Microsoft Teams: Chat

Overview

This article explains how to use Microsoft Teams Chat to communicate with staff, faculty, and students. You'll learn how to start chats, manage conversations, format messages, and organize your chat list.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

  • A Northwood Tech account.
  • Access to Microsoft Teams.
  • A supported web browser or the Microsoft Teams desktop application.

What Can You Do with Teams Chat?

Microsoft Teams Chat provides a quick and convenient way to communicate and collaborate with individuals or groups without scheduling a meeting. With Teams Chat, you can:

  • Start one-on-one or group conversations.
  • Send instant messages to staff, faculty, and students.
  • Share files, links, images, and other attachments.
  • Use emojis, GIFs, and message formatting to enhance communication.
  • Start audio or video calls directly from a chat.
  • Save conversations for future reference.
  • Mute, hide, or organize chats into custom sections.
  • Search for previous conversations and messages.
  • Chat with yourself to save notes, links, or files for later.
💡 Tip: Teams Chat is best for quick conversations and real-time collaboration with specific people.
📝 Note: If your message is intended for an entire department, committee, or class, consider posting it in a Team channel instead of creating a group chat.
⭐ Best Practice: Use descriptive group chat names for ongoing projects or committees to help participants quickly identify the conversation and make it easier to find later.

Details

Start a New Chat

  • Open Microsoft Teams.
  • Select Chat from the left navigation menu.
  • Click New Chat.
  • In the To field, enter the name of the person or people you want to chat with.
  • Type your message.
  • Click Send or press Enter.
💡Tip: To start a group chat, add two or more recipients before sending your first message.
📝 Note: Team chats are separate from channel conversations. Use a chat for direct communication with specific people.

Chat with Yourself

  • Use a chat with yourself to save notes, transfer files between devices, or draft messages.

  • Click New Chat.
  • Enter your own name in the To field.
  • Send your message.

  • Your personal chat will remain pinned near the top of your chat list for quick access.

💡Tip: A chat with yourself is a convenient place to save notes, links, screenshots, or files you want to access later from another device.
⭐Best Practice: Use your personal chat as a temporary workspace rather than long-term file storage.

Resume an Existing Chat

  1. Select Chat.
  2. Choose the conversation from your chat list.
  3. Continue the conversation by typing a new message.
💡Tip: Use the Search bar at the top of Teams to quickly locate previous conversations by searching for a person's name or keywords from the chat.
📝 Note: Chats remain available unless they have been deleted or your organization's retention policy removes them.

Manage a Chat

Hover over a conversation and select More options (⋯) to access additional actions.

Available options may include:

  • Mute or Turn Off Notifications – Stop notifications for the conversation.
  • Hide – Remove the conversation from your chat list until a new message is received.
  • Leave – Leave a group chat.
  • Remove Chat History – Available for some chat types.
💡Tip: Hiding a chat removes it from your chat list until someone sends a new message. Muting a chat keeps it visible while silencing notifications.
⚠️Important: Leaving a group chat removes you from future conversations. Another member will need to add you back if you want to rejoin.

Organize Chats with Sections

You can organize conversations into custom sections.

  1. Hover over a chat and select More options (⋯).
  2. Select Move To.
  3. Choose an existing section or create a new one.

To remove a section:

  1. Hover over the section name.
  2. Select More options (⋯).
  3. Click Remove Section.
📝Note: Removing a section does not delete your chats. The chats are moved back to your main chat list.
⭐Best Practice: Organize your most frequently used chats into sections to make them easier to find throughout the day.

Format a Message

Select the Format button (A with a pencil icon) below the message box to access additional formatting options.

Available formatting includes:

  • Bold
  • Italic
  • Underline
  • Bulleted lists
  • Numbered lists
  • Font size
  • Font color
  • Text highlighting

Keyboard shortcuts:

  • Ctrl + B – Bold
  • Ctrl + I – Italic
  • Ctrl + U – Underline
💡Tip: Use the formatting toolbar for announcements or longer messages. For quick conversations, simply type your message and press Enter to send.
⭐Best Practice: Bulleted and numbered lists make longer messages easier for others to scan and understand.

Insert Additional Content

While composing a message, you can also:

  • Attach files.
  • Insert emojis.
  • Insert GIFs.
  • Add links.
💡Tip: Drag and drop files directly into the message window to quickly share documents with individuals or groups.
📝 Note: Files shared in Teams chats are stored in OneDrive and shared automatically with everyone in the conversation.

Keyboard Tips

  • Press Enter to send a message.
  • Press Shift + Enter to start a new line.
  • When the Format editor is open, Enter creates a new line. Click Send or close the formatting editor to send the message.
💡Tip: Press Shift + Enter whenever you need to start a new paragraph without sending your message.
⭐ Best Practice: For longer messages, open the formatting editor before typing to make editing easier.

Things to Remember

  • Chats are intended for quick conversations with individuals or groups.
  • Use channels when information should be shared with an entire team.
  • Hide chats you no longer need instead of deleting them.
  • Mute busy conversations to reduce notification interruptions.
  • Organize frequently used chats into sections for easier access.

Troubleshooting

I can't start a new chat

  • Verify you're signed in to Microsoft Teams with your Northwood Tech account.
  • Confirm the person you're trying to message is listed in the Northwood Tech directory.
  • Restart Microsoft Teams and try again.

I can't find a previous conversation

  • Use the search bar at the top of Teams to search for the person's name or keywords from the conversation.
  • If the chat was hidden, search for the conversation to make it visible again.
  • Refresh Microsoft Teams if the conversation doesn't appear.

I'm not receiving chat notifications

  • Verify the chat has not been muted.
  • Check your Teams notification settings.
  • Ensure your device notifications are enabled for Microsoft Teams.

I can't send messages

  • Verify you're connected to the internet.
  • Sign out of Microsoft Teams and sign back in.
  • Restart the Teams application.

Formatting options are unavailable

  • Click the Format button below the message box to expand the formatting toolbar.
  • If the issue persists, refresh or restart Microsoft Teams.
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