Using Meeting Chat in Microsoft Teams
The in-meeting chat provides meeting organizers with a space to quickly share files and communicate with the meeting participants. The in-meeting chat mirrors the features present in standard Teams chats, allowing users to format text for sophisticated messages, upload, share, and send files, share images or GIFs with ease.
If you aren't using a meeting template, meeting chat in MS Teams is persistent by default, meaning it is accessible to all participants:
- During a Meeting.
- Before and After a Meeting.
If you are the meeting organizer or co-organizer and do not want the meeting chat to be used or active after the meeting ends, you must adjust your meeting options to turn on in-meeting only chat. To do this,
- Open the meeting invite in Outlook or MS Teams.
- Select Meeting Options at the bottom the footer/body.
- Change Chat to In-meeting only.
Using Chat During a Meeting
During a meeting, selecting the chat button
in upper area of the meeting window will open the meeting chat window to the right of the main screen.
To send a message in the meeting chat, enter your message into the text box and then select Send
You'll have the same options as other chats in Teams, so you can format your text, send pictures and GIFs, use emojis, attach files, and so on. For more details, see Chat in Microsoft Teams help.
Before and After a Meeting
After your meeting concludes, you can continue the conversation with participants. Or. if you're looking to chat directly with participants prior to the meeting, you can start the meeting chat early in MS Teams.
Continue the Chat After a Meeting
Select the Chat
menu on the left side of the MS Teams app and choose the meeting chat from the recents list. Note that in the chat list, meeting chats are preceded by a calendar icon
and have the same title as the meeting.
Start the Chat Before a Meeting
You can also prep people for an upcoming meeting through a meeting chat (unless the organizer limited the chat to "in-meeting only"). This is ideal if you have materials or communication to share ahead of time. Note, only invited participants would get notifications. People opening a meeting link that weren't directly invited would have to wait to join the meeting to participate in the chat. You must be a meeting organizer or co-organizer to find the chat within the Calendar tab.
- Select the Calendar menu in MS Teams.
- Find and select the meeting event.
- Select Chat with Participants.
FAQ
Why can people still use the chat after the meeting?
By default, meeting chat in MS Teams is persistent, meaning it is accessible to all participants after the meeting ends from each user's Chat menu in the MS Teams app. This means, participants of the meeting can access and use the chat after the meeting has ended, so long as there was at least one chat message sent.
How do I make sure participants cannot use the meeting chat after the meeting ends?
You cannot change the visibility of the meeting chat for other participants. However, if you do not want the meeting chat to be active after the meeting ends, you must adjust your meeting options to turn on in-meeting only chat. To do this,
- Open the meeting invite.
- Select Meeting Options at the bottom the footer/body.
- Change Chat to In-meeting only or Off.
I have external participants in my meeting chat, will they continue to have access to the Chat?
Anonymous and external participants have chat access only while attending a scheduled meeting. If the external participant is a member of an internal Team, they are subject to the Guest rules of the Team set by the Team owner.
Can I permanently delete a chat from a recent meeting?
You can delete a persisting meeting chat by using the three dots in the upper right of a chat. However, this will not delete the chat for other people. This will only remove you from the meeting chat and remove the chat from your MS Teams app. It will be inaccessible until you are re-added to the chat by another participant.
What happens if a participant is manually removed from the meeting or chooses to leave a chat, will they still have access to meeting chat?
No. They won't have access to the chat going forward if they are manually removed or choose to leave the chat. For more information, see leave or remove someone from a group chat.
What if someone doesn't show up to the meeting, will they still have access to the meeting chat?
If a person is on the invite list upon scheduling the meeting, required or optional attendees, they will have access to the meeting chat-before, after, and during the meeting-even if they don't attend the meeting.
I have a reoccurring meeting. Does the chat reset each occurrence?
No. For recurring meetings, the chat conversation continues from one meeting to the next. When participants open their chat window, they’ll have access to all the messages that were exchanged in the previous meetings.
I invited someone to a single occurrence, but not the entire meeting series. Can they use the chat?
People invited to one meeting of a recurring meeting series can participate in the chat with other attendees. They won’t see chat history from previous meetings in the series, but they'll be able to send and view chat messages during the meeting. If you want to invite someone to join one of your recurring meetings but not the rest, make sure you forward the invite for the single instance, not the entire meeting series, to ensure chat privacy.
Getting Help with Meeting Chat
