You can't send messages because you are not a member of the chat. - How do I rejoin?

[Mike Boehm]

Howdy,

I was in a recurring meeting a couple weeks ago and afterward people were chatting so I guess I clicked to leave the chat in order to not keep getting notified.  This week I rejoined the meeting and can see the screenshare but I can't chat.

The chat window shows what people were saying in the meeting from a couple weeks ago and the last like says <me> has left the meeting.

Below that where I would normally type it says You can't send messages because you are not a member of the chat.

So since I'm in the meeting, how the heck do I rejoin the chat?  I checked all the buttons and don't see anything to Join Chat since I already have the chat window open, I just can't use it.

Thanks.

[#2]

@Chris Webb I have the same issue- but my chat is a group chat with a group that is NOT part of a meeting. I am part of a work group that has a casual chat going, and I accidentally left the chat instead of muting. Now I cannot rejoin, and since there's no meeting associated with the chat...what do I do? 

[#3]

Someone in the chat will need to add you into the group chat.

[#4]

@Chris Webb Yes sir. I was able to send and receive messages prior to leaving the meeting in Teams. I can still see messages from prior to leaving the meeting. 

Thanks!

[#5]

@Vasil Michev 

Is there a way I can upvote this? I am currently experiencing it.

I joined a meeting on my phone, then as I was moving to my laptop, I closed my phone session.

There was an option to exit the chat but that didn't exit the meeting. I found a way to exit the meeting afterward.

When I joined on my laptop I can't send chats.

[#6]

@OfPeace 

This happened to my colleague in a teams meeting yesterday.  And they were "hosting" so even more disruptive,  we tried:

- rejoining meeting, no effect

- quit teams and restart (not just close ...quit), no effect

- finally he had a second connection to the meeting via browser/web and was able to chat via the browser session. Not a fix, but a quick work-around.

[#7]

@Keinobl I had same issue doing some Microsoft Training courses with DDLs.

I tried with PC and Phone - didn't work. Teams in Browser on PC worked though.

Tried restarting PC, logging out of Teams, Outlook etc and back in - no deal.

Browser worked without issue.

Others were chatting. The apps finally worked again on the 3rd day.

Not sure what is happening, but it's very disruptive.

[#8]

@Mike Boehm Same issue for me.  Have tried leaving and rejoining and have someone remove me and re-invite, but no success.  However, I can send a message in chat from my Android mobile Teams app for the same meeting.

[#9]

@Alan249 

In my case, I could not chat via Windows desktop app, or my Android App.

But I could chat via the Desktop Browser

[#10]

I was able to resolve this for a team member by removing them from the chat, using the 'Add People' button at the top of the conversation and then re-adding them

[#11 · Accepted solution]

Hey @Mike Boehm, 

I have this same message and found it related to the Teams preview feature allowing separate windows for chat and meetings. 

I was able to solve this issue by double clicking on the calendar icon in the meeting header which opens a new window and allows for chat. 

A non-intuitive experience for sure. 

[#12]

Thank you!

[#13]

@liamgav  This worked for me. Thanks!

[#14]

Hi @Thomas Laciano  We're seeing this issue sporadically, where is the calendar icon in the meeting header?  I don't see any calendar icons that are clickable.  

Thank you!

E

[#15]

@EricC-SD 

I can't reproduce the problem right now so I'll offer what I think it was... 
Select Chat from the left navigation pane 
Find the chat in the Pinned or Recent view and on the left of each chat is either a photo or a small calendar icon, double click that. 

Now I will say that this worked for me about 75% of the time, the other 25%, I had to join the meeting again, type my chat and then when I left the meeting I could continue in the chat. 

Admittedly, I have not reported this to Microsoft as it only happens in one conversation so I just deal with it as an annoyance. 

[#16]

@Thomas Laciano Didn't work for me. I am in the meeting right now, but Teams still asks if I want to join. When I click the button I get this:

I used to be able to chat with the team and I have not idea what changed. Sometimes I can't even see the conversation icon until I restore the main Teams app. Seems to be quite buggy. Maybe it's just a Mac thing?

[#17]

@dmpratt16 I haven't experienced this issue in some time but I was using a Windows10 PC so I doubt it is a Mac thing.  
Having it not reproduce anymore does limit my suggestions but do you see a join button in the conversation? If you choose that, are you able to participate in the chat again? 

[#18]

@Thomas LacianoThis is far more than an annoyance. This is completely disruptive and none of the suggestions I have seen so far work to resolve it. I am a little disappointed, but not surprised, that it is now Feb 2021 and Microsoft has not seen fit to do anything about this bug.

[#19]

I had this problem a few times.

So when I join the meeting from my laptop it asks if I want to open the Teams app to join or use the web browser. I had been using the app to join and it eventually started to give the message that I'm not part of the chat. So I left the meeting and joined via web browser. The chat was working then but I still wanted to use the app so I left the web browser meeting and joined through the app again and it worked.

So if your using the app, try the browser, close it, then the app again.

Good Luck!

[#20]

@Mike Boehm 

The only solution I have found is to DM someone in the group who has authority to add members and ask them to add you.  

If you look at a channel or chat you are a member of, you will see in the members pulldown upper right the option to add or leave.  In the chat or channel you are no longer a member of, you have no Add option.  

Non-members cannot post content, files, or add members.  

[#21]

@Mike Boehm I had this happen to me today (couldn't add to the chat - same message you got) after leaving and coming back into a meeting. I clicked the ellipsis in the meeting, chose Meeting Details, copied something there, then returned to the chat window. Suddenly I could add to it again!