
Teams saves the entire chat history, all the way back to the first message. If someone leaves the group, their chat responses will remain in your chat history.
See who's in a group chat
To see who’s in a group chat, select View and add participants
Chat with Microsoft support
Want to learn more? See First things to know about chats and First things to know about group chats.
You start one-on-one and group chats the same way: by tapping Chat > New chat
Start a chat with another person
Once you've tapped New chat
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Tap More messaging options
. -
Tap Format
.
Compose your message and when you're ready, tap Send
Start a chat with yourself
You’ll see your name pinned to the top of your chat list by default.
You can use this space to send messages, files, and more to yourself in Teams. If you unpin it and want to find the chat again, just tap New chat
Start and name a group chat
Create a group chat the same way you start a one-on-one chat.
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Tap New chat
and then type the names of the people you’d like to add in the To field. -
Compose and send your message.
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Tap the names of the participants at the top of your screen.
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Tap Group chat name.
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Type a group name and then tap Save.
Everyone who has access to the group chat can send messages.
Add people to the conversation
To loop more people into the conversation:
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Tap the names of the participants at the top of your screen then tap Add people
. -
Type the names of the people you'd like to chat with, choose how much of the chat history to include, then tap Done.
Note: You can only include chat history when adding someone to a group chat (not a one-on-one).
Teams saves the entire chat history, all the way back to the first message. If someone leaves the group their chat responses remain in your chat history.
See who's in a group chat
To see who’s in a group chat, tap the names of the participants at the top of your screen for a list of everyone’s names.