Is it possible to create a team from a group chat?

[Nelson Rodriguez]

I gave a Teams training in a Teams meeting with various assistants and i would like to become that resulting chat group a team itself so we can collaborate with files, use applications, and use it as a Q&A team for that people. Is it possible to accomplish that idea?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

No, ufortunately not! You need to create a team and add those members again one by one

[#3]

[Updated 02/08/2022]

@Nelson Rodriguez - Adam is right here.

Multiple Feedbacks on the new portal including

Creating new Team directly from a group chat · Community (microsoft.com)
Allow Group Chats to be Converted into a Team Channel · Community (microsoft.com)

Note: The private chat would become a permanent team, and all previous chat history would be retained in the newly created team.

Would recommend you vote for this to push it up the agenda. I would personally like to see this functionality introduced so have voted for both of the above

Hope his helps!

Best, Chris

[#4]

I have the same need i.e. we have a long-running chat that contains alot of useful stuff, and we want to continue working in this established space rather than restart from scratch with a team.

Here's a workaround I came up with.

1. In the top left of the chat pane, click the 'Name group chat' icon (the pencil icon) to rename the chat group. Give it a team name e.g. rename it from "Fred, Mary, George" to "XYZ Project Team".

2. Locate your renamed chat in the list of chats to the left of the chat pane. Hover over the chat name and click the 'More options' icon (the three dots). Click Pin.

The chat is now pinned to the top of your chat list. It's easy to locate, has a meaningful team name (even though it's not a 'team') and offers the majority of key features you'd want in a team e.g. chat (posts), files, and tabs for additional applications. It would be great to convert a chat to a team, but in the interim this is not a bad alternative. 

[#5]

@timwilsononline Really nice tip!

[#6]

I do feel that this is a useful feature to implement. I was just looking for this ability hence running into this thread. A move to or create channel from chat. Sometimes chats become bigger with more people being added.

[#7]

@donatwork  I, too, was looking to do this just now, and found this unfortunate answer that it "is not possible." I will keep my chat for a while longer, hoping for this feature to get picked up by the TEAMS team soon, so that I can convert my chat to a team.  I like a Team better because it has better file management. For one, the 3-dot menu has more options for files in a Team/Channel, vs. a Chat.

[#8]

@timwilsononline  this was a good workaround until recently. We can no longer add a File like an excel or word doc as a Tab at the top of the chat. If we could convert the Chat to a Team we can then add our File as a tab. I vote for conversion!

[#9]

@Nelson Rodriguez 

I agree with other comments - that this is something that needs to be given attention. I'm sure that many people have this question, as the whole point is, something may start as a chat and then evolve into something that needs the functionality of a Team. I can see that 5 years later, it's still not been addressed!

[#10]

The voting page does not work. It is sad to see that nearly 5 years since this has been reported, no action has been taken.

[#11]

Well Slack has this feature and I found it quite useful.