Ability to open multiple documents
Currently If I am editing a File in Teams, and if I have to refer another file present in Teams, I have to forcefully close existing document and go to the next file. It will be a nice to have feature if I can open other documents in Preview mode if I am editing a document.

110 comments
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Anonymous commented
Just converted to Teams from Google. Collaboration is PAINFUL. As is this feature where to move a slide from one ppt to another, you have to close the one you're working on. And not having a copy/paste feature that's normal (like right click?) is nuts. Seriously goin g to consider doing all work in Google, and converting to MS when I'm done.
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Adam commented
Yes, upvote. Multiple files open at the same time with side-by-side and/or tab browsing
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Anonymous commented
Capability to open multiple files or open multiple Teams sessions is a must.
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Anonymous commented
Not only would it help to have different docs open, it would be great to have different tabs open, so perhaps a doc from a file and planner at posts at the same time.
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Catherine commented
Well I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks not having this feature is dumb. I hope we get a fix to this soon! Come on Microsoft!!!! It's 2021 and this feature should have been on here when you created this program.
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CC commented
So this issue was raised in April 2018 and has been voted up 632 times and is still an issue. Is anybody from MS actually listening? Even my companies IT division moves faster than this.
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Cristóbal Parraguez commented
How come no one thought about this while developing Teams? It says a lot from the company. Microsoft should learn a couple of things from Google
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Chad commented
I 199% agree, you need to have a "open in new window" option for the documents and files. I have all these screens and Teams is locked to a single little window.
For now the work around is to involve browser windows and open the files/documents via sharepoint, but it is a pain. (also of note, you can't have multiple tabs/windows of teams open in the browser - it has problems with state)
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Anonymous commented
Oh I'm glad it's not just me and my magnetic field! Hopelessly inefficient having to cut and paste into word docs if I need to have more than one doc open at the same time. That's actually most of the time. Needs to be fixed stat!
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Anonymous commented
The inability to switch back and forth between two files in Teams without having to close the file I am in is very inefficient. I hope this gets resolved soon. Thanks,
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Chandy commented
I am a new user of teams and find not being able to open multiple documents within the Teams platform very, very limiting. It feels like a pre-Windows program, without this feature.
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Anonymous commented
… and to have possibilities to chat on both (or more) , while you a previewing files
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Dennis.Brown commented
This must be embarassing to MS to have such an unusable product for collaboration.
Today, I had a teams meeting, where we had an agenda, minutes, and 4+ reference documents. They are all stored in the teams folders, but... only one can be opened at a time.
So yes, I have to download to my computer in order to have them open at the same time, or even to switch easily from one to another. -
Ian commented
Teams is looking so basic....can't open multiple windows in an MS "Windows" program....!!!
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Macky commented
Voting this up in hopes there is a fix soon. This is so basic and completely ridiculous. MS Teams designers should be embarrassed.
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Anonymous commented
I've also just come across this deficiency of functionality in an otherwise useful product.
Seems to be quite a common stumbling block.
Yes, there are workarounds but that is not the point, if it was designed properly we wouldn't have to do workarounds -
Anonymous commented
I have just wanted to compare two files. I opened one file, clicked Open in Desktop App, and it opened in Word. I then closed the Teams file and opened the one to which I wanted to compare the first. This worked fine. Does this answer anyone else's problems?
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Anonymous commented
A work-around is to open files in the browser and have them in different tabs
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Anonymous commented
Given that this comes from the company that gave us 'Windows' (get the hint?), this oversight is embarrassing. How little they understand?
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SWS commented
I am also struggling with this. In particular, I am needing to go back and forth between a file that is in one team folder, with a file that is in another team folder. If I download one, so I can see them at the same time, I lose the work my other team members are contributing. This has been extremely problematic for our work.