Microsoft Teams: New experience when users minimize the meeting window

Summary: Microsoft Teams will introduce a new minimized meeting window experience, allowing users to raise hands and send reactions without restoring the full window. Two minimized views—expanded (showing up to four videos) and compact—are available. The update rolls out in April–May 2026 and requires no admin action.

Introduction

We are improving the Microsoft Teams meeting experience when the active meeting window is minimized. This update helps users stay engaged in meetings while multitasking across other apps. With this change, users can perform key in-meeting actions—such as raising their hand and sending reactions—without restoring the full Teams meeting window. Users can also choose between two minimized views, depending on how much meeting context they want to keep visible while working.

This change does not affect the experience when users are sharing their screen in a Teams meeting.

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop and Teams for Mac desktop. It is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 557179.

When this will happen:

• Targeted Release: Rollout begins mid-April 2026 and is expected to be completed by mid-April 2026.
• General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins late April 2026 and is expected to be completed by early May 2026.

How this affects your organization:

Who is affected:

• All users who join and participate in Microsoft Teams meetings.

What will happen:

• When users minimize a Teams meeting window, a new minimized meeting experience appears automatically.
• Users can raise their hand and send reactions without restoring the full Microsoft Teams meeting window.
• Users can choose between two minimized views:
  • Expanded view: Displays up to four participant videos.
  • Compact view: Does not display the participant video and uses less screen space.
• The feature is enabled by default and requires no admin configuration.
• There is no change to the meeting experience while screen sharing.

What you can do to prepare:

• No action is required.
• Consider notifying users and helpdesk staff about the new minimized meeting views in Microsoft Teams.
• Update internal training or support documentation if it references Teams meeting window behavior.