Learn about the user interface (UI) change made to Microsoft Teams which combines chats and channels into a new, single view.
Table of Contents
About the New Chat and Channels Experience in Teams
Microsoft Teams released their new chat and channels experience in May 2025 and was enabled at Tarleton State University in summer 2025. The UI update combines chat, teams, and channels into a single view. It also includes new filters, viewing channels in a single list, customizable sections to organize chat and channel shortcuts, and other UI changes for both desktop and mobile. Those who don't care for the changes can set chats and channels back to separate tabs.
New Chat Tab
By default, the Teams tab is gone, and the Chat tab contains everything.
From the top down, you have these features:
- More List Options (...): Mark all as ready, collapse all sections, jump to Chat & Channels settings
- Search
- New: Chat, channel, team, section
- Filters: Click to turn on/off filter to find what you're looking for
- Copilot: Opens Copilot chat
- @Mentions: Lists recent messages that @mention you
- Favorites: Top default section, drag and drop to customize
- Chats: All chats not in favorites or another section
- Teams and channels: All channels not in favorites or another section
Chat Customize View
You can customize the Chat tab by going to the More options (...) above Chat and click on Customize view.
To enable combined chats and channels, you must enable both List and Combined.
You can scroll down to make other setting changes as you prefer.
Revert Back to Separate Chats & Teams
If at any point you want Chat and Teams back as separate tabs, you can make a quick change in Microsoft Teams settings.
Go to the More options (...) above Chat and click on Customize view.
Under Viewing chats, teams, and channels change it from Combined to Separate.
The Chat and Teams tabs on the left will immediately return.
Note, changing this setting on one computer will change it for all computers you use with Microsoft Teams.
Add Sections
Create your own sections to organize both chats and channels by project, topic, or frequency of use.
Click New Items at the top of the Chat panel.
Click New Section.
Name your new section. It'll appear between Favorites and Chats.
Drag and drop any chats and/or channels you wish to have in the section together.
- Chats are moved and will only be found in the new section they are added to.
- If Teams and Channels is set to "Teams and channels" (see below), then a shortcut is created in the new section and the channel also remains in its original location. If you add a team's "General" channel, it will rename itself in the new section after its team.
- If Teams and Channels is set to "Channels only" then the channel is moved like a chat.
- You cannot add a whole team.
You can collapse the section with the left arrow.
Customize the sorting with the More Options menu (...) to the right of the section's name.
Organize Teams & Channels
By default, the Teams & Channels section under the new UI maintains the classic organization of listing teams, and then their channels. But to work better with the new UI, you can now view all channels independent of their team. This allows for easier reorganization of your most active or important channels across multiple teams. And you can sort all channels by most recent, helping you to never miss a post.
Click the More Options menu (...) to the right of Teams and channels.
Select "Channels only" to remove the teams based organization. You can already revert to Teams and channels if you prefer.
The "General" channels from each team will be renamed after their team name.
With "Channels only" selected, you can now sort channels. Click the More Options menu (...) to the right of Channels.
- Sort by "Most recent" is recommended
Any channels you drag into a new section will be moved to the section and removed from under Channels.
Teams on iPhone and Android
The new chat and channels experience is also present on the Microsoft Teams mobile app, and many new mobile-friendly options have been added.
Mobile-specific Settings
Customize your mobile layout without affecting your desktop or web layout. Including being able to separate chat and channels on one, but not the other.
Tap the More Options (...) menu in the upper right corner of the Teams app, and then select Customize View.
Select both List View and Combined to get the full new UI experience. Or select Separate to keep chats and channel under their own tabs at the bottom of the app.
Scroll down further to reorder sections created on your desktop copy of Teams.
Message Previews
On by default, it shows you a glimpse of incoming messages without needing to open them directly.
Tap the More Options (...) menu in the upper right corner of the Teams app, and then select Customize View.
Enable or disable message previews as you prefer.
Mobile Notifications
Customize the type of notifications you get on your phone.
Tap on your profile icon in the upper left corner, then select Notifications.
Set mobile specific notification settings as you like.
You can also block mobile notifications during specific times or events.
View Filters
Sort chats and channels into one list by most recent, only show unread messages, or show all mentions in chronological order.
At the top of the Chat tab, you'll see your available filters. Tab on them to activate and deactivate. Tap More to add more filters to the list.
Learn More About the Teams Update
Further reading from Microsoft on the new chat and channel experience in Teams: