Chat with others in Microsoft Teams
Use Microsoft Teams to chat online with your colleagues.
Start a chat with another person
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Start all chats the same way: by selecting New chat at the top of your chat list.
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Once you've selected New chat and entered a person’s name, compose your message in the box at the bottom of the chat.
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To open formatting options, select Format beneath the box where you type your message.
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When your message is ready, select Send or press Enter to start the chat.
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 and enter your name where it says To. Compose your message just as you would in a regular one-on-one 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.
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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
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To add people to a group chat, select View and add participants > Add people.
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Type in 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.
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Select Add to add them to the conversation.
Notes:
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You can only include chat history when adding someone to an existing group chat, not a one-on-one.
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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 in the top right corner. This will show a list of everyone’s names.
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Related topics
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 and entered a person’s name, compose your message in the box at the bottom of the chat. To open formatting options:
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Tap More messaging options .
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Tap Format .
Compose your message and when you're ready, tap Send to start the chat.
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 and enter your name.
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.
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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 .
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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.