Private Channels in Microsoft Teams

Tags ms-teams

Teams are made up of channels, which are the conversations you have with your teammates. Each channel is dedicated to a specific topic, department, or project.

By default, all members of a team can create channels. A standard channel is open for all members and anything posted is searchable by others. If you need a smaller audience for a specific project, you can create a private channel for your team. When a new team or private channel is created in Microsoft Teams, a team site in SharePoint gets automatically created as well.

Creating a Private Channel

If you want a focused place to discuss sensitive information such as budgets, resourcing, strategic positioning, and so on, a private channel can be created for your team. Only owners or members of the private channel can access it. To create a private channel for a team:

  1. Go to the team you want to create the private channel for, and then select More options > Add channel.

  2. Enter a name and description for your channel.

  3. Under Privacy, select the down arrow on the right, and then choose Private – Specific teammates have access.

  4. Select Create to add the private channel to the team.

    Create private channel

Add Members to a Private Channel

As a private channel owner, you can add or remove members, and edit private channel settings. Each person that you add must first be a member of the team. To add members of your team to a private channel:

  1. Next to the private channel name, select More options > Add members.

    Add members to private channel

  2. Use the Members and Settings tabs to add or remove members and assign roles.

  3. When you’re ready, select Done. Members may now post messages in the private channel.

Manage Private Channel Creation

Team owners can turn on or turn off the ability for members to create channels. To see and change this option, go to the Settings tab for the team that you manage. Team owners can also decide which members can delete channels.

Edit, Delete, Hide, or Leave a Channel

  1. Select More options next to the channel name. Then, use the menu to edit, delete, hide, or leave the channel.
    Note: Keep in mind that once you delete a channel, you also lose its entire conversation history. However, the OneNote sections associated with that channel will still show up on your team's SharePoint site.

Private Channel Limitations

  • Private channels can have multiple owners and up to 250 members.
  • Up to 30 private channels can be created over the life of a team.
  • The 30 private channel limit is in addition to the 200 standard channel limit per team.
  • When you create a team from an existing team, any private channels in the existing team won't be copied over.
  • It is not possible to convert a private channel to another channel type.
  • Notifications from private channels are not included in missed activity emails.
  • Channel meetings can't be scheduled.

Reference Articles

Create a Standard or Private Channel in Teams
Private Channels in Microsoft Teams

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This article summarises and explains differences between three different types of channels that can be added to a team to organise its content. It also provides instructions for creating new channels, recovering deleted channels, and discusses some of the limitations associated with channels.