Create a channel in Teams

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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. 

Note: For instructions on mobile devices visit Create a channel in Teams for mobile devices

In this article:

Create a standard channel

To create a standard channel, start in the team list  mceclip0.png. Find the team name and click more options More options button > Add channel. You can also click Manage team, and add a channel in the Channels tab. 

Add a channel to a team in Teams.

You can create up to 200 channels over the life of a team. That number includes channels you create and later delete. 

Create a private channel

If you want a focused place to discuss sensitive information such as budgets, resourcing, strategic positioning and so on, create a private channel for your team. Only owners or members of the private channel can access it. You can create up to 30 private channels over the life of a team.

Note: Your team owner can change this permission and limit private channel creation to certain roles.

To create a private channel for a team:

  1. Go to the team you want to create the private channel for and choose More options  More options button > Add channel.

  2. Enter a name and description for your channel.

  3. Under Privacy, select the down arrow on the right, and then select Private – Accessible only to a specific group of people within the team.

  4. Select Add. This adds a private channel to the team.

    Private channel in Teams.

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 More options button > Add members.

    Add members to a private channel in Teams.

  2. Use the Members and Settings tabs to add or remove members and assign roles. Your private channel can have multiple owners and up to 250 members.

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

Edit, delete, hide, or leave a channel

Select More options More options button next to the channel name. Then, use the menu to edit, delete, hide, or leave the channel as desired.

Note: Team owners get to decide which team members can delete channels.

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.