Personal Chat with Microsoft Teams on Windows 11

Recently, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 will feature a new Chat application from Microsoft Teams on Windows. Users will get the Chat pinned on the Taskbar at Windows 11 startup by default.

Those who still don’t have the Team Chat preview build of Windows 11 will get it after a rollout set in the coming days. The new functionalities will come with a variety of features for users in the next few weeks and months.

What is Team Chat?

If you are familiar with Microsoft products, you probably know Microsoft has always tried to integrate a chat or chat-like feature in the Windows Taskbar since My People debuted some a few years back.

The features gave way to the Skype Meet Now used in Windows 10, and the current Teams Chat introduced in Windows 11. It is the newest feature in Windows 11 that Microsoft is rolling out slowly as it prepares for the full launch.

The Team Chat will show up on your taskbar according to statement releases. Microsoft has announced users will have to reboot their devices to find a small, purple, movie-camera-shaped icon on the taskbar. Otherwise, the reboot is part of the upgrade to the new build.

Equally important, the Teams Chat is not Microsoft Teams as such. It is a small subset of the ordinary Microsoft Teams. It features two critical functions, (text) Chat, and video calls, known as Meet in the Teams Chat. Users can work within the Teams Chat or use a button at the bottom of the pop-up menu to launch Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft has also recently announced on a blog post that they added Teams Chat to Windows 11 to help facilitate multi-tasking, contrary to the dominating of users’ attention on a smartphone that takes up the whole screen.

Windows 11 Chat Preview

Team Chat requires users to log in using an email ID and a phone number. To start using the Chat, use the following steps for setup:

Navigate to the Chat icon and click on it. It is available on the taskbar by default.
Alternatively, press WIN+C to open the CHAT application in Windows 11.
Next, click on the Set Up button to let t continue the rest of the configuration if you open it for the first time.

Configuration Experience of Team Chat

After opening, the Chat application will take a few seconds to go to the next page of the setup experience. Start the configuration by clicking on the Get Started button. A banner will pop up welcoming you to the teams and another short description, “Chat and collaborate in one app.”

You also have an option to use any of the existing accounts that you can use to log in to Microsoft Teams. The accounts details come from the Windows 11 PC itself. If you have saved multiple accounts, you will get all of them showing up on the screen.

Now, you can log in to the Teams Chat using your email address or mobile number. You need to have a mandatory phone number logged into the Chat app since you need to secure your accounts. It uses a two-factor authentication using an SMS code or the Microsoft authenticator app.

For the authentication, you can use the following processes:

Enter your user name or phone number, then input your password
Add your phone number with the relevant country code, then click on next to continue

Using the Personalized Experience of Team Chat

The successful launch of the Team Chat is seamless. You can either click on the icon on the taskbar or press the WIN+C shortcut. It naturally signs into your windows accounts, and you can find all the details you need.

You will find a brief list of the most recent chats on the popping window. You will also see who they are with. When you click on each, it will open up the Chat to text or read the previous messages.

If anyone is not on the chat list and wishes to chat with you, you will get a notification pop-up. The notification will have a prompt that allows you to respond to the messages online.

When you want to initiate a chat with a new contact, you can proceed in various ways. If you have a contact known to you or are already in the systems, you will click on their name to open up the chat window. You can get contacts from Teams, Outlook, and Skype to chat with on Teams Chat.

If you want to get all the contacts you have on Skype and Outlook into Chat, you must manually sync them. Microsoft will automatically pull those you wish to have.

You also can prepopulate the contacts list on the Team Chat by downloading a Team Mobile app on your smartphone. Then use the contact sync on the phone to set up your contacts. The process can take up to 24 hours in these early stages, according to Microsoft.

If the contact list you wish to engage with is new, you have to add them using their email address or phone numbers manually. It will send them an instant message that invites them to the teams which they will accept to start the Chat. You can also set up a group chat or a video call via the app. Team Chat will prepare a one-time link you can send to everyone in the group and schedule your meeting.

The chats on Team Chat are text-based, while the calls use the Microsoft Teams Video interface. You may not see the video feature now, but it will soon roll out in the next update.

Currently, there are some features you may have read here but are not yet available in your Windows 11. That is because they are part of the upcoming update set to come soon.

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