Microsoft Teams In-Meeting Side Chats Planned for Desktop in November 2026

The entry is titled "Microsoft Teams: Start side conversations during meetings," with roadmap ID 573156. It says the feature will let users start and continue one-to-one or small-group conversations directly from a meeting to ask questions, coordinate next steps, share information, and collaborate in parallel while staying engaged in the conversation. Microsoft's stated goal is to reduce context switching and help teams stay focused.

It's a small change on paper. But anyone who has typed a message to their boss into the shared meeting chat by mistake will see why it matters.

What the roadmap entry says​

Roadmap trackers that copy Microsoft's listing give these details:

Neowin's Usama Jawad spotted the entry. He wrote that Microsoft had no screenshots to share yet and that the feature looks to be early in development.

What the scope means in practice:

• The listing names only the desktop client. Nothing found so far covers Teams on the web, mobile, or Mac separately.
• The listing names only the Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) cloud. GCC, GCC High and DoD tenants shouldn't assume they get it at the same time.
• November 2026 is an estimate. Microsoft's roadmap page says it provides estimated release dates and descriptions for commercial features. All information is subject to change.

In short: this is a planned desktop feature for commercial worldwide tenants, aimed at November. It isn't a promise for every client or cloud.

The current workaround​

Teams already lets you have private side chats during meetings. It's just clumsy. A Microsoft Q&A answer from earlier this year said that Microsoft Teams does not support private chats directly within the meeting chat pane. The suggested workaround is to open the meeting chat with Show conversation, then start a new chat by selecting New chat and choosing one or more meeting participants. That answer adds that such a chat will only be visible to the participants included and will not appear in the meeting chat.

Users on Microsoft's forums have shared other approaches:

1. Run the meeting in its own window. One contributor said the method that works is opening a separate one-to-one chat with the person in the main Teams app while the meeting runs in a window beside it. The catch, in their words, is that you have to copy any link or detail across yourself.
2. Use the keyboard shortcut. Another user said that even without a visible "New chat" button, if you use Ctrl+Shift+N, it will pop open a new chat window. They also pointed out a weakness: the new chat is not part of the meeting chat function, so the person may not see that you have initiated a chat with them.

That last point is probably the biggest problem the new feature can fix. A side chat that the other person doesn't notice until after the meeting isn't much use. If Microsoft makes side conversations visible inside the meeting experience, the "did they even see my message?" problem could go away.

Jawad's description of the current process matches this: you leave or minimize the meeting window, search your chat list, and message the colleague directly. With several people, it gets worse, because you have to build a group chat first.

In short: private side chats already exist, but they sit outside the meeting experience. Roadmap 573156 promises to start them from inside the meeting.

What Microsoft hasn't said​

The roadmap text is one paragraph. It leaves a lot unanswered:

• Where the chat appears. A pane inside the meeting, a pop-out window, or something else? There's no detail.
• Who can join. Do participants have to be in the meeting? Can external attendees or guests take part? Not stated.
• Privacy from other attendees. Jawad assumes these chats will be private to the people in them. That's a reasonable guess, and existing private chats already work that way. Microsoft's description doesn't confirm it.
• What happens afterwards. Do the chats stay in your chat list after the meeting? Are they linked to the meeting somehow? Unknown.
• Admin controls. No new meeting policy, licensing requirement, or tenant setting has been announced.

Jawad also raises a good usability point. Today, the meeting chat appears in the chat list under the meeting's name. If you open two side chats with different colleagues during the same meeting, how will they be labelled? And if getting back to them means going to the main chat list, he argues, that would defeat the purpose of this UX altogether. These are open design questions, not confirmed flaws.

For IT admins: compliance​

This part is general industry analysis rather than anything Microsoft has published about this feature. Easier side chats will probably mean more of them. In most organizations, those messages are subject to the same retention, eDiscovery, and communication compliance rules as other Teams chats.

One contributor to a workplace forum made the point directly: no comms on a company system can be considered always to be private. Users who treat a "side conversation" button like a private back room should keep that in mind. It's still corporate chat, with the same rules.

Admins should check now:

• that existing Teams chat retention policies cover the chat types the feature is likely to create
• whether Purview communication compliance policies will apply to these chats
• how to explain to users that "side" doesn't mean "off the record"

The etiquette question​

Not everyone will welcome easier in-meeting side chats. A 2025 MIT Sloan Management Review piece said that people will have side conversations in typed chats during virtual meetings. But whether these chats serve useful purposes or breed mistrust depends on how leaders handle them. Harvard Business Review research on corporate boards came to a similar view. It found that side discussions done properly help people trade opinions, share information, and exert influence, but done badly they can encourage political maneuvering, marginalize members with key expertise.

Microsoft's own description sticks to practical uses: asking questions, coordinating next steps, sharing information. Jawad admits he'd also use it for jokes about the meeting. Most people will use it for both.

Does making side chats easier hurt meeting culture? Probably not much. People already have these conversations through the workarounds above, or in WhatsApp. Moving them into one smoother Teams flow mostly removes friction. Your colleagues won't suddenly start smirking at their webcams; they already do.

What to watch for​

1. A Message Center post. Roadmap items usually get a Message Center notice before rollout. That's where admins are most likely to see the real details: which clients, whether there's a policy, and the rollout schedule.
2. Date changes. Roadmap dates slip often. Treat November 2026 as a target.
3. Interface previews. Screenshots should answer the labelling and navigation questions above.
4. Other clouds and clients. Look for separate roadmap entries if you're in a government cloud or rely on Teams for web or mobile.

Bottom line​

Roadmap item 573156 tackles a real, everyday annoyance. Private side chats in Teams meetings exist today, but they live outside the meeting window, and the other person may not notice your message. Microsoft plans to let you start one-to-one and small-group chats from inside the meeting, on the desktop client, for worldwide commercial tenants, starting around November 2026.

Whether it actually helps depends on the design details Microsoft hasn't shown yet: where the chats appear, how they're labelled, and how easily you can switch back to the main discussion.