You may sometime discuss some sensitive topic with your colleague in MS Teams. So, after you are done discussing, you may want to erase the evidence by deleting the whole conversation. But how would you do that? Is that even possible?
Unfortunately, no. You cannot delete an entire conversation in Microsoft Teams. However, you can delete a single message in the conversation. But, keep in mind that if you delete a message in the conversation, then the other person will see that you deleted that message, which is a small price to pay to keep confidentiality. The message will be shown to the other person saying that it’s deleted.
However, in this post, we will show you some of the best things to do as alternatives to deleting the conversation. So, stick with this article until the end to know in detail.
Can You Delete Conversations in Microsoft Teams?
As a general user of MS Teams, you don’t have the authority to delete an entire conversation in MS Teams. The Microsoft Teams application is the ideal tool for keeping tabs on the actions of a team at work as well as tracking the progress of specific tasks.
However, since it acts as a virtual record of the activities that your colleagues are engaged in, it does not allow regular users to erase conversations for security reasons.
It is possible to remove a conversation, but only the administrators and supervisors in an MS Team are granted this permission. The only texts that a regular user of the team can delete or modify are the ones that they send.
As of late, the administrator of an MS team can remove any member’s message. This function was recently implemented by Microsoft to prevent the transmission of spam or other improper messages within the context of the discussion. However, they are unable to remove the whole of the chat since the corporate retention policy mandates that it be modified in some way.
Things to Consider Before Deleting A Conversation In MS Teams
There are a few aspects you need to bear in mind before deleting a conversation in Microsoft Teams, regardless of whether it was a group chat or a single personal chat.
- When you delete a conversation, it will be erased from all of your devices and will no longer be searchable once it has been deleted.
- The other participant will still be able to see any chats you remove.
- The other participant(s) in the chat will see that you have left the discussion, but they will have no idea that you have also deleted their message.
- If there are any documents or links that have been connected to the conversation, they will also be preserved for the other participant (s).
- If a participant removes you from the chat and then puts you back in, the discussion history will not be visible to you.
- You will be able to see a new discussion with the participant if you begin a new chat session with them. On the other hand, the other person will be able to view the whole of the chat history from the prior conversation.
Also, there are some prerequisites that you must do before deleting a conversion in MS Teams. Those are given below:
Use A Stable Internet Connection
Be certain that your internet speed is working properly before attempting to delete or change any unwanted texts from a conversation in Microsoft Teams if you are an administrator or a regular member of an MS team.
Make sure that both your internet connection and your router are in good working order before you attempt to do any significant tasks inside the Microsoft Teams app. If you encounter any problems, you should get in touch with your internet service provider (ISP) and request their assistance in resolving the unstable internet situation and getting you back on track with a solid user experience while using Microsoft Teams.
Claim Admin Privilege
In certain businesses, individuals of the general public lose the opportunity to delete or alter messages they have already sent. If that is the case, then you won’t be able to remove or change any of the messages that you have already sent.
However, if this does not prevent you from modifying your messages, you should get in touch with the administrator of the MS Team so that your rights to edit and delete your messages may be adjusted.
Administrators are required to follow the procedures outlined below to make changes to the permissions:
- Launch the Microsoft Teams
- Navigate to the Settings
- To access the members’ list, click on Members.
- There you will find the option to turn on permission to edit or delete.
After that, you will be able to delete or edit a message in Microsoft Teams app pretty easily.
Log In To Your Main Account
When you join in as a guest account, you may find that you are unable to make changes to or remove any of the messages you have already sent. In such an instance, log out of the platform and then log back in using the genuine versions of your username and password.
It will restore your credentials, allowing you to modify and remove any texts you have already sent.
Update The Microsoft Teams Application
Outdated versions of the Microsoft Teams app are unable to work with the most recent edition of the Microsoft Teams server’s core logic. Because of this, it cannot carry out the tasks that have been asked, such as removing or altering the message. In addition to this, it has problems communicating with the server that is used by MS Teams, which prevents you from using the program.
To prevent any more issues, please visit the official website for Microsoft Teams, where you will be able to download the most recent version of the Microsoft Teams app and then install it.
How to Delete A Conversation in Microsoft Teams
In the prior section of this article, we told you that as a general member of a team, you could not delete an entire conversation. But we told you that there are some cunning methods to bypass the deletion process.
Below are some of the alternatives that you can do as a general user.
1. Change the Retention Policy
When you first launch a new team in Microsoft Teams, you will be prompted to pick a retention policy for that team.
It’s up to you to decide between these two options:
- After a certain amount of time has passed, the messages will be deleted automatically.
- Delete the entire chat immediately after waiting for a certain amount of time.
Your messages and chats will be destroyed without your intervention if you choose any of the aforementioned options, which you should do only if it is necessary.
2. Hide the Conversation
Within the Microsoft Teams app, you will not be able to remove a discussion in its entirety. You may, however, prevent it from appearing in your account by following some simple instructions. If you want to keep a chat a secret, you should hide it by following these steps:
- Launch the Microsoft Teams
- Right-click on the conversation and select the Hide
And now, the conversation has been hidden. You won’t be able to see what’s being said in this conversation until someone gives you a message or you search for one of the participants by name.
3. Mute the Conversation
You also have the option to silence any unneeded chat that is distracting you from your current task and preventing you from concentrating. It is quite comparable to hiding a chat deep in your inbox.
To mute a chat in the Microsoft Teams app, please follow these steps:
- Launch the Microsoft Teams
- Locate the conversation that you want to Mute and click on the Three dot button next to it.
- Click on the Mute button on the context menu that appears.
And now, the conversation has been muted, and you won’t be disturbed.
How To Delete A Conversation In Microsoft Teams From A Personal Account
You can easily delete an entire conversation in MS Teams from a personal accounting pretty easily. However, as we told you already if you delete a conversation in Teams, the chat will be gone forever from your end, but the other person will still have that chat, and he or she will notice that you have left the conversation.
Hence, now let’s see how you can delete a conversation in MS Teams from desktop, web, and mobile apps.
From Desktop and Web App:
Both the online app and the desktop version of Microsoft Teams provide users the ability to remove a conversation in the same manner. Just follow the procedures below:
- Launch the Desktop or Web app of MS Teams.
- Hover your cursor on the conversation on the left-hand side and click on the three-dot menu that appears.
- Now select the Delete Chat option on the context menu.
On the next page, confirm the deletion by clicking on the “Yes, Delete” option.
From Mobile App:
A conversation may also be deleted through the Microsoft Teams mobile app, which is available for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android. Now, follow the below steps carefully:
- Launch the MS Teams app on your mobile.
- Navigate to the Chat tab at the bottom.
- If you are an Android user, tap and hold the chat that you want to delete and click on the Delete option and confirm it by pressing OK.
- If you are an IOS user, swipe the chat from right to left and click the More option and select Delete.
- Confirm it by pressing Yes.
When using a personal or small company account on Microsoft Teams, erasing a conversation is a straightforward process. Consequently, if you wish to maintain an orderly and well-organized chat list, you should eliminate the chats that are quite unnecessary for you.
Conclusion
Deleting an entire conversation is not possible since it’s not in the policy of MS Teams. So, I’ve tried to give you some alternatives and bypass ways of Deletion in this post. Hope this article has helped you to delete a conversation in Microsoft Teams.