MC805189 - Microsoft Teams: Extended directory retires starting July 22, 2024

Updated August 9, 2024: This feature was rolled back and deprecated due to low feature usage and customer demand. Thank you for your patience.

We will be retiring the Extended directory preview-only feature for Connected Chat in Microsoft Teams starting July 22, 2024, and ending July 31, 2024. Instead, we recommend admins use Teams connect chat supported by external access, where we will continue to invest our development resources. You can access the External access features in Teams admin center > Users > External access.

The Extended directory feature, which was released to public preview customers in February 2024, is being deprecated due to low feature usage and customer demand. As a result, we will gradually phase out the feature by disabling it in all interfaces. The retiring feature was accessed with the Manage external user profiles button:

This change will happen automatically by the specified date. No admin action is required. Conversations (chat) that were established with an Extended directory contact will continue to work if external access policies are enabled.

Learn more about the External access feature: IT Admins - Manage external meetings and chat with people and organizations using Microsoft identities - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn (article will be updated around the time of retirement)