Microsoft combines Teams chat and channels in UI refresh

Microsoft has combined chat and channels in Teams as part of a redesign that will include a new threaded conversation experience. 

Channel conversations — currently accessed in the team section — will be moved to chat. The goal is to make it easier for users to view all their messages in one place rather than continuously switching between sections. 

“This integrates both chat and channels into your critical workflows, making it easier to access, triage, and organize your conversations,”  Jeff Teper, president of Collaborative Apps and Platforms at Microsoft, said in a blog post Monday. 

New filters available in Teams can be applied to let users focus on chats, channels, or unread messages.

Among the other changes is a new @mention view to highlight new messages across multiple chats or channels. There’s also a “custom section” where users can keep conversations relating to a project or topic — whether that’s in chat, channels, or with a Teams bot — in a single place. 

Teams users will see a “self-service, guided onboarding flow” when the updates are made available in public preview next month, Teper said. This will help introduce users to the new look and allow them to configure it to the way they want to work: those who prefer to keep chat and channels separate can do so, for example, either during the onboarding or at a later stage. 

Microsoft will test threaded conversations with customers during this quarter, with an expected roll out in mid-2025.