How to delete chats in Microsoft Teams

Read time: 7 minutes

Microsoft Teams, a widely embraced and robust communication and collaboration platform, has transformed the dynamics of group work. It encompasses an extensive array of functionalities such as group messaging, video and audio calls, screen sharing, and file exchange. You can also create a team in Microsoft Teams to chat or connect with multiple people. The chat feature in Microsoft Teams allows users to send messages, share documents, and collaborate with team members in real-time.

As the volume of messages and chats increases, it can become challenging to manage conversations and maintain an organized Inbox. A helpful strategy is to prioritize messages by removing chats that are no longer needed. In this guide, you’ll discover the steps to delete chats in Microsoft Teams.

Is archiving a chat similar to deleting a chat?

Prior to commencing, it’s important to grasp the distinction between deleting and archiving a chat in Microsoft Teams. When a chat is archived, it is relocated to the Archive folder, allowing you to retrieve it if necessary. Conversely, deleting a chat means it is permanently eradicated from your Inbox, with no option for recovery.
Now, let’s move to the big question – How to delete chat in Microsoft Teams?

There are 2 ways to delete chats in Microsoft Teams-

• Delete an entire conversation
• Delete individual messages within a chat

If you want to delete a one-to-one or a group chat from Microsoft Teams, follow the below steps:
For desktop users:

• Login to Microsoft Teams and select the Chat option from the left pane.
• Now, move the cursor to the chat you want to delete and click on (…) more options.
• From the drop-down menu, select the Delete Chat option.
• Click on Delete again in the pop-up window to confirm the deletion.

For mobile application users:

• Login to Microsoft Teams and select the Chat tab from the bottom of the screen.
• If you are an Android user, long press the chat you want to delete, and for iPhone users, swipe the conversation to the left. Then, select (…) more options.
• Tap on the Delete option and then Delete again to confirm.

You can also delete individual messages sent in one-on-one and group chats. To do so, follow the below steps:
For desktop users:

• Open the chat which contains the message you want to delete.
• Place your cursor over the message and click on the (…) more options.
• Select Delete from the menu.

For mobile app users:

• Open the chat from where you want to delete a message.
• Long-press the message you want to delete.
• Select delete message.

Important Point – You can also delete multiple messages at once by selecting them and then clicking on the Delete option.

• Point to Remember – If you accidentally deleted the message, you can undo it to make it visible again.

Sometimes, instead of deleting an entire message, we just want to make some changes to it. In that scenario, Microsoft Teams allows you to edit messages. That’s handy when you want to modify a message without completely deleting it. To edit the messages in Microsoft Teams, follow the below steps:

• Move your cursor over the message you want to edit and click on the (…) more options.
• Select Edit from the menu.
• Now, edit the message within the text field and press Enter to confirm it.

Note – When you edit any message, it displays an ‘Edited’ label to notify others that you have modified the original message.

Sometimes, we just want to remove clutter without deleting the entire chat history. We can hide the conversation thread from the chat list in that situation. To do so, follow the below steps:

• Open the chat from the left pane and select the chat you want to hide.
• Select (…) more options next to the chat.
• Select the Hide option from the drop-down.

Note – To reveal the chat, simply type a participant’s name in the search box, then right-click on the chat and select the “unhide” option. Alternatively, the chat will automatically reappear when participants send a new message.

At times, it might not be possible to delete or exit the chat, yet we may prefer not to be constantly notified of every new message. In such situations, muting the chat is a useful option. The steps to mute the chat are outlined below:

• Open the chat from the left pane and select the chat you want to mute.
• Select (…) more options next to the chat.
• Select the Mute option from the drop-down.
• To unmute the chat, right-click on the chat and select Unmute.

While deleting chats from Microsoft Teams, sometimes, we accidentally delete a few important messages. Later, we are unable to access them once they are permanently removed. So, in this situation, the best method to access chat history is to create a backup of Teams data. But, creating a manual backup of Teams data and that too of specific data is not easy.
So, an effective method to create a backup is to use an advanced tool named Kernel Microsoft Teams Migration that allows you to quickly backup specific data from Teams. The tool also allows you to migrate chats between Teams so that you can easily access them later. It has several advanced features to ensure complete data integrity during migration or backup. Moreover, you can download its free trial version to learn more about the tool’s functionalities.

Conclusion

To summarize, removing chats within Microsoft Teams proves to be the optimal and efficient method for maintaining a tidy and uncluttered Inbox. Whether you aim to clear an entire chat history or specific messages, Microsoft Teams presents a range of choices to accommodate your preferences. This blog provides a clear guide on how to effortlessly delete chats in Teams.

Remember to backup a copy of any important chats before deleting them. For that, you can use the Kernel Microsoft Teams Migration tool that effectively migrates Teams data with complete integrity.