SOLVED

Where is disable private chat?

Copper Contributor

Hi there,

 

I was just wondering if anyone knows where the option to disable private chat in teams is.  It used to be in the Messaging options of teams under the old admin as shown below.

 

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When I go into the old admin the settings are greyed out and directs me to go to the new admin to find them, but I cannot find the option to turn private chat off.  We are a school and the powers that be do not want students being able to chat privately with teachers or their peers.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Regards

Darren

30 Replies
best response confirmed by VI_Migration (Silver Contributor)
Solution
It’s going to be under messaging policies now under the newish Teams Admin center. You can apply policies to students and then chat off there in that policy.

Info about messaging policies here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/messaging-policies-in-teams

You basically turn off the chat option.

@Chris Webb  There's a "Chat" option now in messaging policies.  Does that disable just private chat or all chat including chat in channels?  In our case, for now, we want Skype to continue to remain our chat / meeting service but provide persistent group chat in Teams.

@levonclark That setting no longer exists.  It now just exists in messaging policy, called "chat", which appears to disable all chat, not just private chat.  We need a way to disable only private chat.

Yes it will disable only chat tab. However you should consider using upgrade mode Skype with collaboration. This should disable chat for your users and allow teams. Keeping everything but the teams collaboration pieces in Skype.

@levonclark that is the old admin center.  The new one just has the Chat option under messaging policies.  I am about to test it to see if it disables all chat or just private chat, as we still want students to be able to converse with each other through the conversations.

Chat is only private chat, but keep in mind, this will effect the ability to chat in Meetings as well. At least teh ability to go to your chat tab to participate in chat history / running chat of a meeting since you will not have a chat tab once turning this off. 

 

Also when you set this, it will take some time to take effect, up to a few hours possibly. 

@Chris Webb Hi Chris, I tried the disabling chat in messaging policies but the chat tab was still there for the user.  While they had no-one in their list, they could still go to Contacts and add a group to their favorites and then add a contact that way.  The upgrade to skype policy you were talking about.  Where can I find that?

Darren

You can’t just change it and it apply right away. Need to quit Teams or sign out and give it some time but ultimately the chat tab will disappear
It’s in org settings under teams upgrade modes. You want to make sure you understand changing these do have affects across the board for users message routing and ability to use Teams etc.

Search YouTube for coffee in the cloud Teams

Four part video series that goes over all these. The 3rd video is the best.

@Chris Webb Yep, you are right.  I just created a policy and tested it against a student test account.  Just had to wait a bit.  The chat icon has now disappeared.  thanks a lot for your help.  I will have a look at those youtube clips as well.

@Chris Webb Hi Chris, I try it but it seems like we have add the user one by one. If I want to disable the private chat for all kids, how does it work?

@James Rong 
You can do it through Global policy(for all users) or CSV import (for list of users) . 
Managing Private Channels in Microsoft Teams

I hope this will help you.

@Darren Murdoch 

Hi , 

The private chat policy moved to >meeting policy< in the new admin portal.

go to meeting policy > allow chat in meeting 

that will edit the private chat

 

while the >chat< policy in the "messaging policy" will affect the general chat tab in the meeting.

 

Hope it will help you

Hey @Chris Webb, thanks for all of the helpful info your share in this forum! 

 

Any word on whether individual meeting organizers will get the ability to control chat settings for their meetings?  I'm trying to get teachers on board with using Teams versus Zoom for their remote teaching sessions with students, but they would very much like the ability to control chat for their classes on a group-by-group basis and potentially on the fly in a meeting if it is not going well.  

 

Thanks,

Stuart

@SGray 

 

This is already kinda possible. If the classes are created in specific channels the Team Owner (Teacher) can set up moderation that limits who can chat, this is carried over into the meeting, as the chat there is really a conversation in the channel.

^^^ what Steven said. For normal meetings not tied to a channel you cannot disable chat however. I would suggest going to microsoftteams.uservoice.com and finding an idea that probably exists for this and voting.

Live Events might be an option as well, but this only allows presenters / producers to chat and talk / present. Students will have no interaction in the Live event while it's going on other than the Q&A Module where they can send in their questions to the Teacher.

Hey @Steven Collier , that's very helpful to know. I wasn't aware that the Meeting chat followed the moderation settings of the channel! It would allow teachers to schedule meetings in a channel and with moderation enabled to disable chat in their meetings, while still leaving the ability for students to post in another channel.

That being said, with moderation enabled and "Allow members to reply to channel messages", would this also carry over into the meeting, allowing students to respond to a chat message a teacher sends, but not create new messages on their own?

@SGray The meeting chat is effectively one conversation, so all messages are replies. If you leave that enabled it won't prevent the students from chatting. Assuming the teacher is a team owner they wil be able to post.

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by VI_Migration (Silver Contributor)
Solution
It’s going to be under messaging policies now under the newish Teams Admin center. You can apply policies to students and then chat off there in that policy.

Info about messaging policies here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/messaging-policies-in-teams

You basically turn off the chat option.

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