Paragraphs in Teams: Shift+Enter and the expanded editor

Half of all people send a message before they've finished writing it. They hit Enter when they only meant to start a new line, and a carefully thought-out message goes out chopped into three pieces or only half-finished. You don't have to be one of them — Teams has a simple fix, most people just don't know about it.

A typical scenario

You're writing a coworker a longer message with three points about a project. You hit Enter after the first point to continue on a new line — and the message is sent immediately, half-finished, with the last sentence cut off. You have to send a second and third message as follow-ups, the result looks like three rushed fragments instead of one clear message, and your coworker has to piece the context together from three separate bubbles.

With Shift + Enter, you write the whole message with paragraphs at once and send it as a single, complete piece exactly when it's ready — not before.

How to do it

1. To start a new line without sending the message, press Shift + Enter instead of just Enter. The text continues on the next line in the same field, and the message isn't sent.
2. Enter on its own still sends the message immediately — that stays the same, it's just a matter of remembering the difference and using the right combination at the right moment.
3. In the message box you'll find an A with a pencil icon (Format) — clicking it opens an expanded editor with its own large text field.
4. In the expanded editor, Enter doesn't send the message at all — you have to click the arrow (the Send button) in the bottom right. This is ideal for longer messages where you want to be sure nothing goes out prematurely.
5. The expanded editor also gives you a full set of formatting options: headings of different levels, bulleted and numbered lists, bold and italic emphasis, and the option to mark a message as important (it highlights for the recipient with a red border).
6. Formatting can be combined with paragraphs from Shift + Enter even outside the expanded editor — both work at the same time in the regular message box.

The best tools

• Teams' built-in editor (the A-with-a-pencil icon) — free, right in the app, enough for the vast majority of needs.
• The Shift+Enter shortcut — the fastest way to write a multi-line message without opening another panel, works in both the regular and expanded fields.
• Message templates (saved replies or text snippets built into your operating system) — for recurring longer messages you'd otherwise retype over and over.
• Dictation (built into both Windows and macOS) for dictating a longer message you then just format in the expanded editor.

What you get out of it

• Time: an estimated 2–4 minutes a day, since you're not fixing prematurely sent messages and typing follow-ups.
• Clearer communication: one complete message with paragraphs reads better than three fragments in a row, and your coworker sees the whole context right away.
• A more professional impression: choppy messages with “oh, and I also wanted to add” follow-ups look rushed; a formatted message with paragraphs and, if needed, a highlighted important line looks deliberate.
• Fewer misunderstandings: structured formatting (headings, bullets) in longer messages helps the reader quickly find what matters, instead of parsing a solid block of text.

Pro tip

Mark a message that absolutely must not get missed as Important in the expanded editor — it appears to the recipient with a red border, and they have to explicitly acknowledge it as read. Don't use it for every message, though, or the feature loses its point, the same way an overused high-priority flag on email does.