Forward a Message or Copy a Link to It in Slack and Teams
Someone asked the exact question you saw answered yesterday, in a different conversation. You do not need to retype or screenshot it: both Slack and Microsoft Teams can move that message for you. Each app offers the same two tools, forward it with an optional note, or copy a link that jumps to the original. The details differ just enough to matter. Here is how both work, according to their help pages.
Miles Crawford
The quick version
Forwarding embeds a copy of the message in another conversation, with room for your own note on top. Copying a link gives you a URL you can paste anywhere that jumps readers back to the original. Both apps have both tools; the differences are in the limits. Teams can forward up to five messages at once, bundled in order. Slack forwards one at a time but can schedule the forward for later.
Slack: forward a message
On desktop, hover over the message and click Forward message, choose the channel or DM, add a note if you want, and click Forward. On mobile, tap and hold the message, select Forward Message, pick the destination, add an optional note and send. Slack's tip: click the arrow icon next to Forward and choose Schedule for later if the message should land at a better time.
Per Slack's help page, forwarding is available to all members and guests on every plan.
Slack: copy a link to a message
Hover over the message, click the three dots icon and select Copy link. Paste it into any channel or DM and send. The link expands into a preview of the message, the same way other links unfurl in Slack. On mobile, tap and hold the message and tap Copy Link to Message.
One privacy touch from Slack's documentation: if the link points to a message in a private channel or DM, you get a choice when sharing, Show message or Only show link, so you can point to it without republishing the content.
Teams: forward, up to five at a time
Hover over the message, choose More options, then Forward. To send several, choose Forward, then Multiple messages, tick the checkboxes next to the ones you want and select Next. Start typing the name of a person, group chat or channel, pick it from the list, optionally add context above the forwarded content, and select Forward. A notification appears afterward; select View to jump to what you sent.
The limits from Microsoft's help: up to five messages per forward (they arrive bundled into a single message in the original order), up to five images in a single message, and you can forward chat messages, files, Loop components, app cards and images. You can even start a new group chat from a forwarded message. Admins can apply sensitivity labels that block forwarding from a team's channels; if that applies, the forward option simply will not appear. And to trace a forwarded message back, select the timestamp in its header on desktop: with permission, Teams takes you to the original conversation; without it, you see that the content is not available.
Teams: copy a link to a message
Hover over the message, select More options, then Copy link. Paste it in the same chat, another chat or channel, an email, or anywhere else. Members of the original conversation who click it land on that exact message, highlighted in the history. If the message has been deleted since, they get a notification bar at the top instead. Anyone who was not in the original conversation cannot open it at all.
Forward or link?
Our rule of thumb: forward when the destination conversation needs the content inline, especially when your note changes the meaning ("this is the decision I mentioned"). Use a link when the readers already share the source conversation and just need a pointer, since links keep one canonical copy of the discussion. And if the message is important enough that people will need it repeatedly, a link to a pinned decision ages better than either. If you are forwarding because the reply landed in the wrong place, our threads guide covers keeping the answer findable.
What to be careful about
- Teams links respect membership. People outside the original conversation cannot open a copied message link.
- Deleted Teams messages break links. Clicking one shows a notification bar instead of the message.
- Slack private links ask before previewing. Choose Only show link when the content should stay put.
- Sensitivity labels can block Teams forwarding. No forward option means an admin policy, not a bug.
- Forwarding starts conversations. In Teams, adding multiple recipients creates a group chat, so check the audience before you hit Forward.
Sources
Checked October 18, 2026. The steps and limits follow each product's own help articles. The forward-versus-link advice is ours.