Microsoft Teams continues to evolve, and one of the recent updates allows participants to edit their own display names during meetings. I know, this isn’t a big feature – just a meeting option- but for some it is a big thing. Changing you name in the meeting has been asked about for a long time, and it can be very useful in meetings with external participants join, or when clarity about roles or organizations is important. For example someone might want ( or need) to put organization in the name so it is clear for everyone who that person is, or perhaps you want to remove an unnecessary name part during meetings. In reality, I think we will see people using their nickname in meetings – and it is a good thing, if it is appropriate for the meeting. In this article, I’ll walk you through how to enable this feature from an administrative point of view, how meeting organizers can manage this capability, and finally, how end-users can easily update their display names in real-time.
Why might you want participants to edit their display names?Enabling the display name change (Admins)Allowing display name changes in meetings (for Organizers)How to change your display name (end-user experience)Considerations
Why might you want participants to edit their display names?
There are several scenarios where participants might benefit from changing their display names:
External participants who initially join with unclear or generic usernames.
Participants representing an organization or team name rather than their personal identity.
Making more apparent, you are in the meeting with your personal identity and do not represent the organization.
Situations where clarity of roles (e.g., Moderator, Speaker, Observer, Gamemaster, DM) is beneficial.
On the other hand, there are cases where changing display names might be inappropriate or confusing:
Formal meetings requiring verification of identities.
Secure or sensitive environments where accountability is critical.
Risk that editing the display name is used to identity theft, or just appearing to be another person. Combine this with the feature that was just added to the roadmap: Real-Time text in meetings and calls, that lets participants type in the meeting while others’ speech is transcribed in real time. Ie: blame the mic and just RTT your responses.. RTT should roll out during May 2025.
Admins and meeting organizers need to weigh these scenarios to decide when to allow this functionality. It is a setting in Teams meeting policy.
Enabling the display name change (Admins)
By default, this feature is turned off and needs to be enabled by administrators via PowerShell. The setting should appear in Teams Admin Center / meeting policies, but it isn’t there yet.
Here’s how to enable the change using PowerShell for the Global identity:
Meeting policies provide flexibility by allowing different settings for different groups. It is not necessary to enable the feature for everyone; instead, you can enable or disable features according to specific needs to specific groups.
If you are a Admin who hasn’t visited the TAC (Teams Admin Center) for a while, note that the settings and policies have a new UI and place where to find them.
This will take a while to get used to, I still jump to open Meetings from the left rail when I look for meeting policies. From there you only manage Meeting templates and Best practice configurations. Keep an eye on meeting policies, when this participant changing their name setting becomes available to UI
Allowing display name changes in meetings (for Organizers)
Once the feature is enabled by your admin, meeting organizers can control this setting directly within the meeting options. Test it out: schedule a Teams meeting or edit an existing one. If editing an existing one, you need to be organizer or co-organizer in the meeting to be able to access meeting options. Navigate to Meeting options, and scroll to Engagement where you can see the toggle for “Let people edit their display name“.
On default editing the display name is off.
This gives organizers flexibility depending on the meeting type and audience. In case you don’t have this enabled, in the meeting policy that has been assigned to you, you don’t even see the setting. That not seeing the setting, also applies to tenants where display name change has not been enabled.
How to change your display name (end-user experience)
For participants, editing your display name during a meeting is straightforward. When you join the meeting, you will see a message about that changing the name is possible. This message is very good: it tells to watch out that some names may have been edited, and that you can edit your display name.
Open the People side panel and hover over your name and select “More options” (three dots).
Click “Edit display name.” and then enter your preferred name and confirm the change.
You can’t hide or change your identity, only the display name, with this feature. You original name will still appear in other places, like the meeting chat and the attendance report.
Others will see the information in the same way.
If someone join the meeting anonymous, they set their name to the meeting when they join and they don’t have option to change it during the meeting
I think I know how I will be seen in some meetings from now on. 🤠
Considerations
While this feature is helpful and very welcome for various use cases, here are some thoughts, that may apply:
Communicating to participants that names can be changed and/or when it’s appropriate to change names.
If you know there is need for this in your organization, make sure to educate key people about the feature
Admins might want to enable this capability only for some groups of users.
This new feature offers additional flexibility to Teams meetings.
Will you edit your name in meetings?
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I work, blog and speak about Future Work : AI, Microsoft 365, Copilot, Microsoft Mesh, Metaverse, and other services & platforms in the cloud connecting digital and physical and people together.
I have about 30 years of experience in IT business on multiple industries, domains, and roles.
View all posts by Vesa Nopanen
