Forum Discussion
Forwarding Teams Chat Messages
From mid-November 2023, users have the chance to forward Teams chat messages. The feature works for 1:1, group, and meeting chats. The lack of a forward option in the Teams desktop and browser client...
We're on the monthly enterprise channel at my org so I don;t know when this feature pulled through. It's great -- what's a little bit vexing is that if user A attaches a file but doesn't share it more widely than with user B, forward recipients users C, D, etc won't have permissions unless A shares the file with them. Curious if there's a neater workaround on the roadmap than downloading and duplicating the file, or if it's intentional that forwarding is more limited than with traditional email attachments (which of course, are really just downloaded and uploaded duplicates without the obvious process).
It's intentional. You can't assume that someone who receives a file via forwarding should have access to the file. It's up to the owner of the file to decide that.
- I understand the logic. But it's logical at the same time as it's incongruous: people have been forwarding email attachments to each other with impunity, with minimal consideration to the original sender's intentions, since it's been possible. Now, many general users will think they've forwarded a file attached to a Teams message with the same result as if they'd emailed it, without explicit thought that the onward sharing won't work unless they jump through new hoops. And very few people (imho) really understand what they're doing when the 365 Share dialog pops up...
- As I have said for many years, Teams is not email and Teams will not replace email. It's a mistake to take a habit accrued in one workload and imagine that it will work the same way in another. And keeping tabs on permissions is important in an era when generative AI is all too willing to consume and reuse any and all information it can access...
- All sound points which serve to show the chasm between the average person's comprehension of the issues and the education we all actually need to roll out. It would help us if Microsoft would refrain from marketing this as 'Now you can forward stuff in Teams ... JUST LIKE WITH EMAIL!' 🙂