Delete Private Chat threads
This request is for the ability to completely delete a private chat thread. (Not hide/archive.)
Again, this was pulled out into its own topic because it is still under review and no decision has been made.
To recap what has already been completed from the other topic:
- Delete your own messages anywhere in Teams.
- Team Owners can choose if users can edit/delete in their tenant as well as choose if admins have the power to delete any message posted in public channels.
- The ability to hide your private chat threads (these are not the chat threads in channels, but the private chat threads that appear when you click the Chat icon on the left-side app bar).
- The ability to mute your private chat threads. (these are not the chat threads in channels, but the private chat threads that appear when you click the Chat icon on the left-side app bar).
This topic deserves consideration and separating out hot items is something we have often done. Please don't think of this as an attempt to diminish the ask, we know that many people want this.
Thank you for your understanding and feedback.
-Warren

Thank you for your votes and comments on this feature. The team is in the process of finalizing designs for deleting private chat threads. I will update as we have more progress to share.
1957 comments
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Anonymous commented
say something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Amanda Rodriguez commented
Any update? We have employees creating unnecessary group chats.
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Anonymous commented
Any update on this feature, this is a must for us to use Teams.
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Joyce commented
There are so many treads started on this issue. I add a comment to one, then I find another tread and add another comment. However, looking at this thread it appears users comments really don't have any impact on getting this issue resolved. How can it take a corporation this big so long to fix an issue that should have never existed in the first place. Can't blame it on COVID either. Ninety percent of Tech employees are working remote.
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Anonymous commented
Hi - any progress on this?
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Pietro commented
Please add this feature, the app became very slowly when user have more chat... is there any work around ? maybe is a DB problem..
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Anonymous commented
Any updates on this?
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Kim commented
Need to implement this ASAP for irrelevant chats or privacy issues
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Anonymous commented
incredible
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Morgan commented
I am extremely confused why, according to this article:
The request to hide the 'This message has been deleted' message has been merged with this one? They seem to be unrelated - private chat threads are not the same as the chats in a channel.
As someone who is using Teams for online learning, I desperately need to be able to clear the 'This message has been deleted' messages. Children post a lot of messages they shouldn't - compounded by the fact that there is no way to moderate a private channel, for some reason - and the cleanup makes channels which should be neat and easy to scroll back through into a mess.
I am hoping that with Teams being used for a lot of schools during the ongoing pandemic this will get fixed - it's a headache. Not as much of a headache as not being able to moderate private channels, but the two definitely combine for a mess in a school Team.
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Anonymous commented
Status after 6 months?
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Cheri commented
I feel this feature would unclog teams so it can run better all these messages and threads take up so much space that teams runs beyond slow
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NigelT commented
"finalising designs" - 6 months ago.
Why, oh WHY, is everything at MS so glacially SLOW? Except when it comes to marketing bells and whistles or being forced to keep up with the opposition....?
We NEED to be able to delete posts that we don't want any more!
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Chrissy commented
I agree with a delete function
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Polly commented
I think MS-Team should have a feature to keep or delete option.
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Anonymous commented
If we could auto archive or work like Skype sending messages to outlook that would work for me.
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[Deleted User] commented
Why it takes so long? It is really unbelievable.
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Peter commented
While I would also like to delete chats, some of the commenters who mention being able to delete chats in other applications seem to be unaware of the permanence of electronic communication. Microsoft has chosen to make Teams transparent in this manner. If a user sends communication, that user will always be able to access it since whichever server is hosting it will always be able to access it. "Deleting" the communication in most other apps is really only hiding it without the ability for the user to ever get it back.
For those who are simply looking to clean up their communication, hiding is what accomplishes this. Hiding can be made better by allowing the user to hide portions of any given conversation.
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Anonymous commented
Please get it done and advise about the status!
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CP commented
Any update on this?
We have to fulfill GDPR! This can't be so complicated!