Microsoft Teams - How to start a chat

Start a chat with another person

1. Select New message at the top of your list of chats and channels.
2. Enter a person’s name.
3. Compose your message in the box at the bottom of the chat.
4. To open formatting options, select Format to the right of your message.
5. When your message is ready, select Send or press Enter to start the chat.

You can also start a one-on-one chat from someone's profile card. Open it by choosing their picture in a channel or finding their name using the Search box.

Start and name a group chat

A group chat includes multiple people in a conversation, you can include up to 250 people in a group chat. Create a group chat the same way you start a one-on-one chat. 

1. Select New message at the top of your list of chats and channels.
2. Select the down arrow to the far right of To to reveal the Group name section.
3. Type a group name. 
4. Type the names of the people you’d like to add in the To section. 

This starts a new conversation. Everyone who has access to the group chat can send messages.

Add people to the conversation

1. To add people to a group chat, select View and add participants > Add people.
2. Type the names of the people you'd like to chat with. If it is an existing group chat, you can also choose how much of the chat history to include.
3. Select Add to add them to the conversation.