You're discussing something in a group chat and realise halfway through that a colleague should be in it too: the project lead, someone from finance, the person who knows the answer. You don't need to start a new chat. Just type an @mention with their name. If they're not in the chat yet, Teams offers to add them straight away, and you choose how much of the conversation they can read back.
Add someone with a mention
- In the group chat, type
@and the first letters of your colleague's name, and pick them from the list. - If that person isn't in the chat yet, Teams asks whether you want to add them. Click Add.
- Choose how much of the chat history they may see.
- Send your message. The new participant immediately gets a notification of your mention.
How much history do you share?
Teams gives you three choices:
- Don't include chat history: the newcomer only sees messages from now on. Choose this if confidential things were discussed earlier, such as salaries or a complaint.
- Include history from the past number of days: you set the number of days. Handy to give someone this week's context.
- Include all chat history: they can read the whole conversation, including shared files and links.
In doubt, share little or no history and sum up in your message what it's about. For the newcomer that's often clearer than reading back a hundred messages.
And in a one-to-one chat?
If you add someone to a conversation between just you and one colleague, Teams creates a new group chat with three people. The original conversation stays private and unchanged. That way a third person never ends up in your private messages by accident.
Through the participants icon
Prefer not to send a message? Click the People icon at the top of the chat (with the number of participants) > Add people. Type the names, choose the history and click Add. The same window shows you everyone who's in the chat.
Remove someone or leave yourself
Through the same People icon, hover over a name and click the cross to remove someone. Anyone in a group chat can do this, so agree who does it. If you no longer want to follow along yourself, choose More options (...) > Leave chat next to the chat in your chat list. If you just want no more notifications, choose Mute.
Tips for group chats
- Give the chat a name with the pencil next to the participants, such as "Project Antwerp". Then everyone finds it quickly.
- A group chat can hold hundreds of people, but for a permanent group a team with channels often works better: conversations per topic, files in one place. Read chatting in Microsoft Teams.
- Does everyone in the chat need to see something? Use @everyone.
- Working with external partners? You can also put people from another organisation in a group chat. Read a group chat with internal and external contacts.
Frequently asked questions
Teams doesn't ask me to add someone.
Then they're probably already in the chat, or you're in a channel. In a channel you add people to the team, not to the conversation.
Does the newcomer see that they were added?
Yes, the chat shows who added them, and they get a notification of your mention.