Microsoft Teams channels (standard, private or shared)

How to create a channel within a team

Team members have the ability to create channels within a team.   To access 'add channel', click the ellipses next to your team name

In the popup window fill in the channel name, description and type (privacy).

Under privacy you'll notice that there are 3 channel types (standard, private or shared)

Let's look at each type.

Standard channels

• these channels are open for all team members and anything posted is searchable by others
• by default, all members can create standard channels.  Team owners can change this under Manage team | Settings tab | Member permissions.
• a standard channel cannot be converted to a private channel and vice versa

Private channels

• these are for discussions that shouldn't be open to all team members, so you must be invited to see the channel and access content
• any team owner or team member can create a private channel where the person that creates the private channel is set as the owner
• a private channel cannot be converted to a standard channel once created
• scheduled channel meetings, apps (such as Planner and MS Forms) and bots are not supported at this time

Shared channels

• these channels are for collaborating with people inside as well as outside your team or organization
• only team owners can create and manage shared channels
• only people who are owners or members of a shared channel can access it
• shared channels cannot be converted once created
• the default option is to share the channel with everyone on the team (this can be modified at channel creation)

What type of channel should I create?

NOTE- people outside your org need to have a work or school Teams account to participate as members in a shared channel, and admins from both orgs must enable each tenant to 'direct connect'.  Please open a ticket with Collaboration services if you wish to add external members to a shared channel.

Files

The files tab exists in each channel.  The documents shown are located in the associated backend SharePoint site that's bound to the team.  In the case of private and shared channels, files are only viewable by channel members and they are stored in a separate SharePoint unique from the team's associated backend SharePoint site.