"To" suggestions when starting a new chat

Question

"To" suggestions when starting a new chat

Sleigh Dot 0

When starting a new chat conversation, a list of contacts or suggestions pop up for you to choose from in the "to" section. What does that list represent? How is it generated? Some of my research says its random based on your contacts, some say it's that people you chat with the most, some say it's the latest people you have been chatting with. Can you please tell me the criteria used to generate the list?

Ruby-N 12,325 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-30T22:10:59.1133333+00:00

Good day Sleigh Dot,

I hope everything is going well on your end.

I am following up on the support thread that has been discussed and wanted to check whether the information shared in my previous response helped address the issue you were experiencing.

If you are still encountering any issues or have additional questions, please feel free to reach out at any time. I would be happy to assist further as needed.

Additionally, ensuring that everything is functioning as expected and that your experience remains smooth is a top priority.

Thank you again for your collaboration throughout the troubleshooting process. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

1 answer

Your answer

Ruby-N 12,325 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-30T22:10:59.1133333+00:00

Good day Sleigh Dot,

I hope everything is going well on your end.

I am following up on the support thread that has been discussed and wanted to check whether the information shared in my previous response helped address the issue you were experiencing.

If you are still encountering any issues or have additional questions, please feel free to reach out at any time. I would be happy to assist further as needed.

Additionally, ensuring that everything is functioning as expected and that your experience remains smooth is a top priority.

Thank you again for your collaboration throughout the troubleshooting process. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Answer 1

Good day Sleigh Dot, and I appreciate the clear explanation of your concern.

Just to gently clarify before we go any further, this is a user‑to‑user support forum. I don’t have the ability to access or investigate individual accounts because this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators and contributors, including external Microsoft employees, do not have access to internal systems or the ability to directly take action on Microsoft product features. However, I truly hope I can help review your situation, offer some guidance, and support you in finding the right next steps as best as possible.

Based on the available Microsoft 365 public documentation, you can start a new chat in Teams by selecting New chat, typing a name in the To field, and choosing the right contact from the list.

Teams will suggest people based on contacts available to you, including your organization’s directory. However, Microsoft hasn't shared the exact logic behind how these suggestions are ranked or ordered.

So, you can think of the To suggestions as a helpful, system generated list designed to make it easier for you to find people quickly, but the specific factors like recency or frequency aren't officially defined or documented.

If the person you’re looking for doesn’t appear in the suggested list, you can type their full email address or full name, then enter your message and send it.

Additionally, in some integrated Microsoft 365 scenarios such as Dynamics 365 connected chats, suggested contacts may follow documented AI based or rule-based configurations. This applies only to those specific integrations and not to the standard Teams chat experience.

You can refer to the following article: Configure the ability to use suggested contacts when starting a Teams chat | Microsoft Learn

Additional information is available in the following resource: Chat with others in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Support

I hope this explanation helps clarify the behavior you are seeing. If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

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