Messaging
MessagingOverview
There are two main options for sending/receiving messages within Microsoft Teams:
- Post messages within a Team Channel. (Note: You must be a member of a team in order to post to one of its channels.)
- Participate in one-on-one and group chats outside of an existing Team.
Messages within a Team’s Channel are called Posts and can be viewed by anyone in the Channel.
Creating a New Post
- Click Teams in the left sidebar.
- Find the team that you would like to interact with in the left-hand Teams menu and click on the Channel where you would like to post.
- Make sure the Posts tab is selected at the top of the Channel window.
- Use the text box at the bottom of the window to prepare a new message. When you are ready, click Send (
). If you’d like to tag someone in your message, simply type the @ symbol and their name (e.g. @JohnJumbo) then select them from the popup menu.
Responding to a Post
To respond to someone else’s post, you can simply create a new post using the directions described above. You can also move your mouse over a post and use one of the available emojis or additional options.

Threads
If you wish to respond to someone’s post while creating a separate thread within the conversation, click the Reply option under their post and compose your message.

As people continue to reply to each other within the thread, it creates a side conversation. The main conversation and any other threads can still continue on as usual. To hide this side conversation, click the Collapse all button.

Finding an Existing Chat
- Select Chat from the left sidebar.
- Click on one of the existing chats in the left-hand Chat menu to view it. This list will include one-on-one and group chats outside of your Teams, as well as chat logs from virtual meetings.
Starting a New Chat
- Select Chat from the left sidebar.
- Click the pencil icon (
) toward the top of the Teams window.
- A new message page will load. In the To field, type the name of a person you’d like to chat with. Suggestions will appear from the Tufts Directory. Multiple people can be added this way.
- Use the text box at the bottom of the chat window to prepare a new message. If you’d like to tag someone in your message, simply type the @ symbol and their name (e.g. @JohnJumbo) then select them from the popup menu.
- When you are ready, click Send (
).
Responding to a Chat
To respond to someone else’s chat, you can simply create a new message using the directions described above. You can also move your mouse over a message and use one of the available emojis or additional options.
