Create and Manage Team Channels

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About this lesson

Create channels within a team and manage the channels and channel members.

Quick reference

Create and Manage Team Channels

Create team channels to provide a space for team members to have conversations about specific topics. 

When to use

Create team channels to organize conversations into topics. 

Instructions

Teams are made up of channels. When we create a team, by default we see a 'General' channel. We can add more channels to our team so members can discuss specific topics.

For example, we may have a channel for the sales team, a channel to discuss movies and music, or a channel related to a specific project. Channels help members focus only on topics of interest. 

Channels can be standard or private. Standard channels are open for all members of the team to participate in and the content shared is searchable. Private channels are for a smaller audience and can only be accessed by channel members.

Create a New Channel (Standard)

  • Click the three dots next to the team in the teams list. 
  • Select Add Channel. 
  • Give the channel the name 'Customers'. 
  • Type a description for the channel (optional). 
  • Select the Privacy: Standard. 

To ensure this channel is automatically added to everyone's channel list, tick the option Automatically show this channel in everyone's channel list. 

  • Click Add. 

Repeat this process to add more channels. 

Create a New Channel (Private)

Private channels are for specific groups of people. 

  • Click the three dots next to the team in the teams list. 
  • Select Add Channel. 
  • Give the channel the name 'Social Media'. 
  • Type a description for the channel (optional). 
  • Select the Privacy: Private. 
  • Click Add. 
  • Start typing the names of the people to add to the channel. 
  • Click Add. 

Manage Channels

  • Click the three dots next to the team in the teams list. 
  • Select Manage team. 
  • Click the Channels tab. 

We can toggle channel visibility off and on for channel members from here. We can also see the type of channel and when it was last active. 

  • Click the three dots next to the channel name. 

We can manage channel settings from here.

Select Pin to pin important or frequently used channels to the top of the teams list.

We can turn on Channel moderation in Manage Channel if we want to have control over what is posted in a channel.

Invite others to a channel using Get link to channel and Edit this channel to rename the channel and change the description. 

Teams owners will have the option to Delete this channel.  

We can access more channel settings by clicking on the three dots next to the channel name in the teams list. We can Hide channels from here. Hidden channels will still be visible for team owners only but will show in italics. 

