Teams and Skype Inter/Op now available
Published Jun 17 2020 08:00 AM 37.9K Views

As noted in the What’s New in Microsoft Teams | May 2020 blog, we recently started rolling out Teams and Skype Inter/Op. Today we are happy to share the roll out is complete – Teams users can now chat and call millions of Skype users around the world.


We know there is a large ecosystem of small and medium businesses using Skype as their collaboration tool. Many of our Microsoft 365 customers value being able to do business with this ecosystem. Scenarios such as securely communicating with vendors, suppliers, contractors, project managers and HR interviews are just some of the reasons why this is important. Usage is growing with thousands of messages being sent every day.


Remote workers using Teams will also be pleased to know we support this on a variety of devices: mobile (Android and iOS), Web, Windows, and Mac. For an optimal Skype experience, we recommend version 8.58 and later. We also are targeting support for Teams Phones by the end of June.


Let’s understand the capabilities that are supported.


Teams Users searching for Skype Users

It starts with Teams or Skype users wanting to collaborate together directly. Teams users can invite a Skype colleague by using the search bar or simply start a chat. The Skype user then accepts the request and both users can chat, call or share video. Alternatively, the Skype user can also block the request if they so choose.

1.jpg

 

Skype users searching for Teams users
Skype users can reach out to collaborate by sending a request. The Teams user is warned this is an external user and then they can accept or block. Admins can also block at the tenant level – see below for more information.

2.png

 

Chatting, Audio, and Video

Once users are connected – they can easily chat back and forth. It is encrypted at rest and in transit so both parties can securely communicate. Today simple text is supported but we are looking at enhancing that based on feedback. And it’s easy to add audio and/or video to the chat for a full collaborative calling experience.

3.png

 

Easily Managed by Users and Admins

Individual Teams users can easily block any requests with a simple right-click. This lets them control which Skype users they will collaborate with.


Teams Administrators can also easily control usage at the tenant level. A single switch can be set to off and block all Skype users from communicating with tenant users. And for admins who prefer PowerShell this is easy to configure as well.

4.png


If you have Teams deployed in your organization and need to provide access to Skype users, please give it a try. It's easy to use and support. Be sure to read our documentation for it here. We would love to hear your use case for it – post a comment below.


 

22 Comments
Iron Contributor

Audio and video calls works perfect. But chat doesn't. Can send a chatmessage to a teams contact. But send a chatmessage back doesn't arrive at the skypeuser. No errors displayed

Copper Contributor

Chat works for me. Have sent messages to my Skype account from my Teams account without any issues.

Microsoft

@RonaldvdMeer - I'll ping the Team for more information. Does your org still use SfB? If you do, what mode are you in?

Microsoft

@RonaldvdMeer we had some reports when sometimes the first messages can be a bit delayed, it was the same from SFB, would be great to try again and let us know. Check also that Skype users can reach out to you.

Copper Contributor

Was sind die Anforderungen an Teams (Teams Only, Teams Island)? 

Iron Contributor

@Paul Cannon 

No we do not use SfB. We are all in Teams Only mode

Iron Contributor

I tested it again just now with the same teams and skype user. Chat is now working both ways.

Copper Contributor

I try to connect to a few Skype personal accounts from within Teams.
The request to chat goes through and can be accepted but chats fail with the following message:

 

Teams2Skype_Probleem.png

 

I don't find references to this error message online. Communication with Skype users is enabled.
Where can I find help on this issue? Thanks!

 

 

Copper Contributor

@tomrebryTF  We also experience this issue. But inconsistently. Some messaging works with external clients and some fail like your screenshot demonstrates.

Would be great to get some help as to why this is

Copper Contributor

We have issue connecting to @skypeids.net users. Is it not supported? 

Microsoft

We are looking at the errors when messages don't always get delivered. @skypeids.net is not supported, this first version only supports email based search.

Copper Contributor

How to search for Skype Ids which are not attached to email address? Or attached to non- Microsoft email addresses?

Microsoft

The search is email based so you can search for any email address that is attached to a Microsoft account (MSA). We don't support other ways to search for users at this time such as phone number search. 

Copper Contributor

Working fine for me.

 

Is there any news regarding screen sharing ?

Copper Contributor

Can you share files in this new scenario?  between a Skype user and a Teams user in Teams only mode?

Copper Contributor

@Raymond Garry  apart from chat, audio and video call, I did not see any features (whether on Teams or Skype Consumer side

Copper Contributor

Are SIP SRV records required for interop anymore if Skype for business online\Skype consumer is used?

Copper Contributor

It is working fine for me, but not all combinations of TEAMS and SKYPE Consumer

 

have seen some occurnaces of it not working, possibly could be related with that respective account(s) setup.

Iron Contributor

@tomrebryTF 

same also here, I am in contact with Microsoft Support, which is not really helping. They want to troubleshoot my "whitelist" and wrote me i need to remove all domains, although I explained that all skype accounts are already whitelisted regarding the documentation.

Question: For me, it is possible to have calls, but not chats, I get the same error message. But is a call between Skype and Teams possible for you?

in which area is your tenant? US, Europe? 

TBH, I have my problems with the MS Support in Europe. IMO the support is not familiar with the product.

Microsoft

@salihzett can you let me know the number of the support case that you have open with our support team and I'll follow-up to better understand what they are suggesting.

Iron Contributor
Iron Contributor

Hey guys,

for everyone who has this issue where chatting is not possible, keep sure that Skype for Business is enabled in your Azure environment. (AzureAD - Enterprise Applications).

After this, it works immediately.

Best

Version history
Last update:
‎Jan 26 2021 12:05 PM
Updated by: