Microsoft is reportedly working on a big change for its Teams service that should make it a lot easier for businesses and organizations that use it for individual text chat messages or group text meetings in channels.
The Verge"s Tom Warren, in the latest edition of his Notebook newsletter, reports that Microsoft is internally testing a new version of Teams that combines both its text chat and channels into one user interface. Currently, the Teams client breaks up those text features into chats for one-on-one messages and small groups, and channels for larger meetings.
Warren says that this setup has caused many businesses to ignore Teams channels except for big company announcements, leaving the chat section of Teams as the primary way for messages.
The story quotes an internal Microsoft message about this upcoming change for Teams chats, stating, “Our new experience brings chats and channels together to get you to what matters faster."
There"s no word on when this UI chat change will be released. It"s likely that Microsoft will offer it first for members of the Teams Public Preview program for a period of time before it"s rolled in general availability.
Teams continue to be one of the services Microsoft provides for businesses that adds new features and improvements almost on a daily basis. In recent weeks, the company has rolled out some new functions such as support for creating custom emojis and reactions for text chat and channels. It has also added support for turning off notifications for channel posts.
Other recent additions include the expansion of Copilot speaker recognition for Teams Rooms for Windows, adding support for customizing sound notifications, and a revamped gallery design for video meetings that makes each tile size the same, whether the camera for a meeting participant is turned on or off.