add people to chat with history

Question

add people to chat with history

Suttorp 0

when trying to add someone to a chat it doesn't give me the option to include history

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

BabybooHN 3,895 Independent Advisor

Dear @Suttorp

I understand you’d like the person you’re adding to see the previous messages. Teams offers the option to include history when adding someone to an existing group chat, but not a one-to-one chat. Adding a third person to a one-to-one conversation creates a new group chat without the original conversation’s history.

For an existing group chat, I recommend these steps in Teams on desktop or the web:

Open the group chat.
Select View and add participants > Add people at the top.
Enter the person’s name, choose how much chat history to include, and select Add.

If the option is missing in an existing group chat, try the same steps at Teams on the web to check whether the issue is specific to your app.

Could you confirm whether you’re adding someone to a one-to-one conversation or an existing group chat, and whether you’re using desktop, web, or mobile?

Reference: Chat with others in Microsoft Teams.

BabybooHN 3,895 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-27T02:05:30.1933333+00:00

Dear @Suttorp

I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to check in and see how things are going with the steps I shared earlier. If you ran into any difficulties at any point or if something is unclear, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I completely understand that these processes can sometimes be tricky, and I’m here to make it as easy as possible for you.

Feel free to share any details or questions you might have, I’m ready to listen and assist you further.

Answer 2

The chat-history option appears only when adding someone to an existing group chat; adding someone to a one-to-one chat creates a new group chat and cannot include the original one-to-one history.^1^

Add someone with history

In Teams for desktop or web:

Open the existing group chat.
Select View and add participants in the upper-right corner.
Select Add people.
Enter the person’s name or email address.
Choose how much chat history to include.
Select Add.

On mobile, open the group chat, tap the participant names at the top, select Add people, enter the names, choose how much history to include, and tap Done.^1^

If the history option is still absent

Check which of these cases applies:

One-to-one chat: History cannot be transferred when converting it into a group chat. Create the group chat, but the new participant will not receive the earlier one-to-one conversation.
External participant: An external user can be added to an existing group chat only if that chat already contains at least one external participant. Otherwise, Teams creates a new group chat instead. Adding the person as a guest may be an alternative your Teams administrator can arrange.^2^
Meeting chat: People in your organization can be added directly, and the person adding them chooses how much history to share. People outside your organization cannot be added directly to an existing meeting chat; Teams creates a separate group chat instead.^3^
Access or compliance restriction: If Teams will not add the person, external communication settings, organization-to-organization restrictions, or compliance policies may be responsible. Contact your Teams administrator to check the applicable policy.^2^

References