Messaging Policies

Control chat and channel messaging features including message editing, deletion, read receipts, Giphy usage, memes, stickers, and URL previews. Messaging policies define what messaging capabilities are available to users in Teams chats and channels.

Note: Teams policies are available with any Microsoft 365 license that includes Teams. Advanced compliance features require Microsoft 365 E5. Policy management via Graph API requires TeamsPolicy.ReadWrite.All permissions.

Messaging Policy Settings

Setting	Options	Description
Edit sent messages	Allow / Block	Users can edit messages after sending
Delete sent messages	Allow / Block	Users can delete their sent messages
Read receipts	On / Off / User Control	Show when messages have been read
Giphy content rating	Strict / Moderate / None	Content filter level for Giphy images
Chat	Enabled / Disabled	Allow private and group chat
Memes and stickers	Allowed / Disabled	Use memes and stickers in conversations
URL previews	Enabled / Disabled	Show link previews in messages
Priority notifications	Enabled / Disabled	Allow urgent message notifications

Compliance Settings

Messaging policies interact with Microsoft 365 compliance capabilities:

Chat history — Retain or purge chat messages per retention policy
Communication compliance — Monitor messages for policy violations
eDiscovery — Teams messages included in content search
Data Loss Prevention — Scan messages for sensitive information

Policy Assignment

Policies follow a precedence order where direct assignments override group assignments, which override the global default.

Assignment Type	Use Case	Scalability
Direct to User	Exceptions, VIPs, specific overrides	Manual, suitable for small numbers
Group Assignment	Departments, roles, teams	Automatic via group membership
Batch Assignment	Large user populations	Up to 5,000 users per batch

Assignment Precedence (Highest to Lowest)

Direct User Assignment — Policy assigned directly to a specific user
Group Assignment (Ranked) — Policy assigned via group with priority ranking
Global (Org-wide default) — Default policy applied to all users without specific assignment

Policy Packages

Pre-built policy packages bundle messaging policies with other policy types for common scenarios:

Package	Description	Includes
Education (Teacher)	Policies optimized for educators with moderation capabilities	Meeting, Messaging, App, Calling
Education (Student)	Restricted policies for students with content moderation	Meeting, Messaging, App
Frontline Worker	Streamlined experience for shift workers	Messaging, App setup
Healthcare (Clinical)	HIPAA-compliant settings with secure messaging	Meeting, Messaging
Small Business	Balanced defaults with external collaboration enabled	Meeting, Messaging, App

Best Practices

Policy Design

Use group-based assignment for scalability
Keep the global policy restrictive as a baseline
Document exceptions with business justification
Test policies in pilot groups before wide deployment

Security Considerations

Enable read receipts for compliance-sensitive environments
Restrict Giphy to Strict content rating in regulated industries
Monitor policy changes via audit logs
Review messaging policies quarterly

API Reference


# Get all messaging policies for a tenant
GET /teams/policies/messaging


# Assign messaging policy to user via PowerShell
Grant-CsTeamsMessagingPolicy -Identity user@domain.com -PolicyName "RestrictedMessaging"


# OpsPilot365 API - Bulk deploy messaging policy
POST /api/teams/policies/deploy
{
  "policyType": "messaging",
  "policyName": "MSP-Standard-Messaging",
  "tenantIds": ["tenant-1", "tenant-2"],
  "assignmentType": "global",
  "conflictResolution": "overwrite"
}

GET /api/teams/policies/messaging — List messaging policies
POST /api/teams/policies/messaging — Create policy
PUT /api/teams/policies/messaging/:id — Update policy