Changes to Chats drop down unread messages and other UI problems.

Question

Changes to Chats drop down unread messages and other UI problems.

dw-work7801 5

A recent update has (yet again) screwed up Teams. I know MS has really bad naming categories so ill try to be as clear as I can.

In the Chat section, under the 'Chats' drop down when you have grouped chats enabled, the drop down used to only show unread contacts when it was collapsed. Now, it no longer does and I have to expand the entire 'Chats' drop down to see them. All it does now is bold the 'Chats' dropdown title. How can we set it back to how it worked previously?

The UI has always been a bad, disorganized mess, but its getting worse now with changes like this. So adding it to the list of garbage UI and functionality:

New direct chats now hidden unless you expand ALL chats (read or otherwise) and im going to assume it happens for other drop downs as well (favorite, meetings, groups, ects).
When New posts in arrive in channels, it rarely updates the list to bring it into view (forcing you to scroll down to see the latest messages).
The 'Activity' section notifications do not disappear when you view what triggered the notification unless you view it IN the Activity center (despite having already seen what triggered it in other locations)
Messy, disorganized and confusing 'Settings' locations depending on what settings you want to change.

If I were not forced to use it for work, I would not use Teams at all.

Jonathan B 5 Reputation points

2026-07-01T13:30:08.01+00:00

I agree with what has been said here. The show only unread with specific categories was a lifesaver. I have a variety of chats that need to stay categorized, and being able to have them all open to unread at once made navigating Teams significantly easier. Without that option, it's a pain to find any of the chats I need, and since different categories require different response speeds, it has made Teams very cumbersome to use. If Teams has decided to move away from this, I strongly recommend they reconsider, it was an important aspect of using this tool at work, and I would like it back permanently if possible.
Jack Breen 0 Reputation points

2026-07-16T01:02:03.9633333+00:00

Agreed, if this is an intentional removal of this feature - it's a major backward step. Having to spend so much time on Teams these days means small improvements are really important to day to day work - and when they take backwards steps, it affects users significantly.

1 answer

Your answer

Jonathan B 5 Reputation points

2026-07-01T13:30:08.01+00:00

I agree with what has been said here. The show only unread with specific categories was a lifesaver. I have a variety of chats that need to stay categorized, and being able to have them all open to unread at once made navigating Teams significantly easier. Without that option, it's a pain to find any of the chats I need, and since different categories require different response speeds, it has made Teams very cumbersome to use. If Teams has decided to move away from this, I strongly recommend they reconsider, it was an important aspect of using this tool at work, and I would like it back permanently if possible.
Jack Breen 0 Reputation points

2026-07-16T01:02:03.9633333+00:00

Agreed, if this is an intentional removal of this feature - it's a major backward step. Having to spend so much time on Teams these days means small improvements are really important to day to day work - and when they take backwards steps, it affects users significantly.

Answer 1

Hi dw-work7801,

Thank you for your detailed sharing and I'm very sorry for the inconvenience this situation has caused you.

Your observation is correct: in the current Teams layout, unread activity/chat only appear bold when the section is collapsed rather than surfacing the unread chat directly in the collapsed list. Based on my testing, at the moment the nearest setting that can replenish the interface you expect is to use the Unread filter in Teams so only bold unread chat showing up so you can better organize your messages.

User's image

I greatly appreciate the time you took to raise this important usability concern. However, as a forum moderator, I work independently of the product team, and I don't have visibility into internal design decisions or the ability to adjust how the feature in Teams behaves. That said, if you think this is an area that should be improved, I sincerely encourage you to submit suggestions directly to the team through the official Teams feedback community: Microsoft Teams · Community.

Microsoft is listening and relying on user feedback for prioritizing features to provide better customer experience when using Teams and other Microsoft product. The Microsoft product team doesn't actively monitor issues on this forum, so submitting feedback through official channels ensures that your input is truly communicated to them. Once you've submitted your feedback, feel free to share the link here in the comments. I’ll be happy to upvote it to help bring more visibility.

User's image

I want to thank you again for bringing this up and I'm sure there are other users who have been in the same situation but don't know where to share their feedback, so hopefully you will upvote this post. This will help pin the post to the top, making it easier for other users who may be experiencing the same issue to find your post, understand the context, and support your feedback. Your voice matters, and collective feedback is one of the most effective ways to drive meaningful improvement.

Thank you again for your patience and for bringing this to our attention. While I can't change the product's design, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions about its current functionality.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

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