Can no longer add People to a chat and include chat history in Microsoft Teams?

Copper Contributor

Used to be able to add additional people to a chat and get option to show chat history with add person icon at top of screen.  Now, when press button you only get the option to start a brand new group chat and never given option to include chat history.. this was a VERY useful feature that seems to have been removed?

Not sure if this on purpose or is this a bug?

31 Replies
Hello
I tested on one of my tenants and the option is still there, is this happening to you on every group chat you have or a specific one?
Tried on iOS app and it does say “Create new chat group” as the desktop (Mac) app shows, but here it doesn’t even ask if you want to show history.. just shows it.. also not good, but in the other direction :smirking_face:
Oh, I do not have Mac or iOS to try, what about web version? do you experience the same?

@terrenceNokia we also have lost that functionality in recent times.

@bla1820 

 

Same here. This has stopped working for all. I think Microsoft removed this functionality for some reason? Would be great if they can reply here confirming.

@terrenceNokia 

I also just tried this and am having the same issue - I had to start a new chat :(

I have exactly the same problem in MS Teams web version. When you have a chat conversation with one person and you want to add a third one, it creates a new chat without the option to keep the conversation history. This option was very helpful

@terrenceNokia 

 

This is intermittent and mainly for chats with one person.  In group chats I am able to add with history still.

 

I'm not sure if this is expected functionality, but it makes sense.  Otherwise your entire 1:1 chat history could be mistakenly shared when you are working on your current project.  One mistake and you could be talking about someone's odd Uncle... if you know what I mean... instead of talking about the project you are trying to share.

 

I am making this up as a MS User, but decisions like this are made at some level in MS (good ethical decisions) and not communicated well.  It's a pretty daunting task.

So, is there any fix available now?  

@Parth1010  I believe MS intentionally blocks the odd uncle issue with 1:1 chats due to ethical concerns. I would defer to a MS Champion to confirm. 

 

Adding users to group chats is not a problem on our current update, but your mileage may vary.

 

Personally I am happy not being able to add people with chat history to a 1:1 chat, and having a group chat start with no history when the first user is added.  That is the behavior now and not a problem.

 

Others may disagree and escalate.  Please respond if anyone knows better.

@Tim_Smith In my opinion, this functionality should not be removed. Instead, it should set the "don't share history" as the default option.

I agree with JimmyYang on this one. I use Teams Chat heavily to collaborate with co-workers. I appreciate being asked if I want to share Chat history - that's an important check - but I _do_ need to be able to share history to bring new people into a conversation without copying or re-hashing everything that went before. Seems very strange to me that they would remove this capability from a tool that's supposed to be promoting collaboration.
I am also having this issue but only for chats with one person. No option is offered to share chat history. Chats with multiuple people it is stilll offered... Seems like a design decison - can somone from MS comment please?

@terrenceNokia 

Same issue here! Following to hopefully hear of a workaround. 

@Fay4Short    @Pernille-Eskebo Any update on this. As this was huge asset to teams as we pulled in other departments for conversations. 

@terrenceNokia 

 

Hi,

In my organisation, I have seen the same concern, but only for people outside the organization.

  • I add interns -> I have the choice on the history
  • I add externs -> it creates a new conversation

So in my opinion, the feature has not disappeared.

 

Déborah

@DeborahFR We haven't even tried to add external (guest) users to a conversation. It has always been an end-user that is a part of our user base. It always wants to start a new conversation. As before we could add individuals and choose to include past conversations. 

UPDATE: not sure if this is the case for everyone, but this feature is back... thank you MS! 🙏🏾

Having a choice would give us the best of both worlds - a prominent default option that the history won't be shared but with the option to disable that.