How to Chat in Microsoft Teams [Complete Messaging Guide]

The chat room is a great place for the employees to meet, brainstorm and share ideas. That’s why Teams chat is full of features and flexibility.

From group to individual, even you can chat on your own in Microsoft Teams. But how to utilize all those chatting features?

Well, allow me to guide you. In this article, I have covered all the ways to chat in Teams. So, read along to the end to know them all. Let’s begin!

How to Start Chatting in Microsoft Teams

Teams is full of versatility in terms of chatting. From individual to group chatting, you can chat in many ways in Teams, and it’s possible to chat with yourself too. As Teams is well known for managing group-based work, you should know how to chat appropriately using all the methods.

So, let me show you all the possible ways to chat in MS Teams.

Here are the methods to start chatting in MS Teams:

1. Start a One-on-one Chat

Teams support individual chat, and you must chat separately with the members to manage your teams. Suppose you are managing a project and need to assign a member to an additional task. So, you may need to start a one-on-one chat with that member.

Here are the steps to start a one-on-one chat in MS Teams:

On Desktop

Click on the New chat option or press Ctrl + N.
Type the person’s name or email in the To field.
Select the person from the search result.
Start typing the message in the Type a message section.
Select the Format icon to modify the texts before sending.
Click the Send button or press Enter to send the message.

On Mobile

Tap on the Chat option from the bottom ribbon.
Touch the New chat button.
Type the person’s name in the To field and select the person from the search result.
Start typing messages in the Type a message field.
Press the + (plus icon) beside the message typing section to add emojis, GIFs, or Memes.
Tap on the Send button to simply send the typed message.

Besides sending only texts, you can also add emojis in Microsoft Teams to add some fun to the chat.

2. Start a Group Chat

Starting a group chat is almost the same as starting an individual chat. All you have to do is type the group name instead of the person’s name in the To field. Group chat in Teams is mostly used to perform group-based conversations.

Read the below steps to start a group chat in Teams:

On the Desktop

Press Ctrl + N to start a new message.
Enter the person’s name in the To field.
Add people one by one in the To field by searching and selecting.
Start typing the message in the Type a message section.
Click on the Pen icon beside the names.
Give a name to the group and click Save.
Click the Send button or press Enter to send the message in a group chat.

On Mobile

Tap on the Chat option.
Touch the New chat button above the ribbon’s right side.
Search members’ names in the To field and select them from the search result.
Type in the messages in the Type a message field.
Tap on the three dots from the top right corner.
Choose the Chat details option.
Tap on the Pen icon and give the group a name.
Touch the OK button to save the group name.
Press the + (plus icon) to add emojis, GIFs, or Memes.
Tap on the Send button to send typed messages.

As a team leader, you must discuss the ongoing project and that’s where group chatting kicks in.

But for some unavoidable reasons, Teams chat might stop showing the new messages. Well, you can fix MS Teams messages not showing up issues with some quick fixes.

3. Chat with Yourself

If you want to chat on your own Teams, do support that too. Sometimes you may need to keep some files within the Teams app, and you can do that by sending files to yourself.

Below are the instructions to chat on your own in Teams:

On Desktop

Go to Chat and look for your name under the first Pinned section.
Click on it and start typing a message.
Hit the Send button to send the message to yourself.
Click on the Attach files button to upload any files from the PC or the online drive.

On Mobile

Tap on the Chat from the bottom ribbon.
Touch your profile pinned to the top of the chat list.
Type messages in the message typing section.
Press on the + (Plus icon) and tap on Attach to upload some files to your own chats.

Now, try sending a file to your own chat. I bet from now on you can keep photos, files, or attachments to your own Teams profile.

If you don’t want to get distracted by the Teams chat due to continuous notifications. You can disable all chat notifications of Teams to get rid of the frequent notification sound.

How to Add People to the Conversations in Teams

In Teams, you can also add more members to the group. After creating a group, you may need to add other members. So, follow the below steps to add more people to an existing group.

Follow the instruction below to add members to the group:

On Desktop

Click on the group to which you want to add members.
Select the View and add participants button from the upper right corner.
Click Add people from the list.
Enter the name, email, or tag of that member in the given field.
Choose any of the following options if you want to share the previous chat history of the group:
- Don’t include chat history.
- Include history from the past number of days.
- Include all chat history.
Select the Add button to add the selected member to the group.

On Mobile

Tap on the group name from the top.
Touch the add people button from the top right corner.
Enter the name or email of the persons to be added in the Add field.
Select those persons, and names will appear in the Add field.
Tap the Select option beside the Share chat history to share the chat history.
Select None if you want to hide previous chats from the newly added people.
Touch the tick icon to finish the process.

