Microsoft Teams Will Soon Let You Communicate With Skype Users

Microsoft is soon going to enable a new integration for Skype and Microsoft Teams. The company is working on integrating Skype and Microsoft Teams, which will allow Microsoft Teams users to communicate with Skype users from within Microsoft Teams.

The feature, which is currently in development, is expected to finish rolling out to users by the end of April 2020. It’s apparently one of the features that were keeping some users from moving to Teams. Microsoft had originally promised to ship the feature in Q1 2020, and it’s expected to start rolling out some later this month.

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ZDNet first spotted the new feature, which will allow Skype consumer users to chat and call with Microsoft Teams users. Microsoft Teams users will also be able to chat and call Skype users via their Skype ID/email addresses.

Microsoft Teams will have the feature disabled by default, and users will have to manually enable the feature if they want to be able to communicate with Skype users.

It’s not clear exactly how this feature will work, but it will be a major new addition for existing Microsoft Teams users and people who are on the fence about moving to Teams.

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Conversation 12 comments

  • mrlinux11

    12 March, 2020 - 11:44 am

    <p>This feature should have been there a lot sooner </p>

  • rmlounsbury

    Premium Member
    12 March, 2020 - 12:58 pm

    <p>Finally, having to work around the whole no-interop thing was a pain. I'm glad this is getting fixed now. </p>

  • Omen_20

    12 March, 2020 - 1:38 pm

    <p>So it's the consumer version? Can Teams already talk to Skype for Business?</p><p><br></p><p>I use both, but not sure I like the idea of my Skype convos going through my work client. Will my employer have a record the same as with Teams convos?</p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      12 March, 2020 - 2:52 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#530631">In reply to Omen_20:</a></em></blockquote><p>The Skype consumer connection is more for people outside the Teams group (clients, customers, etc.) to be able to communicate with people inside Teams. Very useful for people who are part of the project group, but are not licensed in the organization's Office 365/Teams. Example: developer company has Office 365/Teams and needs to communicate with client/user who has consumer Skype.</p><p><br></p><p>Eventually Skype for Business is going away, but at my current job, everyone runs both and some use one over the other. I'm not sure how merging Skype for Business into Teams would work, as if you are running both and someone sends a message–then both Teams and Skype for Business are popping up notifications. Microsoft wants Teams to be the new Business communications platform, so they'll deprecate Skype for Business.</p>

      • behindmyscreen

        28 March, 2020 - 1:41 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#530666">In reply to darkgrayknight:</a></em></blockquote><p>It would be nice to get S4B set up to talk to teams, at least with chat….then I could live in Teams and not care that someone IM'd me in Skype</p>

  • J Lynch

    12 March, 2020 - 1:56 pm

    <p>I’m running in circles trying to figure out if I can use outside phone lines (phone conf calls) with home or SMB version of Teams. Would this help or is there a license or add-on native to Teams?</p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      12 March, 2020 - 2:55 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#530648">In reply to JJLJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>There were/are for Skype for Business, but it is a confusing mess for me as well. Hopefully there are some improved ways to connect Teams to VoIP.</p>

  • IanYates82

    Premium Member
    12 March, 2020 - 8:58 pm

    <p>I suspect your Teams admin will have to enable this for the tenant as it could be a bit of a governance issue. And would it just make the "chat" bit work in Teams or would it also facilitate, somehow, some access to channels and files?</p>

  • mclark2112

    Premium Member
    12 March, 2020 - 9:06 pm

    <p>I assume this is for regular Skype users, as Microsoft is abandoning all of us Skype for Business users.</p>

    • behindmyscreen

      28 March, 2020 - 1:26 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#530765">In reply to mclark2112:</a></em></blockquote><p>It better be for S4B so people can transition to Teams while still communicating with S4B users that have yet to move their workflows.</p>

  • xanth

    Premium Member
    12 March, 2020 - 9:26 pm

    <p>Any Admins out there been able to get this to work? I've set the configs as instructed, but still haven't been able to communicate with a Skype account. Would appreciate any help / guidance!</p>

  • SyncMe

    13 March, 2020 - 10:05 am

    <p>They tried to do this for Lync previously. That did not work very well.</p>

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