Microsoft Teams Copying Name, Timestamp, and Message

I had this issue investingated last week. Here is the response from Microsoft:

I have shared the video with the senior team, and they have confirmed that this is indeed a new update in Microsoft Teams. It was a feature requested on the user feedback page.
This update is being rolled out to all tenants globally, not just to your users.

see link Copying the selected text should only copy selected text, not sender · Community (microsoft.com)
{https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/6186a0fe-f402-ef11-a73d-6045bd7e894e}

Additionally, some customers are advocating for this to be an optional feature, and hopefully, that will be implemented as well.

Osahon Ozabor.

Support Engineer - Microsoft Teams.
For Microsoft Customer Support
Working Hours: Monday - Friday 1:00PM – 9:00 PM (UTC)

Suggestions:

When copying a single message: do not copy sender and timestamp

When copying multiple messages: copy sender and timestamp

OR

Provide a secondary hotkey for copying sender and timestamp metadata vs. copying only message text

Dear Inema,

Just about your assumption above regarding a change on Microsoft's backend, I add you in the following the official message about this issue. (I got this info in another thread from me but unfortunately in German, like the whole thread.) But after a short research, I found at least a website from another IT pro, obviously with admin rights to the Microsoft message center. There it was the following message under the same label MC878422.

Microsoft Teams – new message center posts:
Teams copy/paste of messages does not include timestamp and message author name MC878422
Published Aug 30, 2024
"Many users have voiced frustrations over copying messages in Teams, particularly the inclusion of metadata like names and timestamps. Customer feedback has been clear, signaling that this feature was adding more noise than value to user workflow. We are rolling out the change that copied messages are only showing the message content moving forward.

• Streamlined Experience: Most users simply want to copy and paste messages without the extra clutter. Removing names and timestamps from copied content helps maintain focus and reduces unnecessary noise.
• Better Alternatives for Specific Needs: For those who need to forward messages or extract conversations, we recommend using the Forward feature for message transfer between chats, and the Teams Export API for conversation extraction. These tools are more robust and prevent manipulation of message content.

General Availability (Worldwide): Available now and we apologize for not communicating prior to the rollout occurring."

I didn't agree that 'most users simply want to copy and paste message...' in red above. I think the group of Customers who need timestamps/users urgently is much bigger than the others which have a mess with timestamps/users.

I've seen in many other threads and discussion forums that I'm not alone with my meaning... Many other people which need timestamps/users for their daily business, working in support business. And most of them mentioned a ticket system based on simple copy-paste export from Customers requests (like me).

It can also be that such a request is lasting several months, with dozens of chat messages, exchanging lots of technical explanations and documents. In this case, the timestamps/users is urgently needed to avoid a complete mess.

So, I discussed with the involved MSFT in my thread a little bit. Finally, I proposed to add a feature in Microsoft Teams to have as Customer the choice to activate/deactivate time stamps/users in a copy-paste export.

He agreed to forward my proposal internally ('Microsoft Product Team') and come back in this thread if there are some news about that.

Unfortunately and up to now, I didn't hear something that Microsoft will 'move' somehow. Like going back to the previous version incl. timestamps/users or implement an option to activate/deactivate this info by Customers etc.

Thank you very much for your attention and support.

Best Regards,
MarkusR (EXT)

I had this issue investigated last week. Here is the response from Microsoft:

It was a feature requested on the user feedback page: Copying the selected text should only copy selected text, not sender · Community (microsoft.com)

Some customers are advocating for this to be an optional feature.

Osahon Ozabor

I would love, love, love if it we could choose between the two options.

How to implement?

Here's my idea. I think it would please the most people.

Step one: add a Select Message(s) item.

• PC and web: Add it to the Message Quick Menu or the Context Menu
• Mobile: Add it to a Long-Press Menu

Step two: activating Select Message(s) would do the following.

• Activate message selection mode
• Pop the option Select All
• Pop the option to Copy Message(s) With Date, Time, Author
• Pop the option to Copy Message(s) Without Date, Time, Author

Notes:

• The user can activate Select All to--you guessed it--select all messages in the conversation.
• The user can pick and choose messages to copy by clicking or tapping each message to select it, using checkboxes, or another standard method.
• The app would indicate what messages are selected using an outline around each message, filled checkboxes, or another appropriate method.

This implementation would/should be compatible and consistent with the standards and norms for each Teams experience: PC, web, keyboard, mouse, touch, and assistive technology. In addition, people could just "normally" highlight/select the message text to copy that portion of the text or the entire message body.

Alternatively, this could be a toggle in Settings in each experience, though I like that idea less.

Thank you for working on this!

 

Dear Shane,

 

Good day!

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist!

 

Based on your description regarding "Microsoft Teams Copying Name, Timestamp, and Message". My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience this might be causing you, after thorough testing, I reproduced your issue at my side. It could be Microsoft changed something at backend. I will report it to replated team. The Workaround I found is to hold mouse for selecting the message with Time and sender you want then use CTRL+C for copy and CTRL+V for paste while you are still holding mouse. Therefore, I will update this thread as soon as I get more detail information about the query and fix.

Also, if you have the organization admin permission, you can also raise a service request to report this symptom to our online channel through the O365 admin center. A support agent can further connect with you remotely, for further troubleshooting and involve the backend team where need be. Get support for Microsoft 365 for business -- Online support. I will also revert back when I get more info on this. Your patience and cooperation are much appreciated. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Inema |Community Moderator

I am facing the same issue. Any update on this issue @Inema?