Now, adding people to the group won’t be a problem anymore if you follow the above steps. Similarly, you can add guests to Microsoft Teams. The team owners can add guests to Teams to work with that person collaboratively. Which helps to build a community.

How to Chat in a Teams Meeting

Like other meeting apps, Teams also supports chatting when a meeting is running. And that’s not all, it is possible to start the conversation before the meeting, and continue the conversation after the meeting. So, lots of chatting options are available when you are in a meeting in Teams.

Let’s explore how many ways you can chat on Teams while in a meeting.

Here are the methods to chat in Teams meetings:

1. Chat in an Ongoing Meeting

When a meeting is going on, you’ll see a red dot on the Show conversation icon. That red dot indicates someone from the meeting sent a message.

Follow the below steps to chat in an ongoing meeting in Teams:

Click on the Show conversation icon from the top. It’ll open a chat window to the right side.
Compose the message in the message typing section.
Click on the Send icon to send the composed message.

On the left side of the send icon, you get to see the emoji, GIF, or sticker icon. Click on any of those to send your desired sticker, emojis, and so on.

You’ll also see the chats are displaying directly in the meeting windows when you are on a Teams public preview program. Those hovering chats on the meeting screen might create a disturbance when you’re in a meeting.

To get rid of those, simply click on the three dots (more actions) and choose Don’t show chat bubbles from the context menu. If you’re using an android or iOS device and want to hide those chats, click on the snooze icon beside those chat bubbles.

2. Start Chatting before the Meeting

No matter how strange it sounds, in Teams, you can start the chat before the meeting starts. Yes, you heard it, and it’s true when you are using Teams. Follow the below steps to start chatting before the meeting.

Here are the quick steps to start chatting before the meeting:

Click on the Calendar from the left pane.
Open the meeting event from the assigned date.
Select Chat with participants options.
Enter or type the message in the message typing field.

After typing the message, click the send button to send the message.

3. Keep Chatting Even After the Meeting is Over

You might forget to discuss some important topics in the meeting. So, how to discuss that topic later with the attendees of that meeting?

Well, Teams covers that too. You can continue the conversation even after the meeting is over. So, follow the steps below to continue chatting in that same meeting group.

Below are the quick instructions to keep chatting even after the Teams meeting is over:

Click on Chat from the left pane.
Choose the preferred meeting from the chat list. In the chat list, the meeting chat will get displayed by the meeting icon, and with the same title as the meeting.
Click on the chat tab from the top right side of the chat window.

Now, you can type in the message you want and click the send button.

However, you might want to disable chat in MS Teams meetings when a meeting is going on. Because chatting might break the concentration of the attendees when a meeting is going on. That’s when you can disable chats in Teams meetings.

How to Chat Privately in Teams

For some reason, as a team leader, you might need to chat with any of the team members in private. Unfortunately, Teams doesn’t have that direct private chatting feature as Zoom or Webex does. But you can chat outside the Teams channel or group and it’s a straightforward process.

You can also create a private channel in Teams. Which will help you to add all the people with whom you want to chat with privately in a private channel.

Not only one, but you can also add more members to the private conversations in Teams.

Here are the steps to chat privately in Teams:

Press Ctrl + N or click on the New chat icon.
Enter the name of the person or email, in the To field.
Click on the name to add that person to the private chat.

Therefore, type the message and click the send button. That’s it! I told you it’s so simple.

Sometimes for security purposes, you may want to monitor all the chats of Teams channels or groups. Teams allow the admin in the communication compliance role to monitor all the chats that are currently happening or happened in Teams.

FAQs

Where is the Chat option in MS Teams?

You’ll find the Chat option on the left pane of the Teams app. It’s below the Activity option.

Can I chat privately in Microsoft Teams?

No, there is no direct private chatting option in Teams like Zoom or Webex. But you can chat with a person outside the Teams channel or group. Just click on the New chat icon and enter the person’s name in the To field. Then select the person and send the message after typing it.

What’s the shortcut key to start a new chat?

Press Ctrl + N to start a new chat in Teams.

Bottom Line

Teams chat covers all the possible ways that a person wants to converse with employees or colleagues for working purposes. To manage any project, you must share ideas and discuss them with the team members to turn any idea into a better one.

That’s why it’s important to chat and Teams know how to utilize the chatting features. In this article, I have shown all the possible ways to chat in Teams, and I hope you got them all.

So, let me know if you need any further help regarding Teams. Adios!