How-To

How to Remove the Teams Chat Icon from the Windows 11 Taskbar

By Brian Burgess

Published August 3, 2021

Microsoft is bringing Chat by Microsoft Teams to Windows 11. But if you don’t use it, you can get the icon off your taskbar. Here’s how.

When the final version of Windows 11 is officially released later this year, it will come with a “chat” icon that opens Microsoft Teams. If you don’t want to use Teams for chat or use a different chat client altogether, you can. Then hide the Teams Chat button on the Windows 11 taskbar, so it isn’t in the way. Here’s how to do it.

Microsoft Teams Chat started rolling out with build 22000.100 to Insiders in the Dev Channel and higher.

Remove or Hide Teams Chat Button on Windows 11

Of course, as with anything in Windows, there is a couple of ways to do something. That includes hiding the Chat button. The easiest and most obvious way is to right-click the Chat icon on the taskbar and select Hide from taskbar when it pops up.

That’s all there is to it. The Chat icon will disappear from the taskbar, and you can continue with your workflow.

An alternate method to turn it off is from within Settings. Click the Start button and then click the Settings icon.

Or use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + I to open the Settings app directly. Either way you do it, once Settings is open, click on Personalization from the list of options on the left.

Then on the right side, scroll down and click on the Taskbar: Taskbar behaviors, system pins button.

On the following page, find the Taskbar items: Show or hide buttons that appear on the taskbar section. It will be at the top on the right. From there, flip off the Chat switch to disable the icon from the taskbar. Or, if you want to turn it back on, you can go back in and flip the switch back on.

That’s all there is to it. Microsoft is deprecating Skype and turning its focus to Teams Chat on Windows 11. Overall, it should be a better experience for the end-user. We all know the issues there have been with using Skype over the years. And throughout the pandemic, Microsoft Teams has received a lot of use and positive feedback.

And if you are looking to add or remove other items from the taskbar, check out how to remove Widgets from the Windows 11 taskbar. Or take a look at how to pin items from the Start menu to the Windows 11 taskbar.