Today, we announced a new chat and channels experience in Teams that will be available for public preview in November. This update is designed to help users collaborate more effectively in the AI-infused workplace. The new experience brings chats, teams, and channels all into one place under Chat, making it easier to manage conversations without switching contexts.
Users will have a self-service onboarding flow to discover and configure the new experience to their preferences. They can choose to keep chat and channels separate if they prefer, without needing IT assistance.
To help users triage their messages, new filters like “Unread,” “Chat,” “Channels,” “Meetings,” and “Muted” have been introduced. @Mentions have also been added to gather essential messages in one place for easy access.
The new experience allows users to personalize their workspace with favorites and custom sections, bringing together conversations on projects or topics into one place. Users can also rearrange their conversation list to prioritize important discussions.
Efficient communication is facilitated with features like sending a new message in channels, initiating a chat or channel post from the same place, and new keyboard shortcuts.
Users can customize their chat and channels experience with controls to view messages combined or separate, show message previews, and display all
