The Microsoft Teams People pane should be one of the most useful tools available to a meeting facilitator and users alike. It shows who joined, who has not arrived, and useful status information about invited participants. Yet a screen-reader user can spend far too much time simply getting into the list, finding the right section, and getting back out.

The trouble gets worse in a large meeting. In the Windows desktop experience, Teams initially makes about 25 participants available. Activating Show more moves focus out of the list. The facilitator then has to find the pane again and arrow through the same names before reaching the next group beyond those read through already.

Microsoft has good participant data, but poor keyboard access keeps that data from being as useful as it should be. And now, Zoom is also catching up on participant status for invitees that have not joined. Teams is losing an advantage because it seems the competition has the growth mindset and agile development edge.

What Teams gets right

Microsoft documents that the People pane can show both people in the meeting and people who were invited but are not currently in it. In the Teams experience behind this article, the pane also reports useful presence and invitation details. A facilitator may be able to learn that someone is available, busy, presenting, or on another call. Teams may also report whether an invitee accepted, declined, responded tentatively, or did not respond.

That saves time. If someone accepted but has not joined, the facilitator may want to send a reminder; or even call them right from the participant pane. Someone who is presenting or on another call may need a few minutes. A person who declined probably does not need a follow-up during the meeting. It's great to have the info right at facilitator and user fingertips.

The People pane takes too many keystrokes

Microsoft's current instructions tell a Windows user to:

  1. Press Tab until the screen reader announces Show participants, then activate it.
  2. Press Tab until focus reaches the participant tree view.
  3. Use Down Arrow to review the list.
  4. Press Tab or Shift+Tab until the screen reader announces Close right pane, then activate it.

Those steps come from Microsoft's instructions to check who has joined a Teams meeting with a screen reader. Microsoft's published Teams keyboard shortcut list does not include a dedicated command to toggle the People pane, focus the participant list, or jump between its sections.

How does Zoom provide the participants aka users panel? Alt+U in one single open/close step. Brilliant!

The Teams way is too slow for live facilitation. The keyboard/screen-reader user must first find the People control, then find the list, then work through the list, then find the close control. None of those destinations has a direct command.

The long-list behavior adds another problem. In the reported Windows desktop workflow, Teams initially exposes approximately 25 people. After the user activates Show more, focus leaves the list. Reaching the newly loaded entries requires returning to the pane and reading through the first group again.

Lost time in a large meeting

A facilitator may be checking attendance while listening to a speaker, tracking raised hands, following chat, managing the lobby, and preparing the next agenda item. Repeated tabbing through meeting controls pulls attention away from those jobs.

In a meeting with more than 25 people, a quick attendance check can turn into a long trip through the interface. Reading the same names again makes it easier to miss someone who joined or lose track of the original question.

Time is money. Meeting time is multiplied by every person on the call. Teams already has the information the facilitator needs, so getting to it should take seconds rather than a chain of tabs and arrow presses.

Zoom is closing the status gap

Zoom no longer trails Teams on participant status in the same way it once did. On Windows, Alt+U opens or closes the Zoom Participants panel. Teams has no equivalent dedicated command in its published shortcut list.

Zoom can now show a Not Joined section with Accepted, Declined, Maybe, and No response states. The feature depends on calendar integration, sign-in, and the Show invitee list in the Participants panel setting. Zoom documents these participant attendance status requirements and notes that calendar changes can take up to 10 minutes to sync.

Teams is still likely to have an accuracy advantage. Teams, Outlook, Exchange, presence, and calendar responses can all live inside the same Microsoft 365 environment. Zoom has to pull some of that information through a separate calendar integration. That should give Microsoft a better chance of showing current status, although results can still vary by tenant and configuration.

The point of differentiation is shrinking. Zoom now offers the invited-participant section and gives Windows users a direct shortcut to its participant panel. If Microsoft wants Teams to remain the better tool for meeting facilitators, it needs to pair its Microsoft 365 data with faster keyboard access.

What Microsoft should change

Microsoft should add:

  • a shortcut that opens and closes the People pane from anywhere in the meeting window
  • a command that moves focus directly to the participant list
  • direct navigation to In this meeting and the invited-participant sections
  • a continuous participant list that does not require Show more, or focus restoration when additional entries load
  • an announcement of how many entries are in each section
  • stable focus when participants join, leave, raise a hand, or change status
  • focus restoration to the previous meeting control when the pane closes

These commands should work with JAWS, NVDA, and Narrator through the standard Windows accessibility APIs. A user should not need a virtual cursor, simulated mouse clicks, or knowledge of where the pane appears on the screen.

User story for the Microsoft product team

A User Story and its Acceptance Criteria ready for copy/paste by the Microsoft Teams team.

As a blind or low-vision Microsoft Teams facilitator who uses a keyboard and screen reader, I need to open or close the People pane, move directly to its participant sections, and review every participant without losing my place, so I can manage attendance and invitee status efficiently while continuing to facilitate the meeting.

Acceptance criteria

  1. The People pane has a toggle command. From anywhere in the Teams meeting window, the assigned shortcut opens the pane when it is closed and closes it when it is open.
  2. The command is discoverable and customizable. It appears in the Teams Keyboard shortcuts window with a clear name such as Show or hide People pane and can be reassigned using Teams' shortcut customization.
  3. Opening the pane places focus in a known location. Focus moves to the participant tree or to a documented first control from which the tree is one keystroke away.
  4. The participant list has a direct focus command. A separate command moves focus to the current position in the list without requiring a trip through the meeting toolbar or pane controls.
  5. Participant sections are directly reachable. A screen-reader user can jump to In this meeting and each invited-participant section without reading every preceding entry.
  6. Every entry is keyboard accessible. Every participant available visually is also available through the keyboard and accessibility tree.
  7. Loading entries keeps the user's place. If Teams loads participants in groups, focus remains on the same participant or moves to the first new participant. It does not leave the pane or return to the beginning.
  8. List updates do not move focus. Someone joining, leaving, raising a hand, or changing status does not reset the user's position.
  9. Names and states are announced together. Each entry exposes the participant's display name, meeting role when relevant, attendance state, and any presence or invitation response shown visually.
  10. Counts and loading state are available. The screen reader can determine the number of people in each section, whether the list is loading, and whether more entries are available.
  11. Closing restores focus. Closing the pane returns focus to the control or meeting region used before the pane opened, unless that element no longer exists.
  12. The commands work across the meeting window. They work from meeting controls, chat, captions, transcript content, shared-content controls, and other meeting panes without changing drafts or meeting state.
  13. Microsoft tests the supported screen readers. The workflow is verified on Windows 11 with current versions of Teams desktop, JAWS, NVDA, and Narrator. Any differences are documented.
  14. Microsoft tests large meetings. Testing covers more than 25, 50, and 100 participants, including people joining and leaving while the user moves through the list.

The workflow Teams should provide

Press one command to open the People pane. Jump to the section you need. Review every person without losing your place. Press the command again to close the pane and return to your previous task.

Teams already has strong participant and invitee data. Microsoft now needs to make that data fast to use.

Feature request record

This feature request was submitted on September 2, 2025, and logged as ID 241340.