Microsoft Teams Chat gives personal Microsoft account users quick and secure access to connect with friends, family, and even co-workers. You may recognize Teams Chat as the purple “Chat” icon that appears on your Windows 11 taskbar.
Here’s how to get started with Microsoft Teams Chat on your PC.
Microsoft Teams Chat Setup
In order to get started using Teams Chat, click the purple chat icon on your taskbar.
If you don’t see the chat icon, you will need to turn it on in Windows Settings. Here’s what you need to do.
1. Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Items
2. Toggle the Chat item to the “On” position
Now that Chat is enabled on your taskbar, click it and a window will pop up. Click Get started.
After clicking Get started, The Microsoft Teams Chat app will open and guide you through the process of linking your personal Microsoft account or creating a Microsoft account if you don’t already have one.
There are a couple of caveats to consider before using Microsoft Teams Chat:
1. In order to chat with your friends and family on Teams Chat, everyone will need to have a personal Microsoft account, no exceptions.
2. You will need to link a personal mobile phone number to your Teams account to use the Chat functionality.
Hopefully, Microsoft will change these requirements in the future to make chatting with your friends and family a whole lot easier.
After you click Get started, the last part of the setup is to pick your Microsoft account.
If you need to create a new Microsoft account, you can also pick the name you want to go by in Teams Chat. If you click your personal Microsoft account, you may see a similar welcome screen displaying your Microsoft account email address and phone number.
Click Continue or Use another account to get started using the app. You can also click to sync your Outlook and Skype contacts to find people you know on Teams automatically.
When you close the Teams Chat app, it will automatically run in the background on your PC. If you want to open the app again, you can always click the Chat icon on your taskbar for easier access.
Start a personal Teams Chat
Open the Teams Chat
To start a chat with someone, open the Teams Chat by clicking the icon on your taskbar and click Chat.
Enter a name, etc.
In the new Chat window, you can click the To: field at the top of the window to enter the name, email, or phone number of the person you want to start a new chat with.
Teams will search for the person, but they must have a Microsoft account linked to Teams in order for their name to …….
Source: https://www.onmsft.com/how-to/how-to-enable-microsoft-teams-chat