MS Teams: Conversations in Chats and Channels
Conversations in Microsoft Teams Chats and Channels
In Microsoft Teams there are two distinct avenues to converse with your teammates: chats and channels. Channels are dedicated sections of a team, while chats are private to the individual members of the chat.
When to use a chat versus a channel?
Chats are for...
- Informal messages
- Day to day operational conversations
- Private messages for a small group
- Information that can be deleted or forgotten
Channels are for...
- Team collaboration
- Important information
- Actionable conversations
- FYI messages that you would send to people as CC in an email
Messaging in a Chat
- Select the Chat icon in the app bar on the left side of the screen.
- Select the New Chat icon.
- Enter a name, email, group name, or tag in the “To” section to invite others to the chat.
- Type your message in the compose box.
- Select the Send icon at the bottom right corner of the screen to send the message.
View the following Microsoft Support video for more information.
Additional Messaging Options
Microsoft Teams provides an array of options that allow you to customize your message. There are options to customize your text, format the layout, create lists, set a delivery option and much more. In addition, the @mention feature is a handy tool used to get someone's attention in a channel conversation or chat.
Message Customization
- After starting a new conversation in a channel or a chat, select the Format icon. You will now see additional options for formatting and customizing your message.
-
- Text Formatting options - Bold, Italics, Underline, Strikethrough, Highlight, Font color, Font size
- Rich style
- Clear All formatting
- Paragraph formatting: Increase indent, Decrease indent, Bulleted list, Numbered list
- Quote
- Insert Link
- More Options: Code Snippet, Insert Horizontal rule, Insert Table, Undo typing, Repeat typing
- Delete
- Delivery Options - Allows you to set your message as standard, important, or Urgent. Adds the word "IMPORTANT!" or "URGENT!" to your message. An urgent message will notify a person or group repeatedly every 2 minutes for 20 minutes, or until the message is read.
- Attach a file
- Emojis and Stickers
- Schedule a Meeting
- Insert a link from Microsoft Stream
- Messaging extensions
View the following Microsoft Support video for more information.
@Mention
The @Mention feature is used to get someone's attention in a channel conversation or chat. This feature must be enabled by the team owner before it can be used. While in a conversation chat or channel, type @ before their name and then select the person from the menu that appears.
When @mention is used, the person mentioned will receive a notification. By selecting the notification, the mentioned person will be redirected to the point in the conversation where they were mentioned.
To get the attention of ...
- An individual person - Type @ followed by their name.
- An entire team - Type @Team
-
A channel - Type @Channel *Note: Only members with the channel favorited will be notified.
View the following Microsoft Support video for more information.
Read Receipts
Read receipts allow users to know if people have read messages sent to a chat. A message will only have a read receipt when the recipient has clicked into the chat window and they have Read Receipts turned on in their settings.
When a user sends a message to a chat, they will receive the following confirmation icon 
to indicate that their message was sent. When all members of the chat have read the sent message, the sender will see the following seen icon 
.
The read by option allows the sender to see who has seen the sent message:
- Go to the sent message in the group chat.
- Hover over the sent message until you see a pop-up menu.
- Select the More options icon (3 dots).
- Select Read by.
- A side menu will appear listing the individuals that have seen the message.
To learn more about Microsoft Teams, contact ctl.helpdesk@ubc.ca.
Updated December 2020