How to Create a Group in Microsoft Teams [Step-by-Step]

If you use Microsoft Teams at work, you’ve probably wondered about the best way to get a bunch of people into the same conversation — whether that’s a quick project huddle, a department-wide workspace, or just a focused chat with a few teammates. The good news is that Teams offers multiple ways to do this, and once you know which method best fits your needs, the whole process takes less than 2 minutes.

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through three different ways to create a group in Microsoft Teams:

• Creating a Group Chat (best for quick, informal conversations)
• Creating a Team (best for ongoing collaboration with channels, files, and meetings)

Let me break each one down with step-by-step instructions so you can pick the right approach for your situation.

What “Group” Actually Means in Teams

Before we jump in, let me clear up something that confuses a lot of people. In Microsoft Teams, the word “group” doesn’t always mean the same thing. Depending on what you’re trying to do, a “group” could refer to:

• A group chat — a multi-person conversation thread
• A Team — a full collaborative workspace with channels, files, tabs, and meeting scheduling
• A contact group — an organized list of people in your People/Contacts panel

Each one serves a different purpose. Picking the wrong one can leave you with a massive Teams workspace when all you needed was a quick chat, or vice versa. So let me explain when to use which.

Create a Group in Microsoft Teams

Here, I will show you two methods for creating a group in Microsoft Teams.

Method 1: Create a Group Chat in Microsoft Teams

This is what people most often mean when they say “create a group in Teams.” A group chat is basically a WhatsApp-style conversation — you add people, give the chat a name, and start messaging. It’s informal, quick, and great for short-term or ad hoc discussions.

You can add up to 250 people to a single group chat.

Steps to Create a Group Chat (Desktop)

1. Open Microsoft Teams on your desktop or go to teams.microsoft.com.
2. On the left sidebar, click Chat.
3. At the top of your chat list, click New message (it looks like a pencil/compose icon).
4. In the To: field, start typing the names of the people you want to add. Teams will suggest matches from your organization—click each person to add them.
5. Before you type your first message, look for the down arrow on the far right side of the To: field. Click it to reveal the Group name field.
6. Type a clear group name — something like Project Alpha Team or Marketing Q2 Campaign.
7. Hit Enter or just start typing your first message and press Send.

That’s it. The group chat is created, and everyone you added will see the conversation in their chat list immediately.

Pro tip: Give your group chat a meaningful name right from the start. If you skip this, Teams defaults to showing everyone’s name in the header, which gets messy fast when you have 10+ people.

Steps to Create a Group Chat (Mobile)

1. Open the Teams app on your phone.
2. Tap the New message icon (pencil icon, usually at the bottom or top of your chat list).
3. In the To: field, type the names of people you want to add. Add multiple people one by one.
4. Compose and send your first message.
5. After sending, tap the participant names at the top of the screen.
6. Tap Group chat name, type a name, and tap Save.

How to Add Someone to an Existing Group Chat in Teams

Sometimes you create the group and then realize you forgot someone. No stress — you can add people anytime.

1. Open the group chat.
2. Click View and add participants in the top-right corner (it looks like a people icon).
3. Click Add people.
4. Type the person’s name, then choose how much of the chat history they can see.
5. Click Add.

The chat history option is handy. You can let the new person see all previous messages, just the last few days, or none at all — it’s up to you.

Method 2: Create a Team in Microsoft Teams

If a group chat is like a group text message, a Team is like setting up a full office space. When you create a Team, you get:

• Dedicated channels for different topics
• A connected SharePoint site for file storage
• A OneNote notebook
• The ability to schedule meetings and manage tabs
• Better control over permissions and roles

Teams are ideal for ongoing work — departments, recurring projects, or any group that needs to organize files, discussions, and meetings in one place.

Steps to Create a Team from Scratch (Desktop)

1. In the left sidebar, click Chat (or Teams if you’re in the separate view).
2. Click New items at the top of your list.
3. Select New team.
4. Give your team a name. Be specific — “Marketing” is too vague; “Marketing — Content Team 2026” tells people exactly what it’s for.
5. Add an optional description so new members understand the team’s purpose.
6. Choose the privacy level:
   • Private — Only people you invite can join. This is the default and is good for most cases.
   • Public — Anyone in your organization can find and join the team.
   • Org-wide — Everyone in your organisation automatically joins.
7. Name your first channel (this is the main discussion channel — think of it as the “lobby” of your team).
8. Click Create.

Once the team is created, you’ll be added to it. From there, you can:

• Add members — Click the three-dot menu next to your team name > Add member. Type names and add them.
• Create more channels — Click Add channel to separate discussions by topic (e.g., Design, Budget, Announcements).
• Assign roles — Team members can be Owners or Members. Owners can manage the team; members can participate.

Steps to Create a Team on Mobile

1. Open the Teams app and tap Teams (or use the Chat section).
2. Tap More options in the upper-right corner.
3. Tap Create new team +.
4. Fill in the name, description, and privacy level.
5. Tap Create, then invite people to join.

Creating a Team from an Existing Group or Team

You don’t always have to start from zero. If you already have a team with a similar structure, you can copy it:

1. When creating a new team, look for the option Create from an existing team or group.
2. Select the team you want to copy the structure from.
3. Choose what to carry over — channels, tabs, settings — then name your new team and finish setup.

This is a real time-saver for organizations that spin up similar project teams regularly.

Group Chat vs. Team — Which One Should You Use?

Here’s a quick breakdown to help you decide:

	Group Chat	Team
Best for	Quick, short-term conversations	Ongoing projects and departments
File storage	Basic file sharing in chat	Full SharePoint integration
Channels	No	Yes — multiple channels
Meeting scheduling	Basic	Full calendar integration
Max members	250	Up to 25,000
Setup time	30 seconds	2–3 minutes
History on adding members	You control how much to share	Full history visible

My rule of thumb: if the conversation will be done in a few days, use a group chat. If the group needs to work together for weeks or months, involving files and meetings, create a Team.

Tips to Manage Your Groups Better

Once you’ve created your groups, here are a few things that’ll make your day-to-day easier:

• Pin important chats — Right-click any group chat and select Pin to keep it at the top of your chat list.
• Mute noisy groups — If a group chat is too active, right-click it and choose Mute so you still see messages without getting pinged every five minutes.
• Use @mentions wisely — In Teams channels, use @channel to notify everyone or @teamname to notify all team owners. Save it for when it actually matters so people don’t start ignoring pings.
• Archive old Teams — When a project wraps up, archive the Team instead of deleting it. The data stays accessible but the Team stops cluttering your active list.
• Rename group chats — Keep renaming chats as projects evolve. A chat named “Quick question for Sarah” that turned into a six-month project thread needs a better name.

Wrapping Up

Microsoft Teams gives you different ways to create groups depending on your needs — use a group chat for quick conversations and a Team for long-term collaboration with files, channels, and meetings. Once you understand the difference, creating and managing groups becomes fast and easy.

Also, you may like some more Teams tutorials:

• Print Microsoft Teams Chat
• Microsoft Teams Default Profile Picture
• Zoom In on Microsoft Teams
• Archive Files in Microsoft Teams
• Add Someone On Microsoft Teams Outside Your Organization