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What´s the reason that I can´t delete chats
Does anybody know why it is not pssible to delete old chats?
Hello there Sophie_Bruehl
The truth is that you can't delete old chats, this is what we call "by-design". There’s no option to delete a full chat in Microsoft Teams. But you should be able to delete or edit your own messages.
What you can right now, are the following options:
- Deleting a single chat message on Microsoft Teams- Hiding the chat: Hiding a chat keeps it out of your way on Teams. To hide a chat, right-click on the chat name, and click hide. Once you hide the chat, it only shows up again when someone sends a new message to it. You can also bring the chat back by searching for a participant’s name or the chat in your search box. Right-click on the chat and choose to unhide to see it again.
- Muting the chat: You can also mute a chat if you’re sure you don’t want to hear from it again. You’ll still be in the conversation when you mute a chat but won’t receive notifications. Right-click the chat and choose the mute option. You can then hide the chat, too if you like. Right-click and click unmute to receive notifications again.
If you’re worried about long-term chat archives, you can check your admin settings. Teams chat, file, and channel information is saved indefinitely by default on Teams. You can change retention policies in the Microsoft 365 compliance center.
When you set a retention policy for Teams, you can choose which information you keep. Your policy will allow you to:
- Retain Teams messages for a specific period then delete it
- Delete Teams chats or channel messages after a specific duration.Last but not least, you can vote on the UserVoice for this feature to come out as soon as possible - the posts with more votes, get more attention for the backend/design team.
Some examples here for this "delete chat feature": https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/41353873-delete-chat-conversations ; https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/40870207-delete-chat ; https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/41461267-delete-chat-message
Hope this helps 🙂
pedro_salvador_gomes- interesting to note here that in Europe we have what are called GDPR guidelines, and one of the most important rules is the "right to be forgotten". This means that as a user, I have a right to request my data is removed/deleted from hosting systems at my request. If ms are continuing to retain old chat history and not giving me the option to delete targeted or specific data, then surely this is actually a breach of those very important GDPR guidelines. I must be given the ability to remove old data that I no longer require, or may no longer be relevant (like when a colleague leaves the company, why should I be forced to retain old chat information and data that pertains to them, especially if they have submitted a GDPR data request to remove data relating to them (or me!) ? )
Microsoft need to up the ante here and give individual users the option to remove data that they have no more use of. That is especially important for GDPR data removal requests, and a fundamental right under those guidelines - see https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-to-erasure/
I have had a request to remove data relating to a colleague that has left the company, and I am unable to do so with Teams. That is a GDPR breach, and as such needs to be reported to the Information Commissioners Office. I have no option other than "hide" which is tantamount to burying my head in the sand. I have attached the UK GDPR document in full, and would guide you to "Right to Erasure" section, and link provided above.
deegeepee You cannot delete a whole chat conversation right now but as a team owner with a team setting "owner can delete messages" the owner/owners can delete all messages from all users, the users can also be allowed to delete their posted messages. Anyway, it's is controlled by CsTeamsMessagingPolicy and with further granular control using Set-Team (if the setting is checked or not). Besides that you can use retention policies to delete data, for some users or all, for chats, for channel messages, and private channel messages.
- In order to comply gdpr the user should be able to delete his/her own chats, not just the admin after being able to read and or copy them. Microsoft doesn't comply but I guess its to big to be subject to law.
- If the user deletes the chat themselves they also have no way to prove they deleted data as requested. If done via the admin center you can provide evidence that it was done. Having proof that it was done is part of the GDPR requirement. If you simply delete everything and say "Yep I did it" you are still not complying with GDPR.
- Where can I find this settings? Is there any way to do this via Microsoft Azure?
can I do this without an Azure subscription?
I only want to delete chats but it seems Microsoft don't allow me to do it..
- With Teams free you get Azure AD Free. You can only delete your own chats/posts using Teams free as the policies controlling owner deletion of messages in a team are not included in Teams free.
ChristianJBergstrom thanks for reply - do we know if this delete thread functionality is in the pipeline?
- It's in "Planned" status. But you can use retention policies until it's rolled out, they are very effective.
https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/33535006-delete-private-chat-threads
