How to Create and Use Tags in Microsoft Teams to Notify Specific Groups

Collaborating inside busy organizational channels often leads to notification fatigue when users repeatedly ping @channel or @everyone for queries that only concern a subset of colleagues. Conversely, manually typing individual names across multi-person projects is slow and cumbersome. Configuring tags in Microsoft Teams solves this challenge by allowing team owners and members to categorize colleagues into custom role-based groups—such as @Designers, @QA-Testers, or @ShiftSupervisors—enabling targeted notifications and group chats.

What Are Tags in Microsoft Teams?

Tags are role-based metadata labels applied to specific members within a Microsoft Team. Instead of notifying an entire channel or individually @mentioning five separate colleagues, you simply @mention the tag name in a channel post. Only members assigned that tag receive a high-priority push notification. Furthermore, tags allow anyone to initiate a group chat with all tagged members with a single click.

Who Can Create and Manage Tags?

By default, Team owners can create and assign tags. However, owners can configure team settings to permit all members to create and edit tags, or restrict management to team administrators:

1. Navigate to the team name in your Teams list and click the three dots icon (…) for More options.
2. Select Manage team.
3. Click the Settings tab at the top.
4. Expand the Tags section and choose whether tags can be managed by Team owners only or Team owners and members.

How to Create a New Tag in Microsoft Teams

Creating and assigning a tag requires just a few steps:

1. Locate the target team in the left-hand rail and click More options (…).
2. Select Manage tags.
3. Click the Create tag button.
4. In the Tag name field, enter a concise, descriptive label (such as Frontend-Devs, Marketing-Leads, or London-Office).
5. In the Description box, provide optional context explaining the role or purpose of the group.
6. In the Add people box, search for team members by name or email and select them to add them to the tag.
7. Click Create.

How to Use Tags in Channel Posts

Once a tag exists, using it inside any standard or shared channel within that team is straightforward:

1. Navigate to a channel within the team and start a new conversation post.
2. Type the @ symbol followed by the tag name (e.g., @Frontend-Devs).
3. Select the tag from the suggestion list.
4. Draft your message and post it.

Every member assigned the Frontend-Devs tag will receive an activity feed notification and notification banner, while other team members can read the post in the channel without unwanted notification disruptions.

Starting an Instant Group Chat with a Tag

If an urgent discussion arises that requires a dedicated private chat rather than a public channel post:

1. Click the New chat icon (pencil on notepad) at the top of the Teams app.
2. In the To: line, type the @ symbol followed by the tag name (e.g., @Designers).
3. Select the tag. Teams automatically expands the tag and inserts every tagged member into the chat recipient list.
4. Type your message to begin an immediate private group conversation.

Editing or Deleting Existing Tags

As project roles evolve or team members transfer departments, updating tags is simple:

• Return to More options (…) beside the team name > Manage tags.
• Click the tag you wish to update.
• Click Add people to assign new members, or click the small X next to a member’s name to remove them.
• To remove the tag entirely, click More options (…) on the tag card and select Delete.