Accessibility FAIL? Why is Teams hiding most of the URL text in chat messages?

Dear @TH,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A Forum. 

I understand your concern regarding the recent change in Microsoft Teams that truncates URLs in chat messages, requiring a hover or click to reveal the full address. This change, likely implemented for aesthetic reasons to "clean up" the chat interface and reduce visual clutter, is indeed creating significant usability and accessibility issues for users, especially those involved in technical discussions or who rely on assistive technologies. From my research, this behavior is part of a design pattern often called URL Link Preview or Link Truncation, and it is common across many modern messaging platforms (Slack, Discord, etc.). The primary goal is usually:

1. Aesthetics: To make the chat window look cleaner and less dominated by long, messy URL strings.
2. Security/Trust: By showing a title or the domain name, users are less likely to be misled by a long, confusing URL path.

As of now, there is no built-in user setting or administrative policy within Microsoft Teams to disable this specific URL truncation behavior and automatically show the full path of the link.

Since disabling the feature is not currently possible, here are two effective workarounds that can help mitigate the impact in technical chats:

1. Use Code Block Formatting

When sharing a long, complex URL where the full path is essential, wrap the link in a single backtick ( ) or a triple backtick block (```).

• Single Backtick Example (Inline Code):This will prevent Teams from formatting it as a clickable link preview, ensuring the full text is displayed immediately, like this: Accessibility FAIL? Why is Teams hiding most of the URL text in chat messages? - Microsoft Q&A
• Triple Backtick Example (Code Block):This is best for multi-line or highly complex paths.

Plain Text

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5611960/accessibility-fail-why-is-teams-hiding-most-of-the

2. Force Plain Text Paste

When pasting the link into the Teams chat box, try using the keyboard shortcut to paste as plain text. This often bypasses the internal link detection and prevents the automatic truncation:

• Windows: Ctrl + Shift + V
• macOS: Cmd + Shift + V

I want you to know that I wish I had a way to change it for you directly but as a moderator of Q&A forum, my ability to assist is with the existing product functionality and the power to influence its design rests entirely with our product development team.

If this is a feature you would like to see, I suggest keeping an eye on the Microsoft Teams blog or the Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365 for any updates on this feature. In the meantime, I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause. 

I can't stress enough the importance of your feedback in this scenario. I strongly recommend that you share your detailed experience and feedback directly with the Microsoft product team through their official feedback channels. This is the most effective way to make your voice heard and influence future feature improvements and adjustments. 

You can visit the Ideas · Community to submit a new idea or vote on existing one. Our product team is in charge of the site and they constantly check customer reviews and feedback. The higher votes, the more attention the related team will pay, and a lot of the features are developed and improved based on customer feedback. As a moderator, I will also pass along your feedback to the appropriate team for further consideration. While we don't directly influence product design, user feedback is actively reviewed and helps prioritize future development.

Here is an example draft for your feedback:

Title: Option to Disable URL Truncation in Chat for Accessibility & Context

The recent change in Microsoft Teams that truncates long URLs in chat messages to only show the start of the link (requiring the user to hover or click to view the full URL) is causing significant issues related to both accessibility and core usability, particularly for technical and power users.

1. Accessibility and Mobility Issue:The requirement to hover or perform an extra click just to read the full address of a link introduces unnecessary interaction steps. For users with mobility impairments or those relying on screen readers, this is a clear step backward in accessibility, forcing redundant actions where a simple reading path previously existed.
2. Usability and Context Loss (Technical Teams):In engineering, development, and administrative discussions, the full URL including query strings, parameters, and deep folder paths is the critical contextual information. Truncating the link hides essential data points (like user IDs, project slugs, or specific API versions) that are necessary for quick decision-making and efficient technical communication. The current behavior forces unnecessary copying and pasting or hovering for every single link.

Request:

Please implement a user-level setting or a tenant-level administrative policy to allow users to disable link truncation and restore the previous behavior of showing the full, unformatted URL text in the chat window.

• Option A: Add a checkbox setting in Teams under Settings > Messages titled: "Always display the full text of URLs in chat messages."
• Option B: Teams should default to displaying the full URL, and only truncate if the user actively chooses the "Clean Chat View" option.

Restoring this functionality will significantly improve the daily efficiency of technical teams and ensure full compliance with accessibility standards by removing unnecessary steps for all users.

Once you submit your feedback, please consider posting the direct link here so other users looking for a similar feature can easily find and vote for your request. I will personally vote for your feedback to help it gain traction and hopefully, Microsoft will make improvements soon.   

I really understand how convenient this feature would be for your workflow. As community moderators, we kindly ask for your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. We appreciate your kindness and understanding as we deal with these evolutionary product changes. Please get in touch if you need anything else. I wish you all the best.

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