Channels within Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration feature that allows you to communicate and work with your teammates in various ways. Each channel is a dedicated space for a specific topic, project, or department and helps you organize your team’s work and conversations.

There are two types of channels in Microsoft Teams: standard and private.

• A standard channel is open for all team members, and anything posted is searchable by others. You can use a standard channel to share announcements, news, files, and other information everyone needs. Each team has a General channel by default, which cannot be deleted or renamed.
• A private channel is only accessible to the members of the channel. You can use a private channel to discuss sensitive information such as budgets, resourcing, strategic positioning, etc. Only people added to the private channel can see and participate in it. A private channel has a lock icon next to its name.

Quick Tips

• Use clear and descriptive names for your channels to avoid confusion.
• Use private channels sparingly and only when necessary. Private channels can limit transparency and collaboration within your team.
• Use @mentions to call attention to important messages or updates in your channels.
• Use tabs to add your channels’ apps, files, websites, or other relevant resources.

Learn how to create a channel and manage a channel in Microsoft Teams.