[31/10/2024] Microsoft has combined chat and channels in Teams as part of a redesign that will include a new threaded conversation experience. As noted in a blog postthis experience is simple by default, allowing everyone to stay on top of what matters; and it’s powerful on demand, allowing you to organize information and communicate your way. The new chat and channel experience will hit public preview in November.
“We’ve redesigned the chat and channels experience to simplify the digital workspace by bringing chats, teams, and channels together in one place in Chat. This integrates both chat and channels into your critical workflows, making it easier to access , sorting and organizing your conversations”said Jeff Teper, president of Collaborative Applications and Platforms at Microsoft.
The executive explained that at launch, a self-service guided onboarding flow within the product will help users discover the new experience and configure it according to their preferences. “Users who prefer to keep the chat and channels separate can easily do so during the onboarding process, or at any time afterward, without the need for IT assistance.””.
@mention view showing a single interactive list of all your @mention messages across chat, channels, and meetings, and the ability to reply directly in the side panel.
He added that the new @mentions view helps you catch up on messages directed to you in one place, ensuring that conversations that need your attention don’t slip through the cracks. “Quickly do your daily sorting with new filters that help you focus on what’s important now, like unread messages in chats or channels, without muted conversations or meeting chats getting in the way. And you can Catch up asynchronously on meeting chats at your convenience with Copilot’s meeting summary”.
Teams screen showing favorites and custom sections in the chat and channels list, with the ability to organize chat, channels, and meeting chat conversations to fit your needs.
Teper said the new chat and channel experience in Teams allows you to organize your work environment to suit your needs. “With custom sections, you can bring together all relevant conversations about a project or topic in one place, whether in chats, channels, meetings, including bots of Teams or AI agents. The new favorites section is available to everyone by default, bringing together all your chats and pinned channels from the previous experience”.
New controls that let you view chat and channels combined or separate and let you choose to show message previews and timestamps.
The executive concluded by noting that since each user has a unique way of working, they can now customize Teams chat and channels to align them with their personal workflow and preferred information consumption style. “With the new controls, you can choose to view chat and channels separately, view message previews, or display all channels in a single list. This way, you create a digital workspace that really helps you fly”.
Franca Cavassa, CTOPerú
