The New Microsoft Teams: How to Merge Chats, Channels, and Create Custom Groups for Effortless Collaboration
Seamlessly organise your conversations with MS Teams' Latest Update
The new version of MS Teams is evolving into a streamlined and powerful collaboration space. One of the standout features of the update is the ability to combine chats, channels, and create groups of conversations—all in one place. Whether you’re managing a small team or a large organisation, this latest version of Teams is designed to make collaboration more efficient and organised than ever before.
In a traditional workspace, keeping track of conversations across various chat threads and channels can quickly become overwhelming. The new version of MS Teams offers a solution by allowing you to combine chats and channels into customizable groups. This feature is a game-changer for:
Enhanced Organisation: You can now group related chats and channels together, making it easier to find conversations and projects that belong together.
Improved Workflow: By grouping chats and channels, you’ll spend less time searching for information and more time collaborating.
Better Communication: Team members can engage with multiple channels or chats simultaneously within the same group, reducing the need to switch between different conversations.
Key Features of the New MS Teams Update
Combining Chats and Channels into One View: One of the most powerful features of this update is the ability to bring together both chats and channels into a single view. So you no longer need to flip between different tabs to stay up-to-date. Instead, you can keep all your team’s conversations, files, and updates in one consolidated area. This allows for:
Faster access to important conversations: Quickly find the chats and channels that matter most.
A more intuitive interface: All your team interactions are now in one place, reducing clutter and improving navigation.
Creating Groups of Chats and Channels: The ability to create groups that combine both chats and channels is a major leap in making MS Teams more customisable to how you work. This feature is perfect for organising conversations based on projects, departments, or even specific topics of discussion. For example:
Project-based groups: Create a group that includes all the channels and chats related to a particular project, so all updates are organised in one place.
Departmental groups: Bring together channels for HR, Marketing, Sales, and other departments into separate groups for easier management.
With customisable groups, you can bring order to your workspace while still being able to engage with all the necessary conversations.
Seamless Integration with Other Microsoft Tools: As always, MS Teams integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 tools like Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint. The new version of Teams enhances this by ensuring that grouped chats and channels work smoothly with these tools. You can easily access shared documents, schedules, and emails within your custom groups, all from the same interface.
How to Use These New Features
To get started with the new version of MS Teams, firstly you should ensure that your MS Teams is up to date. If you’re part of the beta or new release, you’ll notice the new features available in the app.
Once the new features are enabled to Create a Group simply:
Go to the Teams section on the left-hand menu.
Click Create a new group and select the option to combine chats and channels.
Name your group and select the chats and channels you want to add.
Customise Your Group: Once your group is set up, you can organise it by adding or removing conversations, changing the group’s name, and adjusting notification settings to suit your needs.
The new version of Microsoft Teams is a big step forward in improving collaboration and productivity for teams of all sizes. By allowing you to combine chats, channels, and create customizable groups, Microsoft Teams has redefined how we interact and collaborate in a digital workspace. These changes will help you stay organized, work more efficiently, and get the most out of your time on Teams.
Ready to boost your team’s collaboration? Try out the new MS Teams features today and see how grouping chats and channels can improve your team’s communication and productivity!