What you need to know
- Teams Chat integration is now rolling out for testers on Windows 11.
- It's an early version that's missing a handful of features.
- It's also only available to a subset of Insiders at this time.
Microsoft has started rolling out an early preview build of the Microsoft Teams integration features to a subset of Insiders on the latest Dev Channel build. The Teams Chat integration will automatically show up on the Taskbar after a reboot if you're eligible to test it.
Microsoft Teams integration on Windows 11 was one of the big feature announcements for the OS, allowing you to communiate with friends, family and colleagues directly from the Taskbar. It works via a combination of two things; a dedicated chat flyout UI built into the Taskbar, and a new lightweight Teams client powered by WebView2.
This first preview only includes the ability to sync contacts and text them, with video calls and "meet now" capabilities coming later. Microsoft is highlighing the following features that will be available via Teams Chat integration when it's all fully done:
- When you want to reach out to someone, it's as simple as clicking the Chat icon in the taskbar (or WIN+C for the keyboard shortcut fans out there!). At a glance, you'll see your most recent individual and group conversations and be able to respond or start a new chat or call.
- When others contact you, you'll receive beautiful, native notifications and even be able to respond directly inline to text chats. You can accept or decline calls directly from the notifications and decide whether you want to pick up as audio only or with video, too.
- You won't need to ask your friends and family for any special codes to connect with them. Simply send a message to their email address or phone number and if they're not already using Teams, they'll receive your message via email or SMS along with an invitation to join the Teams network if they wish.
- If you've used Skype or Outlook for personal communications with your Microsoft Account in the past, you'll have the option to sync those contacts to start using them from day one. You can also sync contacts from your mobile device by installing the Teams mobile app and turning on contact sync, further saving you time.
- You can easily invite others to a group chat or video call. Just copy the link and send it or share via email no matter if they have Teams installed. They can click the link it to join.
Once again, Teams Chat integration is rolling out now to a subset of Insiders. It's unclear who will get it or when, but more Insiders should receive the feature over the coming weeks if you don't get it straight away.
What are your thoughts on Windows 11's new Teams Chat integration? Let us know in the comments.
