Forum Discussion
Contact list no longer available in new Teams version
When new teams go live, can I keep using the old version?
The new version only has a chat list and no contact list.
I regularly use my contact list to determine if someone is in the office.
If I must use the new teams, can someone suggest a workaround?
Hi Dianne_NZ ,
If the new version of Microsoft Teams does not include a contact list and you rely on it for determining someone's availability, there are a few workarounds you can consider:
1. Presence Indicators: In the new version of Teams, you can still see the presence indicators of your colleagues. The presence indicator shows if a person is available, busy, away, or offline. This can give you a general idea of whether someone is in the office or not.
2. Chat Search: You can use the search feature in Teams to find specific individuals. Simply type their name in the search bar, and Teams will show you the matching results. This can help you locate and message a specific person to inquire about their availability.
3. Status Messages: Encourage your colleagues to update their status messages to indicate their availability or current location. People can add custom status messages to their Teams profile, such as "In a meeting," "Working remotely," or "Out of office." By checking their status message, you can get an idea of their availability.
4. Team Calendar: If your organization uses Microsoft Outlook or another calendar system integrated with Teams, you can check the team or group calendars to see if someone is scheduled to be in the office or has any appointments.
5. Pin Frequently Contacted People: In the new Teams version, you can pin frequently contacted people to your chat list. This will keep their names visible and easily accessible for quick communication. While it may not provide a comprehensive contact list, it can help you keep important contacts readily available.
Remember that these workarounds might not offer the same level of functionality as the previous contact list, but they can provide some alternatives in the absence of a dedicated contact list in the new version of Teams.
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I have to concur with the other comments. I manage people by groups. I create groups in the contacts piece so I can monitor and lookup those different people. Not having either a way to create groups (outside of favorites) does not work for me. Either it wasn't thought of in production or HIGHLY underestimated.
Dear Microsoft,
Please put the contacts list back on the new Teams. This was a very useful feature easily available. Why would you remove it? this was a downgrade and makes MS Teams less useful and less user friendly. Not good. No No.
You are not understanding the value of contact lists. For example, I could just drop down the contract group in which I added members of a certain team and could right away see who was available and who was not so I can initiate the chat. Please bring the feature back in the new teams.
- Hm, no contact list makes the preview useless for me. switched back after minutes
(I only use the contacts for externals) - Why did Microsoft remove a basic option like this...? This proves that application makers don't really use Teams...
I'm going to run it with the old version as long as it's available... or the contact option comes back.
Really disappointed...- I swapped back over to the trial once since posting, which was weeks ago, then swapped right back to the production version. there's just no other simple way to check the status of a group of people to determine who to contact.
Dianne_NZ I mainly use Teams because of the Contacts feature, and I keep it as my default view. Without Contacts, I no longer see the reason to use Teams. The features I love are:
- Status visibility
- Adding or deleting contacts to different groups
- Option to notifications when a contact becomes available
- Immediate access to chat or screen sharing with available contacts
This is a very powerful tool that should be enhanced rather than eliminated. If anything, I suggest that Contacts and Chats have their own icons rather than having to toggle between the two.
" I suggest that Contacts and Chats have their own icons rather than having to toggle between the two. "
I agree with you 200%... it was like that a long time ago... another modification that does not make any sense.
- Any news about the return of this feature in new Teams.
Our company has just migrated and it's a pain not being able to use it, because I had people grouped in different categories, and I could easily find them, now I only have a chat list which is complete chaos.
Considering that this discussion already has 7 pages and new replies are still appearing, I would say it's quite important to users for usability. - Yep just reverted back to the old teams for the 20th time. until this simple but extremely usefully function is add back in I will refuse to update to the new teams. How in the world has this still not been fixed?
We need Contacts like the old version in the new........
I will add my voice to this thread. I found small area of "Contact List" and the Contact Groups within it a (clunky) workaround for handling multiple department contacts. The obscenely HUGE (and frankly pointless) history display in the same window was just salt in the wound.
I hoped a better user experience would be available in "new" Teams, but it seems what little that made it bearable has been removed (in classic Microsoft fashion). I reverted within 2 minutes of trying the "new" version.
The ability to group contacts makes a nasty UI a bit better to use. Losing it seems counter-intuitive to anything approaching a smooth workflow for anyone with multiple contacts in multiple departments.Skotzmun As mentioned above, the People app is the replacement for Contacts in the new Teams client, might not be available to everyone yet but it is coming.
- Steven Collier - you'll forgive me if the combination of "Microsoft have randomly removed a usable feature" and "Coming soon from Microsoft to replace..." does not fill me with confidence.
I believe the phrase "Thirty years of hurt" sums it up quite well. 😕
- yesterday they announced that the new people app feature is available.
slight issue: no communication where this can be found and i've been searching for 15 minutes without any luck. It's not in the apps list, it's not hidden behind the chat app like the good old client... no clue where it's supposed to be...- I found it in the "more apps" section just now. Not really impressed at all. Lacks the integration like the current client into chat and calls. No status indication for each person on the list. Will be sticking with the current client based on this.
markm66 Beside each name there does seem to be a chat and call button option to use, and selecting the three dots ... next to those, you do have more options including favorites, speed dial, category, chat, audio call and e-mail. The only thing missing at the outset seems to be a quick "status indicator", although clicking the name does bring up more individual details including the individuals status. Perhaps the status icon will come eventually. The new People app brought over my previous "groups" as Categories. If it had the individual status indicator, I think it would meet most requirements of the old Contacts feature. Hopefully something they can build upon. I think I will work with it for a while and see how it goes, but still hold on any organizational rollout as I think the New Teams still has some growing pains to work through.
- Well some progress at least ... the "People App" has now moved to the "What's available" column ... https://adoption.microsoft.com/en-us/new-microsoft-teams/
I found it! Its no longer under chats, but under Calls. it doesn't show their status, which sucks, but at least the list is still there
Calls > View Contacts
Once you get to this page you can pin People to your side bar, so you wont have to go looking for all contacts again.
- The People feature is fine, unfortunately grouping is more difficult (ie. creating folders for each department). The loss of their status is the biggest detriment for me. It used to be a quick glance in the department to see who's here. Now you must click on each user to see.
- Of course the list is still there, it's still in outlook and if you roll back... that's 70% of the importance.
It's the easy look at the status, as you mention being missing, that is the other 70% of the entire importance. People is a good app, but it doesn't show people's status - is it to much ask for both 🙂
- I use "contacts" all the time. The workarounds mentioned are not as useful as the original "contacts" . I'm switching back to the previous version until this feature is included.
