Keeping track of all your Microsoft Teams chats could soon be a whole lot easier thanks to a new update coming to the platform.
The video conferencing giant has announced it is working on an upgrade that will allow users to manage their multitude of chats in a much tidier and (hopefully) less stressful way.
However, the tweak could also raise stress levels for those Microsoft Teams users who like to have as few chats open as possible, or those that are pestered by untold numbers of notifications from group or team chats they may not contribute much to.
Microsoft Teams chats
Simply entitled “compact chat list”, the entry for the new addition on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap (opens in new tab) notes, “A new chat density setting will enable users to condense their chat list and have more chats visible on the screen.”
The change is made possible by hiding message previews, giving more space for the chats themselves. This may win favor for those users who like to keep track of all their various conversations, but might worry those who like to get a small glimpse of what their contacts have messaged them before opening a chat.
The update is listed as being in development at the time of writing, although, with a scheduled launch date of June 2023, users hopefully won’t have too much longer to wait. When launched, it will be available for desktop and web users of Microsoft Teams alike.
The launch is the latest in a series of improvements bestowed upon Microsoft Teams in recent weeks as the company looks to make its platform more useful and intuitive for users across the world.
This includes an upgraded dashboard view that it says can help users quickly identify or find the content they are after, putting an end to annoying Ctrl+F searches, tracking through reams of text to find a particular chat that happened days or even weeks ago.
Another recent change also brought the ability for meeting participants to change their display name to whatever they choose – provided it is suitable, of course.
However the platform also recently announced the ability that will allow chat participants to mention everyone in a group all at once – which could definitely cause more problems than it solves.
Opinion – do I not like that
Look, I get what Microsoft Teams is trying to do here (I think). More space for chats means more visibility over who is trying to contact you, meaning you shouldn’t (in theory at least) miss a vital message.
But I’m definitely in the camp of those who like a little preview of what my contacts have said before I dare to open a chat – and I bet a fair few of you are too.
This could be a game-changer for some Microsoft Teams users for sure, especially when it comes to boosting productivity and online collaboration, but for me at least, I might need a bit of time to warm up to it.
