At last, Microsoft will spare you the shame of unintended hand raise in Teams

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If you’ve ever accidentally raised your hand mid-meeting on Microsoft Teams, you know the pain. Suddenly, everyone’s looking at you, and all you can do is scramble to unmute and awkwardly clarify that it was a mistake.

Microsoft has finally decided to do something about it by moving the raise hand button away from the main toolbar. The company is also planning a significant redesign of the Teams meeting toolbar, which is likely to roll out on desktop and macOS in June 2026.

How will Microsoft Teams fix the accidental raise hand issue?

The update, listed on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap under ID 560321, will move the Raise Hand button out of the main toolbar. It will appear under the Reactions button instead. This is important because the two functions look similar enough at a glance to mix up easily.

Accidentally hitting Raise Hand when you meant to send an emoji reaction is a surprisingly common frustration for Teams users. The Leave button is also getting its own clearly separated spot on the right side of the meeting window. That should fix both accidental exits and the frantic button-hunting that happens at the end of calls.

Will it be possible to customize the new Microsoft Teams meeting toolbar?

Yes, and that’s the other big part of this update. You’ll be able to pin, unpin, and reorder controls on the meeting toolbar to match how you actually work. However, Microsoft hasn’t shared any images of the new toolbar yet. The company does acknowledge the shift could take some getting used to, noting it “may feel different at first.”

Microsoft is also working on other quality-of-life fixes for Teams. A pre-join mic and speaker test is reportedly in the works, letting you record a short audio clip and play it back before entering a call, so you’re not the person asking “can everyone hear me?” at the start of every meeting.