The big day is here! Microsoft is all ready to start testing its Teams software integration in Windows 11, with the first preview of the new Chat flyout rolling out to Windows Insiders today.
Redmond promised this capability when announcing its new OS on June 24.
And while Insiders builds have been making their way out the gates at Redmond since June 28, the company is only ready to start testing this integration now. This new app is rolling out to testers today, though only to a subset of Insiders.
The software titan detailed this in a blog post that just went live.
Select Insiders will be able to test the new Teams integration present in Windows 11 after they are chosen. Capabilities include the ability to sign in, add contacts, collaborate via individual and group chats, as well as make use of the Chat flyout from the Taskbar.
Clicking the Chat icon or pressing Winkey + C opens a list of recent chats, regardless of which app window they have open right now.
The chat notifications are natively designed for Windows 11, and it is possible to reply inline to them. You will also be able to click on the “Open Microsoft Team” options in the Chat flyout to launch the full desktop experience.
Microsoft says that the Teams experience has been tailored to the new operating system, and can be utilized across any device running Windows 11. The visual design of the software also follows the design elements of the OS like rounded corners.
As you might expect, there are a few limitations here, as well.
Currently, Chat from Microsoft Teams is only localized in English (US), and it does not have offline capabilities. It also does not support the complete native feature set of the Teams client, but that is to be expected at this early stage.
