- What are Microsoft Teams channels for?<\/a><\/li>
- Key features of Microsoft Teams channels<\/a>
- General channel<\/a><\/li>
- Channel moderation<\/a><\/li>
- Tabs in channels<\/a><\/li>
- Private channels<\/a><\/li>
- Shared channels<\/a><\/li>
- Channel meetings<\/a><\/li>
- Connectors<\/a><\/li>
- Other features<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
- Microsoft Teams channels best practices<\/a>
- Understanding when to create a channel in Microsoft Teams<\/a><\/li>
- Conversation in a channel vs chat in Microsoft Teams<\/a><\/li>
- Highlighting important information<\/a><\/li>
- Channel name examples<\/a>
- 1. Team for the entire organization<\/a><\/li>
- 2. Team per department<\/a><\/li>
- 3. Team per case\/project\/account\/process<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
- Final thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhat are Microsoft Teams channels for?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nChannels in Microsoft Teams are conversations that you have with your team members. They represent a specific topic, department, or a project a team is working on. In this manner, channels guide users through their conversations and allow to focus discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Channels structure your workplace by separating not only conversations, but also information stored in Files tab and applications that are configured individually for each channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s have a closer look at all the main features of channels in Microsoft Teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nKey features of Microsoft Teams channels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nGeneral channel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By default, when you create a new team, you automatically get a General channel. You can\u2019t rename, remove, or hide it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
General channel is a perfect place to have conversations around miscellaneous topics that don\u2019t fall under any category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/support.content.office.net\/en-us\/media\/f24aa89e-8acc-4aff-9bc8-17dc14bcac02.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt can also be used for explaining the purpose of the team, adding guidelines, specifying responsibilities of each team member, etc. You can do that by creating guidelines in a SharePoint site and adding it as a tab or by using Wiki tab that appears by default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nChannel moderation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Team owners can control who makes new posts and replies to posts in a channel by setting up moderation. They can also assign other team members to be channel moderators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This can be practical for sharing announcements and important information. You may want to create a dedicated channel for that, let\u2019s call it Announcement, and set up moderation preferences to restrict replies. In this scenario, the team owner adds specific team members as moderators so that only they could post announcements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Microsoft](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/channel-moderation-1024x517.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTabs in channels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In Microsoft Teams, you can integrate Office 365 and third-party apps into your Teams environment through tabs<\/a>. By default, each time you create a new channel you get three standard channels \u2013 Posts, Files and Wiki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Posts<\/strong> are where your team conversations occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Files<\/strong> serve as your document library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiki<\/strong> can be used for specifying the team\u2019s rules, best practices, etc. You can learn more about how to get the most of Wiki tab here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/tabs-2-1024x78.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou may want to add more tabs \u2013 those can be both files stored in your library, for example a PowerPoint presentation, and apps that your team use most frequently such as Power Automate<\/a>, Planner<\/a>, Forms<\/a>, Salesforce<\/a>, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We suggest you pin as tabs only the most important apps and documents that your team members use on daily basis. It is not recommended to add too many tabs in order not to switch the focus from the most relevant content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nPrivate channels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Private channels are focused spaces for collaboration within your team. Only team owners and members of the private channels can see and participate in them. Anyone, including guest users, can be members of a private channel given that they are already members of the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"microsoft](\"https:\/\/img.salestim.com\/spai\/q_lossy+ret_img\/https:\/\/www.salestim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/F7D67333-CE58-47F2-A486-F379B11D61FD_4_5005_c.jpeg)
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou may want to use private channels to limit collaboration only to a certain group of people without having to create a separate team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, if you have a team dedicated to a specific project and wish to discuss its budget, you can create a dedicated private channel that will include only the project manager, accountants, and the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Choose between standard, private, or shared channels based on the level of collaboration, visibility, and security you need for your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learn more<\/a> about private channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nShared channels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Recently Microsoft announced a new capability \u2013 Microsoft Teams Connect with shared channels. It enables you to share channels with anyone, both inside and outside your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You no longer need to invite a guest user to the entire team. From now on, you can share files, start conversations, as well as set up video calls with anybody right from a specific shared channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head over to this article<\/a> to find out specific use cases for shared channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Microsoft](\"https:\/\/img.salestim.com\/spai\/w_990+q_lossy+ret_img+to_webp\/https:\/\/www.salestim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/shared_channel_teams.gif\")
