Microsoft Teams chat is coming to Outlook

Microsoft is planning to add Teams chat integration into Outlook. The software giant has started testing this new feature recently, and Microsoft says it will be available for all users in March 2023.

“This feature provides an easy Teams chat experience from Outlook in the context of a meeting for participants to send a quick message or review the chat,” reads an item on Microsoft’s roadmap for its productivity and cloud services.

The chat integration appears to be limited to Outlook calendar items, and will be useful for meeting organizers and participants to discuss a meeting in real time rather than sending emails back and forth.

Microsoft is also planning to include Teams messages in search results in Outlook on the web. This feature is planned for February, alongside AI-based file suggestions in Teams chats. An expanded view for the Teams profile cards is also arriving in February, with a view that includes a person’s profile, contact data, LinkedIn information, and more.

This new Outlook and Teams integration follows a number of recent additions to Microsoft Teams, including scheduled send, instant polls in meetings, improved search results, and an unread toggle for messages.

While Microsoft continues to improve Teams on a monthly basis, the company is also seeking to settle antitrust concerns around its bundling of Teams with Office. Slack filed a competition complaint against Microsoft in the EU more than two years ago, and now Reuters reports Microsoft has offered concessions to the European Commission to try and fend off a formal EU antitrust investigation.