Microsoft Teams Adds Threads, Channels, and Merged Chats

Among the many changes that Microsoft Teams announced were threaded conversations for its chats and the ability to merge many channels and chats into a single view. The merged chats and channels experience will be made available to the public in November, while the threads upgrade will be implemented by the middle of 2025.

According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft Teams messaging software will now support threaded chats. Although threaded discussions in Teams won’t be available until the middle of 2025, Microsoft is already merging Teams’ distinct chat and channel user interfaces into a unified view.

Microsoft is looking forward to launching this unified UI to Teams in public preview in November, after I exclusively disclosed in my Notepad newsletter in August that the company was creating a new chats and channels experience.

Jeff Teper, Microsoft’s president of collaborative applications and platforms, says, “We’ve redesigned the chat and channels experience to simplify your digital workspace by bringing chats, teams, and channels into one place under Chat.” “This makes it simpler to access, prioritize, and arrange your conversations by integrating chat and channels into your essential workflows.”

One of the main reasons Microsoft Teams is terrible for messaging has been fixed with this new user interface, so you won’t have to go between sections to see messages from channels or groups of people. This new area will allow you to create unique sections where you may put projects and discussions together, or you can set it up to keep chats and channels apart.

Additionally, pinned channels and conversations will show up in a new favourites area. Additionally, Microsoft is introducing new options that let you select whether to display time stamps, all channels in a single list, and message previews. Additionally, a new @mentions view will emphasize discussions in which you have been explicitly referenced, whether in channels or direct messages. Next month, a public preview of the updated Microsoft Teams user interface will be available for both desktop and mobile apps. Updates for Teams’ iOS and Android versions are also planned.

Additionally, threaded chats will enhance the Microsoft Teams chat experience. This quarter, Teper says, “we are starting to test threaded conversations with customers. We will expand testing in early 2025, with broad availability expected in mid-2025.”