Microsoft is working on a cleaner layout of Teams for users who are active in a lot of chats. A compact overview list is reminiscent of the functionality in Skype.

Microsoft wants to give talkative Teams users the ability to make more chats visible in the program’s sidebar. Nowadays the number of visible chats is relatively limited due to a layout with picture, name (or names) and a preview of the latest message. A more compact version does without this preview, so more chats are visible.

Inspired by Skype

The small change becomes optional and is reminiscent of an almost identical feature in Skype. The so-called Compact chat list would be coming to Teams users as early as next month, although Microsoft doesn’t say exactly when.

The new feature appears to be useful and that is not to be taken for granted. After all, earlier this month it became known that Microsoft is actively trying to make life more difficult for users and administrators. Redmond does this by ignoring default browser settings when opening links through Teams (or Outlook): a feature nobody asked for, nobody has, and which is aimed solely at increasing Edge’s market share.