Start a chat in Teams

You start one-on-one and group chats the same way: by selecting New chat  at the top of your chat list.

Start a one-on-one chat

Once you've selected New chat  and entered a person’s name, compose your message in the box at the bottom of the chat. To open formatting options, select Format    beneath the box where you type your message.

When you're ready, select Send  or press Enter to start the chat.

You can also start a one-on-one chat from someone's profile card. Open it by choosing their picture in a channel or by using search.

Start a chat with yourself

Note: Chat with yourself is available as part of the public preview program and might undergo further changes before being released publicly. To get access to this and other upcoming features, switch to Teams public preview.

You’ll see your name pinned to the top of your chat list by default. You can use this space to send messages, files, and more to yourself in Teams.

If you unpin the chat and want to find it again, select New chat   and enter your name into the To field. Compose your message just as you would in a regular one-on-one chat.

Start and name a group chat

Create a group chat the same way you start a one-on-one chat. 

1. Select New chat  at the top of your chat list.
2. Select the down arrow to the far right of the To field and then type a name for the chat in the Group name field.
3. Type the names of the people you’d like to add in the To field.

Start a new chat and select the down arrow


Type a name for the group chat and add people

This starts a new conversation. Everyone who has access to the group chat can send messages.

You can include up to 250 people in a group chat. 

Add people to the conversation

To loop more people into the conversation, select Add people  (or View and add participants in group chat) in the top right corner of Teams. Then, type the names of the people you'd like to chat with, choose how much of the chat history to include, and select Add. 

Note: When adding someone to a group chat (not a one-on-one), you can include the chat history. 

Teams saves the entire chat history, all the way back to the first message. If someone leaves the group their chat responses remain in your chat history.

See who's in a group chat

To see who’s in a group chat, select View and add participants in the chat header to show a list of everyone’s names.