MC1523090 Medium
(Updated) Microsoft Teams: Initiate side conversations within the meeting chat window
Summary AI-generated
Teams will allow meeting participants to start and continue one-to-one or small-group chats directly within the meeting chat, keeping the main discussion focused.
Written by Azure OpenAI (gpt-4.1) from the text of the post below. It can be incomplete or wrong; the original post is authoritative.
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Original post from Microsoft
Updated October 29, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.
[What and Why:]
Microsoft Teams will enable meeting participants to start and continue one-to-one or small-group conversations directly from the meeting chat experience. Users can create a side conversation without leaving the meeting context, helping them coordinate, ask questions, share information, and collaborate in parallel while keeping the main meeting discussion focused.
[Rollout Schedule:]
General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out in early December 2026 (previously early January 2027) and expect to complete in mid-January 2027 (previously late January).
[Impact on Your Organization:]
Users will be able to start or continue private 1:1 and group chats directly from the meeting chat experience, without leaving the meeting window. Existing chat history is preserved, so conversations remain part of the user’s regular Teams chat history.
[Action Required/Recommendations:]
No admin action is required. This feature does not introduce a new chat surface, admin policy, or meeting option. Users can turn off the side-chat tab experience if they prefer not to use it.
[Compliance considerations:]
No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.
Additional details from Microsoft
- RoadmapIds
- 573156
- FeatureStatusJson
- {"0":[{"RoadmapId":0,"McPostId":"MC1523090","Platform":"Desktop","Status":"FeatureRolloutStatusNotSupported","LastUpdateTime":"2026-10-30T03:00:38.6152424Z","LatestRing":null,"TenantRolloutRing":null},{"RoadmapId":0,"McPostId":"MC1523090","Platform":"All","Status":"FeatureRolloutStatusNotSupported","LastUpdateTime":"2026-10-30T03:00:38.6152425Z","LatestRing":null,"TenantRolloutRing":null}]}
- Summary
- Microsoft Teams will allow users to start one-to-one or small-group side conversations within the meeting chat window starting early December 2026. This feature keeps chats in context without leaving the meeting, preserves chat history, requires no admin action, and has no identified compliance issues.
- Platforms
- Android, Desktop, iOS, Mac, Web