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?
180 Replies
Has this been addressed? The loss of the contacts list is an absolute nightmare, especially for people who use Teams as their phone system. Is there a useful 3rd party app that will replace the functionality that Microsoft just gutted?
- Also very dissappointing that MS would remove the Contact List. I could quickily see the different teams and most importantly, THEIR PRESENCE, which the People option doesn't seem to do. Did MS not receive feedback from any beta testers? Judging by the responses here, I have to think others would have raised this concern.
This is a terrible decision to remove the contacts area. I hope this is rectified ASAP, as this is a deal breaker.
- Since a Couple of Weeks there is the new "People" App in Teams 2.0 that replaces the Contacts
Hi MartinT1985, I believe that most on this thread are well aware of the People App existence and functionality. The specific concern for most, including myself is the inability to show multiple groups of people at the same time along with their prescence.
- NEW Teams lasted 10 minutes for me because this is missing
Wow is this missing contact list stupid MicroSoft! Why remove functionality before the replacement is ready? Much like you did / do when you consistently remove hotkeys, like in the old pulldowns when introducing the "ribbon", why don't you just turn back on the Contacts. Moving back to the "old" teams, this is too ridiculous!!!!
- The suggestion to "Pin" frequently contacted user, is basically contacts without being able to group them. Dumb idea.
I had all my contact arranged by dept, which was very useful.
This new configuration is not useful at all.
I'll be going back to the old version.- Agree!!! Its hard to understand who thought this was a good idea.
- I can't for the life of me find that "People" thingy to test it out. I can find it in old teams under apps but I cannot add it. In new teams it does not show up in search results.
Anyways - I think I have a theory: when pandemic hit and there was a sharp demand for messaging apps MS ran into performance issues in Teams. They've made several changes: decreased the content sharing quality to 720p; increased the status refresh time in "Contacts" tab. The status poll interval to this day remains either super long or is "manual" (refreshed on load or leaving the Chat-->Contacts tab and opening a hidden tab e.g. Tasks and then opening Contacts again). Currently you need to hover a contact for the pop-up window to appear in order for Teams to update the said contact's status. People keep calling me during meetings, calls. I make sure to double check contact's status before calling.
This is likely why the new mysterious unobtanium People app does not show statuses in the list (as per other people testimony who somehow managed to find that People "Unicorn" App).
TL.DR.:
MS likely did not want to show a "fake" status in the People app users list so they've hidden in under a separate menu.nameless0ne I found "People" it by selecting the "Calls" icon on the left, then selecting the "View Contacts" on the top right on the screen. I do miss being able to see their status' as a group under the categories.
Yeah, but I don't think that there is really a way to actually use these or update that list unless you went back to the old teams to use it. I really wish I could come to their AMA event in two days for the new Teams and just wonder in awe as to what their answers are gonna be regarding these weird changes.
Personally, I'm also finding it ironic that they put pins to replace a feature that's existed for literally decades in every chat platform, but then didn't allow you to pin apps to your Teams sidebar. That is beyond goofy if you ask me.
- ‘Ask Microsoft Anything’ (AMA) event specific to the new Microsoft Teams takes place on Thursday, October 26, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PT . Promoted as a good opportunity to "connect with members of the product engineering team who will be on hand to answer your questions and listen to feedback". This might be a great time to bring up your issues and questions with respect to the "Classic Teams Contacts" {missing in action} vs the "New Teams People App".
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-events/new-microsoft-teams-ama/ev-p/3946551I'm in the Contacts section of Teams most of the day where I can easily group team members and people from other departments. Losing this feature is a huuuge loss and I will be reverting to Classic Teams until this is fixed.
- The ability of big tech companies (not only talking about MS here) to break/remove the features that work or are useful nowadays is mind blowing. Last example that comes to mind is the last Steam client, before you could get the friend windows with a right-click on the tray icon, super useful, new version is released, feature is gone. I am wondering, are company still use qualified UX team anymore? Sometimes I even tend to think it's done on purpose.
- So, I have the People button, but i still can't see all my contacts in Outlook so i can call someone from Teams using Teams Calling/Phone?!?!?
This is nuts! How can this be missing still???- I think there is still a lot of work required to simply replicate features in the NEW Teams that existed in the OLD app. The new People App for Contacts definitely feels unfinished. Annoyingly you cannot PIN the new People App to the left side bar and have to go looking for it all the time you need to use it. Individual Status availability cannot be seen in the contacts list without having to click each contact (separate from chat). If you had set a notification on for when a contact was available in the OLD client, this feature seems to have now disappeared in the NEW client. You can no longer select a Custom time from the drop down, to "Clear status Message after". These are simple features that should have been automatically included in the NEW Teams. When features are available in a earlier version of a client, there is an expectation they should be available in an "upgrade?" even if a new client is still considered in development. Hopefully these features will come back eventually.
