Teams contains different areas with different functions. You can navigate between the different areas of Teams using the left hand navigation menu.

For instance, in the screenshot above you can see the navigation menu which takes you to different areas of the app.

(1) - Selecting Activity will bring up a list of activity across Teams

(2) - Selecting Teams will take you into your Teams and Channels

(3) - Selecting Chat takes you into the chat area where you can see historic chats, and start new chats

(4) - Selecting Calendar Will bring up your calendar

(5) - Selecting Calls will bring up a list of contacts

(6) - Selecting files will bring up all of the files that you have stored in Teams

Whichever area of Teams you are in, you will see the Search bar at the top of the app

It is possible to initiate a chat from anywhere within Teams, you do not need to actually go into the chat part of the app.

Simply start typing @..and the person's name you want to chat with

If you select the name of the colleague it brings up a text box and you can immediately start typing a message without having to navigate back to the Chat part of Teams

For instance, here Adam's name has been selected, and the Search box displays the "Type a message"

If  a message is entered, there is  confirmation that the message has been sent, along with the option to select Enter to be transferred to the chat part of the app to view the whole conversation

If  the option to View in Chat is not selected, then after a few seconds the Search Bar goes back to it's default and you  can carry on working in the part of Teams that you are in.

At any time you can navigate to the Chat section to view the whole conversation.