Overview of Loop components in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem
Loop components in Teams chat, Outlook emails, Whiteboards, or other places in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem offer a new way to ideate, create, and make decisions together. Send a component - like a table, task list, or paragraph — where everyone in your chat, email, or document can edit inline and see changes as they're made.
Note
Loop components is the first feature of the Microsoft Loop app to become available in Teams.
Get tasks done faster together. Crowd-source an agenda, track a group's action items, or take notes collectively. These are just a few scenarios made easier with Loop components.
Share components. In this release, you can share Loop components into different Teams chats, Outlook emails, Whiteboards, and other places in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Recipients can edit from wherever they are and see updates instantly, no matter where the changes were made.
Start in chat or email, build from there. Every component you create from Teams chat or Outlook email is automatically saved to a file in OneDrive. So, you might begin collaborating in chat; then, later move to the file in a full tab on Office.com, where you have a larger visual space for editing and can add as many components as you like.
For information on admin settings for Loop components in Teams, see Settings management in Cloud Policy.
Clients and platforms
- Available on Teams apps on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and web.
- Available on Outlook apps on Windows and web.
- Available on Whiteboard apps on Windows, Surface, iOS, Android, and web. iOS and Android are "view and edit" but users can't paste new ones.
Loop components and .loop files
Loop components created in Teams and Outlook are backed by a .loop (earlier versions of Loop-created .fluid) file stored in the creator's OneDrive. A file being in OneDrive means that users can create, discover, and manage Loop components (.loop files) as easily as any Office document.
How are .loop files stored?
The .loop files appear on Office.com and OneDrive, such as in the Recent and Recommended areas. Users can search for content in .loop files from Office.com and OneDrive. The .loop files can be restored to previous versions from OneDrive. To create Loop components, chat or email creators must have a OneDrive account. Without a valid OneDrive account, chat or email creators might still be able to collaborate on a component created by other users who have a valid OneDrive account, but can't create their own Loop components.
Moving a .loop file from OneDrive to a SharePoint site will result in the Live component failing to load in Teams chat, Outlook email, or any other place it was previously shared to.
What happens if the owner of the file leaves the company?
OneDrive retention policies apply to the .loop files just as they do to other content created by the user.
How are .loop files shared?
Loop components can be inserted in Teams chat, Outlook email, and so on, or be copied from one chat, email, and so on, to another. (Loop components aren't yet supported in Teams channels.) They default to the organization's existing permissions, but users can change permissions before sending to ensure everyone has access.
Opening components from Teams chat, Outlook email, or Whiteboard in Office.com offers share functionality at the top of the window, similar to the sharing options offered for other Office documents.
What if a .loop file becomes corrupted or damaged?
Version History allows you to review, restore, or copy from previous versions of the file.
What apps can open and edit .loop files?
The .loop files can only be opened as links in your browser, such as Office.com, and as Loop components in Teams chat, Outlook email, Whiteboard, and Word for the web. If downloaded, they can't be opened again without first uploading them back to OneDrive or SharePoint.
Do .loop (and .fluid) files support eDiscovery?
Loop components created in Teams, Outlook, and Word for the web, are discoverable and have eDiscovery workflow support using the Microsoft Purview tool. Currently, these files are stored in the creator’s OneDrive and are available for search and collection in both eDiscovery (Standard) and eDiscovery (Premium). Render in review and HTML offline export format is supported on eDiscovery (Premium). You can also download and re-upload the files to any OneDrive to view them in their native format.
A graph export API solution is also available for Loop components that supports both raw export and an HTML offline format.
If Loop is disabled from the admin switch, what will the user experience be?
If you disable these experiences as outlined in the Settings management section, the following experience-changes will apply:
- The create/insert entry point within Teams messaging and Outlook email will be hidden. The users won't be able to create new .loop files.
- Existing messages that would have formerly rendered as an interactive Loop component will instead render as a hyperlink. No interactive content will be displayed within the app that Loop components have been disabled in.
- When you click on the hyperlink or browse to a .loop file in OneDrive for Business and click it to open, it will open in a separate browser tab. You will still be able to edit the file.
Known issues
- With tenant default file permissions set to Specific people (only the people the user specifies), copying the link to the Loop component and pasting it in another Teams chat requires the sender to use the permissions dialog and add the recipients in the Specific people option to grant access properly.
- With tenant default file permissions set to Specific people (only the people the user specifies), creating a Loop component in a group chat with more than 20 members requires the sender to manually select the permission options for the component.
- Searching for Loop components in Teams search or Outlook email search returns a link to the component in Office.com, not the message itself that contained the Loop component link.
- Loop components are disabled in federated chats.
- Guests won't be able to view or collaborate on a Loop component.
- External recipients of emails won't be able to view or collaborate on a Loop component.
- Loop components aren't supported in Teams channels.
- Loop components won't load only if the file was moved to a different library. If the file is moved to different folder within the same library, then the Loop components continue to load in the message containing the link to the Loop component.
Related topics
Overview of Loop components in Teams
Use Loop components in Outlook
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