Flexible work is here to stay: Microsoft 365 solutions for the hybrid work world<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nChannel meetings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You can have open audio and video conversations with your team members directly in channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/meet.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTo start a meeting choose the right channel and click on Meet<\/strong> on the top right and then select Meet now<\/strong> or Schedule a meeting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you join a channel meeting everyone in your team will be able to see there is a meeting on and who is participating. You can also add participants once the meeting is started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the meeting, you will automatically see a meeting chat in your chat list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nConnectors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You may want to configure connectors for specific channels in your teams. Connectors keep your team informed by delivering content and service updates directly into the channel. For example, you can receive updates from such popular connectors as Google Analytics, GitHub, Trello, RSS and the list goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learn<\/a> how to add a connector to a channel in your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Connectors-1-928x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nOther features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/more-options-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere are a few other features worth mentioning about channels in Teams. Let\u2019s click on [\u2026] More options<\/em> at the top right of your channel and see what else we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nChannel notifications<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can configure your channel notifications and choose whether you\u2019d like to stay informed about channel posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there\u2019s a channel that you most frequently use in Teams \u2013 for me, personally, it\u2019s our Marketing channel \u2013 you can pin it to get faster access to it. This way, each time you click on Teams you\u2019ll immediately land on this channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/pinned-channel.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGet email address<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did you know that you can send an email directly to a Teams channel? This can be useful if you wish to share an important email with the entire team and discuss further actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nMicrosoft Teams channels best practices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s discuss some of the best practices to get the most of Microsoft Teams channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nUnderstanding when to create a channel in Microsoft Teams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Many Microsoft Teams users face a dilemma: do I create a new channel or a team when a new subject arises? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are two types of teams with respect to collaboration processes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Teams at the organizational level (the entire company, department, branch, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Teams for repetitive collaborative processes (crisis management, project management, product launch, onboarding process, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can learn more about each category in our blog post Microsoft Teams Use Cases: a List of 30+ Examples<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/MicrosoftTeams-image-10-1024x576.png\")
<\/figure>\nCatalog of Microsoft Teams Use Cases<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Discover the most common Microsoft Teams scenarios and use cases! Project Management, Marketing Campaigns, Sales Deal Room, and much more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tDownload<\/strong><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWe will focus on the second category since it’s the one that poses more doubts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each new project, deal, case, or account that your organization is working on may deserve a separate team. It will depend on the collaboration intensity. For example, if the collaboration intensity is very low, a new conversation in a channel may even be enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how to define collaboration intensity? Firstly, look at the velocity of information exchange<\/em><\/strong>. Secondly, take into consideration the size of the team<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there are 50 people working on a project, then there will definitely be subjects that need separate discussions. Therefore, the best practice here is to create a collaboration space for your team to focus entirely on the project completion. However, if there are just two people working on a project, this will no longer be necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are no strict rules for team or channel creation. All you need is to test what works best for your team.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your collaboration requires creating a new team for each project, channels of these teams can represent stages or aspects of project resolution. If we take our project management scenario, channel examples may be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Project-management-Team.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Planning<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Quality<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Execution<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Budget<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Steering Committee<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Resources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Closure<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nConversation in a channel vs chat in Microsoft Teams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Many users prefer to use group chats to discuss work projects, share insights and leave feedback. This is a more familiar way of communication \u2013 similar to popular instant messengers like WhatsApp – and it\u2019s \u2018closer\u2019 to users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, communicating in channels sometimes makes much more sense when it comes to team collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Group chats<\/a> are private, and the content shared there is only visible to its members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, channel conversations in Microsoft Teams are accessible to any team member. For instance, if one employee leaves the company or simply goes on vacation, their colleague who will be taking over can simply go through channel posts, files and tabs and get familiar with the previous work in a more efficient way. If they were not a member of the group chat, they might not be able to see the chat history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, in channels you can add more apps as tabs. Thus, if you need to collaborate with your team through Planner, you will need to do it through a dedicated channel, not a group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, conversations in channels are more structured since traditionally each post starts with a headline summarizing the message. This makes it much easier to navigate through messages and find the right information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To sum up, you may want to use group chats to discuss matters concerning specific users, share information and get instant replies. Channel conversations, however, are preferable when it comes to collaborating making decisions on the team level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nHighlighting important information<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
