(Updated) Viva Engage Communities and Storylines in Teams – Individual enablement controls

(Updated) Viva Engage Communities and Storylines in Teams – Individual enablement controls

By May 26, 2026, Microsoft Teams will offer separate admin controls to independently enable or disable Viva Engage Communities and Storylines within Teams via messaging policies. Both are enabled by default, remain available in Viva Engage if disabled in Teams, and admins should review settings before rollout.

2026-05-18T16:47:34.853Z

Updated message,New feature,User impact,Admin impact

<p>Updated May 18, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.&nbsp;</p><p><b>[Introduction]</b></p><p> We are introducing separate admin controls for Viva Engage Communities and Storylines in Microsoft Teams. These controls provide more granular management by allowing administrators to independently enable or disable each experience within Teams, while existing controls in the Viva Engage admin center remain unchanged. By default, both Communities and Storylines will be enabled in Teams unless configured otherwise.</p> <p><b>[When this will happen:]</b></p><ul> <li>General Availability (Worldwide): Individual controls will be available by&nbsp;<b>May 26, 2026</b></li> </ul> <p><b>[How this affects your organization:]</b></p> <p><b>Who is affected:</b></p> <ul> <li>All users licensed for Microsoft Teams and Viva Engage</li> <li>Administrators managing Teams messaging policies</li> </ul> <p><b>What will happen:</b></p> <ul> <li>Two new independent controls will be available in the <b>Teams admin center: </b><ul> <li>Communities</li> <li>Storylines</li></ul> </li><p>Screenshot:<i> Viva Engage Controls in Teams Admin Center:</i></p> <p><img src="https://cxcs.microsoft.net/file/ccp/en-us/f7bd7aba-3369-4560-bc76-849bb3d3341f" style="width: 400px;" alt="Viva Engage controls in Teams admin center."></p><li>Admins can configure these controls through <b>Teams messaging policies.</b></li> <li><b>Default state: </b><ul> <li>Communities in Teams: <b>On</b></li> <li>Storylines in Teams: <b>On</b></li> </ul> </li> <li>If <b>Communities </b>is turned off in Teams, it is hidden in Teams but remains available in Viva Engage.</li> <li>If <b>Storylines </b>is turned off in Teams, it is hidden in Teams but remains available in Viva Engage.</li> <li>If <b>Storylines </b>is disabled in Viva Engage, it is disabled in both Viva Engage and Teams.</li> <li>If <b>Viva Engage experiences in Teams</b> was previously turned off, Storylines will remain off and Communities will be enabled by default after this update.</li> <li>Changes may take up to 24 hours to propagate.</li> </ul> <p><b>[What you can do to prepare:]</b></p> <ul> </ul><p><b>Action required:</b></p><ul><li>Review and configure your preferred settings before Communities reach General Availability in June. If no action is taken, Communities and Storylines will remain enabled by default in Teams.</li></ul><p><b>Recommended steps:</b></p><ul> <li>Review current Teams messaging policies</li><li>Decide whether Communities and Storylines should be enabled or disabled</li><li>Update settings as needed</li></ul> <p><b>To disable Communities in Teams:</b></p> <ol> <li>Go to Teams admin center</li> <li>Select <b>Settings &amp; policies</b></li> <li>Choose <b>Global (Org-wide default) </b>or custom policy</li> <li>Open <b>Messaging settings</b></li> <li>Set <b>Communities </b>to <b>Off</b></li> <li>Save changes</li> </ol> <p><b>To disable Storylines in Teams:</b></p> <ol> <li>Go to Teams admin center</li> <li>Select <b>Settings &amp; policies</b></li> <li>Choose <b>Global (Org-wide default)&nbsp;</b>or custom policy</li> <li>Open <b>Messaging settings</b></li> <li>Set <b>Storylines </b>to <b>Off</b></li> <li>Save changes</li> </ol> <p><b>Learn more: </b><a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/teams-viva-experiences?source=docs" target="_blank">Manage Viva Engage experiences in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn</a>&nbsp;(will be updated before rollout)</p><p><b>[Compliance considerations:]</b></p><table class="table table-bordered"><tbody><tr><td>Consideration</td><td>Explanation</td></tr><tr><td>New ways of communicating between users</td><td>Communities and Storylines continue to provide communication experiences surfaced within Teams; this change controls their availability in Teams.</td></tr><tr><td>Admin control available</td><td>Separate admin controls are introduced in Teams messaging policies. These can be scoped to users via policy assignments (including Entra ID groups).</td></tr></tbody></table>