Microsoft Teams: Viva Engage communities in Teams

Updated January 20, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

Introduction

We’re introducing Viva Engage communities in Microsoft Teams to make it easier for employees to connect, share, and learn across your organization. This new experience brings discoverable, asynchronous conversations and leadership engagement into Teams—helping employees explore ideas and perspectives beyond project-based collaboration.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 513274.

When this will happen

• General Availability (Worldwide): April 2026 (previously March) to May 2026 (previously April)

How this affects your organization

Who is affected: All Microsoft Teams users with access to Viva Engage.

What will happen:

• This feature is available to all Microsoft Teams customers with a standard Microsoft 365 and Teams license and access to Viva Engage. No additional Teams license is required.
• Communities will appear in Teams navigation:
  • Unified view: New section in the Chat app.
  • Split view: New section in the Chats and Channels app.
• Existing Viva Engage community memberships will sync into Teams.
• Favorited communities in Engage will appear in Teams favorites.
• Notifications for announcements and mentions will surface in Teams Activity feed and deep link to the new experience.
• Rich engagement features include:
  • Posting discussions, questions, praise, polls, and announcements (admins only).
  • Reactions, delegated posting (requires setup in Viva Engage), and scoped search.
  • Event participation: ask questions, upvote, view live or replay.
• Admins can manage community settings, membership, and roles directly in Teams.
• Default setting: ON for all tenants.

What you can do to prepare

• No immediate action required unless you want to disable this feature.
• To turn off communities in Teams:
  • Go to Teams admin center > Viva Engage settings > Toggle OFF.
• Ensure prerequisites:
  • Viva Engage IPs and URLs are not blocked.
  • Sign-ins for Viva Engage are enabled in Microsoft Entra ID.
  • Users have Microsoft 365 and Teams licenses.
• Consider sharing best practices and customization options with users.
• Coordinate with Viva Engage admins for internal change communications.

Learn more:  

• Getting started with Viva Engage Communities in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Support
• Manage Viva Engage experiences in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams | Micosoft Learn

Compliance considerations

No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.