There are several ways you can highlight key information in your channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One way to do so is by pinning channel conversations. In this way, important content and updates will always be in front of users’ eyes. For example, if you have a Marketing Campaign channel, you may want to pin a message that outlines the steps that need to be taken to complete a particular campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another way to highlight important content is a channel is by adding tabs. It will save you time on navigating through different apps and files and will increase visibility of key information. For example, you can add Planner as a tab to any team that uses this task management tool. By doing so, they will always stay on top of their tasks and can easily track their progress without having to toggle between apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make sure the right people see the messages you post by @mentioning them. Otherwise, not everyone will see your message, only those who enabled notifications for that particular channel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For easier navigation among all the posts in a channel, we also highly recommend adding a subject to each post. It will appear as a bold title, making it easier to understand what the post is about without going into detail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"best](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/channel-messages-924x554.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nChannel name examples <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to channel names in Microsoft Teams, there are some best practices to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You may want to avoid naming your channels after certain people who own the channel or put the date of the channel creation. Channel names should be clear and simple, giving your team members the idea of what exactly should be discussed in there. To make things more fun you may add emojis to your channel names that represent the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will take a few collaboration scenarios as examples of how you may want to name your channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/MicrosoftTeams-image-11-1024x576.png\")
<\/figure>\nWhite Paper with free Teams Naming Convention examples <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Use Case Examples<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Microsoft Teams naming convention solutions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Naming Convention at Teams Templates Level<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fixed and Dynamic Naming Convention<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tDownload<\/strong><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
1. Team for the entire organization<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoftteams\/media\/create-org-wide-team.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re running a small company, it makes more sense to have a single team for the entire staff \u2013 just like we do at nBold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your channels may represent your organization\u2019s departments and key activities. For example, at nBold we have 21 channels, so each activity we perform in the company falls into a separate category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nHere are some channel examples for this type of team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Sales<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Marketing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Customer Support<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Partners<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Ideas<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Website<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Security<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Competitors<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Legal<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Product<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Internal tools<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Think about all the topics that your employees discuss and create a separate channel for each of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n2. Team per department<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
For a medium-size and large company, it\u2019s recommended to have separate teams for each department to keep the workspace more structured. Plus, if you keep your departments simply as channels within one team that will mean that all your employees will have access to the content shared in every channel (except for private channels). That might be risky for security reasons and might not comply with internal regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s say, you are a B2B Saas company and you want to have a separate team for your customer support department. Here are some channel name examples you may want to use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Channels](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/customer-support-department-1-e1615212258499.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Product<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Incidents<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Training<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Announcements<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The list may go on, of course, depending on the specifics of the work of your team. But it covers the main areas customer support focus on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n3. Team per case\/project\/account\/process<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Having just a single team for the entire company and even for different departments might not be enough, however. To collaborate efficiently on new projects the best practice is to create a dedicated team and include all the players that should be involved \u2013 and oftentimes these are not just members of a single department. You may need to invite your partners, customers, contractors, or specialists from different departments of branches of your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having a team dedicated to a specific project, case, account, or any process will facilitate collaboration among the people involved in the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us demonstrate a few channel name examples for such teams in Microsoft Teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nProject Management<\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Closure<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Quality<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Execution<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Budget<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Steering Committee<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Resources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Planning<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Resources<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Onboarding Process<\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/7D37625F-0C47-4149-9DC1-C92DE82BD592.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Our company<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Meetings and Events<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Training<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Documentation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Security<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Team<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Account Management<\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
![\"Channels](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/5C44419B-AE28-455C-9662-46A64CA8EFB4.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Compete Watch<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Customer Support<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Contracts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Planning<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Team Meetings<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Opportunity Feed<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Partners<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- 2. Team per department<\/a><\/li>
- Conversation in a channel vs chat in Microsoft Teams<\/a><\/li>
- Channel moderation<\/a><\/li>
- Key features of Microsoft Teams channels<\/a>
![\"Channels](\"https:\/\/nboldapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Litigation-channels-e1615212373152.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n