First things to know about channels in Microsoft Teams

In Teams, teamwork and communication happen in channels. A channel is a single place for a team to share messages, tools, and files.

Channels can be organized by group, project, feature, or whatever else is relevant to you.
Team members can adjust or limit the notifications they're getting from a channel.
Threads allow for focused and organized side conversations within channels.

Top things to know about channels:

1. Channels sit inside teams

Teams are made up of channels, which are the conversations you have with your teammates. Channels sit inside of teams, similar to how files sit inside folders. Each channel is dedicated to a specific topic, department, or project.

Channels are where the work is done. They are where text, audio, and video conversations are shared with the whole team, where files are shared, and where apps are added.

While channel conversations are public, chats are just between you and someone else (or a group of people). Think of them as instant messages in other messaging apps.

Channels can be organized around anything. When you're naming a channel, try to use names that clearly describe the topic. Simple, intuitive names are best.

Note: If you're working in Teams offline, or on a low-bandwidth network, you'll be able to switch between chats and channels and keep working. You'll see everything from the last time we were able to sync with your network, and we'll trickle messages in as bandwidth allows.

2. Every team has a first-named channel

Every team comes with a channel. This initial channel can't be deleted. Here are some examples of how to use this channel:

In larger teams with many employees, the first-named channel might function as a log of who's joined and left the team's org. Most of the subject-specific conversations are happening in the other channels in that team.
In smaller teams with fewer channels and a more specific focus, the first-named channel might be the main place where conversations and announcements happen.

3. Teams can have standard, private, or shared channels

Standard channels are open to all team members and anything posted is searchable by others.
Private channels are for discussions that shouldn't be open to all team members.
Shared channels are for collaborating with people inside and outside your team or organization.

For more details, see Teams can have standard, private, or shared channels and Why use a shared channel versus other channel types?

4. Channels have tabs

When you go to any channel in Teams, you'll see certain tabs by default.

Posts

The first tab is Posts. It shows all the conversations (messages and replies) in a channel.

Everyone who has access to the channel can see the messages on the Posts tab. Think of this as one big group chat. The other important thing to know is that replies to a channel message stay attached to the original message. This way, the whole thread of the conversation can be easily followed by anyone reading it. This is the beauty of threaded conversations.

To reply to a channel message: Select the little Reply link underneath the message.
To start a channel conversation: Type your message in the box and at the bottom of the conversation and select Send .

Files

Next is the Files tab—where all the files that have been shared in the channel get stored.

Here are two ways to share files in a channel:

Go to a channel and select the Files tab. Highlight the file and choose More options > Copy link, then paste the link directly into a message.
In the toolbar under your message, select Attach and upload your document.

5. You can add more tabs

To put apps and files in tabs at the top of a channel, select Add a tab Add an app or tab button next to a tab name. You'll see a list of things to add (favorite apps and files). You can also search for a specific item you want to add.

6. Customize your notifications per channel

To adjust or fine-tune the notifications you're getting from a channel you're showing:

Go to the channel name and select More options Teams more options icon > Channel notifications. This allows you to be notified of channel activity.

From there, you can choose where and what notifications you want to get.

Choosing Banner and feed will send notifications to your device and to Activity Activity button in the Teams app. Only show in feed will skip sending notifications to your desktop and will only show up in your activity feed.

Teams - channel notifications settings

To further customize your notification settings, see Manage notifications in Teams.

7. Show and hide teams to stay organized

After the first named channel, your channels are organized alphabetically. You can't change the order, but you can show or hide them as desired. Select More options Teams more options icon next to a channel, then Show or Hide.

Want to add a team back to your list? Scroll to the bottom. Under Hidden teams, find the team you want back and select More options Teams more options icon > Show.