Microsoft Build blunder leads to what may be the best Teams feature of the year

Microsoft Teams has a new feature on the way that will let you view certain messages while sharing your screen without having those messages displayed. The new capability is in testing for Teams for Windows and Mac.

"I’m excited to let you know that presenters can now more easily access the meeting chat while sharing a window or screen in Microsoft Teams for Windows and for Mac – no more need to open the meeting window," said Microsoft Senior Project Manager on the Teams team Elisa Meazza in a blog post.

The addition makes it possible to see chats and respond to messages without disrupting your presentation. The feature seems to be more about seamless presenting than privacy, since it is limited to certain chats.

But over time, Microsoft could expand the functionality to include all chats, channels, and other parts of Teams.

Microsoft did not mention its accidental leak of Walmart's AI plans when announcing the new Teams feature. But the timing is interesting.

At Build 2025, Microsoft head of AI security Neta Haiby accidentally showed messages during a presentation. Those messages included plans for Walmart to expand its AI partnership with Microsoft.

The incident highlighted how easy it is to share messages accidentally. People have asked to have Teams blur messages for a while, and I echoed the sentiment recently.

The new feature for Teams is not the same as what I described, but the end result is a step in that direction. Microsoft could easily push the feature to include other forms of communication within Teams, making more content visible only to you even when sharing your screen.

If you are a member of the Teams Public Preview or Microsoft 365 Targeted Release, you can use the new feature in Teams for Windows or macOS. Admins can also enable it through targeted release.