Hints & tips

  • We can add up to 200 channels per team. 
  • Only the members of a private channel can see the channel in their channel list. 
  • Private channels have a padlock symbol next to them. 
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  • 00:04 As we've already seen, Teams are made up of channels.
  • 00:08 And when we create a new team by default,
  • 00:11 we're going to get a general channel for that team.
  • 00:15 But of course we can create our own channels within each team.
  • 00:20 And by default,
  • 00:21 any member of a team can create a channel unless you remove that access.
  • 00:25 And the whole point of a channel is to really talk about
  • 00:29 a very specific subject or topic.
  • 00:32 For example, underneath Northwind Traders we have a general channel, but
  • 00:36 I might want to have other channels for different topics.
  • 00:40 So maybe I want a channel specifically for the sales team, or
  • 00:44 another channel for the marketing team.
  • 00:47 Maybe we need a channel that's dedicated to discussing a social media presence.
  • 00:52 Or maybe even just a channel to share fun stuff, music,
  • 00:56 movies that we've seen, TV shows we're currently watching.
  • 01:00 And that's the cool thing about Teams is that you can use it for
  • 01:04 business purposes, but you can also really use it to share ideas and
  • 01:08 recommendations about other things as well.
  • 01:11 Now a standard channel that's created within a team is open for
  • 01:15 all members to use.
  • 01:16 And anything posted in this channel is viewable by all members,
  • 01:21 and is also searchable.
  • 01:24 Now if you need maybe a smaller audience for a specific project,
  • 01:27 you can also create private channels as well,
  • 01:30 and just specify who needs to be part of that channel.
  • 01:34 So there is quite a lot of flexibility there.
  • 01:36 And as you might imagine, there are two types of channels that you can create what
  • 01:41 we call standard and of course, private.
  • 01:43 So let's take a look at how we create a standard channel.
  • 01:47 So I'm going to create some channels for Northwind Traders.
  • 01:50 Again, we just need to hover our mouse over the team name,
  • 01:54 click the three dots and then we have an Add Channel option.
  • 01:59 We need to give our channel a name.
  • 02:01 So this first channel is going to be called Customers.
  • 02:06 I would recommend that you give your channel a description, for
  • 02:09 quickness I'm not going to add one at this stage.
  • 02:12 And then we can set the privacy on this channel.
  • 02:15 So notice we have standard or we have private.
  • 02:19 So we're going to create a standard channel that everyone on the team has
  • 02:24 access to.
  • 02:25 And I can even specify at the bottom here to automatically show this channel
  • 02:29 in everyone's channel list.
  • 02:31 So yes, I'm going to do that as well.
  • 02:34 And let's click on Add.
  • 02:36 And there is my new channel.
  • 02:38 Now it's worth noting that you can add up to 200 channels per team,
  • 02:43 which should be more than enough for anything you want to discuss.
  • 02:48 So I'm going to add a few more channels in exactly the same way off camera,
  • 02:51 and then when we come back, we're going to take a look at adding a private channel.
  • 02:56 So there we go, we now have a few different channels.
  • 03:00 The last channel I want to add is a channel for social media, and
  • 03:04 maybe I only want the social media team to have access to this channel.
  • 03:08 So instead of a standard channel we're going to add a private channel.
  • 03:13 Let's just call this Social Media, and
  • 03:16 this time we're going to set the privacy to Private.
  • 03:19 click the Create button, and now we can choose who we want to add to this channel.
  • 03:26 So maybe, I want to add Ben James.
  • 03:31 Let's click on Add.
  • 03:33 So now only the members of this private channel will be
  • 03:36 able to see that channel in their Teams list.
  • 03:39 And notice in your Teams list that you can tell which channels are private channels
  • 03:44 because they have a little padlock icon next to them.
  • 03:47 So currently the only private channel I have the Northwind Traders is the social
  • 03:52 media channel.
  • 03:54 Now of course once you've added channels into your team, you can then edit,
  • 03:58 change, manage, and modify those channels.
  • 04:02 So let's take a look at some of those options.
  • 04:05 Now if we go back across and click on the three dots next to Northwind Traders,
  • 04:10 we don't specifically have a manage channel option.
  • 04:14 We can find those options underneath Manage Team, and
  • 04:17 this is where we were earlier.
  • 04:19 And if you recall, we do have a channels tap.
  • 04:24 So now I can see all of the channels that I have for Northwind Traders and
  • 04:28 there are lots of different things I can do in here.
  • 04:32 Notice that we have two columns, show for me and show for members.
  • 04:37 So if I decide that I don't want to show specific channels to members,
  • 04:42 I could deselect the box just here.
  • 04:45 If you added a description for
  • 04:46 your channel you're also going to see that in the description column.
  • 04:49 And then in the Type column,
  • 04:51 this is going to show us if this is a standard or a private channel.
  • 04:56 We can see our last activity and
  • 04:58 then next to each channel right at the end we have three dots for more options.
  • 05:04 So if we take a look in here we have lots of different things we can do.
  • 05:08 Now one that's fairly interesting is this Pin option.
  • 05:13 So for example, if I choose to pin the customer's channel,
  • 05:16 if you take a look over in my Teams list,
  • 05:19 I now have a new section at the top called pinned for this particular channel.
  • 05:24 So this is just really a quick way of getting to the channels that you use most
  • 05:28 frequently.
  • 05:29 And of course, if you want to unpin a channel you can click on the three dots
  • 05:34 again and just choose Unpin.
  • 05:36 Now let's jump back into manage team and channels and
  • 05:40 check out some of these other options.
  • 05:42 We have a manage channel option so this is where we can set permissions for
  • 05:46 this channel.
  • 05:47 Now if I wanted to I could turn on channel moderation so that means
  • 05:52 me as the team owner I get to moderate messages that are posted in the channel.
  • 05:58 Now just be aware that that is quite a lot of work particularly if this is a very
  • 06:03 busy channel.
  • 06:04 So again I'll leave that up to you if you want to turn that off or on.
  • 06:08 And then we can specify who can start a new post in this channel.
  • 06:12 So I've got this set to everyone.
  • 06:14 So everybody who's a member of this channel can start a new post, or
  • 06:18 I could change it to everyone except guests.
  • 06:21 I can get a link to this channel.
  • 06:24 So if I want to maybe invite somebody to this channel I can choose Get a link to
  • 06:28 channel, is going to give me this big long link just here.
  • 06:32 I could copy this and paste it into an email and
  • 06:35 send that off as a way of inviting somebody to a channel.
  • 06:39 I can also edit this channel.
  • 06:42 So if I decide that I want to change this to Clients as opposed to Customers,
  • 06:47 I can simply come in here and modify that channel name.
  • 06:51 I could also add a description at this point and either select or
  • 06:55 deselect to automatically show in everyone's channel list.
  • 06:59 Once you've made changes, make sure that you remember to click on Save.
  • 07:03 Another thing we have access to in here is connectors.
  • 07:06 Now we're going to skip over this for
  • 07:07 the time being because we're going to talk about connectors later on.
  • 07:10 And then also at the bottom here, I have some options to delete the channel or
  • 07:15 remove from Team.
  • 07:16 Now again, depending on your permission level you might not see those last two
  • 07:20 options, but just be aware that you do have that contextual menu there
  • 07:23 which gives you additional options when it comes to managing your channels.
  • 07:27 Now my recommendation here is to go through your different channels and
  • 07:31 your different teams and pin the ones that you find yourself using most frequently,
  • 07:36 and that's exactly what I'm going to do now.
  • 07:38 Also remember that you do have a couple of additional channel options when
  • 07:43 you click on the three dots next to the channel in the Teams list.
  • 07:47 So if I click on a client's again, notice I can set up my channel notifications.
  • 07:53 Again, we're going to discuss that a bit later.
  • 07:55 I have an option to hide a channel.
  • 07:58 And when you do hide a channel, you'll be able to see that it changes to italics.
  • 08:03 Now because I'm the team owner, I can still see this channel, but
  • 08:07 it's obvious to me that it is a hidden channel, but
  • 08:10 other channel members won't be able to see hidden channels.
  • 08:15 If you want to unhide just click on the three dots and then choose Show.

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