Chat
Chat is at the center of whatever you do in Teams. In Chat you can either talk one-on-one with someone or have a small group chat.
You start one-on-one and group chats the same way, by selecting the Chat tab in Teams, and then selecting the New Chat icon which is found at the top of the chat list.
One-on-one chat
- Select the New Chat icon in Teams
- Enter the person’s name in the To field
- Compose your message in the New Message field
- Select Send a message icon to start the chat
Group chat
- Select New chat button in Teams at the top of the chat list
- Type the names of the people you’d like to add in the To field.
- If you’d like, select the down arrow to the far right of the To field and type a name for the chat in the Group name field.
- Compose your message in the New Message field
- Select the Send icon to start the chat
Once in a chat, you’ll be able to send messages that include files, links, emojis, stickers, and GIFs—whatever you need to get your point across!
Write a message:
Enter the text of your message or the link to a file in the ‘Type a New Message’ field at the bottom of your screen
Use the buttons below the field to control the look of the message or add things to it
The ‘A’ will enable you to change the font or font attributes or a message
The exclamation point enables you to change the urgency of a message
The paper clip gives you the opportunity to share a file from your OneDrive or to upload a file from your computer. Note: There is no option to send a copy of a file from your OneDrive.
The emoji, gif, and sticker icons open galleries with a large selection of each.
The calendar icon will open a new meeting request with the name of the person or people you are chatting with in the Invitees section
The Stream icon will open a dialog box giving you the ability to insert a link from Stream. Stream is the Office 365 video storage solution.
The Praise icon will allow you to send praise icons to someone
The Approvals icon will open a dialog box that will let you upload a file that can be sent to several people for an approval
Selecting the ellipsis will allow you to search for more apps to add to your chat such as YouTube, Webex, Trello, and many more.
Start an Audio or Video call:
When you have a chat open with a colleague there is also the ability to start an audio or video call with that person or people using Teams.To start an audio or video call with the person or people you are chatting with, select the video or telephone buttons to start the call
Share your screen:
You can share your screen without starting an audio or video meeting by selecting the Share Screen button
A window will be opened where you can share your screen but the camera and audio are not on, communication is through chat.
If the presenter would like to talk they can unmute, if the others would like to talk they can select the microphone button which is a request to unmute.
Add new people to your chat
If you would like to add new people to your chat select the Add People button
When choosing the Add People option a new dialog box will open asking for the name or email address of the new person. There is also the opportunity to not include the chat history, only include a specified amount or to include the entire chat history.
Pop Out the Chat
There is also the option to open any chat in a new window by selecting the button below.
Also Found in Chat
In addition to being able to chat with people within your enterprise, Chat is a place where you will find:
- Any chat that has taken place within any Teams meeting you were a part of, that was not held in a team.
Meeting chats are always visible in the Chat tab of Teams and if it is a recurring meeting, the chat will continue to record under the same name. So all chat from a series of meetings will be available in one place.
- All recordings of meetings that you recorded that were not held in a team.
When you choose to record a Teams meeting the recording will be found in the Chat tab under the name of the meeting.
As well as in the My Content > Meetings section of Stream
