Microsoft has just announced a significant revamp for Teams, its communications platform for organizations and personal users alike, specifically on Windows. This Teams revamp is the first major reimagining to the platform since it debuted in 2017, though Windows 11 users will already be familiar the new experience if they've used the built-in Teams chat integration, though that's only available for personal Microsoft accounts.

The primary goal for Microsoft with the new Teams was to make it faster and less resource-intensive, and the company boasts twice the performance while claiming to use half the memory of the previous version. That should mean the app will not only run faster, but also have a smaller impact on the overall performance of your PC. Microsoft also says it's still working to optimize the app further, so this isn't the end of it just yet.

Aside from performance, the new version of Teams also comes with a simplified UI that's meant to make it easier for users to find the information they need, see their notifications, and more. It's also more flexible, as Microsoft says it's been working on improving multi-account support, so even if you have multiple accounts in different tenants, you can see all your notifications and switch between accounts easily without having to sign out of other accounts every time.

Screenshot of the account switching UI in the new Microsoft Teams

Finally, you may remember some of the AI-backed features Microsoft has been introducing for Teams, and the company says that this new version of Teams will be foundational for some of these experiences, including intelligent recap for meetings, as well as the recently-announced Copilot feature, which was introduced for multiple Office apps at once.

In order to try the new Teams, you'll have to be part of the Public preview program, and you should see a toggle at the top of the window letting you switch between the classic experience and the new one. In organizations that aren't part of the program, an IT admin will need to enable the experience for end users, who can then toggle it on or off to their preference.

Today's announcement is primarily focused on enterprise users, as is often the case for Teams. If you're on Windows 11, the Teams integration already offers a similar experience for personal accounts, but this new app should also be available for Windows 10. However, most of the features Microsoft introduced for Teams aren't available for personal users.