Microsoft Teams Will Soon Let Users Combine Chat and Channels in a Single View

Microsoft will soon introduce a new chat and channels experience in Microsoft Teams that will combine private chats and channel messages in a single view. This new combined view will launch in public preview in November, and Teams users who prefer to keep chats and channels in separate views will still be able to do so.

“We’ve redesigned the chat and channels experience to simplify your digital workspace by bringing chats, teams, and channels into one place under Chat,” explained Jeff Teper, President, collab apps and platform at Microsoft. “This integrates both chat and channels into your critical workflows, making it easier to access, triage and organize your conversations.”

This new combined view will offer three filters at the top to surface unread messages, chat conversations, and channels. Users will be able to put favorites chats and channels at the top of the list and create custom sections to bring different chats, channels, meetings, and AI agents into one place.

Under the three filters at the top, this new combined view will offer a ‘Mentions’ shortcut that will display recent direct messages and mentions. Microsoft also added a dedicated shortcut for its Copilot assistant, and a ‘Discover’ shortcut that should surface relevant organizational content.

Microsoft Teams users in organizations where IT admins have enabled features in public preview will be able to try this new experience next month. Microsoft has designed a guided experience that will show users how the new combined view works. But again, Teams users will be able to keep their chat and channels messages in separate views if they prefer.

Microsoft already teased more improvements to the messaging experience on Teams, including threaded messages. “We are beginning to test threaded conversations with customers this quarter and will expand testing in early 2025, with broad availability expected in mid-2025,” Teper said today.